J
Jason Jarvis
Guest
This article shouldn‘t come as much of a surprise to the members of this forum, and even less so to those who are serving members of the CF.
As a strong civilian supporter of the CF, I‘m very interested in what members of the CF think of this article, the study and the conclusions.
I certainly wouldn‘t have any problem paying more income tax if it meant that the men and women defending my freedom had the equipment available to do their jobs appropriately -- and come home safe.
As a strong civilian supporter of the CF, I‘m very interested in what members of the CF think of this article, the study and the conclusions.
The one thing I want to add is that I believe the CF deserves the best equipment available.Soldiers ‘frustrated‘ by rules, policies
Army troubleshooter pins blame on inertia, prevailing attitudes
a journalist
The Ottawa Citizen
Monday, June 23, 2003 - Canada‘s soldiers are tired and frustrated, hindered in doing their jobs by myriad rules and inertia in the military, says the army‘s top troubleshooter.
"Overall, the single greatest emotion encountered was frustration," wrote Col. Bill Brough after touring bases last year to take the pulse of the army.
"The soldiers, NCOs and officers of the army are incredibly dedicated and talented, but tired because of personnel tempo and frustrated at the myriad of rules, policies and inertia that impedes achieving what they know has to be done."
Col. Brough, the land force command inspector, also reported that the army‘s budget crunch is producing "counter-productive short-term decisions."
Those observations were included in his first annual report on the state of the army, written in November and recently released to the Citizen under the access to information law. The command inspector is considered the army‘s troubleshooter and the eyes and ears for its senior leadership.
Col. Brough noted that much of what the army does is positive. But it must make very clear that people come first in the organization and attitudes that treat soldiers as just another resource must be changed, he wrote.
Also of concern is recruiting. Col. Brough warned that the army is accepting more than its share of recruits with less than high school education.
That situation will cause problems and expense later on, he predicted, when the army has to upgrade education levels of those troops.
While he was generally impressed with new soldiers being brought into the ranks, Col. Brough noted there were some glaring exceptions. Some recruits were guaranteed to become administrative burdens, he said, while others were so old that they had little time for service in the army before they hit retirement age. He said in those cases the army‘s return on its investment in training the soldiers is marginal.
Col. Brough recommended that the service conduct a complete review of the recruiting approach.
Efforts must also be made to prevent the appearance of a high-living military force. The command inspector suggested the army issue orders that any purchase of civilian vehicles for use by soldiers be middle-of-the-road, four-wheel drive trucks.
"The army cannot afford the perception that our new vehicles are top-of-the-line, spare- no-expense purchases," he said.
He also noted that the army has to do more to connect with the public. In southwestern Ontario, with a population of three million as well as numerous media organizations, the army only has one public affairs officer, the colonel wrote.
Army spokesman Lt.-Col. Réjean Duchesneau said a special group has been set up to work on the colonel‘s recommendations and observations.
But in some cases not much can be done about some of the problems identified by Col. Brough. For instance, it does not appear that soldiers will be getting a break anytime soon from the high level of operations.
The federal government committed the military to a one-year mission in Afghanistan that will start in several months.
http://www.canada.com/national/story.asp?id=909DA7A2-C4A3-4863-ACE2-01C1F11F0BAE
I certainly wouldn‘t have any problem paying more income tax if it meant that the men and women defending my freedom had the equipment available to do their jobs appropriately -- and come home safe.