Army Guy

Yes the old realistic prioritization within fiscal reality....I've heard this a million times, we can't afford that at this time maybe in 4 years and when times get better funding is almosts always dirrected else where....One of the very reasons DND is in the state it is in....DND has had a huge target painted on it since the dawn of times. Every piece of equipment DND owns has a life span, Canada has a world reputation of extending these life spans well past any engineers wildest dreams...not because we are trying to set world records, because of being forced to by other governmental popular projects, that joe taxpayer wants instead....And i get that...But had we replaced equipment on a sceduled time frame, we would not have been looking at a bill we are today.... Yes the current government did promise the moon, but one has to think why they promised the moon, was it really just to score a few "Support the troops voters" or was there an actual need....Canada needs a new fighter aircraft, new Naval AOR's, new frigate replacement,new destroyers, new Army ground vehs the list is massive....because they have been pushed back so many times that even the forces can't keep them running any longer.... There are many sources that have a dollar value attached to them i choose the one in the middle, these represent a cost to replace and purchase equipment that represents a core capability....nothing extra just core stuff....and it is the reference piont, it which a decision needs to be based, either what core capability is going to be cut, or the unpopular choice needs to be made in spending... Your right the rest of the world is cutting back on it's military spending, but a good majority already have a well upkept military, armed with modern arms, Canada does not have that option, it's military equipment is long in the tooth, and will soon be a liabilty to the nation and it's operators. we need to spend more just to catch up... I agree this nation does need a white paper, but what it needs more is a nation that will stick to the plan. the last white paper lasted a couple months when it was decided it would be to expensive.....and instead of re writing it, it was shelfed in someone desk....like i said before it was a white paper in name only....it reflects on how much defense is thought of in this country...but sooner or later someone is going to have to take a look at defense, and the bill it represents..... While the money dept seems to think so, in fact one of the complaints of the F-35 project was the fact that DND did not include a 42 year plan to O&M funding....i thought it was law....Are you second guess them? i mean historically speaking i said yes DND has a long standing history of keeping equipment well past it's prime....42 years is a little stretch but hey it's the law, DND tried to rebuff it to no avail....it was however a good tool in producing sticker shock... I agree with you Unmanned aircraft are going to make a apearence in the near future, but Canada's reluctance to get in on the ground floor is another story, it all requires funding...Well we have seen Canada, place forces in combat, be it on the ground, in the air, or on the seas...you can't tell me with any certainity it will not happen again....and in my opinion if a nation is going to commit it's citizens to combat , it should have the balls to equip them with the good stuff....to give them an edge in their life and death struggle....or it's citizens should get used to seeing herc's come back with flag drapped coffins... unproven today, but like so many military projects in the past they will spend until it is right...as for the F-35 what is the alternative, perhaps Canada has an option very limited options that performace will be what in 20 years .....but the US does not, it will not fly a foreign plane period....besides Canada is not in a rush to buy anything at this time, according to PWSG it is not even on the list for the short term....meaning this project is not going to even get out of the "which aircraft we want stage for years to come"....

A white Paper is just that a bunch of ( well) white papers, that nobody follows anyways for what ever excuse....The new Canada first although not a white paper, is the direction DND is following now or until a new one is drafted....As for the updated policy on procument for DND it's a joke....in regards to what equipment DND wants or needs....those needs and wants have been thrown to the back of the bus in favor for industry benifits, jobs, and kick backs the manufacture is willing to give Canada....more to the piont purchases will become all that more politcalized.....like i said more LSVW like programs are soon to follow....And that program was a huge disaster.....infact very little of our procument has run smoothly, those that have were DND run...Ch-47F, C-17, M777 etc.... DND has pinned it's hopes on the Harper government as it is atleast DND friendly, even they have failed overall, but lets give credit where credit is due, they have atleast place some much needed programs on the planning books.... Every Canadian knows that DND operates on a shoe string budget with the wants far exceeding what any elected government can provide....DND has needs that are in excess of 150 bil....and in todays market, even in future markets the price is to steep.... Who is defining the real needs of our military....not the military, not the government as is so well documant with a current white paper and the lack of will to make purchases.....it looks like they are being defined but what is acceptable to the Canadian tax payer what is the taxpayer willing to swallow.......also well documented, if they had not been so stickered shocked with the F-35 purchase we would already have these planes on the ground..... Do i aree that the purchase of F-35 has been mired in well lets say mountains of shit then i would agree with you....however we are also kidding ourselfs when we scream form the roof tops that we need a crystal clear process, to give everyone that has a dog a piece of the action....the runners in this project have 4 or 4.5 aircraft, who's aircraft in 20 years will be where exactly....at the end of there careers.... Canada's procument practices are not a secret, we have to hold on to equipment well past it's life expectance....in fact one of the requirements for the f-35 was to list costs for 42 years....in 42 years what is the other examples going to look like....well sir how far has the aviation world come in 42 years....the jet age was brand new...now the f-22 has taken flight, and god knows what is on the drawing boards now.... To sum up in 42 years what is the F-35 going to look like, is it going to last longer than the other aircraft....my guess is yes...so what is wrong with sole source, knowing we will have this aircraft for many years to come, why not invest in something that will be a better aircraft in the future....And we wonder why DND wanted to buy the latest and greatest.....

No, his right derek, i think perhaps maybe the local plumber shop should pick our new fighters, maybe the guys down at the fire hall....i mean what does those boys down at the airforce really know about fighters.....I thought it was them that strapped themselfs into these machines and faught for this country.... We are not sure what or how this new PWSG purchase group is going to work....according to them performance of the aircraft is not the top pri here, it is industry off shoots, price cuts, jobs.....in other words another LSVW program....and we know how that will work...

In this case it seems the justice system failed...60 days is a joke ? i don't care how you explain it 60 days for taking a life is a joke....

Tim i see your piont, Cybercoma: Does the law take into account how many fathers her children have....from what i gather out of all the posts the answer is no....so there is nothing stopping a women with X amount of kids from collecting as many fathers as she wishes.....nothing in the law to prevent this from happening... One other question you said that the step parent has legal rights to the children...and could take mom to court for custody...has this happened , where step dad is given custody....and where would he stand in priorty to recieve custody or shared custody....after the orginal DAD, after mom,not sure....this could get very confusing.... And what ever was wrong with the old law.... orginal dad paid for the kids he fathered....

This post has to be one of your best tinfoil hat moments ever....the revolution has started indeed ... Does the hospital not regulate what subjects your post.....it seems they don't here either.... I guess American bashing is a sport here, BC got room on your bench.....maybe it's because we can't face our own trurths....maybe it's because our debating skills are so low, since we can't swear, we bash americans....i'm not sure what it is...but it certainly a canadian trait...

Having a few nuks may give other countries a reason to pause and think, but if the US really had a reason to attack any of them conventional forces would be more than enough....As for falling victim to a nuk strike, Iran would be nothing but glass before they even knew they were under attack....there is not the MAD that the main players had such as Russia, China etc...who owned thousands of war heads just for that reason..... I think most countries are safe from a nuk strike, not because of nuks they own, but rather the mess they create when detonated, and would likely draw in some of the big players....can you imigine the radiactive cloud that would be created if tehran would to disappear, then drift over to say Russia , killing thousands of russians in the process, poisoning eveything in between.... i think it is this problem that deters anyone from using nuks..... The last thing we need is a rogue nation such as Iran having it's own nuks, which would be likely used over Israel....a group of people who think becoming a martar is more important than using common sense...would you really want that, to leave that kind of power in someone else hands....that cloud from that type of wpn would drift around the world piosoning everything in its path....there would be a resonse from many nations.... As for Iran being kept safe because of a Nuk program is false. the US current finacial state would proably have more to do with that than anything. that and it would spark a major response from the rest of the ME....it would not be a short conflict.... I think if the US or Russia would have dropped a large nuk on each other or europe it would have been assured MAD, no one would have accepted those type of losses....surrender was not an option, not when you have thousands of war heads.... destroying the entire planet would have been....you don't build that number of systems if you are not going to use them....

You have to understand the Taliban or the many groups of terrorist that worked out of Afghan.....many of the leadership was not even from Afghanistan....they had taken advantage of the situation and forced the millions of Afghanis citizens to bend to there ways by terror....They had the power to what was best for their people and abused it millions of times over....those that disagreed got a trip to the soccer stadium, and a bullet to the back of the skull.....thousands went along with it because they did not want to make that trip.... The northern allianence were also Afghanis, they did not want any part of this new taliban regime, as they were brutal....and yet nobody has said anything about them.....they're opinion counts for jack shit.... Yes alot of the taliban were from Afghanistan, and it was thery're country, but at what piont does the rest of the world keep looking the other way while the elephant in the room takes a dump at your feet.....do we wait until the death toll hits a thousand, 10,000, 100,000 or a million....what number would get you to take action.....or is it none of our bussiness....yet here in the west we claim to have civilized ourselfs we claim we have human rights, rights for women, children, not only for our selfs but they should be available to every one on the planet or is all that talk ...when it is time to take action we now claim the price is to high fu*** that.... I think the exchange was a good one, but i look upon it from a soldiers piont of view....every one goes home, alive or in a bag but everyone goes home, regardless of their actions....those can be judged later...this soldier was worth a thousand taliban he deserves to be home....The battle field changes even the strongest and can make men do strange things,but lets not forget, he volenteered to serve his country, that fact alone should be worth every effort to get him back....

More Afghanis citizens were killed in taliban operations that any other force on the ground....something you have failed to mention.......Taliban intentionally targeted Afghan citizens to instill fear........and while there was many Afghanis killed by NATO forces it was not done intentionally ...tragic mistakes happen in combat there is no such thing in war when only the bad guys die.... I've had years to think everything i did or saw, in Afghan and like i said, i have little to regrett....You see i volunteered to go over not once but three times, all three times it was in a combat role....why to make a difference to stand up for an enslaved people, being terrorized by foreigners to me that was a fight worth hav ing, i mean here we sat in Canada with so much, that we take for granted the most common things like freedom, plenty of food, shelter, clothing, etc etc....and yet you find fault because Canada wanted to offer some of that to Afghan....No sir, i very confident in my decissions....i don't have to dare to think about them... Lets be trurthfull here you feel the need to dumb it down, fine, i get it ....robot....what was i thinking I want to be clear, Canada did not operate under direct US military command it took it's orders from our National government, they pulled the strings, and for the most part we were singing off the same page as the US...but it was blessed by Canadians....you need to wrap your mind around that for a second..... You can go on and on about being propagandized all you want the minute a soldier gets off the plane in Afghan he starts to make up his own mind....he sees what he sees and forms his own opinion....what we saw was the deep darkest secrets of the taliban....we seen what they were capable off doing to children, old men, babies, women.....when you have a conversation with a 10 year girl who has had her hands cut off for going to school it hardened ones opinion....to the piont where you had to have lots of self control not to kill all of them terrorist dick heads.....to me there is nothing as evil as these bastards....once you looked into a childs eyes and felt her pain.....and if you had a conscience you to would think the same...but then again you have not had that experience , i'm not sure where you retrieved your opinion from... One soldier shit lets make it a hundard, out of the tens of thousands that served....that has got to be accounted for.....the numbers speak for itself...

I'm sure that your opinion is one based on fact and not pulled from that 1/4 in speaker attached to your ass, or you've talking to soldiers from across the country and found them all mindless robots without a conscience....The same men and women who are in charge of defending this great nation that you and i call home....You probably pray to the war gods every night that Canada does not have to employ such monsters in your name.....Sorry to late.... These mindless robots as you call them are the men and women that protected thousands of Afghanis citizens 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, in an area much larger than PEI, and did it with maybe 1200 fighting troops on the ground.....from the taliban and terrorist you've come to love and respect....these are the same men and women who have risked their very own lives to rescue them during fire fights, assisting in building a dam to provide electricity to homes that had none....digging wells to give villiages clean drinking water where none existed before, building hyways for commerence, securing towns so they could go to the market and trade their goods.... mindless robots one and all....perhaps you should vist the honor and award section of the govern generals web site....read some of those awards and tell me they were mindless robots.....men and women gave thier lives and asked for nothing in return....for what there is no oil, there is no oil pipe line....there is no pay off for the victor.....it was those mindless robots with no conscience that did all that....and asked for nothing in return....many of them doing it over and over again....mindless robots or Proud Canadian citizens... Oh you say you can get deeper into it with me Start up a new thread and i'd be happy to debate this topic with you....keep in mind you'll have to go slow because i'm one of those mindless robots with no conscience..... As for the losses i know i was there, i seen the dead carried away, families grieving in the open streets....after they picked the parts of their family members off the walls of the market after a taliban car bomb went off.....or they forced a small child of 5 to drive his bike towards a NATO traffic control piont his little body straped with explosives...... i seen comrads make they way onto the back ramp of a herc for the long journey home......i was also one of those soldiers to fire his wpn in anger, i also controled small groups of men to destroy our nations and the Afghan nations enemies.....and like i said i regret very little, does 'nt mean i have no conscience....you see i have a son, the same age as that little boy who was shoot by NATO troops as he approached our Veh check piont with his sucide vest.....forced to ride his little bike towards us by those scumbags you think we owe so much to...the Taliban blew him up with a cell phone....I watch his father picking up his sandals and parts of his little legs, wailing for his loss ...I'm haunted by that day every time i close my eyes........i wish i had no conscience....me along with the thousands of other soldiers who have the same dreams night after night.....it would have made our tours so much easier.... .... But what you forget to mention was how many are still alive today because of our contributions to Afghan....you also fail to tell the readers how well the country is doing today, compared to the last year the taliban where in charge....how the quality of life has climbed tremendously because of NATO intervention....forget all that shit...as it does not support your quest in life bash the US, the CDN Government, military or police....for you all that is left is one big conspircy theory...Like i said your entitled to your opinion, as am i.... as i have to much invested in this topic, as do 40,000 other Canadain soldiers who served in Afghanistan.... As for dealing with the Taliban that is the Government of Afghan to decide who they are going to deal with....do i like it no, but again my opinion means little in the grand vision of things.... You knew exactly who i was reffering to, the taliban and they're terrorist comrads.....That would be the same taliban that has killed more civilian Afghanis than NATO could ever dream off....as for them being the number one faction of chioce , again a fact pulled out of a 1/4 in speaker...i guess that would depend on who you talked to....go figure.... And you would know that how ? have you been there ?, how many Afghanis have you talked to ?....something you got off the inter net.... I never impress any of our values on them sure i talked in length to Afghan soldiers and civilians about our values, but never did i say ours were best or you should do this for this reason....I mission was to give them opitions, and if one of those options was to return back to Taliban rule then so be it, it is their chioce.....but i doubt that will ever happen....(my opinion)

Yes i have claimed that, me and millions of others, along with our history books....Yes the government can create and take away your freedoms, been that way for quit some time now, are you afraid.... I don't despise anyone that exericises their freedoms, you can amire anyone you want , send him all your money, but when taxpayers money is going to be used to fund a terrorist then i as in me a tax payer draw the line....when good men and women who believed in a better Canada risk everything and suffered alot more than your man Omar....get far less it sends a clear msg....our terrorist are worth much more than the people that fight for our country and everything it stands for....maybe next time you and your ilk can get Omar and his buddies to stand the line for you....

You asked for names of supporters, these guys are supporters, like it or not.

You make alot of asumptions, things like he developed a conscience, you talk like the other soldiers did not have a conscience were mere robots / programed killers....We all have our demons that keep us awake at night, mine have nothing to do with pulling the triger on any of those bottom feeders.......instead it's seeing the crimes they commited on their very own people .....I'm not sure how you developed the opinion you have today but i can tell you first hand we did make a difference for the better in Afghan.......The facts are there you just got to look for them... Did i ever develope a conscience for the Taliban or the terrorist that they employed....never...because i seen first hand the crimes they commited , things like cutting a 6 year old hands of for going to school, after they exicuted her father and raped her mother in front of her....skinning alive an old man, then staking him to the ground to be cooked alive in plus 45 sun....throwing acid in the faces of young women....having a 10 year boy cut the head of a captive with a dull machette while they vidioed it for the world to see.... Nice guys everyone of them, according to you inocent of any crimes....There was no facade of moral high ground....we did have the high ground we owned the high ground. We went there to destroy the terrorist groups from be able to operate inter nationally, and in the process disposed of a brutal regime, the few that terrorised the many.... i have no regrets nor do any of the troops i served with... And would gladly do it all over again....

He had shot her in the head from a distance while she sat in her car....with a high powered rifle, then walk up to the car and finished her off at close range less than 4 feet .....She never had a chance...self defence my ass... Yes we have the right to self defense within reason. Most situations that involve police officers they give you plenty of time to make that chioce to surrender.....other in the movies when would a police officer just pull his wpn and start shooting.... As for the toronto shooting you or for that matter the rest of us where not there we do not know what that officer weas thinking at the time....have you've been in that situation, i doubt it, and yet you still judge him..... Cops are not infallible, and tradgic mistakes happen all the time, if you think you can do it better, i'll send you a link to the RCMP recruiting dept.....not so funney now is it.

Problem with Thermal imaging systems is that they are not the end all be all tool. they can be very effective at night in open terrain when the ground is cooler. very effective in the winter. however in the deep bush where this guy was, if you have enough over head cover then they can be ineffective. In fact the military produces fabric that helps in masking heat signatures, such as CADPAT, Cam Nets , or veh screens.... top that off with all mother natures criters running around and you could chase something for miles before clearly indentifing it as the right target. they are easily fooled as well lying in one spot for a couple hours then moving to deep cover will give a false heat signature. Thermal is normally used with over serv op equip to cover all the possiable spectrems, such as IR, ground radar, etc etc... Unlike the movies they don't see through objects suchs as walls or trees etc... The RCMP had alot of assets on the ground, and this guy was going to get caught it was just a matter of time, but i think it was mother nature that drove him out of the thick brush....it was raining so he was wet and cold, the insects alone would be enough to drive him crazy....anyone spent any time in the woods would know the flies and skiters and beyond thick this time of year....you can't mess with Mother Nature she'll beat you every time.... I think it is time to give 2 mins and pray for the fallen and thier families....

A women has taken vidio of Mr Bourque exicuting one officer at close range, i think there is enough evidence to prove his guilt....said vidio was on the inter net but was taken down by authorities...He will have his day in court, but he is difinitly not innocent.

Perhaps not the best choice of words, but it can be made to fit...The last option in the diplomatic hand book is the military option.... The military function is to inflict as much damage/death onto our foes as possiable to force diplomatic talks to start once again....Now other citizens may see it differently depending upon their role they play in this....As a soldier it can be seen as punishing our enemy to get them to stop doing something IE invading another country WWI,WWII or to destroy their capacity to inflict damage on others IE AFGHAN, etc ...

Call it what you want....but the majority of Canadians have spoken with their votes, and they said we should punish those pesky terrorist in the middle east.....but then again thats what happens when you stick your head in the sand the world passes you by....

Here are some Omar supporters. read the comments section and tell me these guys don't support Omar.....below are numbers of Canadians that support Omar....as for names on the forum that support Omar....i think you can find more than a few.... http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/judge-reserves-decision-on-whether-omar-khadr-should-be-moved-to-provincial-prison-1.1466198 http://www.change.org/en-CA/petitions/free-omar-khadr

Thats the problem here....if it did not get put on the information highway for general consumption, then it did not happen period....and yet US and Canadian agencies do just that everyday but refrain from telling the public because of national security concerns... But then again it's the WWWTT's in the world that are the first to scream bloody murder when a terrorist attack does happen, and could not be prevented..Thats the problem with a democracy is'nt it , majority rules you don't have to like it just live with it....

I suppose that if you broke it down to the lowest level your statement would be true, soldiers don't fight for queen, country, etc the fight for their closest buddies....however, every soldier knows what a war crime is, and we police our own....making sure that it did not happen, or the person responsable is held accountable....case in piont the young Capt who shot the wounded taliban , that was reported by one of his soldiers....the rules are there to protect people, in an already hellish enviroment. and is only as good as the soldiers over seeing it...

The new forece test is a joke....my 5 year old grand daughter could pass it....

Below are the minimum standards for CF recruits, i think when you read them you'll understand standards are not so high. http://www.cg.cfpsa.ca/cg-pc/Winnipeg/EN/MilitaryFitness/Specialist%20Testing/CF%20Applicant%20Testing/Pages/default.aspx This is the problem, that standards have been lowered, to the piont where they are non effective.almost anyone can make them..... note that this is not only phyiscal standards but mental standards as well. On a side note if your cant make these standards as a recruit then there is fat camp, thats right a company within the recruit school that dedicates itself to putting people in shape, they place recruits on a diet, and regtimented PT plan these recruits have up to one full year to be able to make min standards....Thats one full year recruits are being paid to loss wieght.....if they can't make the standard then they are asked to leave. Because anyone is entitled to be afford every oportunity to join DND. These recruits count as part of DND membership.... Why standards need to be increased, to havest a better recruit, be it white or black, purple what ever....In Afghan within 3 days of arriving we were marching through the mountains with over 160 lbs of kit, ammo, water etc....i'm 6'3 and struggled...men smaller than that really struggled....the only female medic could not lift her own ruck...and it had to be divided amounst the rest of the platoon....don't get me wrong she was a great medic, but we were at war, and being able to phyiscally able to hump all the equipment to do our job was not a matter of having a diverse army....but rather a matter of survival not just for one self but the entire platoon..... Some have said well not everyone is in combat....bullshit, in Afghan everyone was in combat once they left the front gate...we had a female medic, an airforce FAC Forward air controler, a navy diver as our EOD guy......and once a clerk as a Radio man.. ....and those leasons learned are now being adressed.....it's not about being a male chauvinist, it's about common sense...lives are at risk.

Yes you are responsable to ensure your comunication is clear and concise and anything, that could be misrepresented is clear to everyone involved. it should also be free of anything that might be considered harrasment.....twice you suggested that old men were not of the same standard , thinking they were old and feable, then suggesting they were not educated to your standard....Harrassment is anything the reciever precieves as harrassment...So it is a double edge sword.... Yes i know your a women....i don't have a issue with that, it seems you do, and expect to be treated differently....with a softer glove. and yet you wanted to be treated as an equal....which one is it.... Your right i did twist your words around, i thought it might be funney, as that is the way i thought you meant it. Im sorry if i offended you in any way, it won't happen again.... Your right the Army is a tougher place where womens skin is not so thin. my bad once again. If you think you got what it takes walk down to the recruiting center, the CF is always looking for women to increase their numbers....you know what they say the best changes come from within.... On the other issue I've been doing this job for over 30 years, and it is very rare that i can be out soldiered by any younger model, male or female.....maybe you Might be the first.

And this was not.....sounds like something you'd here at a jello wrestling ring.....rather than a NDHQ planning conference....or debate on military manning.