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I'm not suggesting overt military action against Pakistan.  That would be risky in the extreme, given that they're an Islamic nation with nuclear weapons.  Rather, there are other levers that can be pushed...particularly diplomatic and economic.  The mere fact that he recently did the talk show...

Musharraf truly is between a rock and a hard place.  If he leans too far one way, his government--a relatively small minority of secular power-mongers--gets toppled by an impoverished and undereducated majority whipped into a frenzy by extremists.  Too far the other, and he's suddenly isolated...

And then, of course, there are the quirks that don't fit with anything written down.  In my Regiment, the CO is referred to as "Colonel" by all officers, regardless of their rank ("Good evening, Colonel...Excuse me, Colonel...").  It's a Highland thing (although I don't how many Highland...

Not to mention that simply inflicting casualties is perceived by the relatively weak, non-democratic insurgencies to be a good strategy to prosecute against the militarily much stronger, media-addicted democracies, be they Canada, the US, the UK, Spain, Japan or wherever.  It's the only real...

No, I meant "practical", and I was kidding, as it isn't at all "practicable".

This past weekend, I attended a talk by Nelofer Pazira, an Afghan-Canadian who was the star of "Khandahar" and is a journalist and writer.  I won't go into all the details, as she clearly has her own views and agenda to further, but she did make some interesting points: among the many...

And again...my condolences to the friends and loved ones of these brave soldiers.  And for the wounded and their families, my best wishes on a journey that hopefully won't be too long, and will have a happy outcome.

Another loss for a family, friends and loved ones...for the Army, the CF and Canada...and for this city.  This is Thunder Bay's third son to be lost to enemy action in Afghanistan. RIP.

True enough.  One can carefully avoid violating OPSEC and still cause trouble.

I remember a conversation with an old Reg F WO, while I was a young Cpl taking my MG course, that there was an attachment for the .50 cal--a grill that clamped onto the barrel.  As you fired the gun and the barrel heated up, so did the grill, and you could use it to heat up your rations, fry...

Another young soldier from Thunder Bay, to whose family the CO of the LSSR had to deliver the sad news.  That makes 3 of the 37 killed to date in Afghanistan from this city.  Again, condolences to his family, friends and loved ones.

We're in 100% agreement here.  There is absolutely NO way that, within the constraints of 37.5 days of training per year, we can provide meaningful fitness training to class A soldiers.  What I was suggesting wasn't formal fitness training inside the class A training envelope, but the ability...

Actually, I don't think it would really matter much one way or the other.  The only meaningful thing that could happen involving Bin Laden would be his capture or clear death at western hands.  It's otherwise little more than 'interesting', because AQ isn't a sufficiently hierarchical...

I applaud this.  You're very fortunate that your unit has the support of a proactive and, obviously, well-off HLCol and others, as well as access to a major sporting venue, attendance at which would certainly be a high-value prize. But what about the small unit in rural Canada somewhere, whose...

No, that's precisely the point.  It shouldn't be necessary to resort to measures like this, which , as you allude, are just problems waiting to happen (as you say, "how the heck can they regulate this?").  If soldiers are going to get compensation for fitness training, it should be done...

An interesting idea, but as has been pointed out, one that requires a fair bit of due diligence to ensure that resources are being managed properly. Actually, I've always seen this as relatively simple (my poor infantry brain, you know).  The only reason that fitness is important is so that...

I'd go a step further...they should form the core of an expanded all-source cell at unit level, which would, in turn, be a "node" or "spoke" or whatever of the formation level all-source organization.  I agree that recce pl is far from the only feed, but I'd argue that the information management...

The one near Bihac, that's like something a James Bond supervillain might have built?

Good decision--AND they get some decent info ops value out of it.

As others have already so eloquently stated, digging a defensive position is a skill with very practical value on current ops.  So, for that matter, is basic field craft, movement skills, cam and concealment, navigation, how to look after your body during extended periods in the field, etc...