The CAF Post Trump

[Cloud Cover]

She was on Global News tonight explaining how the Canadian Army, with no arctic warfare equipment, is going to defeat the Chinese and Russians using Power Point slides asserting our sovereignty and affirming commitment to the rules based international order and our Allies.

 

[Brad Sallows]

It comes across that you would view US annexation of Canada as more of a changing of landlords than a loss of independence and sovereignty - with the added benefit of throwing off the shackles of useless socialist policies. Others may take a very different view.

It doesn't help to confuse the issue. A change would mean swapping Canadian independence and sovereignty for US independence and sovereignty. Would that independence and sovereignty be weaker, stronger, or about the same?

 

[daftandbarmy]

moved

 

[OldSolduer]

She was on Global News tonight explaining how the Canadian Army, with no arctic warfare equipment, is going to defeat the Chinese and Russians using Power Point slides asserting our sovereignty and affirming commitment to the rules based international order and our Allies.

The Arctic version of the Militia Myth

 

[Kirkhill]

Against what (whom)?

What kinds of wars, and where?

We already have that (control, which is different from defence).

Devil's Advocate: to resist whom, and given that, what would be the point of resistance movements - what would an occupier change that merits loss of life and sabotage (which presumably would include sabotage of our own infrastructure)?

I ask these questions because unless we're about to abandon NATO and become isolationist ourselves, we already are pointed in the direction we should continue moving with our commitments and capabilities. And I don't see much point fighting a war to restore anything that falls under the heading "nostalgic attachments", or for particular social programs or wealth transfer schemes.

Trump's juvenile verbal provocations (51st state, Governor Trudeau, etc) don't move me. They might move others, but don't constitute reasons to throw out the baby.

We have no baby.

As to the question of who....

The whole point of a defence force is its value as an insurance policy against an unknown future. By limiting ourseves to consideration of today's threat we end up with our boom and bust cycle when today's threat disappears. No threat. No need. New threat. Oh shit!

The force needs to be configured to grow to match any threat as it develops. And it needs to be part of the nation at large. They have to believe they have something worth defending and that they are worthy of what they are trying to defend.

 

[Fishbone Jones]

They have to believe they have something worth defending and that they are worthy of what they are trying to defend.

I wonder if that is the reason nobody wants to join and others won't stick it out after initial engagement. Let's face it and be realistic. 4 terms of the liberal/ socialist disintegration of Canadian society doesn’t provide anywhere near a warm fuzzy for most people. If the government doesn’t care for you, why would you care about the government. Canadians didn’t leave Canada, the government left them.

 

[CBH99]

I wonder if that is the reason nobody wants to join and others won't stick it out after initial engagement. Let's face it and be realistic. 4 terms of the liberal/ socialist disintegration of Canadian society doesn’t provide anywhere near a warm fuzzy for most people. If the government doesn’t care for you, why would you care about the government. Canadians didn’t leave Canada, the government left them.

Well I have a bunch of guys I work with on the weekends from 1 PPCLI & 3 PPCLI, and a Sgt in the Lord Strats, who are all very much planning on leaving the CAF once their contracts are up.

Obviously the broader reasons are there.


But there's also the not so broad & not so obvious reasons they've each decided they are done...

- No live fire while qualifying on the new pistol (they managed to save $30M annually by changing/limiting PLD, but don't have enough money to buy ammo for the folks qualifying on the new pistol?)

- The Army actively interfering in the lives of members outside of work. (Maybe its more accurate to put that on their unit's CoC tho)

Example - a guy asked his CoC for an afternoon off to go to a specialist appointment about some minor matter. I cant even remember if it was an injury or not...

Long story short the whole situation escalated to the point where he was given some time off for medical leave (which he didn't really want) but he still worked at the bar one or two nights a week...his unit didn't like that...

So members of his CoC would come to the bar a few nights a week to make sure he wasn't working.

And then they started sending their wives in to quickly report back whether he was working or not.

And then the wives had their friends start popping into the bar to look for him...

All this shady shit behind his back just to make sure he wasn't sitting working (which is just sitting at the table near admission scanning ID's) plus they made his life difficult at the regiment for a few months...

Cool guy. Easy going. Quite capable, and extremely competent. Friendly. Personable.
Think he's resigning? Nope.

---

One of our other guys is a Sgt at his unit, and he isn't extending his contract either. ("Too much bullshit..." is his reason why)

---

We have a TACHEL MCpl who's thinking of extending his contract and putting in for a transfer, but who's also very much thinking of leaving the CAF...



So a decade of Liberal woke nonsense has definitely hurt our military, we all know that. And it definitely is playing a huge role in our challenge to attract & retain talented young people.

But we shouldn't underestimate the role individual units play in getting their members to give a big middle finger to the CAF & leave.

 

[daftandbarmy]

Example - a guy asked his CoC for an afternoon off to go to a specialist appointment about some minor matter. I cant even remember if it was an injury or not...

Long story short the whole situation escalated to the point where he was given some time off for medical leave (which he didn't really want) but he still worked at the bar one or two nights a week...his unit didn't like that...

So members of his CoC would come to the bar a few nights a week to make sure he wasn't working.

And then they started sending their wives in to quickly report back whether he was working or not.

And then the wives had their friends start popping into the bar to look for him...

All this shady shit behind his back just to make sure he wasn't sitting working (which is just sitting at the table near admission scanning ID's) plus they made his life difficult at the regiment for a few months...

Cool guy. Easy going. Quite capable, and extremely competent. Friendly. Personable.
Think he's resigning? Nope.

Isn't that harassment, or something like that?

Regardless, it sounds like his CoC are fucktards...

 

[Cloud Cover]

I wonder if that is the reason nobody wants to join and others won't stick it out after initial engagement. Let's face it and be realistic. 4 terms of the liberal/ socialist disintegration of Canadian society doesn’t provide anywhere near a warm fuzzy for most people. If the government doesn’t care for you, why would you care about the government. Canadians didn’t leave Canada, the government left them.

Well also it has been damned near 25 years since unemployment has taken the jumps we are seeing now. The rate is over 30% in our region for young folks who’ve finished school but not gone to college. Now, if the Feds ditch the TFW program and the subsidized wages for foreign help that go with it, youth unemployment might drop. But certainly the CAF is not where they are turning for work.

 

[daftandbarmy]

Well also it has been damned near 25 years since unemployment has taken the jumps we are seeing now. The rate is over 30% in our region for young folks who’ve finished school but not gone to college. Now, if the Feds ditch the TFW program and the subsidized wages for foreign help that go with it, youth unemployment might drop. But certainly the CAF is not where they are turning for work.

It's almost as if the CAF could introduce a summer program, for youth employment.

I dunno... call it SYEP or something like that

FIRST READING: Canadian youth hammered by vanishing summer job market​

Canada’s youth are staring down the worst summer jobs market in two decades; the latest sign of a Canadian economy whose shortcomings are disproportionately hammering the young.

According to new data published by the job site Indeed, summer job listings are down 22 per cent as compared to this time last year.

“Postings were down 32 per cent for summer camp roles, while other jobs like painters, lifeguards, and customer service representatives also fell from the same point in 2024,” says an analysis by Indeed economist Brendan Bernard.

Canadian jobs numbers have been lacklustre for several years at this point, with the true extent of the decline often patched up by a record expansion of the civil service.

In February, for example, Canada technically experienced a net gain in jobs, but it was due entirely to government hires. That month, the private sector lost 16,400 jobs, while the public sector added 18,800.

And that’s all set to get worse, driven in part by ongoing trade uncertainties between the United States and Canada. This week, TD Bank’s chief economist Beata Caranci forecast that Canada would head into recession in 2025, with the likely loss of another 100,000 private sector jobs.

Since at least the COVID pandemic, the Canadian economy has been an inordinately hard row for anyone under 30.

FIRST READING: Canadian youth hammered by vanishing summer job market

Youth unemployment has been pitched sky-high, in part due to temporary foreign worker program

nationalpost.com

 

[Cloud Cover]

I was a first wave YTEP to begin with back in the day. I’ve not heard much about programs like that anymore, but let me tell you when the CAF recruiters rolled into our high school in 1982 Northern Ontario and showed their movies and other recruiting material, they could pick and choose right then and there who could get in. We were facing disaster if we stayed in that region.

 

[mariomike]

I dunno... call it SYEP or something like that

I was a first wave YTEP to begin with back in the day.

Used to call it SSEP.

 

[Rifleman62]

Back in 1962, it was the Young Soldier Training Plan (YSTP) for the Militia. Your service number was i.e. H817400YS.

During the high Winter unemployment of the Diefenbaker years there was a military training program focusing on National Survival training. Gave the unemployed an option for a wage.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

D&B sent me a video on FB showing British Army Cadets, doing some urban warfare training, combat first aid, working artillery guns both ceremonial and live fire. We used to take Cadets with us on gun camps and ended up recruiting quite a few.

 

[KevinB]

I joined the Reserves under SYEP in 1987
The vast majority of my SYEP course stayed in past the summer - over half were still in 2 years later. As folks graduated HS and went off to other things (College, University, Employment) it really tapered off.

The only issue the SYEP folks had was very limited uniforms and equipment.
I will mention again I was issued 1 SET of Combats, 1 pr of Boots and 1951 webbing and small pack (with no straps for the pack),
but 2 sets of work dress and 1 pr of coveralls (which did no good that summer in Petawawa).