Forget the Bads, How About The Goods?

[wongskc]

We hear all the time on these boards about the shortcomings of the CF. Funding, old equipment, etc. My question is, what do we have in this army that‘s good? What experiences, opportunities and equipment do we have that our soldiers are happy with and that other countries‘ armed forces drool over?

 

[bubba]

are soldiers,they are what is good in the army.yeah guys bitch and complain but thats the life.you never really hear the good things they do only the bad.most people in canada dont know what happend at the medoc pocket,just an example.equipment,sombody current will have to answer.experiances well sir the fighting,******* and drinking was great bye.oppertunities, thru all them away bye.OH YEAH i find some people here(just an observation)think espritdecorps is a book is a book written by scott taylor.hahaha

 

[Gunnar]

Never having to worry about what to wear in the morning.

Improvisation. The fact that we‘ve done so much with so little for so long, that we are now qualified to do anything with nothing....and when we do that on shared exercises, our team-mates from other countries just sorta shake their collective heads in amazement.

A willingness to not follow doctrine to achieve the overall objective.

 

[kurokaze]

you mean we have a doctrine??

But I agree, our ability to adapt, improvise and overcome is probably one of our greatest assets.

 

[patrick666]

I think one of the many good things is the morale of our troops, though I am not currently in the army, I have noticed on the forum that the soldiers here are as proud as they should be and more.

 

[spacelord]

our CADPAT is good.

 

[clasper]

What about the infamous (and sadly discontinued) ham omelette IMP?

 

[CDNBlackhawk]

Our training Is excellent, and yes Our Cadpat is probably the best camo in the world.

 

[Scoobie Newbie]

What training?

 

[CDNBlackhawk]

I hope your jokeing!!!

 

[Scoobie Newbie]

Not really. We have courses (TOW, Recce), leadership courses, work up for Bosnia, and maybe 3 weeks in which the officers get to put checks in their boxes for advancement. Not much training at all.

 

[CL84]

I like the fact that we don‘t really have much to work with yet we can do everything. I was watchin truth duty valor the other day, it was a competition with tanks measuring accuracy and stuff like that, we went against national guard and lost, but were right behind them. Funny thing was, the Canadian guys said that they had something wrong with the tank, they had an aiming problem or something. That made me think...if we do that great with equipment with problems...What could we do with the american equipment>? If we used the same tanks they used, we‘d destroy them.

Our c7 has a scope too which I think is really cool. M16 don‘t use them, I think. :warstory:

 

[CDNBlackhawk]

CFL
you are the first person in the Military i have ever heard say they dont get good training.
Do you not regulary practice Shooting various weapons, field exercises etc, and when opportunity rises take some of the more advanced combate courses.

 

[miranda]

The training has taken a ride; but generally if you are taking National course inspite of budget and length of course being shortened you will get very good knowledge and experience if you want to put the effort forth. CFL means cpl for life .. or no ambition or just disgruntled too long.BTW ten yrs goes by fast so does 20. Soldier on.

 

[MJP]

He never said he doesn‘t get good training, he just stated "what training". And he is not the only one saying this, people with EXPERIENCE have noticed a considerable decline in both the quantity and the quality of training. Allot of exercises consist of "check in the box" sort of training and doesn‘t delve much beyond the standard pairs, section, plt, coy attacks.

As for shooting various weapons....your out in left field if you think that most CF members get to shoot on a semi-regular basis. We rarely get the chance to improve our shooting skills on the range much beyond the annual PWT. As for other weapons, I hardly think one becomes proficient on them by firing one or two rounds of M72/84/Eryx/any other weapon in any given year.

Now with all that said, there is good training out there and anyone that stays in for any amount of time will probably get the chance to participate in some excellent training opportunities/environments, but that‘s the exception not the norm.

 

[Scoobie Newbie]

CFL also means that I know where its at to be. Just because I don‘t want to advance doesn‘t mean anything. Who runs the Infantry? Oh yeah its the cpls. Considering the turn around of Sect cmndrs, pl WO‘s etc its the career cpl that tends to know where everything is and how it runs.

 

[Scoobie Newbie]

Range time: twice a year tops. Riding around in the back of a track or LAV, run out, bang bang bang, back in taxi. No patroling, no tank hunting, no cross training with the Americans or other allies. Your either on course, supporting a course, or waiting to do one of the above, unless its your turn to babysit in Bosnia again.
When I was in a rifle coy we‘d do pt, sit around till 11:30 and watch the paint dry in the pl room back at one, dismissal at three.