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Defining Foreign and Defence Policy (and hence our Military Force)
- Thread starter PPCLI Guy
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And to follow up, Col (ret'd) Chris Killford has an interesting opinion piece in the Ottawa Citizen. "So much for public consultation on Canada's defence policy." Essentially, he's suggesting that the consultations are little more than smoke and mirrors.
a) The 2016 NATO Summit is about to occur and we've already made a "substantial and perhaps permanent troop contribution in Eastern Europe."
b) Well before the results of the public consultations are published, it’s also "highly likely Canada will make a major commitment to support one or more peacekeeping missions," linked to the September UN Session and the PM's desire to "return" to peacekeeping (and get a seat on the UNSC).
c) Finally, there's still CF-18 replacement saga. "Few believe that acquiring the F-18 Super Hornet over the F-35 is a terribly good idea but there’s likely to be an announcement that this will be the case well before the findings of the defence policy review are released in early 2017." We'll then buy all-in for the SH because of the cost of a mixed fleet.
Effectively, by the time the public consultation phase and follow-on deliberations are over, our defence posture will already be set in stone. :
a) The 2016 NATO Summit is about to occur and we've already made a "substantial and perhaps permanent troop contribution in Eastern Europe."
b) Well before the results of the public consultations are published, it’s also "highly likely Canada will make a major commitment to support one or more peacekeeping missions," linked to the September UN Session and the PM's desire to "return" to peacekeeping (and get a seat on the UNSC).
c) Finally, there's still CF-18 replacement saga. "Few believe that acquiring the F-18 Super Hornet over the F-35 is a terribly good idea but there’s likely to be an announcement that this will be the case well before the findings of the defence policy review are released in early 2017." We'll then buy all-in for the SH because of the cost of a mixed fleet.
Effectively, by the time the public consultation phase and follow-on deliberations are over, our defence posture will already be set in stone. :
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What with Latvia anything now for UN peacekeeping beyond a small, real blue beret, force in Colombia?
https://cgai3ds.wordpress.com/2016/06/29/mark-collins-us-new-government-and-canadian-forces-un-peacekeeping-colombia-africa-nato-in-e-europe-both/
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/canada-commits-57-million-to-support-peace-process-in-colombia/article30748766/
Anything substantial left for Africa?
https://cgai3ds.wordpress.com/2016/04/18/mark-collins-netherlands-and-un-peacekeeping-sort-of-in-mali-canada/
Mark
Ottawa
https://cgai3ds.wordpress.com/2016/06/29/mark-collins-us-new-government-and-canadian-forces-un-peacekeeping-colombia-africa-nato-in-e-europe-both/
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/canada-commits-57-million-to-support-peace-process-in-colombia/article30748766/
Anything substantial left for Africa?
https://cgai3ds.wordpress.com/2016/04/18/mark-collins-netherlands-and-un-peacekeeping-sort-of-in-mali-canada/
Mark
Ottawa
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Haiti is our "employ VanDoos" default setting. Colombia could be a combination of maritime patrol (most of their drug shipments are by sea, with the San Andrés/ Providencia/ Santa Catalina archipelago being a popular trans-shipment hub), and police training.MarkOttawa said:
For any UN mission, competent (as opposed to sycophant) leadership tends to be in dire need. While I periodically, and subtly, bitch about our fondness for growing HQs, we may as well put them to work. This would provide the added benefit of having the HQ staff being OUTCAN, therefore make-work projects for subordinate units could only decline. :nod: Missions in isolated regions (ie - most African ops) need transport aircraft. We can provide that capability.
Now, the downside to all of these options is that they are not manpower-intensive. The PM is going to want to deploy ground troops to get the numbers up. As noted in Killford's OpEd piece, Norway and Ireland (our competitors for the two UNSC seats) combined, have deployed about 500 pers on UN ops; Canada currently has 79.
Can we deploy the equivalent of two battalions concurrently? Certainly. As a start state only, Mech Inf focus on Latvian cultural awareness briefings; Light Inf start thinking PKO. Other arms, dust off your Cyprus-vintage "re-roling to peacekeeper" lessons-learned.
Will there be a cost? Absolutely. The knock-on effects for developing our forces will be great as we attempt to force generate, deploy, shoe-horn in career courses (students and staff), meet all the marginal tasks that are critical to....someone in the food chain...
Oh, and there's that tertiary effect on the group we often pay mere lip service to, the families; they'll take a big hit. But if it allows the PM to campaign for re-election on having 'earned' us a seat at the UNSC for two years, I'm sure they'll cheerfully bite the bullet.
McG
Army.ca Legend
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Trudeau's father was able to do big UN peacekeeping while meeting those unfortunate NATO obligations. Of course, he had a Reg F that averaged over 89,000 in strength.
Maybe there is an investment that has to be made if we want to sit at all the big boy tables.
Maybe there is an investment that has to be made if we want to sit at all the big boy tables.
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My preference would be to avoid anything to do with the UN; League of Nations 2.0 needs to be bulldozed and re-attempted.Chris Pook said:
However, that's not in the PM's "vision" (or hallucination). As such, I fear the troops will be sent into MacKenzie situations with Dallaire ROEs..... with
Now imagine my response if I were the slightest bit cynical. ;D
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Not you ...Journeyman said:
daftandbarmy
Army.ca Dinosaur
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MCG said:
Can't they read my thoughts through the tinfoil hat?
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You mean every unit gets to wear their own funny hat? I have dibs on a tricorne for my old regimentDimsum said:Full colour patches, unit t-shirts and hats? >
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Is he staring at the photographer or at the bird on his shoulder? ;D
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Ah the memories. Loved my crewsuit. I used to wear it in the days when we had 21 Iltis in the compound, 17 or 18 of the runners at any given time, and the ability to do 1st line maintenance in-house, a CP box on a CUCV whose batteries didn't catch fire, a pair of MLVWs and 5/4ts. No mounts for the MGs of course, but we had radios in every C/S, with spares, and they not only worked most of the time but you didn't need a 3 day course to learn how to set a frequency. So yeah. We didn't look gorgeous 20 years ago, but we had f*cking kit to train with, so screw the buttons and bows.FSTO said:The way some folks on here moan and drip about buttons and bows they would only be happy with this:
George Wallace
Army.ca Dinosaur
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cavalryman said:
Ah!....See, now there is the difference. We loved our crewsuits as well, but they were always kept clean and nicely folded in our bugout kit to be pulled out only when we stood down for weekends on Fall Ex and could go into the local German disco and tell the girls we were Pilots in a Leopard Sqn.
You ever go more than two days in one and then have to take a dump?
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MCG said:
This is an acedemic excercise. The grits have already decided. They're just letting you think you have a say. No doubt the new White Paper is mostly written already.
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Nope. Always saved it to wear after the post-Endex shower. Very comfy to sleep in on the bus or the troop train. [George Wallace said:
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