weaponeer

Privatize health care, lower income tax in a very big way to help people pay for it themselves... Personal responsibility!!!!!

We are already N. American, that's where Canada is and always will be. As for the whole "sovereignty" issue, Canadians really need to grow up. People that are truely soverign don't have to go around telling everyone they are!!! Canadians only care about sovereignty until it will cost them $$. So some US or other law enforcment agents carry guns in Canada, it's reciprocal, our Mounties can carry guns in the USA. US cops with guns, here's a scoop, the British Army has a tank training brigade in Suffield Alta, more tanks and troops than our whole army. The Germans for years had a tank training brigade in Shilo Man, again it had more tanks and troops than our whole army. The British, Germans and Dutch Airforces have more fighter planes in Goose Bay NFLD than we have planes in the entire Canadian military. US Air Force jets (armed) routinely patrol Canadian skies on NORAD alert, because we can't and won't. Our Sovereignty, please, we gave that up years ago.....

The blame for not communicating what is happening in Afghanistan rests solely with the Tories. If they hang the "Gone Fishin'" sign up like last summer, there is really no way for people to know what is happening. They start to form their opinions based on what they do see. I guess it depends which "press" you are talking about! I, for one, will believe the journalist who is over there like Arthur Kent and his website www.skyreporter.com whose website tells us exactly whats going on alot more than the black out pages that MckAY is producing! You can ask him any question on Afghanistan and the war, NATO, the people. You can also read questions the Afghanis ask him too! Topaz, No I am sorry, he does not know what is going on, just like the rest of the media he know's about 10 -20%. We are in a war, that means secrets. We do not and cannot tell the media about combat ops, they assume things, speculate but they do not know, sorry. They are not in on the decision meetings, ops planning sessions. They do not get a daily and hourly SITREP. They are not in on it, sorry. I was involved in something the last few days that won't be reported, most likely ever, OPSEC/COMSEC. We cannot talk about the details, we tell the media/Canadian peole, we've told the enemy..... When something works we keep it close hold, if something fails we keep that close hold as well. You don't want the enemy to see what is working and not working either. I WW2 the generals and politicians were not talking to the media about D-Day until after it happened.... even then the FULL story has only really come out lately.....

The blame for not communicating what is happening in Afghanistan rests solely with the Tories. If they hang the "Gone Fishin'" sign up like last summer, there is really no way for people to know what is happening. They start to form their opinions based on what they do see. Hi Jdobb, I don't think the Tories control the CTV or CBC folks here. They might like too, but they don't.:) These guys spend most of thier time looking for negitive stories, dirt. I eat with them... Micro-loans, new buildings, busy markets, traffic jams, they don't sell commercial slots....

This isn't the United States. Even Tory support for the war according to the polls is waning. http://www.edmontonsun.com/Comment/2007/06...286049-sun.html None of these Canadians are seeing what's going on here, only the angle from the dimwitted Canadian press... They have not seen all the new construction, Khandahar skyline is dotted with cranes. Micro-loans, big thing here, really helping people. No, they just get the angle from the weak kneed dimwits who had us surrender even before we got here. Doing worthwhile things is HARD people, Vimy was HARD, Passchandale was HARD, Normandy was HARD!!! Having a country, and defending it is HARD!!!! But what do I know, guess I wait for catchme's next post to see how things are here.......

The dependents get the benefit, whatever it is. It is their lives who are being valued. What is so hard to understand? What is hard to understand is why married members' relatives deserve money that unmarried members relatives' don't. It's not hard for us military folks to understand. In the military, your family, dependents, are ONLY your spouse and children. Your next of kin is your mom, dad, sisters etc.... For example, as a single soldier I can go home and visit mom & dad all expenses paid (actually the price of an airline ticket) once a year. (I can go 20 times a year if I want, but the CF only pays for 1 trip). A married soldier cannot, because he lives with his "family". At Xmas, single members are often given priority to leave so they can travel home and be with next of kin. Married folks have their families with them, so they are considered to be "home". A married soldiers next of kin does not get any $$, only the spouse and children. If a married soldier gets divorced, his ex-spouse is entitled to his pension, where a single soldier has no such fear. It's about choices, if you get married there are plus & minus, same with being single..... As a single soldier, it does not bother me at all.........

The details on the boat sinking are suspect. It was observed from the air and how they know there were Taliban on it is pure speculation. Some NATO commanders just last month were mentioning they didn't like the "body count" numbers for Taliban deaths because they often couldn't tell how many of those killed were actually militants. The boat incident certainly raises that question. Some people reading might think it was 60 Taliban killed. Hi Jdobb, Intel my friend, you'd be surprised what we know......

Haven't heard from you in a bit. Well worth the wait. Hi Madmax, I have been quite busy here reinventing the wheel:), it's a long story... Just for the record, I have posted many times here supporting O'Connor on various issues, but my opinion has changed. We can do better.....

Good to hear from your weaponeer. Hope you are safe in your work. Over the last decades Liberal and Tory support has been lacking for the military. It was the first area to cut in the big expansion of social services in the 1960s and 1970s and became a big area to cut when trying to reign in the deficit in 1980s and 1990s. There has been a build up since 2001 and rightly so. However, after so many years, it is quite the task to gear up for the tasks that need to be done in the world today. A new blueprint for the future of Canada's military is probably in order. I don't know that anyone has a bead on what that should be entirely and I think there is no shame in getting together an expert group to list the priorities and a timetable that is both realistic and practical. Things like the submarine purchase appear to be waste of money. When the government announced the deal, I thought it was a poor choice because of the change in the cold war. I thought the money would have been better spent on four to six brand new destroyers or transport craft. Likewise, we find the need for heavy lift helicopters but at one time the military said they were sold off. There had been no plans for new tanks until Afghanistan. Any new strategy will have to be thought in terms of what future actions the military will take and have a certain amount of flexibility to it. We can't be tied to large purchase and operating projects like submarines. They seemed to be a first strike type of craft rather than a craft geared to defense. Hi Jdobb, Hope your enjoying your spring, I hear I has been hot in "The Peg". Yes, we do need to do a very thourough top to bottom review of the CF and it's needs. Myself, I believe in a Canada first outlook. What I think we need, Our air force is the first line of defence. We need more that 60 modern fighters, we need about 120 based throughout Canada, to protect our coastal approaches and major cities. We need surveillance aircraft, manned and unmanned to monitor our coastlines, all three. I would likwe to see us purchase a fleet of about 7 AWACS type aircraft to control and direct our airforces. We need solid search & rescue aircraft. Right now we have 14 EH101, not enough for 32 million people in the second largest counrty on earth, we need about 20 more. We need a robust military air transport capability in order to move quickly throught Canada, and is capable of operating in the high arctic. We are getting 17 new C130 and 4 C17, 21 planes. That's a good start, but we need about 10-12 more C130s. We need tactical helos to support the army, the chinooks are a good start, but we need at least 20 more, plus about 30 gunships. The navy is not too bad, we do nee supply and transport ships if you are going to operate worldwide. For Canada, we need armed patrol boats, like the Sweedish "Visby" class, as well as armed ships for the arctic. The subs, they were sort of a good buy, but I would much rather see Canada buy 4 US Navy Virginai class nuke subs. The US Navy is building several, and we could just add a few more Canadian ones on their line. Why nuke subs, because they do not need to be refuelled for 50 years. They can operate under the polar ice, and the main reason is that nothing can detect a sub like another sub. The reason the CF bought the subs was because everybody in the world is buying subs. Old Russian subs can be bought very cheaply. N Korea, China, Iran, Pakistan, India are all buying subs, lots of them. Why, becasue the submarine is the most devistating conventional weapons system evey devised. They cause great anxiety for anyone who has to deal with them. They cannot be detected by surface ships, it is almost impossible. Only helos and other subs have any real chance of detecting them and killing them. Our army needs to be restructured and reequipped. It should be light and lethal. Light enough to n\move anywhere it is needed quickly and lethal enough to either deter or kill an enemy very quickly. we should maintain at least one "heavy" brigade, tanks and heavy tracked vehicles, for use in a high intensity conflict. I look to countires like Australia, Holland, Singapore, Norway and Sweden as examples. They have smaller militaries, but they are lethal. The biggest thing that kills our military is our procurment process. It is a lead weight around our neck. If we were a business we would have been bankrupt years ago, total waste of taxpayers $$... I would like to see us with an military, well equipped, multi role capable with about 80K well paid professionals. A military that says, We are Canadian, we are friendly, but do not piss us off.....

I know Canada is not a military country, and that's OK I would not want it to be, no more than a police officer would want us to be a police state. I believe in Canada first, we the CF excist to protect Canada and our way of life. We need the proper gear to do it. We should not build up our military to invade Norway, but we should be able to dispatch a credible military force anywhere within Canada. We should have an air force that can maintain air superiority over Canada, an army that can move quickly and defeat any threat within Canada, and our navy should be able to operate in all three oceans. I don't want to create a Canadain Empire, just do things right. It is embarrassing to have the Americans take the lead in military operations within Canada, not because they bully us, but because we could not be bothered. The 2010 Olympics will be a big test for the military, so far the US is running the show because we don't have what we need.....

As a memeber of the CF currently serving in Afghanistan can I weigh in here... There really is NO government party in Canada, left or right that supports the military. Canadians support the troops because we are people, they do not support the military. They do not support what we do....they are not willing to support the military for real, that would mean big defence budgets, and lots of new modern equip. The Tories have sort of been OK with equip, but the realities are not good for Canadas military. The Tories recently bought us 100 used Leopard2 tanks for the army, 100. we are buying them used from the Dutch who have over 350. Even when they sell us 100, they will still have more than us, and Holland is smaller than New Brunswick. The army has 3 tanks regiments, they are supposed to have 78 tanks each.... The Tories bought us 16 new Chinook transport helos. We will get them in 2008-09, great, but only 16. They will be a spent force in 20 years, there is simply not enough of them. If the gov't and Canadians were really serious about supporting us we would have bought 50-60 Chinooks. The Oklahoma National Guard has 50 Chinooks, the Brits fly 60, the Dutch have 13 and are buying 9 more. The Tories bought us 17 new C130J transport aircraft to replace the current fleet of 32 C130E & H models we have. Good, but again too few. They will be tx'd (time expired) in 20 years also. a full squadron is 12 planes, we will have a sqadron and a half. Canada, second largest landmass on earth, G8 country, very very wealthy, not enough... The Tories bought us 4 C17, very good capability. No probs there. The Libs, they were very good to the forces in the St. Laurant days of the 1950's, but things have slipped. Yes, they finally bought a Sea King replacement after several crashed and many aircrew lives were lost. Not their fault, the Tories in the 1980's could have bought new ones, but no. EH101 was a good choice, but should have been made years earlier... The Libs finally bought us 28 new H92 helos to replace the Sea King, great helo, thanks, but again too few. 35 is the number the air force needed to properly support naval ops. 28, we will burn them out in 20 years also. The Libs bought 650 new LAV3 armoured vehicles, not because they loved the military but becasue thet are built at GM in London ON. They were Canadian made, cheap so we got them. Again, the army would need about 1000 to equip all their regiments, we have fallen short on numbers again. There are none for the militia to use at all. They are OK, but there is better ones out there. They are whelled, and light. wheeled means they have limited offroad capability, light means they can be taken out by an RPG. Being restricted to roads means the enemy knows what route you will take and can better set-up an ambush with a really cheap RPG or IED and kill you. That's OK, they were cheap, and made in Canada, so a few soldiers die, whatever.... Our navy ships need refitting, we need new supply ships. We need navy transport ships to haul our gear around, don't think we'll see them. Why spend money on transport ships when we can hire Igor the Russian sailor to bring his freighter to Canada, he's cheap. If he decides to stop along the way and sell some of our stuff on the blackmarket, or blackmail our gov't for more $$ by holding our equipment, that's OK, he's cheap.. We soon will need to replace our old and over extended CF18 fighter fleet. We are down now to 60. Holland has 213 F16s, Australia has 144 fighters, Singapore, a city has 100 F16s and new F15's. Canada, second largest country in the world has 60. Thats enough to protect Manitoba, sort of.... Most of all we need people. If you really support us, JOIN!!! Traditionally the Libs have been good to the people in the military, pay raises, benifits etc... they have never been big on buying the weapons systems we need to defend Canada. They always have excusses, and then defer our defence to the USA. (then bitch about how the Americans do things) The Tories have traditionally always been more about buying equipment. Sometimes good stuff, sometimes not, but never in numbers we can really use... I am very sorry for the Dinnings loss, the funeral should be paid in full, all reasonable costs. The gov't has to keep a grip on things, war profiteering is out there. If there is a free lunch, I have no doubt some funeral home somewhere will take advantage.... As for support the military, lefties, righties, if you really do then it is time to wake up and take action. It is time to properly equip our military, to fork out the big amounts of $$. It is not Americas job to defend Canada, thats our job...

Iran is a serious threat to the western world, no doubt at all. If I were POTUS I would hit them, and hit them hard before they obtained any nuclear weapons. There's no need at all here to bomb civilians, what's the point. I would take out his military bases (they are big). I would take out his nuclear enriching plants, again they are big and hard to hide. I would peel back thier defences and take out their nuclear plants, that simple. All this weaping, pussy BS is what gets us into these problems. It's the week kneed candy asses that don't want to stand up to anybody that brings Hitlers to power. I don't want to see any children die, but better theirs than ours, sorry..... it's the cold hard truth....

I am a single soldier. If it happens to me here in Afghanistan there's no pay out as I have no dependants. In the military you either have or do not have what the military calls "dependants". Dependants are your wife/spouse, and/or children. Your parents, brother, uncle are not dependants therefore they are not entitled to anything financially. What is my life worth to my mom??? I paid off all my bills before I left, except for the new truck I bought, so there's no need to hand out money. There was no money given out after Vimy Ridge, Passchandale or Normandy. Yes, pay for the funeral in full, and support the spouses and children.... unlimited liability, we volunteered to be expendable....

What's the saying, never judge a person(s) until you've walked a mile in their shoes... It is amazing to me, as Canadians, who live in a peaceful corner of the globe, that borders a country friendly to us, not trying to wipe us out, that we criticise others..... Imagine, Its Canada, 2015, Quebec has separated. They are mad at Canada becasue they want more money, they want Timmins, they want Alberta oil revenues. They have no real army, but a third country, lets say Iran supplies them with Katusha rockets which they fire daily into Ottawa, Pembroke and North Bay. They send people across the border to raid small towns, kill and kidnap people from Renfrew, Lancaster and Cornwall. How long would we put up with it, how long before the Canadian people demanded the gov't do something??? How long before a few of the boys in New Brunswick got out their hunting rifles and paid them a visit?? Don't think it would be too long. No, when Katusha rockets have killed your child, or loved one, you won't care much about the collateral damage we do in Quebec......

What happens though when the guy next door starts thinking that the neighbours wife on the other side is better looking and friendlier than yours? Well, If your man enough to protect your own airspace, your own coastline, your own people without asking the neighbour to do it, your wife may actually think YOUR a man and stick around. She would have no need to dream about the real man next door...........

http://www.theglobeandmail.com//servlet/st...TPStory/Comment This is a good read.....

Peace-keeping and war are two different things. Actually they are NOT two different things, they are very much the same.... There has NEVER been a sucsessful PKing mission in history...

Lets ban AIDS, cancer and crime while we're at it................

http://winnipegsun.com/News/World/2007/05/...170994-sun.html Forgot the link again, sorry.....

Warrior seeks an armySidelined Afghan heavyweight says he could tame Taliban with the right force By SCOTT TAYLOR May 11, 2007 Article Link SHEBIRGHAN, Afghanistan -- The gates of the compound were hurriedly pulled aside and three black Lexus armoured 4X4s raced into the courtyard. Braking hastily, the vehicles disgorged a dozen heavily armed guards who immediately established a protective cordon. With the dust still settling, a giant of a man strode through the parked convoy in a flowing stripped green robe. Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, one of the most notorious former Afghan warlords, arrived for an interview. As the primary commander of the Northern Alliance, Dostum's troops were instrumental in helping the U.S. to collapse the Taliban in 2001. However, in the post-war cycle of violence, instability and insurgency, the general has only played a marginal role. Despite winning a million votes in the 2004 election process, Dostum was excluded from President Hamid Karzai's cabinet. Appointed to the symbolic post of army chief of staff, Dostum says he feels the time is right for him to once again enter the fray. "I'll collect 10,000 fighters and you give us 10,000 fighters from the international community ... and then you'll see what will happen in just six months," said Dostum. "I would use 5,000 fighters as a reserve and 5,000 as an offensive force to push the Taliban. I am sure we would push the Taliban even out of Waziristan (Pakistan), not just Afghanistan." The creation of a force of veteran Afghan fighters would serve to buy time for the fledgling Afghan National Army and then allow them to better prepare for combat with the Taliban, he said. "Every day the ANA is engaged in the fighting -- but just 10 Taliban can disrupt an entire battalion of troops," said Dostum. "What will happen if you stage a wrestling match between a 12-year-old and a 6-month-old infant? Obviously the ANA cannot match the experience of those soldiers who have fought before." Dostum says the tactics employed by the Taliban against the ANA and coalition forces are the same Afghan fighters used to oust the Soviets. "In these days, 100 Taliban fighters attack a district and destroy everything, kill the police chief, kill the governor and then simply vanish. Then the army comes," explained Dostum. "The Taliban withdraw and the only people left to die are civilians." Dostum's criticism of the ANA's inability and unwillingness to enter into combat also extends to the foreign coalition forces, which he says have a mixed record of battlefield efficiency. "I have friends who have given me intelligence that the people really fighting the Taliban from the international community are the United States soldiers and the Canadian soldiers," said Dostum. "Other nationals are not fighting. They are just in defensive positions." In recent months Dostum has held meetings with a number of foreign ambassadors and military commanders from the international community. "If President Karzai gives me the power, I can guarantee him and assure the international community and the people of Afghanistan that we can play a significant role in defeating and breaking the back of the Taliban," Dostum said. Here's something interesting....

The U.S. has certainly not 'granted' us sovereignty. Britain granted Canada sovereignty starting in 1867 culminating in 1982. As for U.S. protection, they had their own reasons which somewhat diminishes the need for us to be grateful. Yes, they had their own reasons, we would not do it so they had to do it for us..... They had to run NORAD because we would not do our share. They had to protect our coastline because we are indifferent to our defence.. Why should we be greatful, they stood down the Russian Bear for us, protected our airspace and our coast, provided search and rescue to our citizens as we would not invest in it to the degree required ourselves.... Your right, why should we be greatful....... As long as the guy next door has a fence, an alarm system and owns a gun, I don't need to worry about criminals do I.........

How come the P.M. never comes on national television and tells us the game plan ? any game plan. All successful organizations have weekly or monthly meetings with everyone including the company principles to discuss the state and future plans of the organization. Successful militarys do have hourly, daily and monthly meetings, up and down the chain of command. Those meetings are NOT for public consumption, it is as simple as that.... You want in, join the military, get a security clearance.... AQ does disclose their intentions from time to time, we just did not take them seriously until 9-11.....

No sane government goes on national TV and outlines their military operations. That's stupid. Imagine Ike and Monty giving a press conference weeks before D-Day outlining the attack, when it would happen, it's objectives and how long it would take. Some things are a secret, that's just the way it is. We have to trust the gov't to do the job right Just because we cannot see everything that's going on each night on TV does not mean things are not going well. I am over here right now, I monitor the news on the web as much as possible, the media gets and gives only about 10-20% of whats going on. The rest falls under OPSEC/COMSEC. You will all just have to wait until after the war (like in WW1 & WW2 etc....) to get all the details..... or join up and come on over....

It's no use denying that some people here are big on torture. As far as what I think about the mission, I have posted all along that we should be able to move off the front at some point with some faith that someone else will take our place. In previous world wars and other hot spots, Canada was able to rotate off the front line in favour of fresh troops from our allies. Where are our allies? I think we should serve our time to 2009 but Tories are preparing up to 2012. Hi jdob, I don't think anyone here is big on torture, I sure hope not anyhow. I am not, however you have to be realistic. This is a different place, they do things different. We have to be careful about imposing our morality, we are here to help, not conquor. The fact these guys are still alive to talk to G&M is progress. There's no real prof these guys were prisoners, or tortured anyhow. The part that makes us mad is that people always rush to believe the worst. The talibs cut off a little girls arms because she wanted to learn to write her name, and some people back home take him at his word. They are more concerned about him than the little girl, or the Canadian troops trying to protect her. As for rotating out of the line, I don't follow. Canadians were never rotated out of the line in past wars. In 1915 we went into the line at Ypres, and came off it in Mons in 1918. Our guys took a short R&R period off, but we always had troops on the line. Same in WW2 and Korea, once on the line, we stayed unitl the war ended. Our allies are no help, never have been and never will be jdob, sorry. Our NATO allies for the most part have conscript armies. They are no good in Afghanistan. In Afghanistan only Canada, the USA, UK, Australia, and the Dutch have volunteer armies. Some conscript are OK, the Danes here are good guys, but for the most part they would be usless.....

Betsy, The NDP could care less about womens rights, human rights, rule of law or anything else. They say we should get out of Afghanistan at the same time the preach "progressive values". You see, they are not the ones who will look into the eyes of the Afghans and say goodbye, we are abandoning you to your fate... They only really "sort of care" about these issues in Canada. As long as the woman being abused is not Canadian they really don't care. You could say they are somewhat racist... There were/are NDP gov'ts in BC, Ontario, Sask, Manitioba, yet there are still poor people and homeless people on the streets, why???? Ask them what their alternative plan is and they have no answer. Ask them how we should support our troops, they offer ideas that would get them slaughtered. The don't care, do not kid yourself. Dawn Black does not have clue 1 about the military, and she is defence critic. Basically critic anything defence does... They simple do not understand how dangerous this world is. And it is getting more dangerous... Dion is weak, he doesn't understand the issues, Iggy would have been a far better choice for them, but what's done is done. Bring talibs to Canada, that stament right there proved he is not fit to govern Canada, the Libs can and should get a better leader, frankly they deserve better. Could you imagine someone in 1944, bring Hitler here to Canada, bring the deah camp gang to Canada..... The anti-war gang does not get it, never will. They are anti-American, they would side with anyone opposing the USA, and they don't care who. Their reaction is automatic, the US says left, they say right. They like to have marches in the cities. They like to go on about how they demand human rights, rule of law, womens right etc.... yet they are noticably absent when it come to really doing anything about it. Human right and such, they were won for us at the end of a bayonet. To quote Rick Mercer, "the gates of Auszswitch were not opened though negotiations!!" Human beings are animals, we often forget this. More specifically we are preditory animals. Preditors compete for food and resouces, it is natural. War and conflict is part of who and what we are, it will never stop. Humans have been at war since the dawn of time, one tribe killing of another so they could not take their caribou etc etc ... The only real way to deal with it is to 1. be prepared, 2. take the threats seriously, and 3. when you go to war, WIN!!