NPSIA STUDENTS VISIT PEACE SUPPORT TRAINING CENTRE
On Friday, 4 November 2016, a group of 26 NPSIA students made a familiarization visit to the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) Peace Support Training Centre (PSTC), in Kingston, Ontario. The trip was organized and hosted by the Department of National Defence (DND). Students represented a cross section of NPSIA programs, led by Dr. Jim Cox, a Fellow of the Centre for Security, Intelligence and Defence Studies (CSIDS).
After an early morning start from Carleton University, NPSIA students arrived at PSTC mid-morning, where they were joined by a group of 20 students from the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto. The PSTC Chief Instructor extended a warm welcome and provided some introductory remarks about the role of PSTC. The next presentation was provided by a Canadian Army Major and a New Zealand Army Major, both of whom talked of their grass-roots experiences when serving with the UN mission in South Sudan, including hostage negotiations and freedom of movement denial.
After lunch, students went ‘to the field’ to watch a real training event, in which Canadian and international military officers, training for deployment on a UN mission abroad, were put through a simulated road-block and robbery. After the military trainees were treated to some rough man-handling, simulated gunfire and tense negotiations, they were debriefed by instructors, to discuss what went well and what might have been done better. Both trainees and instructors were then engaged by NPSIA students, who learned much about tactical challenges faced by Canadians, and others, when serving abroad, on UN missions in troubled locations.
NPSIA students then proceeded to receive a briefing on Explosive Threat Hazard Awareness Recognition, covering the characteristics of and the threats posed by anti-personnel and anti-tank mines, and Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) one might encounter in various mission areas. Students then moved outside where they had the opportunity to actually look for and recognize inert mines and other dud explosive devices along ‘lanes’ in a wooded area.
The final event of the day featured a poignant video showing the reporting activities of a number of unarmed UN Observers, under the direction of Canadian Army Major Paeta Hess von Kruedner, at a UN Patrol Base in Lebanon, during the Israeli intervention of 2006. During the hostilities, the Patrol Base was destroyed by a 500-pound bomb. Four UN Observers were killed, including Major von Kruedner. It was a sobering reminder that all peace support missions carry significant risk.
NPSIA students found the experience to be of great value, particularly in learning about previously unknown, but important practical aspects of UN peace support operations that seldom get covered in any field literature.
CSIDS intends to work with DND to organize such field trips, to PSTC and other relevant destinations, in the future.