The Glen: Winter 2018 – Volume 7 Issue 1

This issue of The Glen is so filled with articles – thanks to a large number of contributors – that it isn’t possible to mention them all. This limits me to drawing attention to only a handful.A key plank in Cana-da’s recent Defence Policy Review is to strengthen the Army reserves. This now al-lows the Unit to aggressively recruit and a goal has been set to fill the majority of its 271 assigned positions by January 2019. B Compa-ny is to become a Combat Support Company and raise a mortar platoon, and together with the Loyal Edmonton Regiment, deploy a com-posite mortar platoon to Latvia with 3 PPCLI in 2019. The Command Team article gives addi-tional information on this step forward.

Perhaps the two biggest stories from the sum-mer of 2017 were the burial of Sgt Milne – a 10th Battalion soldier killed during the Battle of Arleux Loop 100 years earlier – and the Unit’s fielding of a team in the Nijmegen Four Day Marches. Both stories are covered extensively; Sgt Milne’s burial on page 7 and the 160 km marches on page 38. In both cases the Unit’s soldiers set a standard that brings credit to The Calgary Highlanders.
One issue that The Glen has not addressed, until now, is PTSD. Elizabeth Stock has recti-fied this omission with an article beginning on page 16. In it, she points out that the Canadi-an programs for treating PTSD and OSI (Operational Stress injuries) have come a long way and are amongst the best available. How-ever, there is a significant challenge in getting soldiers and veterans ‘to overcome the invisible barriers to treatment’ or, to put it another way, to get them through the door. In order to encourage access to treatment, her article ex-plains what’s available and provides a short list of contact information, answering the question, ‘who you gonna call’.

And finally, The Glen was first published in 1939, almost 80 years ago. Since then it has been the responsibility of a series of editors including, for the past eight years, myself. However, it’s now time to pass the torch, so to speak, and CWO Kent Griffiths has stepped up to the challenge. I know that the Regimental family will give Kent the support that I’ve en-joyed so that The Glen can continue to pro-mote the story of The Calgary Highlanders.
Airaghardt