| Canadian Military
Posted: 4/9/2007 7:48:49 PM | What does everyone think about our military?
I only ask this because it's been on my mind lately. I am a part of the military and I've come across both sides of the coins. Personally I think this is a great team to be a part of, and I regret not joining earlier. I have met some truly honorable people here that embody what Canada is all about.
How do you feel? Why do you feel this way? | |
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| Canadian Military
Posted: 4/9/2007 9:25:51 PM | i think our military is really under funded...
sorry to see another 6 brave men past away on the easter.........I feel heartbroken..
I watched news today that 65% of Canadian don't know about Vimy....
OMG this is terrible.............
sorry to offense any Liberal fans here.... new military commercial is way better, true war is like that, not just saying you are proud then nothing gotta happen.
I feel without Vimy or Canadian troops serve around the world, Canada might have no opportunities to present around the world........ | |
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e-wok
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Joined: 9/25/2006
Msg: 3 | |
| Canadian Military
Posted: 4/9/2007 10:09:58 PM | No offence taken, but as a former soldier I do get offended by politicians
who use us as photo-ops. I had no passion to serve under any
particular PM. If I'm being deployed, I certainly would hope that
I wasn't being used as some kind of prop to cater to a foreign gov't.
I know today that if was a soldier in Canadians army and was sent
to Iraq, I would be pretty upset. I certainly hope that Harper treats
the Canadian soldiers with much more respect that his counterpart
in the United States.
Peace. | |
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| Canadian Military
Posted: 4/9/2007 10:29:40 PM | if you listen to most canadian comics, the canadian military is a joke.
part of that comes from the reality that our military is so woefully underfunded and our equipment is sadly and pathetically outdated that for us to undertake security with obsolete technology is laughable.
having said that, most canadians i've talked to and discussed this topic with, are proud of our international role as peacekeepers and our diplomatic efforts in most conflicts. we're not perfect - there are plenty of high profile cases where our military has been tarnished - but there are far more stories where we can hold our heads up high as canadians and be proud of what our military does - both on domestic and foreign soil.
i object to the idea of war and the violence and greed and corruption perpetuated by war. it is an ugly business. however, the world such as it is does force us to go to war, to defend those who cannot defend themselves, to protect some basic fundamental human rights. our military may not be able to do all of that, everywhere, but they make the attempt, they die for an ideal that is worthy even if our armchair leaders send them into places for political gain or favour. they fight and die for their country. for their nobility and courage and selflessness, i am truly grateful. | |
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arri
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Joined: 10/5/2005
Msg: 6 | |
| Canadian Military
Posted: 4/10/2007 7:32:46 AM | Being just north of the US, a country that spends 50% of total world military expenditure on its military, no matter what we decide to do, we can never measure up on the numbers or the toys. Canadian military maybe small and under funded, but I would put money on the level of training, professionalism, smarts and education.
Incidentally, I hate the new recruitment commercial. | |
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| Canadian Military
Posted: 4/10/2007 2:13:59 PM | Canada has a military tradition to be very proud of. in every major war of the 20th century, Canada changed the course of the war by being a part of and generally influencing the outcome of the major battles. Canada still possesses the best anti-submarine warfare in the world. the world's "top-gun" last year was a canadian. Canada is known around the world as some of the best trained and fiercest soldiers in the world.
to all who have served in the past and currently serving i say...THANK YOU. | |
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| Canadian Military
Posted: 4/10/2007 7:07:24 PM | kitchenerkat nails it as usual...
another arm of the American Military.
see: Gordon O'Connor and Hill & Knowlton | |
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| Canadian Military
Posted: 4/10/2007 7:34:28 PM | | hey, they are on my side, and I like Canadians in general, so... they are good to go. | |
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| Canadian Military
Posted: 4/11/2007 7:49:02 AM | They have my highest regard, and always will have. They bring a piece of Canada with them wherever they go in this world. Many times, they are our best and our brightest.
Our military has an exceptional history, both and war and in peace.
I was reading just the other day, about a couple of the men killed in Afghanistan this weekend. One had refused a promotion, so that he could be sent with his men .
Another had volunteered to go to combat, willingly. He was under no obligation, except to his nation. He made that choice easily.
Thanks to all of you in uniform, for who and what you are, and for what you do.
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| Canadian Military
Posted: 4/11/2007 8:04:11 AM | Overall they're good - its one of the largest training armies in the world.....but its a bit outdated in terms of what future conflicts will look like and for that matter defending canada.
Currently, I've noticed that the military thinkers are still following the american's way of thinking, which was outdated 50 years ago. We should be basing our strategies and equipment more on the russian and swedish formats respectively - the ability to sacrifice land for time and the use of customized equipment that can operate in the weather extremes that we have. The army isn't really teaching insurgency and counter insurgency tactics which again would be appropriate for defending canada.
Our navy likewise is a bit outdated - we don't have any capacity at all for mine laying, nor do we have deep water ports in the north. | |
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| Canadian Military
Posted: 4/11/2007 11:38:17 AM | I have nothing but the utmost respect for our fighting boys! I proudly wear my red every Friday.
The way I see the army (and how most of the other armies see them) is that they are some of the finest soldiers in the world with equipment to be embarassed about. It is sad to see that we went from being the 3rd largest navy in the world with 1 million soldiers, to what we have now. The liberals totally abandoned the armed forces.
I applaud the recent moves in re-supplying our military. The way that the world is shaping up... I think we will REALLY be needing it soon. | |
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| Canadian Military
Posted: 4/11/2007 1:02:24 PM | | Complete respect for the people in the military! Complete disrespect for the governments that have allowed what was once one of the greatest in the world, to one that is put in danger because of outdated equipment. I think, we as Canadians, should be able to choose where our tax dollars actually go. Because I tell you, I'd take every sent I've paid from the prison system and give it to the military! | |
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| Canadian Military
Posted: 4/11/2007 3:58:15 PM | whoogirl30...
so you want to close all the prisons and let all the prisoners out on the street. that makes a lot of sense...i hope paul bernardo moves in next door to you.
next time you post, make sure what you say makes at least the slightest bit of sense.
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| Canadian Military
Posted: 4/11/2007 6:58:56 PM | The point that whoogirl is trying to make is valid.
We all sit here and bask in the glow that our peacekeepers have projected around the world. Yet we as a country have allowed our armed forces to be decimated both in numbers and equipment. We as Canadians have allowed our troops to go into missions with outdated equipment and put them in jeopardy by not putting the pressure on our politicians to correctly kit them. Yet we all sit back and pat our selves on the back for the job that these people do and even more disgusting we sit and laugh when some one makes a joke about our service people and their effectiveness. The only time we as a population pay any attention to what is going on is when a member comes home in a coffin or when some thing like Somalia happens. Then we all have our opinions on the Armed Forces.
My ex is military and I work closely with DND members and I can tell you what I have been told by them. Do you know why they dont want the media in the field with them or on the tarmac when their friends and co-workers come home in a coffin? Because that is the only time anyone ever really pays attention to what they go through and we in Canada loved to splash only the bad things about our troops in the papers up until Afghanistan. No one tells the story about the time and effort that these people spend in their down time working with the people in the countries that they are sent off to, just the odd time some bad apple does something bad and what do we do? We disband one of the most decorated and honourable regiment in Canada.
.We as a country are only now starting to realize what sacrifices these people have been making for many years and only now has it been made popular to support our troops. So next time you feel pride in something that you had no hand in, think about the fact that our troops are so badly in need of uniforms that they can only be issued 3 sets of combats, that getting a pair of boots that fit can take months and their medical treatment is laughable. And yet these people still manage to go into these places and do a credible job with what we stingily hand them becasue we so badly need to have our politician retiring with 6 figure pensions for life after serving in office for one term. Yet an uproar is made when the decision to buy military aircraft that they are begging for so they dont have to hitch a ride with the American's, doesnt go through the decades long process of the procurement process because it isnt made by a Canadian company. If we are going to send them to these places the only decent thing that we can do is to force our government to support them by giving them the equipment to protect themselves and respect these people even when they arent coming home in coffins. | |
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| Canadian Military
Posted: 4/11/2007 7:54:38 PM |
kitchenerkat nails it as usual...
another arm of the American Military.
see: Gordon O'Connor and Hill & Knowlton
Did your alphabets cereal tell you that? | |
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| Canadian Military
Posted: 4/11/2007 9:35:43 PM |
so you want to close all the prisons and let all the prisoners out on the street. that makes a lot of sense...i hope paul bernardo moves in next door to you.
Or maybe we should sentence some criminals to military service instead of jail... it would teach them discipline at the least. And hey... convicted of shooting someone? Well now you have a way to shoot people to the benefit of the country instead of the detriment. Just shoot at the enemy instead of fellow Canadians.
I know its not realistic... but hey its an idea! | |
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| Canadian Military
Posted: 4/12/2007 5:51:58 AM | Sending prisoners to war is anther idea spread by American neo-cons, 'lets send them some real evil…'
“Did your alphabets cereal tell you that?” No, it was my female intuition and years of research. But here is what you can find in just five minutes….
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hill_&_Knowlton
http://mediafilter.org/caq/Hill&Knowlton.html
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/LIE/HK/HK2.html
http://www.counterpunch.org/lindalay.html
http://world-information.org/wio/infostructure/100437611652/100438658088
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0425-11.htm
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Hill_%26_Knowlton
and our honourable Minister of Propaganda:
http://www.politicswatch.com/defence-june27-2006.htm
He was once a lobbyist trying to sell the Minister of Defence an AirBus contract, now he’s the Minister of Defence being lobbied to by Hill & Knowlton to buy the AirBus contract. Good ethical business! Harper / Bush style.
I give thanks to all those who serve in the military, especially as I watch another plane land full of the dead land in Trenton, I piss on those that lie to us about why we are there. | |
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| Canadian Military
Posted: 4/12/2007 6:23:36 AM | Under funded. Well trained yet never equipped with even borderline decent equipment. Frankly I am still pissed about the switch from the Fabrique Nationale 308 to that useless piece of crap yankee m-16 knock off pea-shooter .... more so at the politicians reasons for the switch. Not that the item was out of date or didn't do it's job effectively, the switch was claimed to be "more humane when we shoot people" ..... the 223 calibre does less damage.
Thankfully there are no major wars at the moment which truly require our intervention. | |
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| Canadian Military
Posted: 4/12/2007 6:54:00 AM | My usual thinking on the military is:
"Support our troops, bring them home"
BUT, now I'm thinking much along these lines... We followed the states into iraq to secure the oil. Fabulous. But with all of the legit problems in Darfur - and the very real need for peacekeepers there - we should have a massive debate in this country about moving our troops from Iraq to Darfur.
Then, if our troops could avoid major scandals (torture, theft, using supplies to manupulate women into sex, etc) that have typically gone hand in hand with international peacekeeping efforts, then all the better. More props to them. | |
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| Canadian Military
Posted: 4/12/2007 7:02:12 AM |
No one tells the story about the time and effort that these people spend in their down time working with the people in the countries that they are sent off to, just the odd time some bad apple does something bad and what do we do? We disband one of the most decorated and honourable regiment in Canada.
The airborne????? Honourable???? are you on crack allgirl?!?!!?!?
They tortured and killed the very people they were in somalia to protect! Then the military lied and covered it up! What are you talking about???
Let's not revise history, eh?
link: http://archives.cbc.ca/IDD-1-71-723/conflict_war/somalia/ | |
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| Canadian Military
Posted: 4/12/2007 7:23:55 AM | Nervous get the whole story first. "The people they were there to protect" I am sure are not those that were tortured and killed. Be aware that when giving blankets to children in Somalia, the blankets had to be cut in half ...... the reason, to make them un-usable by adults (often militia terrorist whatever you like to call them) who would not only steal the item from a small child but savagely beat them in the process. It is a common mistake, people tend to see things in relation to our own environment, but the reality is Somoli's are not us and only have the "potential" to be like us.
Now take a young idealistic person train him to kill, send him to a foreign land telling him all the time he is there to make things better for those living there. Now offer next to no real support in achieving the goal he has been led to believe he is fighting for ...... you guessed it a few individuals will then take matters into their own hands.
Cover-ups are the fault of ass-kissing brass and politicians whose only concern is their career not the integrity of anyone or anything. And yes I will agree that behaviour undermines the credibility of all concerned.
So let's "research" history instead of "revising" it  the media will tell you a good story, and not always let the truth of any matter get in the way. | |
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| Canadian Military
Posted: 4/12/2007 8:21:36 AM | Oh my god...
Have you got a link or any evidence to back that up, or am I just supposed to accept it as true because someone on a forum said "I am sure"??
Come one man, you've got to do better than that.
And what's your excuse for the food-for-sex scandal? Were the women that had to trade sex for food to feed their kids the ones that the UN peacekeepers were there to protect, or were they the enemy? Granted, these were not exclusively canadian soldiers (the UN didn't exactly charge anyone with offences, and it remains unclear where the soldiers involved were from), but this is exactly the kind of thing that makes people disgusted with folk who say "3 cheers for the peacekeeping efforts" and "support our boys"
Links:
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article2132576.ece
http://washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20060509-090826-9806r.htm
http://washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20060509-090826-9806r.htm | |
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| Canadian Military
Posted: 4/12/2007 8:22:29 AM | Opps, the last link was supposed to be directing you here:
http://washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20060509-090826-9806r.htm | |
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| Canadian Military
Posted: 4/12/2007 12:08:53 PM | What part of history was I revising? The fact that this unit had been a merger of para units that have served since the second world war and served our country with dignity and honour and multiple battle honours. The fact that up until the Somalia incident that there has been no other major instance of this type of behaviour. The fact that this was one single incident in over 50 years of existence and all the past members who served are now to be ashamed of their unit? Make no mistake, I do not condone what happened and find it to be as disturbing as the next guy, but I do not support the knee jerk reaction to disgrace and erase the honourable history of an entire Regiment because of a few members actions.You make my point for me. You picked out one line in my whole post and focused on only the negative. Do not confuse the politicians and Defence Headquarters with the average service man or woman. Once again we ask our troops to go into these places from the safety of our couches and then sit back and armchair quarterback the missions from the stress and safe environments of our homes.
Next Remembrance Day take a look around and when you see the jump wings on the chests of many of the vets, remember that these men are also part of the "disgrace" that is the Airbourne and feel free to make the same comments to them that you have on this forum. | |
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