National Defence committee  I'm not aware of the photos. That's why I would say it's worth getting clarity on this.

National Defence committee  What have we taught other people?

National Defence committee  My goodness, we have taught quite a lot. Every time the Canadian Forces chief and I visit other nations I normally talk to the chief of their defence staff, my counterpart, and the Canadian Forces chief talks to the senior enlisted advisor, and it's interesting, because we get back together afterwards and compare notes.

National Defence committee  I would just say, too, that the commander of the air force has to look at the capability of the helicopters we have currently on the ground, and where they are in terms of their life, because we didn't purchase those aircraft new. They had been used by the U.S. army, and therefore they had a lot of hours on the aircraft.

National Defence committee  The training will be significantly enhanced because of the lessons we've learned over the last while. Afghanistan sets a benchmark for what global conflict could look like in the future. We are using lessons learned from the Malayan campaign in the 1950s. That is the counter-insurgency that the British dealt with in Malaya in the 1950s.

National Defence committee  Mr. Chair, at this point in time, before the assessment that.... Again, General McQuillan's staff will involve also all those technicians who will descend upon the equipment and do an assessment of it—that equipment that is not worth bringing home from an economic standpoint, that equipment that is worth handing off to our allies or indeed the Afghans.

National Defence committee  I'll just say that the Canadian Forces have a capacity to do operations around the world on a continuous basis--on a continuous basis. Indeed, equipment fatigue is often more significant than individuals' fatigue. As I mentioned before, there are people who are on their second, third, and fourth tours, because they want to be.

National Defence committee  That's just to say that everyone is different. Today we have 67,300 members of the regular force and in the order of 25,000 in the reserve force, and they all put on their uniforms to go somewhere. We all have different family circumstances. We all react differently to stress. I am so pleased that we have made huge progress in supporting those who've gone through some stress and that we are also tailoring our personnel policies to accommodate especially those who have made significant sacrifices for our country.

National Defence committee  I don't know. Again, I'll have to refer back to the battalion commander of the day, and perhaps we can get a response in that regard--

National Defence committee  Again, from my perspective, having spoken to.... I mean, on May 4, 2007, here I am calling the platoon commander, okay? It's not often that the vice-chief of defence actually calls the platoon commander, but again, I wasn't there. Other people weren't there. I wanted to make sure that I understood the perspective and the context, and I also spoke to the commanding officer, Colonel Ian Hope, and refreshing my memory again last night: that our soldiers question, indeed, thousands of Afghans, each and every day.

National Defence committee  I would have to refer back to Colonel Hope why they would take pictures in this event. From my perspective, I didn't even know they took pictures, and again, I didn't see the notes from the military police who came in after the event.

National Defence committee  —but again, from the information provided to me, and again, I wasn't there....

National Defence committee  Given that General Lessard was living there on the ground for nine months and has been commanding CEFCOM these past few months, I think he can give us a pretty good overview.

National Defence committee  To put it in perspective, the projects that General Lessard mentioned are very much in the local community, in advance of the signature project on the Dahla Dam. The area we're working in is the bread basket of southern Afghanistan, along the Arghandab River. The Arghandab River is at the northern end of this Arghandab valley.

National Defence committee  Could there be a translation problem?