Army Reserve Restructuring

[Halifax Tar]

Someday you'll catch a fish

Probably not, if it comes down to that I may starve lol.

 

[MilEME09]

Im starting to see more harmonizatuon between reg and reserve training which is nice to see. The new CASF course thats reintroducing SQ/BMQL to the army will be common to reg and reserve to allow reservists with the time to go on a reg force course. Veh Techs are also getting similar treatment on DP1, and weapons techs on DP2. Its nice to see a 1 army approach to training occurring.

 

[lenaitch]

You have me thinking that this whole exercise may be more locally focused.

As you say we are fencing in the dark but even then we can sometimes discern solids and voids.

What if this is about posse comitatus, the ancient practice of raising every able-bodied man (and woman) in the community (county), also known as the militia, to assist the sheriff? We are used to thinking of posse comitatus as an American concept but its latin name gives away its mediaeval origins. In time of crisis the Shire Reeve was authorized to raise the people of the Shire and deputize them.

Britain preferred this system to the maintenance of a standing army. They eventually acceded to a small standing army and the establishment of an active militia, volunteers willing to train regularly and serve locally in a crisis, and a sedentary militia, everyone else.

America followed British practice but codified posse comitatus, the act of calling out the militia, or a portion of it, and deputizing it to assist the Sheriff.

....

In Canada we have drfted a long way from our militia and an engaged ctizenry. We now rely on a permanently established police force and a permanently established standing army, both of which have their roots in the militia and both of which are too small to handle crises. They are sized for the routine. When a crisis does come up then the civil police rely on the standing army for assistance.

But what if the standing army is engaged, as seems likely, or the crisis is too big, or is a rapidly developing locally devastating event that precludes the option of bringing in outside forces and the locals have to rely on themselves?

I could see this as a means for re-engaging the citizenry in a militia, as originally understood, so that the "sheriff" can deputize suitable volunteers known to her for aid to the civil power under something like posse comitatus.

The key element in any crisis is knowing what resources you have available to you and that they are organized.

If they are trained, that is a plus, but not a requirement.

This could cover off the State role of the National Guard. The Federal role is something else again and something that, probably, properly is the preserve of the primary reserve.

...

By the way, the original Rangers were members of the local population, the militia, that were permanently deputised and paid to serve the needs of their community while continuing with their civilian lives. Pretty much like our northern Rangers.

History is fun, but times have changed. It was one thing to summon farmers with the clothes on their backs and their own pike, sword or pointy stick to be some king or lord's cannon fodder, willingly or otherwise, but I suspect it wouldn't work today.

Local is better for community participation or volunteerism, and maybe it would work to guard a local power plant or something, but training and leadership would still be important. It's easy to say 'halt - go away'; it's harder if an intruder doesn't.

I'm still unclear of the goal that is intended for this group of potentially several hundred thousand. If we were geographically situated to have vandals at the gate, or faced a Red Dawn situation, perhaps.

 

[ueo]

History is fun, but times have changed. It was one thing to summon farmers with the clothes on their backs and their own pike, sword or pointy stick to be some king or lord's cannon fodder, willingly or otherwise, but I suspect it wouldn't work today.

Local is better for community participation or volunteerism, and maybe it would work to guard a local power plant or something, but training and leadership would still be important. It's easy to say 'halt - go away'; it's harder if an intruder doesn't.

I'm still unclear of the goal that is intended for this group of potentially several hundred thousand. If we were geographically situated to have vandals at the gate, or faced a Red Dawn situation, perhaps.

Maybe recruit the various "gangs" Incentives maybe but they come fully armed.