Shadow Warriors / Les Guerriers de l'Ombre: The Canadian Special Operations Forces Command / Le Commandement des Forces d'Opérations Spéciales du Canada

by Bernd Horn

Overview

An unprecedented introduction to the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command.

On February 1, 2016, the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command (CANSOFCOM) celebrated its tenth anniversary. This benchmark passed largely unheralded. After all, few Canadians actually realize their nation possesses special operations forces, and fewer yet know Canada’s long and distinguished history with these forces and the exceptional warriors who fill their ranks. CANSOFCOM carries on this tradition and in its short history has earned a reputation for courage, professionalism, and operational excellence. This book is a rare glimpse into the shadows, providing detailed information on CANSOFCOM and its units, as well as a pictorial history of the Command’s evolution.

Le 1er février 2016, le Commandement des Forces d’opérations spéciales du Canada (COMFOSCAN) a célébré son dixième anniversaire. Ce jalon est passé largement inaperçu. Après tout, peu de Canadiens savent que leur pays possède des forces d’opérations spéciales et encore moins de personnes savent que le Canada a une longue tradition prestigieuse avec ces forces et les guerriers exceptionnels qui les composent. Le COMFOSCAN poursuit cette tradition et, depuis sa création, ses membres ont été reconnus pour leur courage, leur professionnalisme et leur excellence opérationnelle. Ce livre offre un rare aperçu de ces guerriers de l’ombre. Il offre des informations détaillées sur le COMFOSCAN et ses unités, en plus de présenter l’histoire illustrée de l’évolution du commandement.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781459736405
Publisher:	Dundurn Press
Publication date:	09/27/2016
Edition description:	Bilingual
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 10.10(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Colonel Bernd Horn, OMM, MSM, CD, PhD, is a retired Canadian Regular Force infantry officer and military educator.

Le colonel Bernd Horn, OMM, MSM, CD, Ph. D., est un officier d’infanterie à la retraite de la Force régulière des Forces armées canadiennes et spécialiste de la formation militaire.

Read an Excerpt

JOINT TASK FORCE TWO (JTF 2) 


JTF 2 is the senior unit as well as one of two National Mission Force units within CANSOFCOM. Its mission is to protect the Canadian national interest and combat threats to Canadians at home and abroad. JTF 2 as a unit officially stood up on April 1, 1993. Prior to that, the federal responsibility for hostage rescue and counterterrorism in Canada was with the RCMP Special Emergency Response Team (SERT).
Although initially created to take on the responsibility for hostage rescue and counterterrorism, the Unit leadership envisioned a greater role for JTF 2 as part of the larger government national security apparatus. In 1994, the Chief of the Defence Staff approved the Unit’s enlargement and increased capacity; the following year, JTF 2 began to establish a national maritime counterterrorism capability. It also began to deploy small teams around the globe to such locations as Haiti, the Former Yugoslavia, north-west and Central Africa, and Lebanon to undertake a number of SOF tasks. 
Although JTF 2 evolved and matured its capabilities throughout the 1990s, its true turning point came in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of 9/11. In support of the U.S. Operation Enduring Freedom, the Unit deployed a special operations task force (SOTF) under the operational control of the American Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force (CJSOTF). This deployment was part of a series of significant changes for JTF 2. Political and military decision-makers fully recognized the Unit’s strategic relevance, and as a result the government committed $120 million over five years for its expansion, which included an increase in manpower and infrastructure, as well as the procurement of new equipment and technologies. 
The JTF 2–based SOTF was deployed in the Afghan theatre of operations from December 2001 to November 2002. During this period, the Unit was completely integrated into the CJSOTF to conduct numerous combat operations, earning a reputation as a world-class SOF capability. On December 7, 2004, the President of the United States awarded the JTF 2 component of the coalition Task Force K-Bar a Secretary of the Navy, Presidential Unit Citation. 
JTF 2 redeployed to Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom in 2005, due to a request from the Americans, who publicly stated that “Canada’s elite Tier 1 JTF 2 is as capable as any Tier 1 Special Forces in the world [and it] makes a significant contribution whenever deployed.” The Unit remained actively engaged in Afghanistan from 2005 until the end of Canadian combat operations in 2011. 
Since the Canadian withdrawal from Afghanistan, JTF 2 has been extremely busy across the globe providing the Command, the Chief of the Defence Staff, and the government of Canada with precision SOF effects in support of the national interest. The Unit’s participation in the Coalition fight against the Islamic State in Iraq is but one of its many recent activities. 
Notwithstanding its expeditionary record of excellence, throughout its existence, JTF 2 has maintained its domestic counterterrorism responsibility as part of the national security apparatus. Even while committed on expeditionary tasks, the domestic environment has remained its number one priority, as witnessed through numerous domestic operations and engagements with security partners throughout the Unit’s existence.

Table of Contents

• Foreword
• Introduction: The Canadian Special Operations Legacy
• Canadian Special Operations Forces Command
• Introduction to CANSOFCOM
• Joint Task Force Two (JTF 2)
• The Canadian Joint Incident Response Unit (CJIRU)
• The Canadian Special Operations Regiment (CSOR)
• 427 Special Operations Aviation Squadron (427 SOAS)
• The Canadian Special Operations Training Centre (CSOTC)
• The Evolution of the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command: A Pictorial History
• The Early Years: JTF 2 1993–2006
• The Rise of CANSOFCOM: 2006–2016
• CANSOFCOM into the Future
• Acknowledgements
• Photo Credits