Jonathan Wade

Jonathan Wade

About the author

is a Consulting Fellow for the POLARISK Group. He served in the Canadian Forces with distinction for more than fourteen years prior to his honorable discharge in June 2014, a career which led him to travel across the globe, deploying to Afghanistan in 2009 to mentor and advise the Afghan National Army—where he was awarded the Chief of the Defence Staff Commendation—and shortly to Haiti following the earthquake of 2010. Drawing upon the knowledge of defence issues and foreign affairs gained throughout his military career, Jonathan Wade is a contributing editor for SOFREP and the content manager of The Loadout Room, as well as a frequent guest on Sun News Network. Fluent in both French and English, he is presently studying Military Arts and Science at the Royal Military College of Canada.

JTF2 : Canada’s SOF Part 2

With the Canadian Special Operations Regiment article done, I am now moving towards Canada’s most elite group of soldiers: Joint Task Force 2 (JTF2). JTF2 was created on April 1, 1993 right after the acceptation of federal counter-terrorism by the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF). Before that, the RCMP had a team called Special Emergency Response […]

The Long Way Home

Her name is Kate MacEachern, a 34 years old single mother from Antigonish, Nova Scotia. In 2007, while she was a tanker with the Lord Strathcona’s Horse (Royal Canadians), she was thrown from a horse during a parade practice. Unfortunately she had a serious spinal cord injury and bleeding in her brain. Eight long months […]

CSOR: Canada’s SOF part 1

This is a 4-part article about the Canadian Special Operations Command (CANSOFCOM). First one is all about the Canadian Special Operations Regiment. While this is only an introduction of CSOR, I will closely monitor the news about them and write more as the information becomes available to the general public as most of their actions are […]

Operation Medusa 2006, Canadian-led Offensive in Afghanistan

Currently, Canada is involved in 14 operations worldwide. Although most of them are with the U.N., we have served for more than 10 years in Kandahar, Afghanistan where fighting occurred on a daily basis. We participated in almost all of the U.N. peacekeeping missions since the 1970s, making us one the largest contributors to the […]

Living Combat and Dealing With The Afterwards: Part 1

With the conflict in Afghanistan coming to an end for Canada, an alarming percentage of combat veterans suffer from operational stress injuries (OSI) due to combat related events. In fact, about a quarter of the Canadian soldiers who deployed to Afghanistan have some sort of OSIs. I was diagnosed with PTSD with heavy anxiety in […]

PTSD & The Need For Community Support in Canada

Last week, 3 Canadian soldiers committed suicide due to post-traumatic stress injuries. These incidents have raised many questions within the Canadian Armed Forces, or CAF, regarding the availability of treatment and the quality of them. I also just learned that a friend of mine took his life here in base. He deployed two times in […]

War Stories: 2009 Fighting Season Starts

May 23, 2009 – It was a nice quiet evening with a good breeze to keep us cool, which was nice because temperatures were already reaching 40 degrees Celsius in May and the sun was setting slowly. All we were hearing on the ICOM (a small two-way radio used by our interpreter to listen to the […]

The Arctic: One of the Main Strategic Stakes for Canada

Last September, a Danish commercial ship named Nordic Orion became the first cargo vessel to use the Northwest Passage. The Canadian Coast Guard and the Royal Canadian Navy are not ready to either protect that passage nor deploy any fast Search and Rescue teams in case of any type of emergencies. Unfortunately, the hoist capable […]

Secrecy of CANSOFCOM Training in Civilian Sectors

October 25th, Robert Westbrook, a freelance photographer, came across what is believed to be a CANSOFCOM training evolution in an old call centre in Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia. The old call centre is 2 blocks away from his house, and as he saw activity he went to investigate. After a few minutes, he was asked […]

The Canadian Military and Their Problem with Fat Kids

In 2012, 31% of the Canadian kids between the ages of 5 to 17 were overweight or obese. There is also some alarming statistics stating that from 2007-2009 males between 20 and 29 years old were 47% overweight and obese. Why those statistics you ask? Well they are the next generation of soldiers and it’s […]

Canadian SOF Selection Issues

Note: JW Wade speaks French as a first language so please consider this as you read his work. Thank you -Brandon There is a huge debate now about how unit commanders are denying their soldiers application to the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command, mostly known as CANSOFCOM. We all know that they are drawing their […]

Should Women Be Allowed Into The Canadian Forces Infantry?

There are more than 10,000 women currently serving in the Canadian Forces (CF). In 1989, they were allowed to join the combat trades but, up to this day, only 2.4% of the combat related positions are occupied by them. Don’t get me wrong here, I am strongly in favor of having women in the CF […]