The SANDPAPER - snclavalinpae.com sandpaper_volume iv... · Page 3 Volume IV, Issue 1 The SANDPAPER NEWSLETTER FOR CANCAP EMPLOYEES & FAMILIES ISO 9001:2008 Certified Excellence in

Special points of interest: THE CLOSEOUT LOGO

IS REVEALED ON PAGE 13!! CONGRATULA-

TIONS TO RYAN LE-

TOURNEAU WHO DE-

SIGNED IT AND THANKS T O Z H A O D O N G (DANNY) WANG FOR CONVERTING IT TO DIGITAL FORMAT!

RAINY SEASON IN KAF 1

CANCAP PROGRAM MANAGER’S CORNER

2

SAFETY AWARD PROGRAM 3

NEW WEBSITE 4

JANUARY 1, 2011 5

CANCAP BBQS 6

MMA WITH DAN IRELAND 8

TRIBUTE TO MARC CYR 9

PM’S MESSAGE 10

BALL BUSTERS WOMEN’S HOCKEY TEAM

11

MEET THE PMOO 12

TEARDOWN LOGO—CONTEST WINNER

13

TRAVEL TALES 14

WE’RE STILL HIRING 15

TEAM CANADA MARCH VISIT

16

PM HARPER’S VISIT 13

Inside this issue:

S N C - L A V A L I N P A E I N C . N E W S L E T T E R F O R C A N C A P E M P L O Y E E S & F A M I L I E S

The SANDPAPER ISO 9001:2008 Certified

VOLUME IV, ISSUE 1

WINTER/SPRING 2011 RAINY SEASON IN KANDAHAR AIRFIELD

Volume IV, Issue 1—WINTER/SPRING 2011

Most of the time we live in a hot, dry desert, but we definitely have a rainy season too—in the winter months here in Kandahar—as evidenced by the photographs taken around KAF by CANCAPers Richard Bourassa, Chris Kerr, and Laura Williams. (Anyone want to buy a slightly used and damp backhoe?)

ABOVE LEFT: 'Ooops' by Richard Bourassa. ABOVE RIGHT: ‘Playing in Puddles’ by Chris Kerr.

BELOW LEFT: ‘Yup, It’s Raining’ by Laura Williams. BELOW RIGHT: ‘Flooded Tentline’ by Chris Kerr.

Thanks to all contributors for these memorable photos!

What a year so far! Things are chang-

ing and they will continue to change as we move forward in 2011. On my two trips to KAF this year to date, the common question is “What is going to happen?” Up until now we could only answer with more estimates and interesting rumours based on perhaps and maybe.

During my last visit our team made sev-eral presentations to all employees con-cerning new vacation travel benefits dur-ing transition and the impact of changing operations on employee agreements.

Overall, I felt the interaction went well and we all understand how important these benefits and working agreements are to each of you. I think we were able to offer some attractive benefits for those of you who sign a new agreement for transition and we will con-tinue to work to improve other areas.

Let me spend most of this cor-ner in looking ahead. Transi-

tion from Kandahar will mark a major step in our company history. I know we will be able to look back on our com-pany’s record on KAF and Camp Nathan Smith (CNS) with great pride and satisfaction. This is a statement more than borne out by our military colleagues who have given us the highest assessments and fully recognize the contribution CANCAP has made to their operations in Kan-dahar. Each of you should take personal pride in your own achievements as every one on the pro-ject team has been part of our success.

PROGRAM MANAGER’S CORNER A Message From Ian Malcolm

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Volume IV, Issue 1 The SANDPAPER N E W S L E T T E R F O R C A N C A P E M P L O Y E E S & F A M I L I E S

ISO 9001:2008 Certified

I see a very interesting time over the next six months where we will see huge changes coming at us very rapidly. As the military reduces its presence, we, of course, will also reduce ours. Our commitment to you is to give you as much notice as possible, make sure you get your de-served vacation benefits and EOC payments, and get you home on a high note with good memories of your work on KAF. We expect to be closed on KAF around late November or early December with a small last group “closing” the CANCAP lights as we leave.

We now have a planning task order for support in Kabul and we will be working with DND to define the work over the next few weeks. Kabul

will be much smaller than KAF and involve fewer job areas. However, there will be some opportunities there and we will be send-ing some people from KAF to help start up. Again, we will give as much advance notice as we can and keep you updated as things develop. We expect to be in Ka-bul until December 2012 and we are all very excited about returning to the city where we started the adventures in 2003.

It is my intention to start Kabul at the highest possible level and draw upon our tremendous results on KAF to achieve that goal. The rest of 2011 promises many challenges and many op-portunities. I look forward to working with you for our continued success. See you in KAF.

Ian Malcolm CANCAP Program Manager

Ian Malcolm playing ball hockey in KAF.

Page 3



Excellence in safety is not a destination, but an ongoing journey requiring vigilance, focus and demonstrated commitment throughout CANCAP. We’re pleased to note that since the introduc-tion of our Safety Award Program, which is intended to recognize and reward sections that have demonstrated excellence in Safety, the trend is a significant reduction in work-related injuries. All section Managers are at the forefront in implementing and taking ownership of Health and Safety in their sections. The Transport Department was the first department to be awarded the monthly Health and Safety Award. For May, the Accommodations Department is the winner—congratulations! Since the program’s inception, MMD has been the top-scoring department—well done MMD team!!

The program has raised leadership effectiveness and involvement bar all Health & Safety of CAN-CAP’s operations in KAF. This results in the following benefits:

• Improved employee safety and quality of services.

• Reduction of work-related injuries and illnesses.

• Program sustainability by reducing costs and losses.

• Reduction in employee absenteeism.

• Improved employee morale.

Thanks to everyone for your efforts in continuing to make our KAF workplace safe!

Kwene Tombwe CANCAP Health & Safety Officer

CANCAP’s SAFETY AWARD PROGRAM Monthly Safety Award Program Recognizes and Rewards Safety Excellence

CANCAP AWARDS

In the previous Sandpaper, we introduced the monthly Lottery and Employee of the month awards. As most of you know, these awards are presented at the monthly BBQs (aka Beer Calls!). The ‘Lottery’ is a ‘luck-of-the-draw ‘ opportunity and three lucky winners receive $500, $350 or $150. For the Employee of the Month Award three CANCAP Managers choose Employ-ees of the Month from their departments, each of whom receive $250. The winners of these prizes for the last few months are listed here. Congratulations!!

Monthly BBQs Offer Opportunities to Win A Lottery and/or Be Recognized as Employee of the Month

LOTTERY WINNERS

1st Prize—$500! 2nd Prize—$350 3rd Prize—$150

JANUARY James Schmitt—MMD Earl Doucette—LEMS Kelly Bebee—CE

FEBRUARY Tanya Montebello—MGT YaWen (Adam) Kang—CIS Janet Garfield—CE

MARCH Erin Macdonald—CIS Neil Thiem—LEMS Patrick Higgins—TPT

APRIL Benoit Latour—LEMS Manie Van Der Westhuizen—CE Carol Jefferson—ACCOM

EMPLOYEE RECOGNITION RECIPIENTS—$250 REWARD! JANUARY CIS—Trevor Gallinger MMD—John Lodge ACCOM—Mike Smith

FEBRUARY MMD—Don Peacock MGT—Peter Budansew LEMS—Jeff Gravel

MARCH MMD—John Routledge CE—Janet Garfield CIS—Nikolai Efremov

APRIL LEMS—Richard LeBreton LEMS—Bruce Mitchell CE—Sylvain Drolet

SNC-LAVALIN PAE HAS A NEW WEBSITE!

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If you haven’t already heard, we’re excited to let you know that we recently launched our newly de-signed website! The site focuses on recruiting and hiring, even giving new hires the opportunity to download all their Joining Instructions and other paperwork directly from our site! The site also has a lot of other good information about CANCAP, including photos and latest news and archived editions of the Sandpaper. If you haven’t already, check it out:

www.snclavalinpae.com Some of the pages are shown below. And don’t forget to pass along the web address to all your friends and family!

Launch of the New Website a Success

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JANUARY 1, 2011—JUST ANOTHER DAY IN PARADISE

If you've ever played a sport, you know that teamwork is essential to success. KAF life is no different than any strenuous sport—teamwork is essential for survival and in most cases, when like-minded, skilled players work to-gether, they usually succeed at getting the job done. At the turn of the year we were greeted by a prime power outage in the tent line and as you can imagine, Con-struction Engineering (CE) pulled off yet another crowd-pleasing job….in record time no less.

At about 1730hrs on January 1, 2011, while most CAN-CAPers were still glowing from their half-day off, one of many IAP Prime Power challenges struck Canada 5. What happened? Simply put: the weathered high voltage cable that connects the two transformers between rows three and four of the tent line failed to transfer power through the electrical panels to our tents. Bottom line: 18 tents were affected by the outage. We pined for power, longed for internet access, but most of all, yearned for heat because when night falls here in the winter months, shivers soon follow.

The grin on Neil Parker’s face was priceless when I asked him to tell me about what hap-pened. “I was fine”, he giggled, “I kept warm in my coveralls.”

Led by Brian Bishop, then CE Operations Manager, the squad reacted by doing the only thing that would guarantee a good night’s sleep for everyone. CE’s own Denis Edwards took a forklift to nearby Canada 3 to put a “borrowed” generator on a flatbed driven by Blair Cochrane from Transport, while ISAF-ATCO Frontec cronies assisted by bringing a genera-tor from the CE yard to Canada 5. In total, the team brought two 125KW generators to the tent line. And like magic, once Electrical Generating Systems (EGS) technicians Stephen Hearfield, Raju Kullampalayam, Bill Hanchard and Cecil Wagner had their babies ready to rumble, electricians Neil Parker and Brian Lawlor connected the power from the generators to the two breaker panels that feed CANCAP tent quarters. Et voilà. By 19h30 (within two short hours!), we were back on Facebook, blow-drying our hair and conserving battery pow-ered flashlights for those late night trips to the rockets (aka portable toilets).

All CE trades are on call 24/7 and it is not rare for the plumbers or EGS techs to get early morning, “Priority 1”emergency calls. When asked about that particular evening, Stephen Hearfield, in a gently accented and laughingly, hero-ish tone said, “we did what had to be done.” I went to bed warm and thankful that CANCAP CE did what they had to. To all who played a role, on behalf of my fellow CANCAPers who slept warmly into the second day of 2011, “MERCI BEAUCOUP!”

Anne Jarbouh

CE ADMINISTRATOR

Power Outage Catapults Construction Engineering Quick Reaction Force Into Action

Neil Parker setting up his tools.

Cecil Wagner and Bill Hanchard.

The enthusiastic team reconnecting the power.

Page 6



CANCAP BBQs!!

BELOW: Music Maestro Neil Carter

Photo credit: Chris McArdle.

CANCAP monthly beer calls continue to be a popular success, especially with the return of our very own music maestro Neil Carter from Transport (and stage guests – rumour has it that MMD’s James Schmitt does a mean rendition of “Free Bird”) to entertain the crowd. As evidenced by the photos, a good time is always had by all!

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CANCAP BBQ FUN

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Volume IV, Issue 1The SANDPAPER N E W S L E T T E R F O R C A N C A P E M P L O Y E E S & F A M I L I E S


MIXED MARTIAL ARTS—A POSITIVE DISTRACTION IN KAF Working, Training and Teaching MMA in KAF

It was March 2010 when I ventured on my journey to

Afghanistan, not knowing what to expect other than it was not going to be a comfortable place to work and live for the next year.

I came to Kandahar Airfield as a support contractor for the Canadian Military and it wasn’t long before my nights away from work back in my six foot by six foot tent space became very boring. It was then that the gym became my home away from home here. The Canadian gym was offer-ing a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu class in the evenings, and I soon learned that the instructor was finishing his tour and the classes would not be continuing. I and BJJ Blue Belt Frank Pelletier out of The Ottawa Academy of Martial Arts met with the Canadian staff at the gym and decided that I would take on the role of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) Club President teaching Boxing/Muay Thai, and Frank would be Vice President teaching Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

The club operated out of the Canadian gym for five months before moving to its own location, giving us more room and the ability to add more classes as well as new Tae-Kwon-Do, Aikido, and women’s self-defence classes.

The club is now going strong with a lot of interest from all NATO forces here on KAF. Having the club open to eve-ryone has allowed me the great opportunity of meeting, teaching and training with some amazing people from all over the world.

In October 2010 the Canadian Military brought the MMA promotional group Wreck MMA to KAF from Ottawa for exhibition fights as part of Team Canada. I was involved with the preparations before and during their stay here in Kandahar, and also had the opportunity to judge for the 2010 card. On the March 9, 2011 we had Wreck back again and it turned out to be an even bigger crowd from 3,000 in attendance in 2010 to about 4,000 this time around. I was also a judge at this year’s card.

The MMA club here on KAF has given me and a lot of others some peace of mind while being away from family and living in a war zone. When the helicopters are roaring, the dust is flying and the smell is so bad we can taste it, we just head on over to the club and train.

A special thanks must go out to several people for all their hard work and dedication: Frank ”Tank” Pelletier, Chris Swann, Keith Weber, Josh Kent, Jason Brooksbank and all the guys and girls who keep coming out and training hard.

I will be leaving Afghanistan in two days now and I am very excited to get home to my family, but will definitely look back on this experience as a great one; because of the MMA Club I was able to deal with the stresses of my job and being away from home in a positive way.

Daniel Ireland

March 2011

Dan Ireland in a Refelctive Moment during Training.

Page 9



On March 21, 2011, CANCAP gathered to say a final goodbye to Marc Cyr as the plaque honouring his memory was unveiled at the Memorial in the NSE headquarters compound. Padre Noel conducted the cere-mony at which friends and fellow employees paid tribute to Marc.

A FAREWELL TRIBUTE TO MARC CYR Fellow CANCAPers Pay Tribute to Marc Cyr as Memorial Plaque is Unveiled

SLOP!

SLIP!

Page 10



PROJECT MANAGER’S MESSAGE Message from Terry Squires

Hello, once again, fellow CANCAPers.

The beautiful sunny summer weather has arrived (unlike back home) and we’re regularly reaching

50 C in the shade and it’s still only May. Forgive me while I borrow a phrase from the Aussies – it’s time to practice slip, slap, slop! Slip on a shirt, Slap on a hat, and Slop on the sun-block.

As we move into the sum-mer months, we’re going to begin the process of closing out operations in KAF. Having been a part of the wrap-up of opera-tions in both Bosnia in 2004 and Camp Julien in 2005, I know that this will

be an enormously challenging period; however, I long ago discovered that there is no problem or situation that won’t be overcome by this diverse group of people who have dedicated themselves to making life easier for the soldiers.

I’ll also take this opportunity to congratulate you for the impression that you, as a group, make in this camp. During the sad occasion of attending a ramp ceremony, an American Colonel noticed us and took the time to write a very nice note to us. I have taken the liberty of excerpting a por-tion of his letter: “Of special note was the im-pression I will always have, how professional, clean and neat and respectable the Canadian civilian contractors looked”.

Well done all.

Terry Squires

CANCAP Project Manager

SLAP!

Page 11



THE BALL BUSTERS—The KHL’s First and Only Ladies Hockey Team

My heart sank as I watched the military Engineer

Support Squadron team passing the ball with light-ning-fast flicks of their wrists, running up and down the pad like they came out of the womb with hockey sticks in their hands and shoes on their feet shouting “Lâches-pas!! Point, to point!”

I’d watched Roto 9’s hockey season avidly, standing at the rink every night in the extreme heat, and now in the cold, and I’d decided that this season I’d actu-ally play. I knew both CANCAP teams were too skilful for little ol’ me, so I had planned on joining my military counterparts in CE. I’d placed my hopes on this team and I was realizing that they were dashed.

My thoughts turned to the fact that, while women were more than welcome to play, there were usually only one or two women on any given team. It was embarrassing to join a team if you had never played before, or weren’t very good, much as you wanted to play. I said aloud to my fellow spectators that I wished there were a ladies-only team, and the figura-tive light bulb blinked on so brightly I blinded my-self.

What if there was a ladies-only team? The next day I had some excited discussions with a few friends and we thought we could probably find 12-15 ladies for this team; enough for three lines, anyway. I passed it by Matt Brunet who was thrilled and offered to put my posters up all over the Canada 7 compound. He even sent his female coworkers into the ablutions to make sure we reached everybody. (Or so he says, anyway. I wouldn’t put it past him to sneak in on his own - he was that excited for the team). Over the next few nights at the gym, I eyed the KHL Ball Hockey League sign up sheet, which required a team name. Eventually I scribbled my contact information down and wrote “Unknown”. This was going to be the hard part.

Luckily, while my brain is usually in “Take It Easy” mode, I have been known to have the occasional flash of brilliance. Janet Garfield and I were brain-storming names to do with sand, hockey, ladies, etc. I’d found a nice roaring cat logo and thought Wild-cats might work, though it didn’t excite me to tears—I just liked the logo. It escapes me exactly how Ball Busters popped into my head—true genius is like that,

I suppose. I remember swivelling in my chair to gape at Janet. She stared at me and I gaped at her for about 5 seconds before saying “Ball Busters.” We knew right away that was it.

We now have 26 ladies on the team with a nice even mix of CANCAP, military and CFPSA. We’re plan-ning some fundraising ventures for the near future. We have several games under our belts and we con-tinue to improve each time. We’re also bonding as a team: screaming our heads off when we score, and cringing with sympathy if somebody falls. The specta-tors are always on our side. (Sometimes I think the

referees are too!). Once I body-checked a guy—purely by accident, I swear— and he was so big he didn’t budge anyway, but he got the penalty and his bench howled with laughter. Every team we play tells me after the game that it’s the most fun they’ve had in years. I think the Ball Busters embody the true spirit of hockey – we have a blast and everyone walks away from our games smiling.

Rachel Clément

CE Administrator

The Ball Busters with

Defence Minister

Peter Mackay

17 March 2011

Photo credit: Chris McArdle

MEET THE PMOO PERSONNEL


INTERESTING AND LITTLE KNOWN

FACTS ABOUT SHANNON

FACT #1:

SHANNON

LOVES ALL

THINGS TO DO

WIH HARRY POTTER—THE MOV-

IES, BOOKS, ETC.—SHE EVEN HAS

A NEVER-BEEN-TOUCHED BOOK

SET TO GIVE TO LILLY WHEN SHE

CAN READ THEM!

FACT #2:

SHANNON LOVES

TO BAKE CHEESE-

CAKES.

FACT # 3:

SHE SPENT THREE MONTHS LIVING

IN NAMIBIA WHEN SHE WAS 10—

HER DAD WAS THERE FOR A UN

PEACEKEEPING MISSION.

FACT # 4:

SHANNON’S BIGGEST GOAL

WHEN SHE RUNS RACES IS TO

BEAT HER DAD (WHICH HAS NEVER

HAPPENED!)

FACT # 5:

SHANNON HAS ONE OLDER

BROTHER (CHRIS) AND A NIECE

AND A NEPHEW.


Shannon Macmillan—Travel Coordinator

Page 12

delays, people missing flights, people sleeping in, not being allowed to board because of passport or visa issues—Shannon says she has seen them all. But no matter the time of day or night she responds to the calls and finds a solution to get the person to their destination. Actually, Shan-non tells me that this is the part of her job she enjoys the most (other than the 3 AM calls). She sees helping our travellers as a personal chal-lenge where her efforts can make the difference between enjoying a vacation or being stuck

somewhere with no place to go.

During times when she is not using her Black-berry, Shannon is busy with soccer where she plays for as many as three teams in Ottawa through the summer and winter seasons. This continues a long associa-tion with the game that started when she was about 8 years old and she says she plans to keep playing for many years yet to come. Along with soccer she has taken up running for fitness and completed last year’s Army Half Marathon in just over two hours.

Shannon has a daughter Lilly who is more than a handful and has already started her own efforts at athletics. She and her partner Mark are now looking forward to a sec-ond child sometime after Christmas. In the meantime she will be even busier with flights to and from KAF, to Kabul and all over the world. So the next time you travel, drop her line and she will ensure your trip is smooth and safe.

Thanks to our PMO Correspondent for

providing this article about Shannon!

In this edition we feature one of our PMOO

employees whose work affects every employee on KAF. Shannon Macmillan is our Travel Coordinator and has been arranging trips to strange and exotic locations (including Kanda-har) for the last four years. Before that Shan-non was a Lead Travel Counsellor with BTI, a company that held the major Government contract for travel, so she was certainly no new-comer to the business of moving people around Canada and overseas.

All of you get an intro-duction to Shannon when she arranges your trip to PDT and then on to KAF through Vision 2000, our travel agency. She tells me that these are the easy ones as we have done it so many times that it almost works itself. The fun apparently starts when an employee wants to arrange his vacation travel. Here there are few repeats as every-one wants a slightly different trip using a different airline and going their own par-ticular way. Some in-volve layovers and multi-ple stops while others are fairly straight journeys to a destination. But all of them are very important to the traveller who, of course, wants the tickets and confirma-tions as soon as possible. That in itself is fine, but naturally many people want numerous changes, including better flights and better times to get to where they are going. Shannon spends a lot of her time adjusting employee travel plans as things evolve.

She also gets called in when flights do not go as well as we had hoped—weather or other airline

Shannon with her daughter Lilly at the annual 5K Ovarian Cancer Walk where they raise

money for research.

Page 13



CANCAP called all would-be artists to help design and draw the closeout logo to be used on commemorative t-shirts, caps, mugs and other paraphernalia.

We’re thrilled to reveal the winning logo by Ryan Letourneau! Congratulations to Ryan who dreamed up and drew this eye-catching logo for the Tear-Down Logo Contest! We love the new look and can’t wait to see it on our closeout kit!

Honourable mention also goes out to Alan Leek and Ron Schmidt who were the two runners-up with their drawings. A big thanks also goes out to Zhaodong (Danny) Wang for converting Ryan’s drawing to digital format for us! Well done team.

On Monday, May 30th, Prime Minister Stephen Harper made a surprise visit to the troops in Kandahar Airfield and to Tarnak Farms, once a Taliban stronghold. Harper was joined by Defence Minister Peter MacKay, Chief of Defence Staff Walt Natynczyk, and a trio of hockey gold medalists including Jarome Iginla of the Calgary Flames, and Jayna Hefford and Marie-Philip Poulin of the Cana-dian Olympic women’s hockey team.

In his speech to the troops, the PM thanked the soldiers, all government agencies, police (RCMP), and contractors such as CANCAP for the work they have done to bring Afghanistan to where it is today. Harper laid a wreath in honour of the 156 Canadians who sacrificed their lives in Afghanistan. He proudly declared that Canada alone has built or repaired 50 schools, helped in rebuilding 4,000 more across Afghanistan, and trained more than 1,500 doctors, nurses, midwives and community health workers. He also noted that there are now 150,000 teachers in Af-ghanistan, seven times the number of 10 years ago.

Harper also praised several individuals, including Terry Warick, whom he praised for his work with CANCAP, mentioning that Terry has been with CANCAP since 2003, spending more than four years deployed in Afghani-stan, and demonstrating “an unwielding and unwavering dedication to the mission”. Congratulations Terry—we’re all proud of you!

PM HARPER RECOGNIZES CANCAP IN SPEECH TO THE TROOPS Surprise May 30th Visit to Kandahar—Harper Expresses Gratitude and Kudos to CANCAPer Terry Warick

Prime Minister Stephen Harper with CANCAP Star

Terry Warick.

CANCAP KAF TEAR-DOWN LOGO CONTEST Revealing RYAN LETOURNEAU’s Winning Closeout Logo!

Page 14



OBJECTIVE OF THE TRIP:

To seek out the lightest, deepest powder in the world!

30 SECONDS COUNTRY BACKGROUND:

Bright lights, friendly people, scrumptious food, amaz-ing and ancient culture

ENTRY TO THE COUNTRY: WHAT VISAS? - None! They give you a 30 day entry permit on arrival.

BORDER/PASSPORT CONTROL/CUSTOMS PROCEDURES - Because Bryan flew from Dubai specifically, customs agents required him to unpack and repack his luggage in front of them. He was told this was standard procedure for anyone travelling from there. He said the agents were not specific as to what “from there” meant; it could have been either the UAE itself or the Middle East in general.

CURRENCY: The Yen is the main currency, which is currently selling for $0.012 CAD

GETTING CASH:

Japan is a largely cash-based society, although credit cards are accepted at large department stores, some restaurants, and interna-tional-chain hotels. Expecting to mostly pay cash and preparing accordingly is wise. Keep in mind too that not every ATM in Japan accepts foreign credit cards but you can draw money from the post office.

GETTING THERE:

Bryan went via Hong Kong which was an 8-hour flight. It was another 4 hour flight to Sapporo, then a 1.5 hour bus to the mountain resorts.

Bryan at Niseko

Page 15



THE ’BOB’S YOUR UNCLE’ PART OF THE TRIP:

An arctic front dumped over twelve feet of snow in the 2 weeks while he was there. In some places it was more like snorkeling than snowboarding! Lots of diverse terrain suitable to all skill levels; no line-ups at the lifts; it was quiet and the mountains were yours for the taking. According to Bryan it was as epic as he had heard it would be.

THE LAST SUPPER (BEST/TRADITIONAL MEAL):

Hot pots (shabu-shabu) were a favourite with his group – there is a hot pot of broth in the middle of the table, they bring you platters of different raw meats and vegetables and dipping sauces, and everyone cooks their own meal. He said it was a fun and communal way of eating.

LE “THIS REMINDS ME OF KANDAHAR” PART OF THE TRIP:

Nothing! The whole thing was awesome! (KAF’s awesome too, but in a different way!!)

DO YOU SPEAK ENGLISH? EIGO GA HANASHIMASU KA? :

English is pretty well understood but a simple phrasebook would be useful – in some places such as the more traditional restaurants Bryan found that little or no English was spoken, and if there were no photos in the menu to point to then ordering was an interesting challenge! Getting around was not difficult as buses, trains and airports all had English signs.

TOTAL DAMAGE FOR THE ENTIRE TRIP:

$2000-2500 not including flights. He booked a custom-package through Hokkaido Travel, an Australian company recommended by friends. The package included accommodations, transfers between the two resorts and lift tickets.

GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN (STAYING SAFE):

Bryan didn’t perceive any problems for female travelers but as always, use common sense and maintain awareness when travelling. As far as general safety goes, Bryan felt it was very safe in the small resort towns and there were no issues of theft or security.

SOUVENIRS TAKEN HOME:

Bryan brought home jewelry and ceramic tea sets as souvenir gifts for friends and family.

DOMO ARIGATO BRYAN!!

BEEN THERE, DONE THAT...Travel Tales…Continued from Page 14

DID YOU KNOW THAT WE’RE STILL HIRING? Unique Contracts Are Available for the Tear Down—Keep the Referrals Coming!

Yes, the mission is drawing down in Kandahar, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t still opportunities with SNC-Lavalin PAE!! We’re always recruiting and hiring. At the moment, we’re still recruiting people to fill unique contract terms in KAF dur-ing the closedown, so please keep the referrals coming and send people to our new website (www.snclavalinpae.com) to check us out.

Don’t forget that we offer an employee referral bonus that ranges from a $250 to $1,000 reward, depending on the position we hire your referral for! Your reward is payable after your referral completes his or her probation period in theatre. So, get your friends and family to KAF!!



Page 16

TEAM CANADA’S MARCH VISIT KAF-Ites Entertained by NHL Alum, Rockers, and Comedian Tom Green

From March 7 -10, 2011, soldiers and civilians alike were treated to a morale visit by Team Canada, comprised this time of Wreck MMA fighters, NHL Alumni, rockers “The Carpet Frogs” and comedian Tom Green. Of course CANCAP got into the spirit and joined in the fun during the visit. Dan Ireland helped to judge the MMA fight, and the Ball Busters, coached by Will Babcock and Dave McCarthy, played the opening game against the NHL Alumni. Bruce Heil and Brent Tibbel refereed, and playing in the games were Paul Gruntz and Don Ryan from the Scorpions, and Desert Dogs members Matt Brunet and Gardiner Thompson, along with Keith Ellwood and Rob Forcier. Thanks to Chris McCardle for all the photos!

ABOVE LEFT: Dan Ireland judg-

ing a fight.

ABOVE RIGHT: Comedian Tom Green.

LEFT: Robb Brock and Kelly Bebee

RIGHT: NHL Alum Tiger Wil-liams contemplating joining the

MMA fights.

BELOW LEFT & RIGHT: Inter-views before the games.

Page 17



KAF-Ites Entertained by NHL Alum, Rockers, and Comedian Tom Green

ABOVE LEFT: Lining up for the opening game (Ball Busters in Pink).

ABOVE RIGHT: Playing hard.

LEFT: Rick Johnson, Bruce Heil, Brent Tibbel, and Dan Royer enjoying the fes-tivities.

BELOW LEFT: Group photo of NHL Alumni and the Ball Busters.

BELOW RIGHT: Paul Gruntz in action.

SNC-Lavalin PAE Inc. is a joint venture between SNC-Lavalin Defence Programs Inc.—a member of the SNC-Lavalin Group, and PAE Government Services Canada Inc.—a Lockheed Martin company. These two global leaders have partnered to deliver the Canadian Contractor Augmentation Program (CANCAP)

supporting Canadian Forces overseas deployments. CANCAP currently supports the Canadian Forces mission in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Visit our parent company websites:

www.paegroup.com www.snclavalinom.com

The SANDPAPER

SNC-Lavalin PAE Inc. 170 Laurier Ave. West, Suite 1104 Ottawa, ON, Canada K1P 5V5

Phone: 613-565-7853 Fax: 613-565-8245 Email: [email protected]

PROFESSIONALS PROVIDING SOLUTIONS

SNC-Lavalin PAE Inc. Newsletter for CANCAP Employees & Families

AIM:

To provide the highest quality services to

our client while achieving our corporate goals.

CORE VALUES:

Integrity, Empathy, Respect, Initiative, Teamwork, Stewardship, Commitment

GOAL:

To be recognized as a world-class provider of support services

to the Canadian Forces in Deployed Operations.

Volume IV, Issue 1

WINTER / SPRING 2011

Editors:

Carla Dawes Stephanie Roberts

Cheryl Samek

Thank-you to the following people who contributed stories, photos and

content to this issue:

Richard Bourassa Rachel Clément Daniel Ireland Anne Jarbouh

Chris Kerr Ian Malcolm

Chris McArdle Bryan Reddy

Kwene Tombwe Laura Williams

WANT YOUR FAMILY TO BE IN ON ALL THE LATEST CANCAP NEWS?

If you would like to add your friends or family members to our distribution list, please send their

email addresses to: [email protected]


This is YOUR newsletter, so get involved and share your knowledge, news, thoughts, anecdotes and insights.

Please send articles, feedback, ideas, photos and anything else you’d like to contribute to The SANDPAPER to

[email protected]

Deadline for submissions for Volume IV, Issue 2 is August 15th, 2011.

Get your creative juices flowing and contribute as soon as you can! We look forward to it...

Documents

The SANDPAPER - snclavalinpae.com sandpaper_volume iv... · Page 3 Volume IV, Issue 1 The SANDPAPER NEWSLETTER FOR CANCAP EMPLOYEES & FAMILIES ISO 9001:2008 Certified Excellence in