Reaction to Canada's missing military equipment in Afghanistan

There was a great deal of reaction from the CBC Community to our story, originally reported on Power & Politics, that Canadian military equipment in at least 10 shipping containers has gone missing.

Chris Alexander, parliamentary secretary to the minister of defence, said that the containers had been broken into and their contents replaced with rocks and sand. The theft was discovered when the containers from Afghanistan were opened in Canada.

The top-rated comment on the story came from a CBC Community member, Maple Guardian, who says he served in Afghanistan.

"When I was coming home in '07 the Leo 2's were just coming into the country. I was there when two Leopard 2 power packs (Engine and Transmission units) were received.

I took a peek in one and the carton was empty and looked in the other and it had a pack in it. I mentioned it was weird how they had to use a new pack so fast as the Leo 2's had not moved further then the tarmac to the Armoured SQ lines. That was received with a quizzical "What?" and the SQ had a look.

Sure enough, it was gone and it was supposed to be there. It was stolen in transit by the Russian air Carrier (or the pilots) that made an unscheduled stop in an unnamed country. This is business as usual in Afghanistan. That is also why Canada should be moving its own equipment and not leaving it up to private contractors that have honesty problems."

Many of the commenters said that soldiers and sailors, not private contractors and shipping companies, should be handling military equipment.

• "As a Canadian citizen with families serving the military for many generations, I do not want private companies fulfilling military functions. Ever. Costs be damned. I want my nation in charge of all things military. Not a private company. EVER," wrote Mentalist.
  
  
• "I'm sure if we had left this job with our public employee soldiers, the cargo wouldn't have been replaced with rocks," wrote AaronBroad.

Others pointed out that the Canadian military simply doesn't have the trucks or ships needed to do it on their own, and that hiring private firms is standard military practice.

• "Our soldiers don't have any container ships. Never did. Neither do our sailors. Also never did. When you have cargo to ship, you hire a cargo ship," wrote MortimerSnerd.

Another informative comment came from NepeanBaron.

"To get the military equipment out of Kandahar DND would have contracted with Afghan or Pakistani truckers to haul the containers (probably sealed) down through the passes, into Pakistan and on to its main port of Karachi to await the ships arrange for by AJ Maritime of Montreal.

Note that the Canadian Forces has no means of its own to haul hundreds of containers to port. Tactical trucks are not big enough nor numerous. It's the same for all NATO contingents including the USA; civilian trucks must be hired to haul such quantities in and out of theatre. Such firms are supposed to see to the security of loads transported.

Once on the highways of lower Pakistan and in the fenced port of Karachi trucks and containers are probably safe from wholesale theft of their cargos. However, up in the frontier regions where the warlords rule, where the Taliban have strong influence or control, there is ample opportunity for the diversion of trucks, theft of loads and their replacement by ballast. The civilian truck drivers cooperate or die; it's that simple.

Our non-critical goods, like tires, might end up in the Pakistani army. More likely, they'll be traded in the various black markets in the region with cuts going to the various warlords and purveyors. Be sure that the Taliban network will get its cut.

As the article said, weapons and ammunition were shipped out by air. Other high-value or critical materiel would have gone out the same way, but at much higher cost. (It would help if participants to these comments read the articles completely before speculating or criticizing.)"

Some in the CBC Community said that even if private contractors are needed to get Canadian equipment out of Afghanistan, security around those shipments could be improved.

"If only there were some sort of security force that could be made available to watch over these shipments," said NanoBot.

"If this equipment was valuable enough to bring home and useful to our enemies, whoever they may be, more precautions should have been taken. Did these containers have proper seals that could be inspected at various stops on the journey? If not, why? If these types of duties are to be privatized then contractors need to be accountable. Those awarding the contracts should also be accountable," said BruceOfOakville.

Thank you for all your comments.