LFRR Update

[Mike Bobbitt]

An update on LFRR from John McCallum, MND:

The army has been working towards a modernized, affordable, and relevant
reserve force with the breadth and depth of capabilities necessary to help
meet Canada‘s defence commitment since the government policy statement on
reserve restructure in October 2000. On April 3, 2003, I announced the start
of LFRR Phase 2, which will provide funding for an immediate increase of 750
army reservists in fiscal year 2003/2004 and another 750 in 2004/2005.

I am informed that through the March 2002 Army Mobilization Plan (as
presented at the Command Consultative Advisory Group on March 23, 2003), the
LFRR project management office is about to complete, for the first time in
three decades, the assigning of missions and tasks to each Army Reserve unit
in every stage of mobilization. In addition to their mobilization tasks, all
reserve units will receive a permanent assignment to be prepared to generate
forces for humanitarian assistance and homeland defence on short notice.

LFRR is a critical project, and I am determined that Phase 2 will preserve
the Army Reserve as a national institution and transform its operational
potential to meet Canada‘s needs in the 21st century. The Army Reserve is an
integral part of the army and, as such, is best led and managed within a
single chain of command.

The overall goal remains to increase the Army Reserve to 18,500, and
additional monies will be set aside to address the equipment needs
associated with the new capabilities of the Army Reserve.

After careful consideration, I have decided to conclude the activities of
the Minister‘s Monitoring Committee at the end of its current mandate, which
expires on November 30, 2003. When it was formed in October 1997, this
committee was originally intended to last for one year.


Yours sincerely,

The Honourable John McCallum, P.C., M.P.

(Courtesy of Maj. Bill Smy)

 

[Redneck052]

It is fine for the Department of National Defence to make these grand plans, and better ways to make use of the assests in the CF. The LFRR sounds as though there has been thought into using the reserves more.

However, with all the incentives, plans, and encouragement I think that there is really little that can be done for the reserve numbers.

How can we change this?

Have the Government enact a law to allow/ enable reserve personel to train and deploy. As with the US, Canada should have a law in place to allow the men and women of the reserve force to have job security at their civie jobs, while they are working for the Federal Government.

The law should allow a reservist to deploy and work up training, to train to do his job/ trade annually, and to deploy for annaul large feild exercise. 2 to 3 months for career courses and feild exercises, and the length of time for work up and deployment. The member should only be required to use 50% of his civie holiday days, not all of it. Doing training is not a holiday, and should not be taken from spending time with his/ her family.

The member should not be forced or required to resign because he is serving CANADA.

Just a thought to share.

 

[Rick Goebel]

Unfortunately, job protection legislation is only a partial answer. It is also necessary to get the willing support of employers for the particular thing the reservist/employee will be doing. I suspect that, legislation or not, had Canada sent troops (including reservists) to Gulf War I, most of the reservists civilian jobs would have been safe. Legislation protecting people being compelled to deploy for ROTO 97 somewhere would only produce an unwillingness for employers to even hire reservists. Even more, protecting jobs while reservists are off on 2-3 month rank or trade courses is just not likely to lead to high civilian employment levels for reservists, especially in small businesses. Many, many military courses are much longer than they absolutely have to be and job protection legislation would provide yet another excuse for the powers that be not making the best possible use of distance training methods and modular courses.

Interestingly, Australia’s job protection legislation provides financial assistance to employers to hire (and train) replacement workers while the reservist is away. This would certainly sweeten the pill.

In any case, even during Gulf War I, the US National Guard Association and Reserve Officers Association both felt compelled to pay for ads on TV asking employers to ensure that reservists jobs were still there when they returned. They ran these because they knew full well that any law can be got around and only genuine, personal support will work.