Canada moves to 2% GDP end of FY25/26 - PMMC

[lenaitch]

The lack of Ventilation help keep the asbestos in place

Indoor ranges (properly built) are expensive.
And realistically it’s outrageously (prohibitively) expensive to build anything beyond 100m with multiple firing lanes.

Not only expensive to build but expensive to operate and maintain. The range in our headquarters requires regular changes of very expensive filters, plus regular blood tests for the training personnel. I don't know if workplace rules for the CAF are different but OHSA rules for public servants in Ontario are fairly strict. I assume that if the CAF wanted to engage the public, its rules would change as well.

Maybe an outdoor range in Petawawa or Gagetown might be attractive to a small number of locals, but I suspect the chances of building an outdoor range in a Canadian urban area - where the population is - would be vanishingly small.

Even the regular use of public outdoor ranges (which the majority of OPP members use simply because it is a deployed service) is subject to local concerns about noise and soil contamination.

How do you feel about virtual ranges for basic weapons handling, sight pictures and breath control?

An in-armoury adjunct to outside ranges.

I don't know how common they are but North Bay has a 'virtual' range.

 

[McG]

Halifax ? It is or was the biggest personnel base in the CAF.

I suspect the Navy does not have a lot of free space it wants to hand to an Army Reserve simulation centre. But you will note my comment was about the big Army bases.

That first criteria should make any urban/suburban facility about 45-60 mins max by transit.

That doesn’t make the big Army bases accessible via public transit. You can’t get to somewhere in 45-60 min on transit if transit doesn’t get closer than a 20 min jog away.

 

[FJAG]

Second, why not build more than just annual basic readiness? The more training that been be done locally, the more interest we'll have, the better the reserve experience and the more skilled they'll be. We should aim to be able to do all of BMQ and most of BMQ-L locally. Just throw in a field phase on weekends or in the summer.

I would expect that the vast majority of the soldiers who entered the Militia and went to war in 1914 got their start with the Dominion of Canada Rifle Association (and the ammunition that the government provided to it) and the Royal Canadian Army Cadets. You can get a great jump on things, not to mention create awareness amongst the population in general, by making things easy for young folks to participate.

We bean count and overthink things too much to the point where we become moribund within our own heads.