Could you ever imagine Major League Baseball sitting down to write a schedule that didn’t call for the Yankees and Red Sox to meet? Or the National Hockey League composing a calendar without the Canadiens and Maple Leafs clashing?

So how come Royal Military College, where for many years the only athletic event that has mattered is the annual hockey match with the U.S. Military Academy, forgot to pencil West Point onto its agenda for 2006-07?

Barring a miracle, the longest continuous international sporting rivalry in the world will lapse this year. It began in 1923, when Douglas MacArthur, superintendent at West Point, and Sir Archibald Macdonell, commandant at RMC, conceived it as part of an exchange to foster an esprit de corps between the two academies. It will end, it seems, because neither side really wants it to continue.

West Point soured on the game once RMC started using reservists – part-time students – on its varsity teams, as Canadian intercollegiate rules permit. West Point believes the spirit of the game demands full-time cadets.

RMC soured on the game when it began having civilian coaches and administrators who cared not a whit about military tradition. They began to see the game as a nuisance, an intrusion into playoff preparation, a place to get players hurt or suspended while playing a game they saw not as iconic, but as an exhibition.

So while as early as last winter RMC spoke of moving the game to the fall, before each team’s respective regular seasons begin, West Point booked Feb. 10, the usual time of year – as per a 10-year agreement still in effect, by the way – for the 2007 contest. Not having been asked to leave that date open, Ontario University Athletics scheduled the Paladins for two regular-season games.

RMC’s posture is laughable in a couple of ways. It stands on the principle of using part-time students, in the name of having the best team it can have, yet of the 31 teams playing university hockey in Canada, only two have lost more games this season than RMC, a team that hasn’t won a playoff game in five years. Clearly, letting reservists in the back door isn’t helping.

One could also question the emphasis on winning. RMC has never been about winning. If winning was important, the college wouldn’t have cancelled the only program – football – that ever won anything. If winning mattered, RMC wouldn’t have women’s basketball and volleyball teams that are 0-for-their existence.

If RMC doesn’t care about this hockey game, why should the rest of us care? Because the college is an enigma to most of us. There are very few things cadets do publicly, and, of them, perhaps hockey is the one with which we most readily identify. No hockey game embodies a fighting spirit more than the RMC-West Point game.

At RMC, athletics director Darren Cates hopes to resurrect the game in the fall of 2007. Therefore, the series would still be continuous, he says, since there was a game in 2006 (at the end of the 2005-06 season) and in 2007 (at the start of the 2007-08 season). That’s nonsense. You skip a season, the continuity ends. A bit of history dies.

RMC needs to work to make this game happen this season or it needs to hold accountable the people who let it die. Tradition has to count for something, at least for more than a regular-season game at Ryerson.

A conflict in schedules has brought about the end of the long-time rivalry between Army and Canada’s Royal Military College of Kingston, Ont. The Army-RMC series is recognized as the oldest continuous international rivalry, having started in 1923 and played every year since 1949.

According to a long-term contract, this year’s game was scheduled for February 10 in West Point. RMC has a weekend league series with Toronto and Ryerson on Feb. 9-10. "It's disappointing," Army coach Brian Riley said, "But who knows? We will get together to see if we can iron some things out."

Former RMC coach Danny McLeod (1960-71) is eager to see the series remain alive, and he is trying to organize a committee made up of members from both schools to see to it. He would like to see the teams play the contest at the end of this season, although both schools have league playoff responsibilities.

A conflict has arisen in recent years with RMC using players who were non-traditional students, such as member of the Canadian military. Army is bound by NCAA rules that require traditional students taking a proper load of classes. "It's just a difference in philosophy. In my eyes, it's not cadet versus cadet anymore," Riley said. "This, I think we had to fess up to, but the commandant did not know this was happening and he took steps to correct it as soon as it was drawn to his attention," McLeod said. 

The first meeting took place in 1923, thanks to the efforts of West Point Superintendent Brig. Gen. Douglas MacArthur and RMC's commandant, Maj. Gen. Sir Archibald MacDonnell. The game has alternated between West Point and Kingston, Ont., every year with the exception of nine seasons when the game was not held: 1926, 1940-41 and 1943-48. "That was the game anyone ever talked about," said Jack Riley, a hockey Hall of Famer, Army's former long-time coach and the father of Brian Riley.

McLeod has urged Jack Riley to join a committee, but Riley says he will support whatever his son wants.

"I think there's too much respect for one another to have something separating the two institutions, and I believe that sensible people sitting down at a table with the ultimate goal to have this great tradition continue what we have to do to get it back on the rails," McLeod said. "We've been through tougher things than that before."

McLeod said it's important to foster an "esprit de corps" between the two academies. In terms of West Point athletics, the Army-RMC hockey game was on par with the Army-Navy football rivalry, though the addition of Air Force to Army's schedule in the late 1960s diluted the significance of the only two North American service academies facing one another. Brian Riley said his team could benefit from having an open weekend with two weekends remaining in the Atlantic Hockey schedule.

"I think it's disappointing for the traditional part of it because there is a lot of history to it," Riley said, "but time changes everything and maybe it's just hard for two hockey teams to get together like they once did."

Army is trying to work out a compromise with Canada's Royal Military College in order to continue the long-standing hockey rivalry between the two institutions.

Ed:  It should be noted that Kelly Nobes, the previous hockey coach, resigned his RMC position last summer.  Kelly took over the head coaching position at Wilfrid Laurier University who currently lead the OUA Mid West Division and are currently ranked number 7 in the country.

Le 26 décembre 2006

Stéphane Dion, M.P.
Chef de l’Opposition
Chambre des communes
Ottawa (Ontario)
Canada
K1A 0A6 

Objet: Votre position sur les troupes canadiennes en Afghanistan 

Monsieur le Député, 

La position du Parti Libéral concernant le bien fondé de la présence de troupes canadiennes en Afghanistan résulte assurément d’une profonde réflexion des membres de votre caucus et de vos conseillers en la matière et possiblement d’une consultation des citoyens que vous représentez. Nous respectons donc votre opinion et celle de votre parti en la matière ainsi que le droit le plus sacré que vous accorde la constitution du Canada de l’exprimer publiquement. 

L’objet de cette lettre est simplement de vous sensibiliser au fait que vos propos sont rapidement rapportés à nos troupes déployées à travers le monde et à leurs familles par les médias électroniques.  Or, ces propos ont un profond effet sur le moral de soldats qui tentent de remplir les engagements du gouvernement du Canada au meilleur de leur habilité dans des circonstances extrêmement difficiles où leur vie est en jeu chaque jour.  Leurs familles toujours au pays n’en sont pas moins affectées puisqu’elles doivent vivre dans une constante inquiétude concernant leur sécurité. 

Les Anciens des Collèges Militaires Royaux du Canada vous prient donc de faire preuve de prudence et de modération dans vos échanges publics à ce sujet.  La décision de maintenir ou de retirer nos troupes de missions à l’étranger appartient aux Élus de la Chambre des Communes et, quelque soit la direction choisie par les Élus, les Forces Armées Canadiennes sauront sans doute s’acquitter de leurs tâches avec le plus grand professionnalisme.  Nous souhaitons que les Élus que vous dirigez démontrent le plus grand respect possible pour le sacrifice que font ces soldats, particulièrement ceux qui se trouvent présentement en Afghanistan, en prenant toutes les précautions nécessaires pour leur démontrer le support du Parlement dans les débats qui entourent cette question. 

Pierre Ducharme
Président 

H24263 Dr. John Cowan

Dr. John Cowan Confirmed as Principal of the Royal Military College of Canada
http://www.forces.gc.ca/site/newsroom/view_news_e.asp?id=2173

The 23^rd Annual Conference of Defence Associations Institute (CDAI) Seminar and the 70^th Conference of Defence Associations Annual General Meeting will be held 14-16 February 2007 at the Fairmont Chatêau Laurier, in Ottawa, Ontario Canada.

The 23^rd CDAI Seminar, which takes place on 15 February 2007, is presented in collaboration with Queen’s University, Pratt & Whitney Canada, General Dynamics, Boeing, Bombardier, Magna Corporation, and the Department of National Defence’s Security and Defence Forum.  This year’s theme is Canada’s Security Interests, and will feature the following guest speakers:

The Right Honourable Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada (invited);

5105 Dr. Jack L. Granatstein (CMR RMC '61), one of Canada's most distinguished historians; Dr. Douglas Bland, Queen’s University; 4860 General (ret’d) John de Chastelain (RMC ’60), former Chief of Defence Staff; Dr. Rob Huebert, University of Calgary; Dr. Alexander Moens, Simon Fraser University; Dr. Stéphane Roussel, l’Université du Québec à Montréal; Lieutenant-General Eric Findley, Deputy Commander NORAD; Senator Colin Kenny; Dr. Jim Boutilier; S151 Senator Hugh Segal (invited); 6523 Mr. Terry Colfer (RMC ’65), former Ambassador to Iran; Mr. Peter Harder, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs; Major General Jonathon Riley, former Commanding General of the Multi-national Division (South-East) and General Officer Commanding British Forces in Iraq; Brigadier-General David Fraser, former Commander of the Multi-national Brigade for Regional Command South in Afghanistan. 

3528 General (ret’d) Paul Manson (RRMC / RMC ’56), President of CDAI will preside over the Seminar.

The 70^th CDA AGM will take place on 16 February 2007, with open sessions based on the theme Canada’s Security Interests – Impact on the CF.  This year’s speakers include:

The Honourable Gordon O’Connor, Minister of National Defence; S148 General Rick Hillier, Chief of the Defence Staff; General Peter Schoomaker, Chief of Staff of the US Army; 5105 Dr. J.L. Granatstein (CMR / RMC ’61); 11363 Lieutenant-General J.C.M. Gauthier (RMC ’77), Commander Canadian Expeditionary Forces Command; Lieutenant-General M.J. Dumais, Commander Canada Command

4377 Lieutenant-General (ret’d) Richard Evraire (CMR / RMC ’59), Chairman of CDA, will preside over the AGM.

To view the agenda and register, visit:

http://www.cda-cdai.ca/AGM_Agenda.htm

or contact +1 (613) 236-9903

While many of us will celebrate the holidays with our loved ones, a local soldier has to spend his fulfilling his tour of duty.

Captain Jason Quilliam has been in Afghanistan since August 15 and will remain in the country until March 2007. He is currently serving in Kandahar, helping to accomplish the objectives of Joint Task Force Afghanistan (JTF-Afg).

JTF-Afg is Canada’s contribution to NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. The mission focuses on helping Afghans rebuild their lives and nation. Canadian Forces personnel are working to improve the quality of life in Afghanistan by providing a more secure environment in an attempt to recover from over 25 years of conflict. Canada’s contribution to the Afghanistan mission includes about 2,500 soldiers.

Capt. Quilliam is the officer commanding the Kandahar Airfield Military Police Platoon (Canadian). He is responsible for the provision of police and security services to the JTF-Afg commander.

His platoon is also a convey element for the national command element of the Canadian contingent, which escorts units outside the base. Capt. Quilliam is also the deputy task force provost marshal, which requires him to provide advice to the provost marshal and to the JTF-Afg commander on police and security issues. 

LEGACY OF SERVICE

“I’m actually a base brat, which means I grew up in a military family on military bases,” Capt. Quilliam told the Advertiser. “I was born in Portage La Prairie, Man. and spent my growing up years on military bases across Canada and Germany. My roots are in Newfoundland, however. (I spent) many summers and holidays in the Grand Falls-Windsor area.”

Capt. Quilliam’s father, Tom, served 25 years in the Canadian Forces, including a peacekeeping tour in Egypt in 1975. His grandfather, Tom Sr., served in the United Kingdom Merchant Navy during the Second World War before moving to Newfoundland. His great-grandfather also wore a uniform, serving with the Royal Newfoundland Regiment during the First World War. Capt. Quilliam said he is “very proud” of his family’s military history and that it was only natural for him to wear a uniform as well.

“I applied for the Royal Military College (RMC) while I was still in Grade 12,” he explained. “I had to go through a battery of tests and interviews. The process is fairly comprehensive and certainly very competitive. (About) 350 people enter the RMC every year, but they receive literally thousands of applications. I graduated in 2002 with a degree in history.”

Capt. Quilliam has been posted throughout Quebec and Ontario before arriving at his current post in Halifax, N.S.

HOLIDAY HOMESICKNESS

Spending the holidays in Afghanistan is obviously not how most people envision their Christmas, but Capt. Quilliam said it is something he has come to accept.

“Honestly, it’s been tough,” he said. “The mess hall and some offices have tried to get into the spirit by decorating, and I’m sure there will be a great spread of turkey on Christmas day, but for me I think the 25^th won’t be much different from the 24^th or the 26^th. I’m fine with that, though. While I’ll mark Christmas in some fashion, I’m generally too busy to think about what I’m missing back home. I completely forgot that it was Thanksgiving back in October and I actually worked right through our turkey dinner.”

His mother, Tammy, said while she didn’t really like to talk about her son’s tour of duty at first, she is now dealing with the situation much better.

“It’s very tough sometimes,” she said. “It’s hard to deal with, but we love and miss him very much.”

Capt. Quilliam added he copes with being away from his family by “doing his best to focus on the mission at hand.

“We are very busy over here, so the days go by really fast,” he said. “I really can’t believe that we’re mid-way through the month of December already. I keep in contact (with my family) via e-mail and over the phone when I can. I call my parents every Sunday that I can.”

Capt. Quilliam said he has been lucky to receive letters and care packages from his loved ones. His parents send him mail once a months and he said the amount of mail he has received has increased dramatically with the holidays approaching.

“We also get a lot of “any Canadian soldier” packages, which are always nice to see,” he said. “We try to respond as best as we can." 

A WORTHWHILE MISSION

Capt. Quilliam said the opportunity to go to Afghanistan and being a part of JTF-Afg has been the highlight of his military career thus far.

“After 10 years of training and gaining experience within the military police trade, I’m very proud to be able to represent Canada in a small capacity in this nation that needs our help,” he said.

He would also like to send a message to the readers of the Advertiser.

“Obviously, I would like to with everyone all the best this holiday season,” he said. “We miss you folks from back home in Canada and appreciate all of the support we receive here from you. Continue to support what we’re doing over here. It is a difficult mission and not a particularly popular one in some respects if I’m reading things right over the Internet. I assure you that we’re doing very valuable things for Afghans and for Afghanistan. We are giving them some measure of peace and helping them as best we can to rebuild their lives after so many years."