Yard Ape
06-28-2004, 01:16 PM
Embassy guards in war zones deserve better: Canadian Forces chief (http://globeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20040627.wgard0627/BNStory/National/)
Canadian Press
Sunday, Jun 27, 2004
Kabul — Soldiers guarding Canadian embassies in high-risk areas should receive benefits comparable to those given peacemakers and warriors, including medals and tax exemptions, says the chief of defence staff.
Theses soldiers, who protect diplomats and embassies in places like Afghanistan and parts of the Middle East, are currently not eligible for many of the benefits afforded their front-line brethren, but they should be, said General Ray Hénault.
“Certainly they have equal risk,” Gen. Hénault said in an interview. “Although they are not patrolling the streets like the force here and there are ... things they are not required to do, they are nonetheless in a very volatile environment.
“They are vulnerable to all of the things that many of our [soldiers] here are vulnerable to, whether it be unexploded ordnance or improvised devices or suicide bombers. The risks are there. We can't discount that.”
Military Guard Support Units, as they are called, are made up of regular forces troops seconded to embassies around the world for a year at a time.
Combat and peacemaking tours are only six months, but embassy security is considered a posting, similar to appointments in Germany or the United States, only their families are not posted with them.
Their job is to guard the ambassador, his staff and the embassy itself. And, in Kabul, they are hopelessly undermanned and under-equipped.
“These men have ... faced the business end of rifles on a daily basis,” said a source. “They have lived not under the protection of a military camp with hundreds of armed soldiers but in the middle of a very dangerous city.”
They get comparable vacation benefits but, as far as food goes, they are on their own, receiving a $300-a-month food allowance to live on the local diet rather than getting three squares a day of inspected, imported western food.
Before their secondment, the embassy guards were told to “get their affairs in order” and top up their life insurance.
If killed, their spouses are entitled to the same benefits as those of a deployed soldier, but the dead embassy guard would not necessarily be afforded military honours at his funeral.
“The members of the security guard unit receive a ‘hostility allowance,' whereas soldiers deployed on a mission receive a ‘risk allowance',” said Heather Brunner, a Defence Department spokeswoman.
Determining what operations are eligible for a tax exemption is so far based on a number of factors, she said, including risk allowance and the level of threat for the operation.
“Because members of the MSGU do not receive a risk allowance, they are therefore not eligible for the tax exemption benefit. Any changes to who is eligible for the tax exemption would have to be via a cabinet decision,” she said.
By comparison, Canadian special forces troops are deployed to guard key military personnel in Afghanistan, such as the head of NATO's International Security Assistance Force, Lt.-Gen. Rick Hiller, for only four months.
Yet they receive full military benefits, including meals, medals and tax breaks.
Criteria for an Afghan service medal are currently being considered by the Governor General, whose office is responsible for military honours.
The federal government has not finalized criteria for the tax break, which was announced in the last federal budget.
Canadian Press
Sunday, Jun 27, 2004
Kabul — Soldiers guarding Canadian embassies in high-risk areas should receive benefits comparable to those given peacemakers and warriors, including medals and tax exemptions, says the chief of defence staff.
Theses soldiers, who protect diplomats and embassies in places like Afghanistan and parts of the Middle East, are currently not eligible for many of the benefits afforded their front-line brethren, but they should be, said General Ray Hénault.
“Certainly they have equal risk,” Gen. Hénault said in an interview. “Although they are not patrolling the streets like the force here and there are ... things they are not required to do, they are nonetheless in a very volatile environment.
“They are vulnerable to all of the things that many of our [soldiers] here are vulnerable to, whether it be unexploded ordnance or improvised devices or suicide bombers. The risks are there. We can't discount that.”
Military Guard Support Units, as they are called, are made up of regular forces troops seconded to embassies around the world for a year at a time.
Combat and peacemaking tours are only six months, but embassy security is considered a posting, similar to appointments in Germany or the United States, only their families are not posted with them.
Their job is to guard the ambassador, his staff and the embassy itself. And, in Kabul, they are hopelessly undermanned and under-equipped.
“These men have ... faced the business end of rifles on a daily basis,” said a source. “They have lived not under the protection of a military camp with hundreds of armed soldiers but in the middle of a very dangerous city.”
They get comparable vacation benefits but, as far as food goes, they are on their own, receiving a $300-a-month food allowance to live on the local diet rather than getting three squares a day of inspected, imported western food.
Before their secondment, the embassy guards were told to “get their affairs in order” and top up their life insurance.
If killed, their spouses are entitled to the same benefits as those of a deployed soldier, but the dead embassy guard would not necessarily be afforded military honours at his funeral.
“The members of the security guard unit receive a ‘hostility allowance,' whereas soldiers deployed on a mission receive a ‘risk allowance',” said Heather Brunner, a Defence Department spokeswoman.
Determining what operations are eligible for a tax exemption is so far based on a number of factors, she said, including risk allowance and the level of threat for the operation.
“Because members of the MSGU do not receive a risk allowance, they are therefore not eligible for the tax exemption benefit. Any changes to who is eligible for the tax exemption would have to be via a cabinet decision,” she said.
By comparison, Canadian special forces troops are deployed to guard key military personnel in Afghanistan, such as the head of NATO's International Security Assistance Force, Lt.-Gen. Rick Hiller, for only four months.
Yet they receive full military benefits, including meals, medals and tax breaks.
Criteria for an Afghan service medal are currently being considered by the Governor General, whose office is responsible for military honours.
The federal government has not finalized criteria for the tax break, which was announced in the last federal budget.