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    Can't use the Russian numbers for machine gun dead.  Most of their machine guns were with the NKVD security detachments, and were mostly used on their own troops (pour l'encourage des autres).  Would that qualify as friendly fire do you think?  The other reason you can't trust the Soviet...

The Peoples Army is a club to be used against the people of China.  It is not staffed by an elite by any stretch of the imagination.  As the Peoples Army does not have the traditional role of protector in the minds of the Chinese people, it is not seen as an esteemed profession.  At different...

When you shoot the sh*t with a group of old soldiers (my family occasions), the funny stories come out.  A surprising number of these funny stories end with, "but he died in '44, (or 56, or 65 or 92)".  Some of these soldiers fell to enemy fire, some in traffic accidents, some lost to the sea...

    Our diplomatic, economic, and military abilities atrophied during times of plenty.  Economic liberalization could provide the financial horsepower to do great things.  It could also simply continue the current entropy at a vastly increased rate.  Canada has spent the last forty years...

One of the most urgent things Canada needs to do is immediate electoral reform to block ethnic and religious groups from funding political campains.  Secondly, a prohibition from being a card carrying and voting member of two different parties at the same level (provincial/federal) For...

I get a kick out of everyone who points to Alberta's tax situation and claims its a model Canada should follow.  Alberta can do just about anything it wants as long as oil prices and demand stay healthy; its got oil money overflowing provincial coffers.  Give every province equivalent oil...

I grew up in a military family, and enjoyed my own time in.  I'm not saying that soldiers should be raving lunatics, but there is no reason you have to see killing as essentially evil.  Slaughtering the defenseless is without honour or merit, but killing your enemy in battle is not something to...

    Always nice to hear from the officer cadets ;D.  It's true that the CF will remain dedicated professionals, but Napoleon wasn't talking out his a$$ when he said that "morale was to the physical what three is to one".  I was in during the first gulf war, kitted out and ready on 24hr notice...

    This is actually more useful for us than for the big boys down south.    It allows vehicle crews to take part in combined arms exercises where they can work their sim shoots while their infantry dismounts carries out their own simulated assaults.  Roll in, drop troops, hook up net, carry...

      Soldiers exist to employ deadly force towards the political ends desired by our civilian leadership.  If you don CF green, then you are a weapon.  We neither want nor need soldiers who don't care who/what they kill, these people are sociopaths and a danger to the force they are in.  We...

Aggression works for me.  Not everbody works that way.  I served with some guys who were so laid back that you'd swear they were medicated.  That said, they were eyes out on patrol, quick to respond, and not rattled under fire.  What they had worked for them.  If you don't run on adrenalin and...

      If Canada wishes to make a difference, then forming our own coalitions is the way to go.  Can Canada do it alone?  No.  Can Canada, Denmark, Holland, and Ireland (to pick a few minor players who could jointly do the job) put together a mission that was big enough, good enough, and...

      My father and uncle were with RC57 Congo during the last UN lead debacle in the Congo.  While the myth of peacekeeping may have held up at home, for the troops on the sharp end when sides shifted and alliances broke down it was a war, and an ugly one. Reading the reports on Somalia and...

I hope Heddi Fry wins the Liberal leadership.  Then we can send her to Afghanistan; at the first sign of insurgents we threaten to issue her with a loudspeaker.  It may be cruel, but its bound to be funny. ;D

    World police is the UN raison-d'etre.  We do supply them troops in that role.  We came to Afghanistan under NATO to fight a war in support of our sworn ally, much as we did for Britain in '39-45.  Just as we rebuilt Europe after 45, now we are rebuilding Afghanistan.  Unlike Europe...

I like the robotic weapon stations.  It makes no sense to put a manned weapon station outside the hull, where you must waste space and armour to provide lesser protection than you could have had by keeping the gunner in the hull, and slaving the weapon station to the gunner's station. Given the...

You know, every once in a while I will read military or other fiction and come across some absolute rubbish, that turns out to be well research based on the claims of performance in Janes or various industry publications.  The theory is sound, but irrelevant.  In the real world, things are not...

Its easy to chant "Out of Iraq now", but if you are paying attention to the news (not unheard of in Canada) then you might feel a little less like chanting "Out of Iraq now, and let them slaughter each other without outside interference" .  Not only does it roll off the tongue a lot less well...

Sweet gods, the reserves don't have enough problems?  No way do the reserves need conscripts.  If there was a national service that included a full spectrum of public service work, with the military as an option, then maybe.  If you dumped the mass of unmotivated crap that conscriptions net...

The Leo can cruise through terrain that would have a LAV screaming for a recovery vehicle.  Tactically, the MBT has unmatchable maneuverability.  Given a few hundred km to patrol on a daily basis, or a rapid advance of the same, and the LAV shines.  Strategically, the road maneuverability of the...