Army Guy

Not sure they had a choice, WE as consumers wanted the products but at a cheaper price....One of the sure fired ways to lower prices was to find cheap labour....Now look at Chinas economy, growing out of control, while ours dwindles, right before our very noses...now we either have to live with it....or force change...

While everyone loves to piont fingers at our southern neibors (as it is a sport, with equipment and refs,) at being the worlds policemen and in doing that job ,yes they make some mistakes....But then again who else is going to do the job if not the US....Unless your saying we can live with Sadam, or the taliban, North Korea,the list goes on and on and on....Can we bury our heads in the sand and wait for it to hit our shores...... When do we stand up and say ok dick head, you've crossed the line....when is it we can squash them like a bug.....Someone needs to act and hold the line....and while we do not have to agree all of the time, deep down we are glad they did, and still do....Because reading some posts here it's like we would like the US to step down, stop being that policemen.... Frankly i really don't understand why they the US has done it for so long, with all the crap they get and take, and what little return they get from the rest of the world....i'd have told them to stuff it along time ago....forcing them to fend for themselfs...Have other nations put trillions into the war machine....and living high on the hog...

Gost: Nothing changes, and your right it means nothing in the real world except now our Aircraft, buses , posters etc will now have the addition of ARMED painted on them. Until the next time someone wants to change it all back....

Gost. There are many forms of Shia law, just as in the many forms of democracy. And while it maybe not a perfect form it is their form. Which was the piont was it not, oust the Taliban which took Shia law to the extreme....As for Freedom, well if you had been there under the Taliban , and what they have today there is a very measurable difference, night and day. As for the lenght of the War, well it has been a long struggle, Taliban are very determined people, And lets not forget Afghanistan has not always been the main effort. The supporting the Muhajideen excuse has already been debunked, The muhajideen of the time consisted of many different splinter groups including those in the north. It's main objective was to defeat the Russian....and they did...the fact that many years later the Taliban forms up and takes advantage of the conditions in the country can hardly be blamed on the US intervention. While the Taliban may still roam the country they control very little of it. NATO has bases and outposts through out the entire country....There man power levels still do not allow them to take NATO one on one on the battle field...instead forced to use terror tactics, slink around at niight to plant bombs threaten the people....Afghan army is now approach over 160 k. NATO will leave without completing the mission, it is leaving because that is what NATO's citizens want....over whemling presure from the people is forceing them out. There is still a job to do. Coming home in a bag use to scare the crap out of me,consume most of my free thought on my first tour....but when you see the difference in the lives of the Afghan people your making, it is worth the sacrifice hence why i did 2 tours after that....Soldiers have come back from this war and told the press and our citizens that we where making a difference, but it fell on deaf ears, most were worried about the bottom dollar...while we did loose a large number of soldiers, good soldiers some of those very close friends of mine. Their lifes were not wasted, and if they were here today many would do it all over again... Afghan has changed my life forever, i have many fond memories of the locals i'd met or inter acted with, i also live with many ghosts but i would gladly do it all over again, to achieve the same results.

No it was changed, it was changed on the side of the Aircraft, Buses, and recruiting posters. Why it was changed they did not say, but the Liberals had it done at some expense.

WOW, eyeball still twisted as ever, happy with the freedoms and pleasures you take for granted everday, and don't want to share them with the rest of the world.....Screw them let them eat cake, let them struggle just as we had to....it's my tax dollar and i don't want to share any of it...And while i do agree with you Afghanistan is a shit hole, but there are some of us that would like to change that....

Before crietiens term in office, DND was call the Canadian Armed forces, used to be on most Military aircraft,recruiting posters,Buses etc...But the liberals had it changed it was to "military" for them, did not present the image they want to project. So it was changed to just Canadian forces, much less Military, and projected a much gentler image.... It is what it is, those that serve in it understand , and frankly could not care what you called it, we know what our jobs are, regardless of what they called us.

I think your concept is a good one, but it requires alot more investment in the army, than what is currently there. And While the Army has got the lions share of funding in the last 10 or more years it is still well below what it should be. a good example of that is in a mech Inf Bn units are lucky to be able to field 2 full coys of lavs, with most Inf Bns only having one...Yes there is the LAV up project which will see our current LAV fleet rebuilt into new machines but there is only 550 of those...But the Inf is not the only unit that employs the LAV so they will be spread thin, supplemented with TPAV vehs , which are really an armoured patrol veh, not a mech battle taxi. So with reg force units barely holding on to the titles of Mech, adding one more Res company into the mix would really throw a wrench into the mix... As for training , again lack of funding, units struggle with the regular PCF cycle, keeping up with normal training requirements , and might get out once a year for a BN or Brig level EX if lucky.....I think it all comes down to funding , but the Army's turn at the trough is finsihed....

Having minimum attendence is the problem when A) your organization is only equiped with the minimum amount of gear, and it is not for the most part the same standard... Your leadership sees their jobs as a second job, and does not recieve 100% of their effort...In most cases because i've seen reservist in leadership postions that were damn fine soldiers....in fact the RSM of one of the Res Inf regts in Montreal, also teaches in the Reg force ALQ course... I think by placing them under contract , forming entire units, so they can train regularly....the Reg force has a hard time doing this just not enough funding....and for the sake of having a couple of pre form units in the wings might as well expand the Reg force by another Brig....fill those spots with those Res Soldiers that want to take soldiering seriously Converting them to reg force.... I do want to stress this that those 10 to 15 Res soldiers that do show up are normally the ones that end up getting call outs to reg force units....which depend on these numbers to accomplish our taskings....the res play a vital role...i know there is always tones of talk about how all the Reg force trades are full, and they have stopped recruiting, We've hit our numbers etc but in the real world there are shortfalls all over...Reg force units are not up to par....if they were we would not need so many res filling in the blanks..

I am with you on this one to a degree, we need Primary reserve which is contract based , a secondary reserve which is force generation as well as manning training establishments and it should be along the lines of the current primary reserve. Singing on the dotted line with the primary reserve be it navy army or airforce would mean that you get better pay than the secondary reserve, better set of benefits but also higher level of training and better equipment as well as that you could deploy as individual augmentation for a deployment or as a unit be it at the platoon, coy or battalion level. I disagree, want to sign a contract join the reg force, which is all contract based, and correct me if i'm wrong Reserves that do agree to deploy also sign contracts for a certain period of time. Once they agree they are a go unless they fail pre deployment training, or medical....what i mean they can't just quit and go home when the going gets tough, or their crack hurts. I think having reservists on contract, would hurt recruitment,besides if the balloon went up there would not be a problem with recruitment, Canadians have for the most part answered the call when they needed to... If you were going to put them on contract, the government should be forced to equip them to for the most part same standard, so training and experience would be the same ....and we all know that is not going to happen, Shit we are still strugling to outfit the regs, what equipment the reserves do get the reg force rapes.

If there is one thing man is good at it is killing each other on a mass scale, this model that you don't like has been developed over thousands of years and thousands of conflicts it is the best one out there, and i have no doubt will be here for thousands of more years. As for serving the tax payers interests, Nations are not forced to invest anything in their militaries, but that comes at a price or trade off does it not.... That trade off is your security,and freedoms that you enjoy everyday...that price you pay is your taxes...the more you taxes you spend on your military the more security and freedoms you will have available. Perhaps you should work on how our government invests those tax payers dollars , look at changing it's bussiness model on how it spends funding. and not how we conduct our missions and taskings.

Up until quite recently, most experts thought that drug money accounted for the bulk of Taliban funding. But even here opinion was divided on actual amounts. Some reports gauged the total annual income at about $100 million, while others placed the figure as high as $300 million still a small fraction of the $4 billion poppy industry. if i would to guess i would think it would have been alot higher, but local farmers did say their yeild out of a full acre was only 100.00 US dollars, Not sure how many pounds they got per acre not a whole lot.... However they did explain that the further down the chain you went the more money you made. it's the dealers in the west that are making the big money. But lets remember there is more to the drug trade than just Opium....And even a 100 mil buys alot of support, considering they ( Taliban soldiers) are paid less than 300 US dollars a month. More than what the Afghan Army paided out....Besides can anyone clearly tell me how much the Hells Angles made from the drug trade last year, and they are in our back yard, not like they are claiming it to the tax debt.

Gost: Not saying your reports are wrong, but i remember patroling down south, around Kanadar, on my second tour, Talibans home ground....and the fields were full of poppies...as far as the eye could see...and they belonged to the bad guys because we use to burn them, which stopped later on as they were taken over by war lords not sure this is the eradication they are talking about..But Taliban still control or force farmers along the border areas to grow poppies for them. Taliban also control large sectors of other drugs as well Hash, Coke, Heroin etc....The Drug trade plays a big role in their funding... I'm also not saying they are false, but the whole time we spent outside the wire, we never seen any UN or for that matter any Agency civilian related around. so i'm not sure how they gathered up that info...and like i said we spent months at a time outside the wire.

Opium production in Afghanistan has skyrocketed since US intereference. The Taliban had been cracking down on it. Another wifes tale, Taliban used the opium/ Drug trade to fund it's wars, and oppression on it's own people...Nato's beef is not with the drug dealers but with the Taliban, NATO stop targeting them to remove those warlords and their armies from the battle field...So NATO could concentrate on killing taliban...

Not attacking the idea, here. You are labeling me as someone who doesn't know about design of nautical and naval systems. They have not made good ships, for instance the US national security cutters were made to last only 3 years in their operating environment, that is what your... highly skilled people did. There is nothing in what I said indicates any of my plan is inoperable, you are spouting nonsense. I think torpedos rockets and machine guns are more than enough deterrent to stop illegal fishing. You are being nonsensical. Anything more serious can be met with helicopters and jets. Maybe that is the problem, your great at following future tech, but you've failed to understand what it is our navy does for a living, and why over 160 nations are not multi tasking thier militaries with other more productive services. let alone just arm their ships with some torps, MG,s. or doing just illegal fishing patrols But hey maybe you know something they don't i mean maybe your ahead of your time. Or maybe you just don't know what your talking about. Your military is only meant to drain money, that is why it fails and can't be supported without extorting from tax payers. You military design is stupid. Dedicated forces are ineffective in defence, they are only used for occupation and destroying foreign nations of lesser technological capacity. It serves no benefit for Canada to have its forces designed in that fashion. Again why is it 160 nations or more are following the same dotrine, could it be they are on to something.... As for occuping and destroying other nations have you read any of our history....Thats what militaries do, they provide our nation with means to deal with problems once the polictical process breaks down.....it's really that simple....

If combatants are breaking the "rules of war" then what is the issue with noncombatants doing the same? Then combatants should be charged with war crimes period, and most are....The media is full of NATO pers charged with breaking them, including Canadian Capt Semeau, along with a long list of US service pers. The Issue with Non Combatants is for their protection, get rid of the rules and you will open it up for armies to ethic cleanse entire nations....Civilians will have no protection at all... How exactly are people suppose to resist if the government has been destroyed by the invading country.. quite a bit of rhetoric here. People have the right to self preservation and defence against acts of lethal force directed at them. The rules are simple, resist and you become a illegal combatant,and face war crimes.... Want to resist join the F...ing Military....it's really that simple.... It just doesn't fly... kids playing by the road are a security risk so the humanitarian and law abiding west must blow them up with a missile to protect people... because the rules of war let invading countries blow up children that are standing near a road... uhm think again on your double standard here. No double standard, there is no age limit on illigal combatants period....., Understanding how the enemy thinks and works and you'll begin to understand why the Rules of engagement are what they are....digging a hole in the road is how they place IED's. The bad guys often use children in all aspects of their fight....Look an Omar as one example.... On my first tour in Afghan a small boy on a bike was peddling towards us, one of the guys noticed he was crying....we checked it out through our rifle scopes......One of the local terrorists had straped a explosive vest on him and told him to drive his bike towards our check piont, he would then detonate the device...at 200 meters out we noticed the vest, ...at 100 meters the Sgt in charged ordered us to engage him...all 4 of us reluctantly did , i live with that every night, one of the many ghosts that Afghan has given me..... , the blast wave flattened everyone, 2 out of us 4 were injured, but alive...the Boy was 5 same age as my son at the time...go figure.... Want to shed some tears pick another side , hey try something new shed some tears for our side....How about the little girl that i shared my lunch with, her father was exicuted in front of her, she had both arms cut off with a dull knife....her crime, going to school....she was 6 years old when the Taliban did that to her...she was 12 when we had lunch, and still going to school....want to know why...because NATO soldiers patrol that area daily....a blistering 15 km patrol in plus 50 degree heat,with over 80 lbs of kit which after our lunch i did gladly every day for 3 months.... War is hell, and if we did not abide by those few rules that are in place, hell would be a sunday picnik with the walton family....

It is if you are a combatant... There must be more to your quote than that, to put it into context.... ....But if you are a non combatant, or an illigal combatant, Murder is just that murder.....these rules are to protect civilians, pick up a wpn in a war zone means your a target, that can be legally engaged or arrested to face war crimes...Kadr was both.... But under the Genva convention can you or MR Kadr defense team show us or prove he was a combatant.....The convention is very clear, inter national law is clear, and so is our federal laws...Had his defense team had any proof he was a combatant they'd would have played that card. How'd they make out.... Non Combatant rules have been around since the first draft of the convention, it is nothing new...what is new is the illigal combatant rules.....and it was not just a lack of uniform the list is alittle longer than that...again spelled out in the convention..of who is and who is not a combatant....

Your right , Zombies is not the important part, what we should be concerned with is WHY we are planning at all for any National level problem, we we as a nation have already proven we have a major issue with localized problems. Such as Ice storm, etc...All one has to study is the US military response to Katrina to know anything on a national level would be way out of our government abilities to respond... A working group in BC had a plan for a major earth quake in Vancover BC, DND and others involved in the plan said the majority of responders and equipment would have to come from the US....As this size of event would quickly overwhelm our National resources...That was a all hands on deck event....and just one city... It would be nice to think that our government would come in riding on a white horse to save the day...But a plan is only as good as the people + equipment that carry it out....But lets be realistic...I think in this type of event by the time the government decided what to do, where to send it's limited resouces, and the time to move them....this whole thing would be over, and the glue that holds us together would be long gone....Meaning until order could be restored it would be like the wild west....that would have to be done on a city by city basis....and take more resources than we have...more than the US military has....Zombies, WMD, or any event for that matter....is way out of our league.

We don't do this anymore. There would be a great outcry if we did. Would there be, we have not been in total war for over 60 years. And yet most countries still keep WMD's Nukes, chemical ,bio, and some countries have used them , shit during gulf war 1 Britian threaten Sadam with the use of WMD's if he used his.....it should be noted that they are not controlable....once used they are designed for mass cas, military or civilian....would there be an outcry, sure, enough to stop a second attack with WMD's i'm doubtful. what would happen if Russia decided to Nuk Chechnya....would the world gasp...sure, would it be enough to start another war....I don't think so. What if the US decided to use one...Great out cry sure...anyone taking any action..or doing anything about it aside from what sanctions... Right, so we only hear about Muslim immigration policy on this board, for example. That tells us something. Not just this board, but in the media as well, we discuss what makes the news... ----------- So you're going to increase my taxes by how much so we still have hockey in 100 years ? Sorry, but I'm not into it. Just over 100 years ago, Canadians played Cricket in great numbers and that can come back again. Things change, we just have to get used to it. ----------- You asked me for an option, that is one yes, and while hockey may have been a poor example , is there any thing, value, morals,that are Canadian worth keeping. And that seems to be the another catch phrase we change with the times or get left behind....does that mean we become a nation with the same problems as say the typical middle eastern country....that is one huge ball of worms, why not shria law for those that want it, why not solve our Native Indian problems, settle those land claims,give them self government, i mean we say we are deverified, we acept everyone and yet we are trying so hard to hang on to our old ways....why not totally diversify. why is the glass only half full...

As in Bosina they will flex their muscles, NATO will flex theirs, and during this time we will pry some young troop does not flinch and start a shooting war...in Bosnia we were lucky, luck only holds for so long.... Russia is as concerned about Oil, postioning within the middle east just as the US, Syria is one of their interests in the middle east and while it may not be their intention to get into a conflict... Murphys law always trumps intention....

Is that really a good way to measure the tolerance of a religion ? To find out how much they appreciate an occupying army ? The US wasn't very tolerant of the British either. You can chase this one around forever, but you will never find a way to measure the worth of a religion on its own. It's forever tied to the peoples, the culture and so on. And those who want to flee those things to come to Canada might be assumed to be different than them. ----------- Thats just it NATO is not occupying anything, it is there at the request of the Afghan government... If your asking me would these events encompass all the muslims in the country....I would have to say no...would it encompass enough to raise the alarm bells i'd say yes....It would like saying all Germanys were Nazi's and we know that not to be true, and yet millions were, and we did target them all, IE when we bombed their cities it did not matter......we targeted all Germans....good and bad... Yes they might be assumed to be different, the fact they want to leave is proof of that. But that brings up this question, If other nations accept these people in , who is going to force change that is needed in their homelands, be it diplomatically, or by force...So does this action of accepting these people delay change, or does it just help a few thousand that mange to flee...and as reported already here through study, it is the 2 and generation that are becoming the problems..... Don't get me wrong I'm not about freezing these nations out entirely, there are many ways we can help, be it with aid, military power, diplomatic solutions....in their country, their tuff...eliminating some of the issues we face now with importing them into our country...I think my 3 tours in Afghan speaks to that, many Canadian soldiers believe and still do today it was worth the price we had paid....and we left without the job being completed...it's a western thing no patients....and too many politicians screwing the pouch.... -------------------- Some questions: There are other 'bad' nations - so why don't we hear about those other nations then ? Why do we hear, instead, about the Muslim religion ? --------------------- We do hear about them Russian mafia hits the media every once, and how about Chechnya, it is still on going with hundrds dying daily it's old news, Russia controls media, and chechnya does not sell copies any more.... Why , maybe because we are saturated every day with it....and we have become hardnered to it, except Muslims are in the news everyday.... -------------------------- How are you going to make it worthwhile for Canadians to have children, rather than import them cheaply ? ---------------------------- Familiy allowance did a great job convincing families to have kids, kind of outdating now, but i'm sure it could once more entice families to have more kids, increase tax cuts for growing families....I know it is cheaper to import, money drives everything in the west but soon we are going to dilute Canadian culture to the point we will not even recongize it, and one day we will wake up english will not be our primary language , hockey will not be our national past time.... Or maybe this is all in my head, the rantings of an old soldier...but it is the Canadian way, to diversify,except different cultures as they are, change our ways incoporate their culture into ours. or maybe it's time to take a deeper look how our imigration system works, and be alittle more picky on who we accept, stop changing our culture, while still accepting them or whom ever we let in as equals, while they are accepting of us and who we are ...i mean they chose to come here...English and french are our primary languages not Mandrine, or what ever, and hockey is our national past time not criket, or soccer....

Yes my bad. thanks for the pick up.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/9098242/Afghans-set-US-compound- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/9095113/Nato-hopes-to-head-off- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Afghanistan_Quran_burning_protests http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/22/world/asia/afghanistan-burned-qurans These are a few links, And although a can not find all the links for where demostrations were held....it was across the country...for Canadian troops in the area, such as Camp Phionix the route were red, meaning no travel for 2 weeks....becuase the demostrations lasted that long, and i think if you added up the death toll it would close on a thousand, i also want to note that these deathscame at the hands of the demostrators themselfs....I was actually surprise at the way NATO handled the situation locking every thing down, and waiting it out...Because it could have been at lot worse.... Lets not forget that 4 American soldiers were killed during these riots. and a Poop load injured....things could have gotten a lot worse...This is how these people act on a daily basis, you can say what ever you want about thier leaders , polictical leaders, but the inocent burning of the holy book and poof you got yourself a riot that makes vancouver look like a christian pray in. The media reports only thousands attending, thats crap, there are hundrds of NATO camps most were closed .... here is to many vid's to suggest different.... Violence is a way of life for not only Afghans but most middle eastern countries....I say most because some are tollerent of foreignors, until you cross thier lines, then find out the hard way, just how tollerent Muslims are....As for proving my piont the media does that every night....Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Afghanistan, pakistan, any stan really, Iran, thats off the top of my head.... Eastern Europe yes there are a few countries that would make the shit list, Russia included....and as you say there are alot of countries from across the globe....So where are you going to get immigrants from, from those nations not on the shit list, Here is a question for you why is it that the Avg Canadian family only has 2 children...is it because of lack of cash....would making it benificial to families to have 3 or 4 children be an option., how many more options are out there. I'm not again'st Immigration i'm about cherry picking off the list, thats all

So could you name a middle eastern country that you would take your family vacation in tomorrow...and while i some what agree with you, this whole ball of worms dates back more than 40 years ago, at this point it's moot how it started, but religion is doing more than it's share to spread the flames....

While on tour , a young American service man burns the Koran, for the next 2 weeks we are cofined to our bases all across Afghan as the population calls for blood, "hundreds" of locals are killed by these raging crowds.....millions of dollars of damages....how is that not proof.....it was not just a few hundrd , it was thousands upon thousands....and it went viral, whipping across the middle east like a fire storm pull up news footage on the topic......These are the people we want to grant citizenship to....i say pass, no thanks....