Robert Chaloux

From my earliest memories, I always knew what I wanted to do for a living: become a Canadian Army Officer to serve our country at home and abroad. The thought of leading soldiers, living, and working throughout Canada and the world, and doing exciting, worthwhile work was my great passion. To achieve my aims, I studied hard at school, was active in Army Cadets, participated in sports and prepared diligently for my Military College application. All went well and I graduated from Le College Militaire Royal in 1984 with a university degree and a Queen’s Commission as an officer in the Canadian Armed Forces. I’ve had many memorable and rewarding experiences during my career, but for this story I will cover my United Nations (UN) mission in Sudan in 2005.

I was serving with a special UN Brigade HQ in Denmark at the time, so I flew out of Copenhagen on Sunday 10 April for a six-month tour in Khartoum, Sudan with the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) as the Senior Staff Officer for the Joint Logistics Operations Centre. Basically, I would be working as part of the team that would control and coordinate the logistics for the mission, both military and civilian. I am a highly skilled logistics officer, at one point commanding the Logistics School, and this mission was to prove to be a true test of my capabilities as an officer and logistician.

We flew in at about 2230 hrs local time and the temperature was in the 30’s °C. During the day it goes up to 45°C. The smell was also something. It brought back strong memories of other Arab cities such as Damascus and Cairo. The country is extremely poor and underdeveloped. Chaos reigns everywhere. Everything is beat up and neglected, and there is trash EVERYWHERE. People literally sleep on the streets between traffic (which is something to behold; Montréal is not too bad!). There are over 2 million refugees from the south living throughout the city in appalling conditions. Needless to say, we were no longer in Scandinavia.

Our job was to be ready to receive military contingents from around the world into places that had absolutely no infrastructure. It was also the start of the rainy season, and the roads were soon impassable. Most equipment, people and supplies had to be brought in by air. The UN had a few planes and helicopters, but making this work was very complicated. The actual job was very exciting and challenging, as we were conducting real life logistics to accomplish an extremely complex operation. It is rare to get such an opportunity and we made the best of it and achieved our mission.

At one stage I went for a trip to the south to view the UN Logistics Base in El Obeid and the Kenyan Team site in Rumbek (ex-rebel held area and provisional capital of the South). El Obeid was fascinating as it was the hub for the World Food Program’s effort to feed the Sudanese. Food arrived from Port Sudan by road (tractor trailers) where it was stored in big warehouses. From there, the food was bagged five times by locals and put onto air droppable pallets. It was then loaded onto big Russian planes (flown by Bulgarians) and dropped to the people who needed the food (no parachutes). It is estimated that over 1 million would have died if this effort were to cease. The food was almost all from the USA, which is interesting when you see all the “Down with America” signs and banners in Khartoum. Makes me think about the expression: “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you”! This effort was truly the UN at its best.

We also participated in some social activities. The last thing I did on my day of departure was to visit the site of the Battle of Omdurman. Very interesting place, still with a monument to the 21^st Lancers of the British Cavalry who led the famous charge there. Winston Churchill took part in it and wrote about it in his book “The River War”. This was where the Brits defeated the Sudanese with the help of machine guns and artillery. The Sudanese lost over 20,000 dead while the Brits suffered fewer than 40 casualties. This was the beginning of the British rule, which lasted until 1956.

This mission was an excellent adventure that tested all my professional competencies. This was one of the worst places in the world and we were able to get the mission up and running, within the UN system. The cause was just, and the Sudanese people were worthy of our efforts. They were wonderful to us; I have made many good friends here that I will keep in contact with. This was my favourite deployment.