Unit History
The unit traces its roots to the First Special Service Force (FSSF), the Canadian-American special forces unit that was stood up in 1942 and earned the “Devil's Brigade” moniker for daring night raids on German forces at the Anzio beachhead.
In April 2005, the Canadian government's new defence policy statement was made public. It included a concept of first responders for international tasks consisting of "special forces" (such as an expanded Joint Task Force 2) supported by one of the light battalions.
This concept of operations is similar to the US Army's 75th Ranger Regiment and the Special Forces Support Group of the UK Special Forces Group who support high-level special forces units. This eventually led to the formation of the Canadian Special Operations Regiment (CSOR), although CSOR was not to be limited to a supporting role.
"In the main, the Canadian Special Operations Regiment enables special operations and, specifically, JTF2; thus, JTF2 can focus on the precise tasks for which they are so well selected and trained. However, particularly in out-of-area operations, we see that the Canadian Special Operations Regiment would be the more appropriate organization to put to the task." (Colonel Barr, commander CANSOFCOM, in Proceedings of the Standing Senate Committee on National Security and Defence, 27 November 2006.)
Recruiting for the new unit took place in early 2006, and the first CSOR selection course took place with approximately 175 candidates.
On 13 August 2006, an official stand-up ceremony for the Canadian Special Operations Regiment took place at the unit's home station, Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Petawawa, with approximately 250 soldiers participating. The ceremony included a skills demonstration including rappelling from helicopters, and both static and freefall parachuting. It was also announced that the second training serial of CSOR recruits would take place in early 2007.
The regiment suffered its first casualty on 24 June 2011: Master-Corporal Francis Roy died in a non-combat incident while deployed in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan.
Read more about this topic: Canadian Special Operations Regiment
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