State of Canadian Forces

Hey everyone.
Was interested in hearing anyone's opinion on the Canadian forces and where the money from this new defence budget should be allocated (within the CF).
Some of the key highlights for the outcome of this budget is $3.2 billion devoted specifically for recruitment and establishment of a 5,000-man strong 'peacekeeping brigade', as well as recruiting 3,000 more reservists. Personally, the mere idea of establishing a pure 'peacekeeping brigade' distgusts me. If the Liberals decide to devote an entire brigade specifically to peacekeeping then they will be turning this great country into a coward nation and would be dishonoring every Canadian soldier, in all wars, who has ever fought in battle.
Personally, I think the Canadian army could get more bang for their buck if they re-established an airborne battalion of roughly 800-1000 soldiers to regain a QRF capability in the Canadian Forces that has been lacking ever since the disbandment of the Canadian Airborne Regiment a decade ago. A well-trained, elite para unit would be money well-spent and would be able to accomplish much more than a larger, probably ill-equipped unit.

Well, thanks for reading, and please share your opinions

I support the creation of a 5,000-man strong 'peacekeeping brigade'.

I dont think they mean to form a brigade of slack and idle soldier for peace keeping only.. what I think they meAN IS TO BOLSTER FORCES SO THAT WITH 5000 men that can be detached for peace keeping, it wouldnt spread the forces so thin.. Ther would be the CF ready to be rebuilt and re equipped properly, and that we would have an "extra" 5000 that could be alloted for peace keeping roto's..

I think RH is right. The 5,000 will just bring existing units back up to strength and allow them to evolve into units that can sustain our commitments. For instance the Engineer Regiments are adding Field Squadrons and reconfiguring the Support Sqn to provide the needed support to deploying units. Each of the three CER's could easily absorb another 200 men each. I imagine the other arms are the same. I don't know of any CO that would turn down an extra Rifle Coy or Sabre Sqn.

As for the more bang-for-the-buck, QRF style unit, build another Light Bn or two. They can deploy pretty darn quick, have a limited mech capability for extra support, and maintain a jump coy if that skill set is needed. The resources required to reconstitute the Ab Battle Group are gone or worn out. The cost to retrain and re-equip a CAR is not piddly. BTW, the units currently in the operational rotation are not slacking in the results department and are more than able to function effectively. Not one of our missions has needed the vertical envelopment capability. On an Op I'd rather have the LAV III/M113 SEV section than 10 guys on foot carrying an overloaded ruck. Spelunking for Osama? Those guys can be dismounted.

I think the money should be sopent on bringing what we have up to strength. new toys maybe but make sure what we have works and has spares. Bring the regs and reserves up to strength. That will probably absorb all the new money. if people want to skydive let them pay for it themselves. Buy some choppers to give our guys the mobilty they need to either feed disaster victums or hunt down assholes like Bin laden.
Cheers
fred

I wish the armed forces were more focussed on protecting Canadian sovereignty - patrolling and protecting our coastlines and our airspace.

With that in mind I think that we should be reinvesting in our Navy and Air Force. I agree with Canadaka that the Army should be geared towards peacekeeping. And please let's not waste money reviving the CAR!

Just my two cents...

If we don't do anything now, the situation will only get worse. Wtih more spending on everything, it can get better. A deticated peace keeping force sounds like a good idea to me. Let them do their job and the rest of the army can do it's job. And lets get DART what it needs, please? If we are going to have a rapid responce group, they should be able to respond rapidly and not have to get a ride from the russians. Lets buy a couple of An-124's, i guess the C-5's aren't in production anymore.

This wonderful cash that has been given to the Military is stil not enough to cover what needs tobe done.
The money needs tobe spent on the troops above everything else.
Our Navy and Airforce are lacking but neither are as useful as grunts.
This is an old cold war joke.
2 Russian Generals are in Paris.One looks up into the sky and says to the other"So,Who won the air war."
In the end it all comes down to ground forces and the rest are just support.
Canada has always had the best troops in the world,I do believe we need new choppers.We needed them 10 years ago too but the Liberals were too busy declaring war on the military at the time.
CHoppers give close ground support to troops and can still play a search and rescue role.Money well spent.
Buying Diesel submarines that are death traps than having than Chretian saying that the Navy forced Him to buy them is once again proving how low of a leader we had.
The Canadian Armed forces need rebuilt from the ground up and it must start with the infantry.

I agree that the Army is useful for a variety of reasons and purposes, Dan, but for safeguarding Canadian sovereignty the Army is far less useful than the Navy or Air Force.

I like dgthe3's idea of buying Russian for some future Canadian military equipment, such as heavy airlift. This would be a good way of maximising the bang for the defence buck.

hmm buying russian military equipment is an interesting idea

Uhm.....
We could always do something really insane.
We could buy equipment from The U.S.
They kinda have quite abit of proven military equipment.
But than that would just be giving up our sovereignty :roll:

Dan, the Russian-built Il-76 is approximately one quarter the cost of the Boeing C-17. The Russian plane has a good reputation. Shouldn't we at least keep an open mind to a proposal that might save the Canadian taxpayer hundreds of millions of dollars (don't tell me you've never bitched and whined about taxes before) while providing the Canadian military with greater capability than would be possible with the C-17? (keeping in mind that we would be able to buy a greater number of Il-76s than C-17s) :idea:

yeah you are right bout the C-17's
I admit it.And I admit we do need Transport crafts.
But I think dumping more money into the navy before the troops is a bad call.I really don't think we need aircraft carriers and the subs we have cannot cross the Arctic.
Destroyers and Frigates are good escort and patrol ships and should be used for patrol.We have a few of them and Big Brother ain't gonna let anybody fuck with us.The same as with any other NATO country.
The Army needs the money first.

im not saying buy american. heck we should be building in Canada, but were talkin bang for the buck. (even though some money would be going back into the Canadian economy i think the costs would be much higher building it in Canada, no?)

whatever is the best for the price

I think we could use some production in Canada... we have the Engineers for it

Plus we have a lot of Raw materials. Why *can't* we build here? Even if we don't need to use them ourselves, we should just make them awesome and sell to *other* countries.