Q & A with Brig. Gen. Denis Thompson

[Chaske]

Q. Libya was your field test of whether the Arrowhead Task Force, led by the Canadian Special Operations Regiment, worked or not?

A.
Right. It's also worth emphasizing that CANSOF doesn't operate in a vacuum, so none of this is possible unless you have the backing of the Air Force, in some cases, elements of the Navy, and certainly we rely on the Army for an awful lot of things, but not in this particular instance.
So you still need the big machine behind you in order to generate an effect at the other end.


Q. The Canadian Special Operations Regiment now has about 440 personnel, but there are plans to expand that force. Have you taken a look at the numbers you eventually want to build up to

A.
Right now, any move in numbers anywhere in the Canadian Forces is on hold as we're waiting for the Canadian Forces future transformation exercise to go through. Until the transformation exercise is complete, all bets are off.

http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=8600232&c=FEA&s=INT
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What the heck does the first question mean? they were testing if the Arrowhead Task Force worked?

Anyway the article was very informative. thanks to GLP for sending me the link.

 

[AWP]

Q. Libya was your field test of whether the Arrowhead Task Force, led by the Canadian Special Operations Regiment, worked or not?

A.
Right. It's also worth emphasizing that CANSOF doesn't operate in a vacuum, so none of this is possible unless you have the backing of the Air Force, in some cases, elements of the Navy, and certainly we rely on the Army for an awful lot of things, but not in this particular instance.
So you still need the big machine behind you in order to generate an effect at the other end.

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What the heck does the first question mean? they were testing if the Arrowhead Task Force worked?

Anyway the article was very informative. thanks to GLP for sending me the link.

Probably the organizational structure and attachments necessary, not whether or not a particular unit can do a job.

 

[policemedic]

Why release the strength of the unit?

 

[Coyote]

Why release the strength of the unit?

They announced quite some time ago they wanted CSOR to reach ~750 personnel, guess they wanted to keep the public 'updated' on it's progress so far.

What the heck does the first question mean? they were testing if the Arrowhead Task Force worked?

My take is since TFA's main focus is a special immediate reaction force/first boots on the ground for 'hot spots' around the world, Libya was the first test to see if TFA would be more effective than the original deployment plan to get first boots on the ground to 'hot spots'.

 

[Coyote]

I read more of the article from the link posted, it appears TFA is a detachment of CSOR rather than a separate unit so to speak.

 

[RackMaster]

I read more of the article from the link posted, it appears TFA is a detachment of CSOR rather than a separate unit so to speak.

It's not really a detachment. It would be a rotating tasking across CANSOF and the CF as whole; not just CSOR and would more than likely be "fluid" depending on assets needed for whatever mission it goes on.