Media Advisory

DART Personnel to Return to Canada

MA–05.073 - December 2, 2005

OTTAWA – The first flight from Pakistan, bringing about 100 members of the Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) home to Canada, is scheduled to arrive at 8 Wing Trenton, Ontario, on Saturday, December 3, at 8:15 a.m. EST. Prior to arriving in Trenton, the CC-150 Airbus will stop in Fredericton, N.B. at approximately 6:15 a.m. AST to return DART members who are stationed in Eastern Canada.

Some DART members will be available for interviews in both Fredericton and Trenton.

Most of the DART personnel disembarking in Trenton are soldiers from 2 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group (2 CMBG) at Petawawa, Ontario, and from the Canadian Forces Joint Headquarters (CFJHQ) at Kingston, Ontario. Disembarking in Fredericton, are approximately 30 soldiers from CFB Gagetown, and 5 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group at Valcartier, Que.

Lieutenant-General Marc Dumais, the Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff, will be at the 8 Wing terminal to greet the troops and address the media. Colonel Pat Stogran, Commander of the Canadian Forces Joint Operations Group will also be in attendance.

The second homebound flight of DART personnel is scheduled to arrive at 8 Wing Trenton on Sunday, December 4, at 10:00 p.m. EST.

Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, Governor General of Canada and General Rick Hillier, the Chief of Defence Staff, are expected to meet the third and final DART flight, which is scheduled to arrive at 8 Wing Trenton on Friday, December 9, at 4:30 p.m. EST. Lieutenant-Colonel Mike Voith, the DART commanding officer, who will be aboard that flight, will be available, along with General Hillier, to speak with media about the DART deployment to Pakistan.

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Notes to editors:

Interested media must contact Captain Nicole Meszaros, 8 Wing Public Affairs Officer prior to 6 p.m. Friday December 2, to confirm their attendance at the Saturday morning arrival.

Media wishing to cover the Sunday night arrival must confirm their interest by 3 p.m. Sunday afternoon. She can be reached in her office at (613) 392-2811 ext 2041, or on her cellular telephone at (613) 391-8805.

Canadian Forces (CF) Combat Camera videos of the DART in Pakistan are available at www.combatcamera.forces.gc.ca/common/combatcamera/news Click on Op PLATEAU . These videos are transmitted by Internet, and are updated whenever new material is available. They are in MPEG 4 format and consequently must be re-sized for broadcast; once re-sized, its quality is equivalent to that of video received by SAT videophone. Directions for re-sizing are also available on the Combat Camera website.

For Combat Camera still imagery of Operation PLATEAU , visit http://www.combatcamera.forces.gc.ca/common/combatcamera/find_e.asp