Defence Team News Interview with Bruce Ploughman, Senior VP of PSP, Canadian Forces Morale and Welfare Services, on Op SANTA CLAUS
Video / December 21, 2022
Transcript
(GG) With the holidays fast approaching, operation SANTA CLAUS is in full swing. This yearly initiative delivers care packages to CAF members that are deployed over the holidays. Today, we're talking with Bruce Ploughman, Senior Vice-President of Personnel Support Programs at Canadian Forces Morale and Welfare Services, to tell us more.
Thanks for joining us today, sir.
(BP) Thanks for having me.
(GG) So, Op SANTA CLAUS is such a wonderful initiative. Can you tell us a little bit more about it?
(BP) So, it's a program that is administered by Canadian Forces Morale and Welfare Services, and of course, through the Personnel Support Program, the PSP. It's been going on now for three decades, since 1992. And it's really about, for all of those troops that are deployed over Christmas. It's about giving them a touch of home. It's really about connecting them back with Canada, and again, having deployed numerous times is really, really important. Alright? It's that grounding piece that people understand, that people back home are caring about them, that their sacrifice is not going unnoticed.
(GG) And I'm sure that these packages bring at least a little bit of cheer to these deployed CAF members. I'm curious to know, what are in the packages?
(BP) It'll be anything from food, merchandise, some entertainment stuff, and of course, toiletries, hygiene products. You never ever have enough toothpaste on a deployment. I guarantee you that, and God forbid, even clean socks. So...
(GG) And how many packages are you planning on sending out this year?
(BP) Well, it varies from year to year, because it is always based on the number of troops that are deployed over Christmas. I think this year, we're looking around 2100. But that will be going to 16 different missions at 31 different locations.
(GG) And you touched on this a little bit already, but can you speak about the importance of this operation and what it means to deployed CAF members?
(BP) Well, I mean... We talk at great length about mental health, and you know, one of the stories... So, I was actually lucky enough to be on my first deployment when this program started 30 years, well... 30 years ago, in 1992. And I was deployed on HMCS Preserver in Somalia. And you know, we sat there... and again, this is before the Internet on board ship, and everybody looked forward to something coming from home on a regular basis. So, for the folks on board ship, anytime we knew there was a mail run, you know, we all sat around with sort of giddy anticipation, waiting for a letter from home. Also anxious that something didn't show up. So, when Op SANTA showed up, and everybody on ship got something from home... and again, that was the first time... everybody was like "Wow! This is really, really cool!" And it kind of represented, again, a touch back to home, a grounding in all the chaos that can be a deployment. And at the same time, it was recognition by the people from home that they cared and they were thinking about us.
(GG) I'd like to thank you so much for joining us today and wishing you the best for the holidays.
(BP) Thank you very much.