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GOFO Musical Chairs... LGen Frances Allen to be first female VCDS / LGen Rouleau shuffled

The fact we go though so many VCDS's is an embarrassment, without more details this sounds political not a military strategic decision.
 
LGen Allen is probably the best thing for the CAF right now. She's an intelligent officer with some unique insights into the future of warfare (Ok, that warfare is here - today) Maybe she's not a pilot, never been a BWK, or had her head sticking out of a hatch in some god forsaken place. And maybe that's exactly why she is the right choice.

A consummate professional. Until I'm proven wrong - glad to see the LGen get the nod.
 
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ballz said:
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Well, nice to finally see some affirmative action, especially on International Women's Day. Way to Virtue Signal!

However, the law of unintended consequences is always tooling around somewhere in the shadows as these two Canadian, female, researchers point out in this HBR article:


Research: Bringing Up Past Injustices Make Majority Groups Defensive​

by Ivona Hideg and Anne Wilson

Summary.

Many organizations and institutions reference past injustices with the intention of making people more sensitive to how historic systems of oppression contribute to present-day inequalities. But can all this attention being paid to shameful historical inequities also have unintended negative consequences? Researchers investigating how to build support for programs that seek to remedy gender discrimination in the labor force discovered that it actually can. After conducting three experiments, they found that invoking past discrimination can threaten men’s social identity and undermine their perceptions of current levels of discrimination, consequently lowering their support for policies meant to ameliorate this situation. However, the researchers also found that focusing on how women’s status has improved over time deflects the threat to men’s social identity and makes them more likely to support present-day employment equity policies.


hbr.org

Research: Bringing Up Past Injustices Make Majority Groups Defensive

Many organizations and institutions reference past injustices with the intention of making people more sensitive to how historic systems of oppression contribute to present-day inequalities. But can all this attention being paid to shameful historical inequities also have unintended negative...
hbr.org hbr.org
 
reveng said:
LGen Allen is probably the best thing for the CAF right now. She's an intelligent officer with some unique insights into the future of warfare (Ok, that warfare is here - today) Maybe she's not a pilot, never been a BWK, or had her head sticking out of a hatch in some god forsaken place. And maybe that's exactly why she is the right choice.

A consummate professional. Until I'm proven wrong - glad to see the LGen get the nod.
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I wonder why LGen Whitecross left instead of putting her name in the hat for CDS or VCDS.
 
I don’t know General Rouleau so I will not make comments about him.

It sounds as if he was painted with the same brush as the former and current CDS.
Holier than thou virtue signalling IMO.
 
I'm guessing that he wasn't replaced in order to move into the CDS position. I will make another guess that this might have been planned awhile ago, however, I would have thought that they might of held off in till next year because of Macdonald. I'm not sure if the CDS and VCDS have ever been replaced this close together, other then the normal flow of promotions. I wonder if anything has come to light about him. From the sound of things, in the civi world, he could probably make a human rights complaint, because based on the available information, it appears that he lost his job based on his gender.
 
hattrick72 said:
I wonder why LGen Whitecross left instead of putting her name in the hat for CDS or VCDS.
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Whitecross turns 58 this year. Maybe not enough birthdays left for her to do a full term as VCDS then CDS? Or, maybe the PM is "saving" her for an eventual CDS appointment once the outcome of the MacDonald investigation is dictated (remember the PM's remarks on the on his expectation that the charges against VAdm Norman would lead to a trial?)

Allen is CELE (Air). My experience working with CELE (Air) officers in the IM Gp was very positive. Each one I worked with was extremely smart.
 
Being VCDS seems to be the hardest and most thankless position in the CAF. The huge span that includes critical corporate and command responsibilities is brutal. Admiral Zwick apparently looked at the problem and produced an org chart that he felt would address many of the issues, but it hasn't been adopted (yet?).

I am excited at the prospect of seeing Francis Allen at the helm. Much as I like Whitecross as a person, I don't think she is up to the role of VCDS. Her time in ADM(IE) was not a spectacular success.
 
AKa said:
Being VCDS seems to be the hardest and most thankless position in the CAF. The huge span that includes critical corporate and command responsibilities is brutal. Admiral Zwick apparently looked at the problem and produced an org chart that he felt would address many of the issues, but it hasn't been adopted (yet?).

I am excited at the prospect of seeing Francis Allen at the helm. Much as I like Whitecross as a person, I don't think she is up to the role of VCDS. Her time in ADM(IE) was not a spectacular success.
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I think it's great that someone from the engineering side of the world is in place. Never get why the ADM(Mat)/ADM(FIN) stream isn't a natural feeder into VCDS, as all that stuff is their bread and butter. All the operational requirements feed in through their normal chains to that piece, but makes sense that that person in charge of buying/maintaining equipment should have some kind of experience buying/maintaining equipment.
 
Navy_Pete said:
I think it's great that someone from the engineering side of the world is in place. Never get why the ADM(Mat)/ADM(FIN) stream isn't a natural feeder into VCDS, as all that stuff is their bread and butter. All the operational requirements feed in through their normal chains to that piece, but makes sense that that person in charge of buying/maintaining equipment should have some kind of experience buying/maintaining equipment.
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Well, you've jinxed that; she won't be there long enough to fix things. ;)
 
It also possible that LGen Rouleau was shuffled into an adviser to the CDS to put him in a position to be CDS in the future. We don't know how long Admiral Macdonald will be sidelined, these kind of investigations could take years, they can't have an acting CDS forever.
 
dapaterson said:
Or that the role designated for LGen Rouleau is of sufficient importance that they want his undivided attention on it, and not distracted by the daily (hourly?) tire fires and helmet fires that the VCDS must address.
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I was wondering if it was a made-up position, that's the way it looks? If it wasn't, was it vacant? Either way, a made-up position or one that would have been unfilled allows Rouleau to move into it and quietly retire in 6 months without any knock-on effects.
 
It is a new position but Rouleau is huge on the modernization of warfare and CFD, a function that falls within the VCDS' responsibilities. As dapaterson said, this will allow him to concentrate of that (imo, much needed) aspect of the job, without having to run the forces.
 
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