[Ailist] Canadian General led Irish disarment ... Re: Changing Military Perspective

[Lionel Boxer]

As an example to what I have been talking about (the army cannot start talking peace until the politicians make peace), consider retired Canadian General John de Chastelaine's leadersip in the ending of the Irish civil war that occurred through most of the 20th Century.  Once the politicians decided to stop fighting, the general was able to lead the peace process.  You can read about this at:
http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=M1ARTM0011621'
http://www.cpa.org.au/garchve2/990ire.html
http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/John_de_Chastelain

I spoke with de Chastelaine in late September 2000 at RMC in Kingston, Ontario, Canada briefly about this.  We spoke more about bagpipes at the time, but I recall his comments about his involvement in the Irish peace talks, as mentioned to him that I had met someone a few weeks earlier in Edinbugh, Scotland who refered to his involvement in the Irish peace process.

It is also important to realise that de Chastelaine was known for his political astuteness as he rose through the ranks of the Canadian defence from becoming one of the youngest generals in Canada's history.  Fine chap - he plays bagpipes too.

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1993

Salute to the Chief of Defence - Piobaireachd
Composed by Pipe Major Robert W. Henderson

Written in the ancient style of Piobaireachd, or "big music", this salute marked the retirement of General A.J.G. De Chastelain, who served as Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), the highest position in the Canadian military, and who had started his military career as a piper in the Calgary Highlanders.  In 1990, General de Chastelain, while serving as Chief of Defence Staff, donned a piper's full dress uniform and played on parade with the Regiment when Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II presented the unit with a new Queen's Colour.

At the time, General de Chastelain left the military for duty as Ambassador to the United States.  In 1994, he returned to the Canadian Armed Forces and served an unprecedented second term as CDS.

http://images.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://www.calgaryhighlanders.com/prosemusic/rutherfordyoung.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.calgaryhighlanders.com/prosemusic/music.htm&usg=__J0aLKcamkniXYf8ZcVEKxG0360k=&h=331&w=150&sz=12&hl=en&start=54&tbnid=QOJQMt-KwYoP0M:&tbnh=119&tbnw=54&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dde%2Bchastelaine%2Bbagpipes%26gbv%3D2%26ndsp%3D18%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26start%3D36





Lionel Boxer CD PhD MBA BTech(IndEng) - 0411267256
Associate of RMIT University - lionel.boxer at rmit.edu.au
Graduate School of Business
my "Assessment of Quality Systems with Positioning Theory" 
now in a googe book - see link at http://intergon.net