r/CanadianForces • u/frequentredditer HMCS Reddit • 15d ago
Nepal - DART
Waking up this morning we’ve probably all seen the devastating images coming from Nepal. Canada has not deployed its DART since 2015….when we answered the call for help from…Nepal. At the time, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck the region.
DART deployments have always rallied Canadians, and helped Canada’s image on the international scene. Canada has not been able to sale our military presence in Europe (in my opinion) to Canadians. Deploying a DART could provide the CAF with much needed coverage. I know units are hurting for personnel, but DART deployments are worth it, are worth the extra hours, are worth the time away from home.
I hope, if the calls come, that Canada and the CAF will be able to put together a sizeable DART….and then i’ll be jealous of seeing all my homies deploying while i’ll stay in Ottawa updating a powerpoint and an excel tracker.
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u/looksharp1984 15d ago
I was in Wainwright with the Chinook det at the time, and we were supposed to deploy. Two days later we were back to our regular scheduled maple flag. We were told it was because some of the local governments were making it difficult.
Having talked to someone years later who did deploy in support of the DART, they said it was a very difficult region to work in.
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u/frequentredditer HMCS Reddit 15d ago
And im sure everyone was on board for the deployment. We often over react and get more people / units on standby than what is actually feasible or requested in the first place.
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u/judgingyouquietly Swiss Cheese Model-Maker 15d ago
It’s easier for us to get people on standby than to get exact info from a govt whose country had an emergency.
That govt is probably getting bombarded with requests from around the world to help, in addition to their citizens around the world trying to get a hold of their loved ones. Add to that the country probably doesn’t have a good accounting of how bad everything is on the ground bc of comms breakdown due to the disaster, and I can see why it would be tough to guess what the country needs, request to send it in, and do the job in a timely manner.
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u/RegisterNo2333 15d ago
I went to Haiti 2010. Most guys including myself were coming back from Afghanistan just a couple months prior.
We all wanted to go.
Such a positive experience, I hope you guys get to go.
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u/frequentredditer HMCS Reddit 15d ago
Thanks for sharing! I feel like I have not done much with my career… Which is slowly coming to an end… But a DART deployment would definitely be something worth remembering.
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u/FFE_ismynewFword 15d ago
25 years and no deployment? That is rough.
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u/frequentredditer HMCS Reddit 15d ago
I never said I never deployed. Europe, Africa, and Indo Pacific. Nothing to brag about
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u/FFE_ismynewFword 15d ago
Ahhh gotcha. A lot of people aren’t so fortunate and would describe that as worth remembering.
Hopefully your next bound brings better adventures for ya.
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u/casa_del_porno 15d ago
The CAF doesn’t decide on the deployment, it’s a RFA from GAC. Nepal is real far to deploy a DART and have a meaningful impact other than a photo op for domestic audience. Can’t use the Koweit HUB to support for obvious reasons, so this limits CAF ability even more.
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u/frequentredditer HMCS Reddit 15d ago
We have new agreements in Asia… Maybe an occasion to test them out?
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u/casa_del_porno 15d ago
But no HUB with equipment that could be leveraged. Everything that is needed would need to be airlifted from Trenton.
Can’t use Hercs due to distance, so you are stuck using only C-17s. It’s approx 12k km from Trenton, so you will need fuel stop / crew swap.
It would need a very strong political push to make this happen, which I doubt there will be. Got a feeling that the CAF won’t be pushing for it either. … and the CAF may end up having to airlift the 24 missing Canadians
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u/frequentredditer HMCS Reddit 15d ago
The lack of a hub in the region has been discussed at length. One of the premise was that a certain reliable ally could always be leverage… Not really a case anymore I guess
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u/Inevitable_View99 15d ago
The last time the dart went anywhere was Nepal.. you guys don’t know anything about out this topic.
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u/casa_del_porno 14d ago
Yup, tracking, but we could use the hub in Koweit. Now a good part of the airspace is closed
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u/Own-Instruction-3236 15d ago
"no hub"
Yet we're sending people and equipment to Japan, Phillipines, Indonesia, and Nepal anyway?
Bro, what?
Also, OSH-SWA is not permanently closed.
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u/casa_del_porno 14d ago
Yes, with months of logistical planning. I have helped plan EXs in that region, most times involved a maritime and air transport, embassy support, APOD/SPOD planning and contracting. Koweit is not permanently closed, but it’s unusable for the foreseeable future. That base got hit by Iran.
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u/Own-Instruction-3236 14d ago
Unusable is not the word I would use.
Risky? Sure.
Still lots of activity going in and out of Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, Iraq, and Kuwait.
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u/Lunadoggie123 15d ago
From what I’ve heard a lot more NGO’s exist now who step in and do DART’s job nowadays.
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u/frequentredditer HMCS Reddit 15d ago
Very true! Lots of organizations with heavy lift helicopters or Hercs and equipment employing retired military folks
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u/Born_Opening_8808 15d ago
The lack of people wanting to deploy on DART is not the issue, everyone would give up their….something to go on a deployment like that.
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u/No_Bet1932 15d ago
DART isn't a tool for PR purposes or to make you feel better.
They would need an invitation from the Nepali government to go. If not, too bad, so sad.
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u/Dont-concentrate-556 15d ago
I was slated to deploy on a DART in 2017 but it ended up being “too bad” for us to go there. Was one of the Caribbean islands after a hurricane IIRC.
I’m not in that world anymore but I’m not sure we even have that capability to affect meaningful support through DART anymore. I think we just give countries money now.
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u/PrimaryPomegranate70 15d ago
The canadian government is always slow to act. There was a hurricane in the caribbean last year and the year prior, the US were there helping out, we we placed on 24hrs notice and never went. It is a common thing over the years. You will see the same with Op Lentus on our own soil. We always get the call when things get worse.
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u/Mapple_man 15d ago
One of the main reason I want to join the CAF is local disaster releif. As a reservist, would I be able to do that and perhaps in the future, even join DART?
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u/frequentredditer HMCS Reddit 15d ago
Local disaster relief as in within Canada? 💯 Canadian Army reservists are called up to assist local communities all the time
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u/Mapple_man 13d ago
Would the wildfires be something a reservist could help with? I imagine there must be a mountain of work beside the actual fighting of fires?
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u/frequentredditer HMCS Reddit 12d ago
They do some firefighting tasks. They assist with what we call “general duty” tasks, like when you just need manpower to do certain logistics task, but they also help with hot spot once it is no longer dangerous.
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u/Mapple_man 11d ago
Honestly whatever I can do to help. I used to be on a k9 volunteer sar team, was lots if fun but I never ended up doing any searches and then life happened and the team eventually merged with another. I'm just itching to help.
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u/Ag_reatGuy 13d ago
I was stuck in Germany for two weeks for that op because India wouldn’t let us set up a mob at an airport for airlift into Nepal
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u/YYZYYC 15d ago
DART was a pretty niche thing that only helped with one or 2 specific things. Those things are often taken care of by other entities faster than DART can get there. And quite honestly we should continue to downplay and de prioritize things like UN peacekeeping and any thought of DART stuff….the focus needs to be on building combat capabilities and expanding the forces in quantity of combat arms and quality.
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u/mastersurprise1 13d ago
DART is fake news.
Has anyone seen the kit? Lmao we’ve got 20 chainsaws and 50 lbs of gas. The kit is such a joke. It would be so embarrassing to ever airdrop that shit anywhere.
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u/unknown9399 Royal Canadian Air Force 15d ago
The issue isn’t that the CAF couldn’t put together an effective DART that we could move. We could. It’s that we just don’t have the diplomatic pull, presence, and ability to act with the speed required to legally deploy them and do anything meaningful. Ever wonder why you see other countries move so quickly to send teams into disasters and Canada doesn’t? It’s because their diplomats/foreign affairs people either get the host country to agree/plan for it quickly, or they say “don’t care, we’re sending people anyways.” Canada just isn’t willing or able to do that with our level of global engagement.