Military tightens up secrecy on injuries to crack soldiers

Gerald Young
Times-Colonist

The military has clammed up about an explosion that injured two members of its crack counter-terrorist unit in a Commonwealth Games exercise.

Maj. Don Roy, a spokesman for the Department of National Defence in Victoria, said Friday he can't even comment on the infuries other than to say that they aren't life threatening. "I've been advised I will not be giving any further details on this," he said.

One soldier lost two fingers and another was burned.

He wouldn't release the names of the injured soldiers, their ranks for their home towns.

They are part of the military's Joint Task Force known as JTF-2. The highly secretive unit is the successor of JTF-1, which served in the Gulf War. The unit took over SWAT-duties previously down by the RCMP.

The unit is so secretive that even most Victoria-area DND staff were unawere it was in town. It is believed to be based in Ottawa.

The unit, led by Lieut.-Col. Gaston Cote, brought more than 100 members to the exercise.

They were participating in a training exercise called Exercise Praetorian, a three-day drill involving mock hostage-takings and including police involved in security for the Games in August.

The exercises were concluding near Bamberton at the old B.C. Cement Company site when a military noise or stun grenade went off and injured the soldiers. They were airlifted by military helicopter to Victoria General Hospital. The burned soldier's wound was to the shoulder.

Because so many dignitaries and heads of states will be visiting Victoria, the unit will be on call during the games. But it is a closely-gaurded secret when the unit will arrive for the even and where it will be housed.

Sources say the camouflaged soldiers with the shaved heads come heavily armed and trained in the federal governmnent's policy on hostage-taking.

The injuries are being investigated by the police, the military, and CSIS - the Candian Security Intelligence Service, which was also part of Praetorian.

About 400 people were involved in the exercise.

RCMP Supt. Kelly Folk, head of the Games integrated police planning committee, called Praetorian an "unqualified success," and said the accident was bad luck that sometimes happens in training exercises.

He said he has heard one injured soldier was transferred to Royal Jubilee Hospital and could not have his fingers reattatched due to extensive damage.

The exercise allowed Games police to open their Joint Forces Command Post early and work out glitches, he said.

The main glitches were in paper flow and policy, he said. He expects those to be worked out leading up the to the Games and when the command post opens Aug. 6, the day before the athletes begin arriving and 12 days before the opening ceremonies..
Young, G. (1994, June 11). Military tightens up secrecy on injuries to crack soldiers.