Canada's overstretched western military forces must 'act our size'

[McG]

Canada's overstretched western military forces must 'act our size'
DUNCAN THORNE
Edmonton Journal
09 March 05
EDMONTON

The stressed western arm of Canada's army must strictly limit future missions or suffer long-term damage to its effectiveness, its commander warned Monday.  The Edmonton-based Land Forces Western Area must â Å“act our size,â ? Brig. Gen. Stuart Beare told the Senate's national security and defence committee Monday.
That means deploying no more than 1,000 soldiers and support workers a year, Beare told the committee, which visited Edmonton for one of the review hearings across Canada.

Western Area had 1,800 troops over seas a year ago, he later told reporters.  The land force has had nine missions abroad since 1996, including Afghanistan in 2002 with United States forces and serving in Bosnia with NATO. In that time it has also helped on five major domestic operations such as tackling forest fires and floods.

Beare said a total of 3,200 troops were posted overseas during the two years leading up to 9/11, and then Western 'Area had to deal with the Afghanistan mission.  â Å“We weren't acting our size,â ? he told senators. â Å“We were spread hugely thin.â ?

Western Area is now part of a forces- wide transformation, gearing itself more for handling instability in failed states and related conflicts. It also expects to take on more recruits, under a government promise to expand the forces by 1,000 soldiers a year over five years, and is handling the expansion of the Canadian Manoeuvre Training Centre at Wainwright.

Beare said those changes mean soldiers face extra duties, including the training of new recruits. Still, if asked today to train 1,000recruits, 'we could find awayâ ? to do so, he said.  He likened the Canadian army to a 125-pound skeleton that is turning it self into a 150-to-160-pound â Å“lean mean fighting machine.â ?

The transformation comes when Western Area is short of officers at the ranks of master corporal and sergeant.  Col. Timothy Grant told the Senate committee. Grant, commander of 1 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group, said units are facing â Å“critical shortages of their most important leaders just as we are receiving large numbers of new soldiersâ ? who need officers to train them.  â Å“Does it affect morale?â ? he asked.  â Å“Absolutely.â ?

Committee chairman Senator Cohn Kenny criticized Prime Minister Paul Martin's plan to boost the Canadian Forces by 1,000 soldiers a year for five years. Kenny, an Ontario Liberal who has made the criticism before, said the planned expansion is â Å“too slow.â ?  His committee has urged the government to pay for an extra 5,000 recruits a year until there are about 75,000 troops. There are currently about 52,000.

The army is stressed and under-funded, Kenny said. â Å“The general (Beare) was very generous when he described how things. are.â ?

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[Armymedic]

Gee lets get them a tissue...

Maybe 1 Brigade can get a break, if 2 brigade doesn't mind doing two tours at the same time (Afghanistan and Bosnia) then come home, and in less then a yr, send the Dart to Sri Lanka, another tour to Afghanistan, and prep up the next roto to ISAF...

But on the other hand, lets commend him on speaking out on a issue that will cripple us in the future.

 

[McG]

Armymedic,
The whole army is in the same position and at different times some areas get it worse than others.  1 CMBG took the hit before it was 2 CMBG's turn.  Why would you choose to trivialize a problem, that the west went through and Comd LFWA and Comd 1 CMBG are talking about, simply becuase it is now your turn to experience the problem?

 

[Whiskey_Dan]

Sweet, I love seeing officers who actually speak their mind. Its even better though since his daughter is one of my best friends ;D. lol.
I sure hope they expand the forces a lot faster then what they're trying to get at right now. The troops are spread thin and would really help
if they had more trained-boots on the ground.

 

[Armymedic]

McG,

I toned down my intial post to what was said. The whole army is being over worked and extended. I realized part way thru, Gen Beare was just staying in his arcs by only talking about his brigade.

On the terms of the whole army...we are all spreadd thin.