Carry Protection

There's something about Armatec that gets to me. Its talented engineers spend their time designing systems that protect our troops as they are ferried across the rugged terrain of Afghanistan in armoured personnel carriers. They are operating in a niche that, regardless of one's opinion of the war itself, takes care of that one element of the conflict that Canadians have shown tremendous respect and compassion for: our troops themselves.A while ago, I was accompanying Peter McKay to NATO meetings in Europe and he opted to visit a military hospital just outside of Frankfurt. It was a remarkable and moving place, charged specifically with treating Canadian and American casualties returning from Afghanistan and Iraq. Think of M*A*S*H* and you'll get the idea. Staffed with dedicated Canadian and American medical professionals, the hospital's job is to clean up and mend what's left after the carnage of human armed conflict. I spoke with one American doctor who had just assisted some Canadian soldiers who had suffered an IED (improvised explosive device) blast as their vehicle was moving back to Kandahar following a tour outside the wire. "I don't know who designs the systems that protects these guys," he observed, "but they just saved these soldiers."Well, unbeknownst to him, the doctor was speaking about Armatec. The company's CEO, Karl Pfister, helped to design an innovative system of independent armoured plates that help to absorb the shock of explosions, moving the damaging momentum of the blast throughout the vehicle and not against the soldiers themselves. The concept of designing seating that is suspended from above, with the soldier's feet off the floor of the vehicle, has become the primary defense against the IED explosions that detonate through the floor of the vehicles.I was proud to assist in the opening of Armatec's new 300,000 square foot manufacturing facility this past week. Peter McKay himself was to open the plant but was caught in the bad weather of Ottawa and his plane couldn't leave. He quickly texted me some thoughts on his Blackberry and sent them my way just before I spoke. His reminder that Canadian families now have their soldiers back in their midst because of the company's protection system was poignant. In a rather humorous moment, I pulled the small curtain covering the plaque commemorating the opening to reveal the announcement that the building was opened that morning by Peter McKay!Armatec and its remarkable technology are being wooed by other countries to assist them in providing similar protections systems for their own troop carriers, including the Americans and the Australians. The potential for the export of Canadian technology is enormous. I couldn't help but think that, with peacekeeping now a major undertaking for the United Nations and its members, and with the premium now being placed on the lives of soldiers themselves, that Armatec's future is falling perfectly in-sync with what Canada's future role in peacekeeping will be. Here is a Canadian company, feted around the world, whose main task will be, not the prosecution of war, but the protection of those fighting for peace. Armatec is a unique Canadian group of talented individuals whose present work fits well with Canada's past and future in peacekeeping.As I thanked Karl Pfister and his team for bringing our wounded troops home alive, I got to thinking of that doctor in Germany. He concluded his words with: "Whoever they are, they deserve a medal." Well, they just got more than that. They now have a new facility, the possibility of new protection contracts, the respect of a grateful nation, and the pride of this particular MP. Forget the medal. Their greatest accomplishment is seen in the lives of those wounded troopers who are back in their home communities, building their lives. We owe much to those who made that possible.