Chief of the Defence Staff highlights 14 Wing’s professionalism

News Article / April 15, 2019

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By Sara White

General Jonathan Vance, chief of the defence staff, is “absolutely aware” of their “great effort”, Colonel Mike Adamson, commander of 14 Wing Greenwood, Nova Scotia, told wing personnel.

“He expects nothing less than the best from you, because that’s what he gets from you every day.”

General Vance visited 14 Wing on April 4, 2019. Colonel Adamson greeted him upon his arrival and escorted him to the waiting honour guard, with military and civilian personnel gathered for his visit.

General Vance presented a CDS commendation to 404 Long Range Patrol and Training Squadron, in recognition of the CP-140 Aurora squadron’s “ingenuity, hard work and professionalism” on Operation Impact from October 2014 to April 2015.

“You hit that standard,” General Vance said. “More than that is your ingenuity and effort to manage the Block III to Block IV conversion [of systems aboard the CP-140 Aurora aircraft], maintain the fleet and build overland ISR [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] and continue to force generate for overland and anti-submarine warfare.

“Way back in 2012, you were the ‘pointy end’ of giving us terabytes of data we developed into a targeting enterprise and we can now perform and a military should. You stand out for me.”

He urged the long range patrol force at 14 Wing to continue to “pay attention” to its long-standing role in anti-submarine warfare.

“That expectation is back upon us, as we’ll face challenges in the next decade. We’ll see competition—economic, in cyberspace, who knows where?—turn into conflict.”

Following the presentation, General Vance and Canadian Armed Forces Chief Warrant Officer Alain Guimond met with wing leadership for a brief town hall opportunity.

He is confident the Canada’s robust defence policy, “Strong, Secure, Engaged”, will endure, as public and political support appears to be holding for Canada’s military program, and because there are international expectations to meet. He believes his current challenge is growing the Canadian Armed Forces in terms of both people and equipment.

Ensuring force generation is a challenge, but General Vance says there are many opportunities for the Canadian Armed Forces, too.

“Culture change is important. We need to stop seeing people the way we used to, all as little templates that are all the same. It is not a sin to change, get hurt, or have family issues. I’m willing to wait for you.”

Sara White is the managing editor of the 14 Wing Greenwood newspaper, "The Aurora", where this article was originally published.