Nathan VanderKlippe
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Oct 16/02) - He can't tell you where he is or exactly what he does. He can't even talk to you on the phone.

But Eli Squires can tell you one thing: where he's based, tracking down Al-Qaeda suspects from high above Middle Eastern waters in a CP-140 Aurora, it's hot. Really hot.

"The average high here over the past two months has been between 45 C and 55 C," he writes from a trailer somewhere in the Persian Gulf. "Now anything less than 30 C makes us quite chilly."

Life for Squires, a navigator in 407 Maritime Patrol Squadron based in Comox, B.C., is radically different from that of his parents, who live in Yellowknife.

"We worry about him because he's lonely and a long ways from home," said his father, John Squires, a transmitter technician with the CBC.

"But we're Christians and we pray for Eli and that gives us comfort ... It's a job that needs doing. We're very proud of Eli."

Squires is one of about 400 Canadians camped out in the desert on Operation Apollo, part of the international response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Daily patrols include searching for fleeing Al-Qaeda suspects or tankers illegally transporting oil from Iraq. The squadron also respond to maritime emergencies.

The Aurora that Squires flies in is outfitted with sensitive equipment which can pick out the location of even small vessels on the vast bodies of water in that part of the world. Crew members can hail ships by radio to determine the vessel's origin, destination and contents.

That information is then relayed to warships and cross-referenced with existing databases on ship movements in the busy transport corridor. If a ship looks suspicious, the Auroras can guide a military vessel to its location.

Canada contributes

The total Canadian contribution to the area is two ships and two Auroras. Military public affairs officers boast that 60 per cent of boardings in the area have been carried out by Canadians, who have boarded over 150 ships. Auroras have flown over 2,000 hours since their deployment last year.

Information is freely exchanged between coalition forces of different nationalities.

For Squires, days start early, with a flight briefing at 3:30 a.m. He and his crew take off two hours later, assigned a particular quadrant of the North Arabian Sea or the Gulf of Oman.

In the air, Squires is responsible for cataloguing any contacts his aircraft makes with ships and ensuring the Aurora stays out of other nations' territorial waters.

And, of course, dealing with emergencies.

"The best way to describe the flying is long periods of relative monotony broken by frantic bursts of activity," he writes. Those frantic bursts of activity can be locating a ship with Al-Qaeda suspects on board -- which he assisted in, although he can't elaborate -- and dealing with faulty electronics.

The crew returns to base at 2 p.m.

Life on the ground isn't an idealist's dream, Squires says. Removed from family and all things familiar -- like trees, green grass and clouds -- "a little bit of rain would be delicious," he writes.

"It is not the lofty, broad picture that motivates most people. We are proud that we are contributing to a good cause, but it's generally your buddy next to you that motivates you to keep on when you're lonely, depressed and tired."