Informing Canadians of military tragedy handled well

Last week a terrible tragedy unfolded as the Royal Canadian Navy first reported that a sailor had gone missing at sea.

Master Sailor Duane Earle, 47, was believed to have fallen overboard from the frigate HMCS Winnipeg in the early hours of Dec. 14.

At the time, HMCS Winnipeg was about 500 nautical miles west of San Francisco, homeward bound to CFB Esquimalt, B.C., after a twomonth deployment in the Asia-pacific region.

It was announced that immediately upon realizing Earle was absent from his duties and presumed overboard, an extensive search and rescue mission was conducted. High seas at an estimated four to five metre swells made the search a challenge in the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean.

By 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 15, the RCN announced that the search was concluded and Earle presumed to be deceased. Counselling and support were available to the next of kin.

It was a tragic loss and on military social media networks there was a widespread outpouring of grief and condolences to family, friends and to Earle's fellow shipmates.

The actual circumstances of Earle going overboard remain something of a mystery.

“The ship is surrounded by guardrails and the upper decks are kept out of bounds at night” said Commodore Angus Topshee, commander of the RCN Pacific fleet at a media briefing at CFB Esquimalt on Dec. 16.

Topshee further noted that because the only way to exit the ship at sea is via the upper decks, the Earle incident remains inexplicable.

“The honest truth is, we can't explain how he came to be in the water, and we are continuing to search for any evidence to support any conclusion,” Topshee told reporters.

As a result of the Canadian Armed Forces coming forward with the news of this accidental death in a timely and forthright manner, it precluded any wild speculation or false narratives getting a foothold in the media reports.

There was an accident, a search was conducted, that search was concluded with the presumption of Earle's passing and the military community grieved as an extended family.

To give credit where credit is due, the DND/CAF gets full marks for the manner in which they handled this tragedy.

Which makes one question what went so horribly wrong with this same Canadian Armed Forces' handling of the information flow regarding the April 2020 Cyclone helicopter crash in the Mediterranean Sea.

For those who may have forgotten some of the finer details of this public relations fiasco, allow me to recap.

On April 29, a RCAF Cyclone helicopter crashed while returning to HMCS Fredericton.

Greek media reported it immediately but mistakenly referred to the helicopter as a Sikorsky Sea King, which caused Canadian media outlets to flag the story as potential fake news.

A full 24 hours passed before the CAF issued a statement that indeed a Cyclone had crashed with one service member dead while five others remained missing.”

Canadian media were told officially that the Fredericton had “lost contact with the helicopter” prior to the crash. It was also stated that HMCS Fredericton and NATO allies continue to search for the remaining five members of the helicopter's crew.”

It was not until late in the afternoon on May 1 that DND stated the search and rescue mission was concluded and that the effort was now a search and recover mission with all six service members presumed deceased.

For two days, the military community on social media has been fuelling family and friends with false hope and prayers. Media pundits went so far as to speculate as to the vast scope of the potential search area and the survivability endurance of the crew.

Only later was it learned that the Cyclone had been conducting a low level fly past beside the Fredericton as part of a photo shoot when the helicopter suddenly plunged into the sea.

Some of the Fredericton's crew were, as a result, eyewitnesses to the crash.

To this day no one has been able to explain to Canadians why, or to what purpose, the CAF would have to initially portray the Cyclone incident as a lengthy search and rescue operation, or why they claimed to have "lost contact" with the aircraft.

I offer my sincere condolences to the family, friends and comrades of Master Sailor Duane Earle.