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29 July 2005 10:29I have spent a lot of time working with the CF and I can say from an inside view, that the CF needs money. The budget has been cut to dangerous levels, the housing is unsafe, the food is a biohazard, and now, some of our politicians want the CF not to be soldiers.
I can say, with a certain amount of surety, that Pearson did not intend his peacekeepers to become what they are now. Peacekeepers were always soldiers. They were intended to keep the peace by stopping threats, by providing aid, and by policing the world. Pearson understood that soldiers kill and are killed. That is the difference between a professional soldier and the Peace Corps.
I also understand that once your country's troops are sent into a war zone, you support those troops, regardless of how you personally feel about the war. You do everything you can to get your men and women home safely, but you do support them while they are 'over there'.
I just wish that more Canadians grasped this most basic concept. We cannot have our troops flying in helicopters that break down. We cannot have them eating rations that cause food poisoning. We cannot have them living in housing filled with asbestos. And we certainly cannot have them fighting with substandard armour and weaponry.
How much of a joke was Canada when we had to haul our big ship guns out of the Canada War Museum and the Canadian Maritime Museum for the Gulf War?
I have to wonder how quickly things would change if all the politicians had to live in military housing, eat military rations, and get to work by SeaKing helicopter?
Just a thought ...
I can say, with a certain amount of surety, that Pearson did not intend his peacekeepers to become what they are now. Peacekeepers were always soldiers. They were intended to keep the peace by stopping threats, by providing aid, and by policing the world. Pearson understood that soldiers kill and are killed. That is the difference between a professional soldier and the Peace Corps.
I also understand that once your country's troops are sent into a war zone, you support those troops, regardless of how you personally feel about the war. You do everything you can to get your men and women home safely, but you do support them while they are 'over there'.
I just wish that more Canadians grasped this most basic concept. We cannot have our troops flying in helicopters that break down. We cannot have them eating rations that cause food poisoning. We cannot have them living in housing filled with asbestos. And we certainly cannot have them fighting with substandard armour and weaponry.
How much of a joke was Canada when we had to haul our big ship guns out of the Canada War Museum and the Canadian Maritime Museum for the Gulf War?
I have to wonder how quickly things would change if all the politicians had to live in military housing, eat military rations, and get to work by SeaKing helicopter?
Just a thought ...
