Rules of Engagement

Heroes Remember

Rules of Engagement

Transcript

In the terms of peacekeeping operations, the United Nations places real restrictions on exactly what soldiers can do but they had to do that in order to get the agreement from the warring parties to agree to allow the peacekeepers to come in and try to do this job without the UN making those concessions they would not have been allowed to go in and do a peacekeeping operation. So it was more or less forced on us. As the years went by they changed the terms of reference somewhat. I think it was after the former Yugoslavia conflict to enable peacekeepers to be a bit more robust in the way they used their force to counter things that one of the opposing forces was doing that were obviously placing the local populous at risk, for example, or destroying important cultural sights and things like that. So now the usual or the normal rules of engagement for peacekeepers are a little bit more robust than they were back in the sixties when they first started.

Description

Mr. Kelly explains limitations soldiers once had in adhering to the rules of engagement and how this has evolved.

Michael Kelly

Mr. Michael Kelly was born January 1940 in Sudbury, Ontario. Being active in the Cadet Program as a youngster, Mr. Kelly always held the idea that he would pursue a career in the military. Once of age, Mr. Kelly joined the Officer Candidate Plan School of Infantry at Camp Borden. Graduating as an officer, he accepted deployments overseas including Germany and Cyprus. Upon retirement from the army, Mr. Kelly held rank of major. After military service, he became quite involved in many organizations and worked with UNICEF and World Food Program in East Timor. Mr. Kelly has great pride in his membership with The Black Watch Regiment and is presently the president of the Upper Canada Branch of the Black Watch Association in Ottawa. He now resides in Ottawa with his wife Erica.

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