Mr. Kieran Brennan:

Operationally, I know from my experience that when we speak about sending that number of people abroad, if we are sending 12 people to Kosovo, they are headquarters appointments. They are not operationally active in the field. The same is true of our military observers in the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization, UNTSO, in which Mr. Doyle served. They operate individually as distinct from as a unit. The minimum number of people we would ever deploy overseas is a platoon. For example, we deployed a platoon of rangers to Liberia. I ask Dr. Berry to correct me if I am wrong, but we also deployed a platoon of rangers to East Timor.

That is the minimum number. It provides a command and control structure along with supporting assets for that particular sub-unit to deliver whatever operational outputs are demanded of it by the force commander.