Army Guy

Congrats, I'd say you have alot to be proud off, that is some accomplishment. Bravo zulu to you and your daughter. She'll be a welcomed addition to the officer corp for sure.

Did this guy just fall out of a BC pine, does he really think that these vets after living thru god knows what horrors, would actually promote militarism, i have'nt meet one vet, that has anything good to say about war, perhaps they are the best advocates for peace in the country..... As for a worth while occupation, wonder what this donut would being doing now if they had'nt stood on the line for Canada.... globe and mail.

I'd like to put somethings into context, First off lets talk about our military and it's size just for a second. The entire military size is approx 55,000 Regular force members, of this the Navy 11,000, the Airforce Approx 16,000, the Army has 28,000 soldiers. Now while 55,000 sounds like alot, it could not fill a NHL hockey staduim think about that next time your at a big game....this is the number to protect the second largest continent.... And while the Army has close to 28,000 members, more than half of those numbers are made up of support trades, cooks, supply, clerks etc, those numbers of actual combat troops , Inf, Arm, Art, Combat engs, is approx only 10,000, but wait it gets better, out of that 10,000 troops more than 2500 to 3000 are listed as non, deployable, IE waiting to get out, medical reasons, adminstrative reasons the list goes on, now you have to subtract those that are involved in training or HQ postions subtract another 2000 to 2500 members, IE indiv training , recruit training , trades training etc.... So really what we have left is 4500 to 5500 combat arms soldiers, off which a third are one tour now, another 1/3 are training for a tour and the remaining 1/3 are resting from tour....And the Army is one of the better equiped and manned elements....does that raise any alarm bells....the city of toronto has more police officers to protect one little city.... Now there will be some that say "thats your job butter cup", don't like it find another....well many are, and along with them goes the experiance that we need to train the new recruits. Most love serving thier country, but seeing your family and kids 6 to 8 months out of every 2 years does not make for a happy family life... So by boosting our troop strenth to 100,000 , we are hoping that the time between tours will be lengthened...to the piont that the soldiers don't have to sacrafice thier families in order to serve our country. To futher put that into context, and what that means to the average Canadian, The ICE storm that happened in Ont, Que, and NB, took 3/4 of the army to respond , along with the thousands of volunteers that pitched in, the Winnipeg floods took the entire army minus those deployed, plus alot of the airforce and navy..... Now while these were disasters , they where small in comparison to Katrina, or say a major earth quake in BC.... Hans Island, after Eurpean special forces planted thier nations flag on the island, DND decided it would attempt to flex it's muscles , this turned into a cluster f****, as the intense fog, made flying extremily haz, and the navy could not operate in the ice conditions, and well the army could have walked, it decided not to when an airforce guy got lost in the fog on the airfield not more than 500 meters from his quaters for 36 hours that "would'nt be a great idea".... so when it comes to projecting power in the defense of this nation we had proved it could not be done, at that time atleast up that far up north.....But denmark could.... But then there is always the "who's going to attack us anyways", crowd, or high intense combat is a thing of the past, is'nt that what they said before Gulf war I and II, every conflict we get involved in is the flavour of the day, and great land battles become a thing of the past, but nations still spend trillions of dollars equipping thier militarys for just an event....good thing we never voted that in on the last town meeting..... Which brings us to these questions.....why does russia fly it's bomber into out airspace, why do other foreign navies test our capabilities both submedged and on the surface, and why does foreign ground forces land troops in our north....do you think there intentions are friendly, or they just want to see what all the fuss is about in Canada, land of the beaver and polar bears....... And thats just manpower, equipment we are using to do this job is getting old, or we don't have enough of it... most of our combat power is in Afgan, or attached to NATO, or has yet to be delivered.....the 30 billion dollars our government is talking about is peanuts, Gen hillier has already given a figure of over 100 bil just to bring what we have now, which is not alot up to modern day standards.... alot of that equipment has already been talked about, but in the army, which is considered the rich element, does not have the equipment to equip all our units, most units are below established manning levels and well below equipment levels...., what equipment we do have is being used up way to fast in AFgan, lack of spare parts is a major problem, lack of everything is a major problem... The military has been warning of this for along time it has also warned of the price, so getting sticker shock at 30 bil really is your own fault.....wait for the final bill...

Perhaps the answer is in our immigration systems, either it is not being stressed enough, that old customs or laws from thier countries are not tolerated in our countries. And we are relying on our already over burdened justice system to be the catch all, after all ignorence of the law is not an excuse. Perhaps we should be more selective in our immigration process, i'm not say ruling out entire cultures or races but take those that qualifiy on reasonable grounds. Meaning those that will not become a burden to our justice system or our tax payers....

How much are all these land claims worth, last i heard is well over 500 Bil, more than the current national debt, and building everyday, do you actually think that the Government of Canada, regardless of who is in power will pay that sum? and do you think the Canadian tyax payers can afford it ?

We already have such knowledge, most of it is proven fact and recorded... How does our current justice system encourage anyone to murder, rape etc ?....There is a punishment for each one, if you are found guilty then you will be imprisoned....If anything the punishment is to weak for the crimes, but still strong enough to give anyone a pause to think about , before doing it... Big difference between legal and illegal, and while our justice system here in canada has not stamped out all these crimes, it does say clearly that they are not tolerated..

Walking the many grave sites that dot the European landscape is a gut wrenching and educational experience that will last forever. And while i never asked myself the same question as you did, mine was would I have the same courage and conviction as they did. It's hard to boil down one single motivation factor that movtivates people to join the any Army,To Defend your countries flag and ideals, to be apart of a unique and special group of citizens, To be a participant in history "just to say you were there", Those may be the ideals everyone starts off with , ones that get you to the recruiting office.... But once your in, and on an operational tour, your views for being there change, your not fighting for any of those patriotic reasons, Not for Queen, country, or history book....your there to fight and defend those that can not or will not fight for themselfs. to make things right when diplomacy has failed...But even this changes once your on tour or mission long enough.... Now your fighting and dying for your comrads in arms, your buddies, your best friends, those that are your entire world while you are there, this is why men can can charge up a beach, riddled with Machine gun nests, landmines and arty bombs....this is why men do heroic acts, not to win medals but looking after thier buddies.... A bond stronger than brother and sister, a bond stronger than wife or husband, a bond that is worth giving your life up to with out a second thought, it is this bond that makes men and women fight wars.... I would like to think that the Canadians of today are no different than those of yesteryear. And if the same conflicts were to arise they would once again be lined up, ready to sign the dotted line,and don the uniform.

I don't think they are being assimilated, We are, Canadians go out of thier way to conform or adjust our current culture to adapt to thiers. Which is why i think we have such a problem identifing "what is a Canadian" or who we are...

I hope your right , because alot of work on the ground goes into gathering that intel, to have it wasted because some desk wienie could'nt keep his head screwed on right....which brings the question why did he have that info on him in the first place, should have been left in a secure enviroment....

The problem with a bomb of this size is "what is going to carry it" The MOAB bomb is alittle smaller but is droped out of the back of a herc C-130, normally this bomb is used to clear trees from a forward operating base, still in our lines.... It sounds like a one way mission to me, even after they knock out the air defenses, from the border until the target, the size of that operation would involve "ALOT of planes"....Flying a herc tactically , close to the ground is like trying to ride a bull, it can be done, but it's going to hurt....and it's going to be slow.... Be alot easier to strap on a few tac nuks to an F-15E or F-22 atleast give them half a chance...

There is a big difference between this suggested pre emptive attack and Osirik. To destroy Iran's nuclear program would have to involve Tac nuk wpns as most of it is in deep hardened caverns .....where Osirik involved only free fall conventional bombs, OK and a few dead frenchmen.... but once you introduce nuks to the play ground it becomes a whole different game....enough to perhaps change the minds of a few of the non players in the region....

HMS Nabob and HMS Puncher were canada's first kick at Aircraft carriers. HMCS Warrior and HMCS Magnificant were canada's first Aircraft carriers HMCS Bonnventure was Canada's last aircraft carrier. Aircraft carriers

Dropping religion from ones life is not going to solve anything, in the large scope of things. It may seem to make ones life that much more uncomplicated, but it will be replaced by something else.... And although Religion can be blamed for alot of violence around the world, dropping religion does not mean all of a sudden we will be sitting around the camp fire holding hands and singing "WE ARE WORLD", before that happens we need to get rid of alot more than religion.

And so the myth is once more passed on to the next generation, But really can you blame them what else is there to do while living in our igloos waiting for winters to pass, and the play offs to end....how many times do we have to solve the worlds problems over a cold pint of good old Canadian beer. We need imaginary, we need to be morally superior, it's all we have.

There is no morality in war, nor values, nor anything that even comes close to "everyday life here in Canada". You will not find a good fight as per say, All war has to offer is grief, death, and destruction. every soldier knows that, and that is reafirmed on your first operational mission...

That same link will also give you reason that you can be released from your contract , It's under adminstrative section. it list many ways that an individual can be released from thier obligations, some of those reasons are the ones i gave you such as appling for CO status, admitting to homosexual acts, many many othrs , it should also be noted that yes you lose all your benifits....but you would be released from the military, free to carry out your life....if these choices are available to these young men and women why are they deciding to desert and flee to the frozen north.... I understand your piont, And many Canadians do share that piont, i disagree because i am a soldier, and place alot of meaning into Duty, Honor, and commitment. To walk away from those and the bond of my comrads is unthinkable, to have another soldier take my place in combat, and god forbid something happen to that individual would haunt me for some time.

Yes the president did take an oath, but he took on more than that as one of the worlds super power leaders, Who was going to enforce those sanction infractions. As for the acusation of planning the invasion before hand following in dads foot steps is a theory at best, one that has not been proven. Not true, any occupation within the military be it a machanic or clerk, cook, is a soldier first, every trades person is expected to fight, and engage the enemy when asked....this fact is not hidden from any recruit and would become obvious during a recruits basic and advanced training...and would become extremily obvious when training for an operational tour....What i'm trying to say is the military is going to great lengths to ensure that these trades people can fight and defend themselfs, and most of the training recieved during operational training is spent on this type of training. They are told time and time again that they will be called upon to carry out this training....No secrets, no surprise when you hit the ground in Iraq or afgan, you enter a war zone, and you should already have that mind set that "i might have to engage the enemy" hence why everyone carrys a weopon and a war load of ammo....it's not to do humanitarian work, it's not to help you file paperwork, fix trucks, flip a burger....it's to take someones life....period, it does'st take a rocket sciencetist to figure that out....

Currently there is policies and regulations that already exist in the US and Canada to allow soldiers already in uniform to claim CO status, and therefore not take part in that conflict, however there is ramifications to doing so, it normally requires that indiv to terminate employment within the service... That being said each soldier takes an oath to defend his country, from enemies foreign or domestic, It is the commander and chief who decides who gets called enemies of the state....So actually the soldier signs a blank check and hopes his government makes the correct choices....however there is those escape clauses i talked about...There is also requesting to do his combat time in another threater, such as Afagnistan....so there are other options available.... The fact that this war has not been proclaimed Illigal by any court, a soldier has 2 choices get out of the military, or refuse to fight, and try and change it from within....either way one can not do that effectivly hiding out in the BC mountains up a tree. So what they are doing is running away from the problem...and these guys are not interested in solving the problem,and making a difference for others or making a statement. They just don't want to do any fighting....

We already have policy here in Canada that we follow, it states that we return those fleeing justice of another nation, as long as there is no death sentence involved....But in this case we change that because a few tears have been shed....and we don't like uncle sam....So you pick one, do we follow our policy or write another one when it suits us....And if we do write another one where do we draw the line....do we allow fleeing child molesters in, perhaps murders, or maybe just common criminals....but it needs to be in black and white and it needs to be followed.... Me, brush up on democracy, correct me if i'm wrong, but when has any Canadian polictical party been morally obliged to do anything....i think the Harper government just proved you wrong, they are in Charge of the country, not the oppostion, and they have the final say....If the opposition does not like it then they can follow policy and proceedures and force an election, So back to reality do you think they will, on this trival matter...

And here i thought that a criminal was a criminal...But because he does not want to face justice in his country we should let him, where do you draw the line, when do we say your a bad person you need to go home.... But since it is not, we are left with following the law....Don't like the law get it changed, until then we all must follow them. But they don't run the country do they, and those that are in charge are also elected by Canadians as well are they not. Ignoring your will, or doing what they think is best for our country, accepting criminals that are fleeing justice is not what is in the best interest of our country.

Since when is sending a criminal back to his home country to face justice ignoring democracy....Because the oppostion bought into "those poor, poor soldiers plight", and after the group hug said sure we'll let him stay wiping the tears from thier eyes....Can't have those poor american soldiers face justice....thats is just wrong.... And the excuse " I thought i was going to do Humanitarian work", give me a break, When was the last time the red cross or any other humanitarian group gave any of it's members military fatigues, a flak jacket, An automactic wpn with enough ammo to wipe out a small village..... How retarded does one individual have to be, not to get the piont, you train for 13 weeks at basic....No humanitarian training there, then train for another 6 months for an active duty mission....still no humanitarian training, talk to those that have come back from Iraq, nope no one said one thing about humanitarian work....watch the media, still nothing....kind of like training in the fire fighters school expecting to do police work.... I'd say by this time if you still have not come to the conclusion that "you may not be involved in humanitarian work, but rather hard core combat, then you are a retard".....And Canada already has it's share of retards.... And if that is the best excuse he can come up with, then maybe would should be shipping his ass back, not to the US but to Iraq, where the rest of his brothers and sisters are carrying his load because he volunteered to do a job, and now just figured it out , maybe they want me to use that rifle they keep giving me.....

Why don't we leave things the way they are now, and give the resources needed to our police depts to fight organized crime... By making all these drugs legal and available to everyone without a prescription in country where everything is based on supply and demand, will we not risk putting the price out of reach of those that truely need it for medical reasons rather than just getting high....

We have to remember that Chemical wpns are considered WMD wpns, something that is lost on the media, and thier reporting as tonnes of chemical wpns were found by Blixs team and just after the ground campaign by Coalition forces, and where destoyed on site.... The amount of chemical wpns destroyed would have given him more than enough to remain in power in the region....Keeping in mind that VX nerve gas requires only a very small drop from a needle to kill a human, a 155 mm Arty shell would have liters of the stuff inside....and hundreds of shells were destroyed, not including the bulk agent , rockets, air craft bombs also found containing chemical wpns.... Blixs team was concentrating on Iraq's nuclear capabilities and programs, this is what made the top and leading headlines....i think "this" is what made people nervous in the region....a Mad man with a crude nuclear device can do that...top that off with a the means to deliver it such as a modified scud missle, or a Cannon that could fire shells from Iraq and hit Israel just added to the confusion...a cannon that was designed by a Canadian no less, some how he meet up with some pissed off Israelis and stopped breathing, the site of the cannon was destroyed by coalition forces....

Actually i thought it was a reasonable question ? She has said that she dislikes all extremists, although hard to tell by her posts... Perhaps your Bullshit detector is broken, if you need some help detecting BS i'd be glad to give you a hand.... But the great standard bearer does have a nice ring to it.....

One has to take into account the whole story, yes blix's extensive seach found nothing, but can you be 100 % sure that Iraq was forth coming and cooperated with said inspections, if memory serves me correct, blixs inspection teams where denied access to serveral sites for more than a week sometimes longer, and can you say for certain that these same sights were not cleaned up, or items or info removed....And if Sadam was being forth coming why all the fuss and hoopla about not allowing access to all areas, all the delays, etc etc.... My piont is Yes Blix's team confirmed that they found nothing, but those findings do not prove that there was nothing to be found....