Transcript

(S) Welcome back to Defence Team News, I’m Shelley Van Hoof.

(C) And I’m Ordinary Seaman Courtney Laidler. Here are the headlines at Defence.

(S) The sixth rotation of Operation UNIFIER, the CAF’s mission to support the Security Forces of Ukraine, started last month.

The operation’s focus is to provide capability building and professionalization training that will contribute to Ukraine’s Defense Transformation.

We recently spoke with those involved to learn more.

(Maj St-Jean) Hi, I’m Major Félix St-Jean, Deputy Commander of Op UNIFIER. Our primary mission is to support the capability development of the security forces of Ukraine. We started in 2015 working mostly with the Ukrainian Army and have now expanded to also work with the National Guard of Ukraine. Right now, we are engaged in many different domains including combined arms training, combat engineering, military police and medical support training. Joint Task Force-Ukraine is approximately 200 members strong. The vast majority are from the Canadian Armed Forces from 36 units across Canada. We also have eight personnel from the Swedish Armed Forces and seven personnel from Danish Defence. We are mainly located at the International Peacekeeping and Security Centre near Yavoriv and also have personnel across western and central Ukraine. Throughout our rotation, our emphasis will shift from tactical training to operational capacity building. Since the beginning of the mission, we have already evolved from hands-on approach to a trainer-to-trainer approach. So the next logical step for us is to work with our Ukrainian counterparts to build their training systems and achieve enduring effects.

(S) For more information on Operation Unifier, check out Canadian Armed Forces in Ukraine on Facebook and Twitter.

(C) CAF members from 31 Canadian Brigade Group’s Essex and Kent Scottish Regiment recently participated in Exercise SCOTTISH GUNSLINGER at Camp Atterbury in Indiana.

The collective training exercise aimed to sustain combat capable units and ensure operational readiness in preparation for future operations. It included training in a live-fire pairs range, a live-fire section range and an austere live fire machine gun range.

The exercise provided the opportunity to maintain and further develop high standards of infantry field training for the Canadian Army Reserve.

(S) Before we go, civilian employees facing pay issues are encouraged to learn more about recent improvements to Public Services and Procurement Canada’s service delivery.

(C) If you are experiencing problems with your pay or have any questions, please contact Public Services and Procurement Canada’s Client Contact Centre. More information is available in the related links.

(S) That’s it for us. Thank you so much for watching. See you next time…

(C) …for Defence Team News!