JTF2: Canada’s super-secret commandos

CanadianCombat

Active member



If truth is one of the first casualties of war, secrecy is one of war's first exigencies. There is no better instance of this than Canada's elite commando unit, which is so secretive Canadian authorities are hesitant even to refer to it as an elite commando unit.

But the United States is well aware of Canada's Joint Task Force 2 (JTF2). The U.S. was impressed by JTF2's performance in Afghanistan and had its eye on the unit for its campaign in Iraq.

JTF2 consists of volunteers from three branches of the Canadian Armed Forces. JTF2 began in 1993 when it took over counter-terrorist duties from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Its numbers are said to be about 350. Its Canadian base is Dwyer Hill Training Centre in Ottawa's rural west end.

JTF2 works with a budget of $25 million, though the Ministry of Defence hopes to increase this. The average age of a JTF2 commando is 28, considerably more experienced than fresh-faced recruits. As Canadians, JTF2 soldiers are acknowledged to be specialists in cold-weather fighting, having done extensive training in the Canadian Arctic.

This is Canada's special force, our elite fighters. They are selected and trained as rigorously as any elite force in the world, which includes Britain's Special Air Service (SAS) and, in the United States, the Green Berets, Rangers and Delta Force. The requirements of the U.S. super-elite Delta Force probably also apply to Britain's SAS and Canada's JTF2, which means a quarter of those who volunteer – and these are top soldiers – are routinely washed out. Of those who go on, one in 10 makes it to the elite unit.

These are the units deployed to trouble spots to act with stealth and deadly force. They are trained to rope down from helicopters, live off the land for months, break a combatant's hip with a kick to the upper femur.

In July 2005, Chief of Defence Staff. Gen. Rick Hillier confirmed that members of JTF2 would be part of a new Canadian deployment heading to Afghanistan to fight the remnants of the Taliban and supporters of al-Qaeda.

Much of what we know of the value of JTF2 comes from U.S. sources.

We learned just before Christmas 2001 that JTF2 was part of a seven-nation operation called Task Force K-Bar during the campaign in Afghanistan. Task Force K-Bar took part in 42 reconnaissance and surveillance missions, as well as what U.S. military authorities call "direct action" operations. JTF2 soldiers were part of commando operations that killed at least 115 Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters and captured 107 senior Taliban leaders over a six-month period.

JTF2 commandos led a mountain climb in Afghanistan to reach a high-altitude observation post. The Canadians also entered caves looking for enemy forces and intelligence. One of their missions, called Operation Anaconda, took place last March when JTF2 soldiers stationed themselves high in the Afghanistan mountains to feed information to army units on the ground.

The Canadians worked with U.S. Navy commandos and elite forces from Australia. U.S. Navy Commander Kerry Metz, director of operations for Task Force K-Bar, praised the work of the "foreign" commandos to members of Congress.

"We were fortunate to have the finest special operators from a coalition of seven nations," Metz said. "We challenged our operators to conduct missions in some of the most hostile environments ever operated in. For example, we had special reconnaissance teams operating in the mountains of Afghanistan above 10,000 feet for extended periods without resupply."

Before this, the only direct reference to the work of JTF2 in Afghanistan was the embarrassing photograph of JTF2 soldiers escorting captured al-Qaeda prisoners on a tarmac. It resulted in a parliamentary uproar and an investigation into why then-defence minister Art Eggleton did not immediately inform Prime Minister Jean Chrétien that JTF2 had been involved in taking prisoners in Afghanistan.

Scott Taylor, publisher of Esprit de Corps magazine has said JTF2 is as good as the American Delta Force and Britain's SAS. It is believed JTF2 was on the ground for a time in Kosovo, finding important targets and using lasers to guide military aircraft and smart bombs toward them.

When Conservative MP David Price told the House of Commons that JTF2 was on the ground in the Kosovo campaign, the government heatedly denied it – but with covert operations, this is the requisite government response. To do otherwise would be to risk JTF2 lives. JTF2 almost certainly was deployed to Quebec City in April 2001 as back-up during the violent protests during the hemispheric trade talks.

As for its role in Afghanistan, Taylor of Esprit de Corps said, "This is exactly the role for them. These guys would go in. They would be a special covert operation. They would just simply be putting their lives on the line. Every one of these guys, they joined for that purpose."

David Rudd, with the Canadian Institute of Strategic Studies, told CBC News the soldiers of JTF2 are not trained to take and hold ground. "What they do is infiltrate into dangerous areas behind enemy lines, look for key targets and take them out. They don't go out to arrest people. They don't go out there to hand out food parcels. They go out to kill targets."




Just thought it would be interesting to other people that don't know much about Canada's special forces. I post more facts and information later.
 
Cheers mate. Just be careful of giving credit where its due if you don't write something yourself. It might be the teacher in me but I think its an important ethical issue that shouldn't be overlooked or downplayed... just my opinion.
 
CanCom, you're a gentleman and a scholar thanks kindly for the links.

Just curious what happened to JTF-1??
 
JTF-1 also known just as JTF was created in 1991 to help fight in the gulf war but was disbaned after the war in 1991. Then in 1993 JTF-2 took over the position of the RCMP's SERT team
 
Not only did it take over from the RCMP SERT, it has greatly expanded the role from not only Domestic counter terrorism, but green OPs overseas. The RCMP SERT was just a really kick ass swat team. JTF2 is a Tier 1 Special Operations Force. Along side with the SAS, Delta and Seal Team 6
 
CanadianCombat said:
how did that happen?

3 Canadian soldiers wounded in firefight
Elite JTF2 troops injured in attack in Afghanistan

Soldier `seriously wounded,' flown to German hospital
Dec. 8, 2005. 01:00 AM
BRUCE CAMPION-SMITH
OTTAWA BUREAU


OTTAWA—Three of Canada's special forces soldiers have been wounded in fierce firefights that killed more than a dozen insurgents in southern Afghanistan this week.
There are reports that one of the soldiers, a member of the secretive unit known as Joint Task Force 2, may have been seriously injured. He has been evacuated to Germany for medical treatment and is listed in stable condition. It's believed to be the first time that JTF2 soldiers have been injured during their operations in Afghanistan.
In a statement released yesterday, Canadian defence officials were tight-lipped, saying only that one soldier was in hospital and two others were treated for their injuries and returned to their unit after they were "recently wounded while conducting operations.
"For reasons of operational security and for the safety of those Canadian special operations forces members and their families, no other information on this incident or on the special operations being conducted in Afghanistan will be released," the statement said.
However, it's believed the elite Canadian soldiers were injured early this week during an offensive in a small village north of Kandahar against insurgents believed responsible for a number of bomb attacks in the country's southern region, once a hotbed of Taliban extremism and still a pocket of resistance.
According to American military officials, 13 "enemy" fighters were killed in an attack Sunday, which left three Afghan, three American, and two other coalition soldiers wounded.
One of the coalition troops was "seriously wounded" and was evacuated to the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, where he's reportedly in stable condition. The other soldiers were treated and released, officials said.
On Tuesday, an Afghan-U.S. patrol came under fire from a ridgline northwest of Tarin Kowt.
[FONT=helvetica,arial]
[/FONT]"This is a resounding victory for Afghan forces and for the Afghan people," said U.S. Brig.-Gen. Jack Sterling Jr., deputy commanding general of the region. "We located and closed with the enemies of this nation and, as we have said we would in the past, brought them to justice."
Canadian defence officials refused to comment whether the evacuated soldier was an injured JTF2 soldier.
A spokeswoman for Defence Minister Bill Graham said Canadians have been warned the Afghanistan deployment is high-risk.
"There are significant risks in these missions but these troops are tremendously skilled and Canadians can be proud of what they do," said Renée Filiatrault.
The lack of details angered Steve Staples, of the Polaris Institute, who called Graham and other officials to provide more information, especially since they had warned Canadians to brace for danger, even casualties, as troops step up operations in the Kandahar region.
"It sounds like we came very close to losing a soldier here," Staples said in an interview.
"Soldiers' lives are being put at risk. We need to know what we're asking them to do," he said. "How many of these insurgents did we kill or wound? If we took prisoners ... where are those prisoners right now? When did all this happen?"
In September, the defence department suggested that JTF2 soldiers had killed insurgents during clashes. "We have not suffered any casualties at this point but casualties have occurred on the other side," Brig.-Gen Mike Ward, head of defence operations, said at the time. He also revealed that JTF2 troops have nabbed insurgent leaders during missions in the country.

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1133995815396&call_pageid=968332188774&col=968350116467
 
simply, WoW

I didnt read all the posts, just the main one 8) well some others as well

I remeber there was somebody saying kick ass and stuffs yeah..
 
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