HIGH LEVEL RESERVES CONFERENCE CALGARY MAR 2004

[logau]

Recently some big guns got together in Calgary to talk about Reserve issues. Website is below. Details are below - you may not have heard but all should read this stuff to keep abreast of what the top level staffs are thinking or not thinking.

It appears that most POWERPOINT SHOWS aren‘t yet up (did they really have anything to say???) - but some doc files and PDF files are - DR JACK ENGLISH AND DR PETER ARCHAMBAULT are very credible speakers with no axes to grind

The Brit and Australian presentations are below. I would suggest you tell everyone you know about these to increase their awareness of the issues.

Click the publications link
www.stratnet.ucalgary.ca/reserves2004/index.htm

"¢ Dr. Peter Archambault:
ABCA Reserve Armies: History and Future Roles www.stratnet.ucalgary.ca/reserves2004/publications/archambault.doc www.stratnet.ucalgary.ca/reserves2004/publications/archambault.pdf .pdf)

"¢ Brigadier-General Andrew Murdoch:
The Development of Reserve Force Capabilities for the Homeland Defence Role: The Australian Army Experience www.stratnet.ucalgary.ca/reserves2004/publications/murdoch.ppt (power point presentation)

"¢ Major James York:
The Role of Reserves in UK home Defencewww.stratnet.ucalgary.ca/reserves2004/publications/york.ppt (power point presentation)
Speaking notes www.stratnet.ucalgary.ca/reserves2004/publications/york.ppt www.stratnet.ucalgary.ca/reserves2004/publications/Home%20Defence%20Policy_york.pdf

"¢ Lieutenant Colonel Chris Lamoureux:
An Evaluation of the Canada-US Armies Reserve Relationship (power point presentation)
Paper Presented www.stratnet.ucalgary.ca/reserves2004/publications/USAWC%20CRP_Lamoureux.doc
www.stratnet.ucalgary.ca/reserves2004/publications/USAWC%20CRP_Lamoureux.pdf

"¢ Brigadier General Dennis Tabbernor:
Speaking Notes www.stratnet.ucalgary.ca/reserves2004/publications/tabbernor.doc www.stratnet.ucalgary.ca/reserves2004/publications/tabbernor.pdf

"¢ Stephen Duncan:
Speaking Notes www.stratnet.ucalgary.ca/reserves2004/publications/duncan.doc www.stratnet.ucalgary.ca/reserves2004/publications/duncan.pdf

"¢ Dr. Jack English:
Speaking Notes www.stratnet.ucalgary.ca/reserves2004/publications/english.doc www.stratnet.ucalgary.ca/reserves2004/publications/english.pdf

 

[logau]

Originally posted by logau:
[QB] Recently some big guns got together in Calgary to talk about Reserve issues....

the Powerpoint shows are big but they do seem online -- sorry Gen`s X, Y and Z - I never doubted the stuff was there!

 

[logau]

Originally posted by logau:
[QB] Recently some big guns got together in Calgary to talk about Reserve issues.

CLIP AND PASTE THIS TO YOUR MP of whatever party now!!!!!!!!

I just sent it to all the MPs from my fave party :mg:

Dear Sir/Madame

In the next government - in which you will all have a significant part- it might be well worth it for you to give some though now to the future armed forces. Whether you are a current or past member of the regulars or reserves or just a friend of the military we likely all agree it's vital to adequately fund them and train them.

How adequate is adequate? Dr Jack English believes it could be as significant as a 2 to three times increase in their funding and manning. See www.stratnet.ucalgary.ca/reserves2004/publications/english.doc at the University of Calgary Website for the International Reserves Conference held 24-27 March 2004. www.stratnet.ucalgary.ca/reserves2004/index.htm

He writes that a comparative size based on the US military would be

38,000 for the Canadian navy, 37,000 for the air force, and 48,000 (and one division) for the Canadian army. Again, however, the reality is a Canadian navy of around 9,000, an air force of 13,000, and a regular army under 20,000. In percentages, the navy is less than 3% the size of the USN, the Canadian army but 3.5% as big as the US Army, and the air force only 4.5% the size of the USAF.

Comparing us to Britain he can see ...

Using the British Army yardstick of 107,000 regulars, in a nation but twice as populous as Canada, our land forces should be at least 53,000 strong. A combined US Army Reserve and army National Guard of roughly 516,000 would also equate to 51,000 Canadian army reserves.

Yet he sees a full time professional force, which works with what it has provided by Parliament, as mired in the mud of the Rideau Canal and possibly never to escape this fate. He writes

The plain fact is that the regular military establishment has fought army reserve increases tooth and nail. It has simply not accepted army reserve revitalization as a strategic necessity for the improvement of Canada's armed forces. Although the DCDS target for reserve participation is now 10-20 per cent of deployed forces, the army reserve has continued to be largely viewed as a â Å“labour poolâ ? for the regular force, which often uses this very term. A naval flag officer in the appointment of VCDS also asserted in 1999 that the army reserve force structure was "antiquated and designed to respond to contingencies which ... are at best remote." He then went on to try to update it by turning it into combat support in emulation of what he erroneously thought the Americans were doing. Such potentially dangerous short-term thinking, which totally discounted any need for mobilization as well, must be replaced with a longer-range vision of national military preparedness. The VCDS remarks further suggest that the unified nature of the Canadian Forces may well be a stumbling block to army reserve rejuvenation; in particular, the air and naval tendency to look upon reserves as individual reinforcement pools for â Å“forces in beingâ ? rather than as â Å“rainy dayâ ? forces to be fielded in their own right.

For perhaps this reason as much as any other, our unified National Defence Headquarters cannot apparently conceive of Canada's forces ever really being much larger than what they are today. It seems to lack any facility for thinking big - which is surely borne out by the incessant haggling that went on over increasing the army reserve by a paltry 750 soldiers. The impression one gets is that NDHQ expects â Å“business as usualâ ? to continue indefinitely into the future. According to the Report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative Efficiency, NDHQ suffers from a â Å“loss of strategic focus, while it size supports ... [a] bureaucratic, process driven cultureâ ? characterized by â Å“a significant degree of self-generating work, much of it aimed at supporting the operation of NDHQâ ? and â Å“an overwhelming focus on the current fiscal year.â ? Of eleven futuristic scenarios postulated in November 2000, only two identified a possible need for mobilization. The conclusion was that there was â Å“no scope within defence policy for national mobilization.â ? In 2001 another VCDS, this time an airman, confirmed that he never had any intention of involving himself in LFRR mobilization planning. Clearly, the 1994 White Paper that called for a â Å“no costâ ? national mobilization plan as a measure of prudence was simply that: a scrap of white paper to be ignored by a military establishment that thought it knew better.

The truth is out there and it all starts with money. I think we should all be clear - Canada is not broke and there is lots of money for Canadian defence. Except we have the Worlds Greatest Money Laundering Machine being built right now behind Parliament to diminish Canadian security so we can have a spring, fall, and winter festival funded by Ottawa in town and hamlet in every part of the country.

Hoping the current measures for Defence are adequate is just not good enough.

The present government seems to be spending 3 million dollars a day on sponsorship for the last 10 years. A small part of that would easily pay for a good equipment inventory and well trained and motivated part time reserves forces people to run it.

I`m sure you will agree its not the events after the money gets to DND its what happens before. That battleground is in your area. Hopefully this message has provoked a thought or two in favour of Canada‘s Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen, the part timers and the full time partners.

Sincerely

 

[logau]

Originally posted by logau:
[qb]

Originally posted by logau:
[QB] Recently some big guns got together in Calgary to talk about Reserve issues. - too many fingers!