A bureaucratic SNAFU

Cpl. Alex Perry, a member of the Princess of Wales' Own Regiment who is now posted in Kandahar with the Royal Canadian Regiment, wants to become a paramedic when he returns to Canada in two months. He has been accepted to Niagara College's program but is in a bizarre bureaucratic limbo.

Perry's G-2 license expired while he was deployed and one of the college prerequisites is that applicants show proof they have booked an appointment for their 'G' licence test -- they don't actually have to have taken the test to be accepted.

The provincial transportation ministry -- which was honoured Friday with a certificate from the Armed Forces recognizing its support of the reserves -- says Perry can't book an appointment until he retakes the written test and he will have to return to Canada to do so.

He can't possibly do that before the college's deadline expires, meaning he may have to wait another year to start his studies.

... Her son works as a member of a force protection unit at a forward operating base in Zhari District, just west of Kandahar City, where his team provides security to civilian reconstruction projects, such as roadbuilding.

Ironically, he drives armoured military vehicles as part of his job. That's because a member of the Forces can drive a vehicle owned or leased by the Department of National Defence -- everything up to a tank -- with a special permit issued by the federal government known as a 404.

Source: Kingston Whig-Herald

(It's amazing how many acronyms, like SNAFU, have military origins)