The Myth of Meritocracy

By Mike Nickerson

Did you ever hear the story of the Little Soldier Who Could? Oh come on, you must have! Why as a young lad my father would put me on his knee, light his pipe like all wise fathers used to do, and tell of a mythical world where people only succeeded because of what they did and how well they did it. Merit my boy, merit! That little soldier would go to the nearest recruiting office and begin his magical journey where merit is recognized and ambition rewarded. He’d rise through the ranks, an inspiration to all, finally making it to the top. On merit and nothing but. Quite a tale, don’t cha think?

It’s much like the story of how Santa Claus delivers presents under the Christmas tree each year because all the kiddies have been so darn nice. After a while you come to learn there’s more complexity to the story. In Santa’s case it was actually stressed-out parents spending all week searching for toys and maxing out their credit cards for kids who are definitely not on anyone’s nice list, but who will nonetheless cry bloody-blue murder if they don’t get their G.I. Joe with the Kung Fu grip. Not based on any kind of merit, but through sheer annoyance. Inspiring it isn’t, but reality doesn’t tend to be.

So while some of us grew up and got on with the messy complexities of life, there are others who won’t let go of those idealistic dreams of yore. Why, those tales really can become true if only we could return to simpler times; times where merit mattered, where affirmative action and feminism wasn’t so darn annoyingly there; where DEI (that’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion to you laypeople) had never been conceived. My God, a time where people weren’t so damn awake!

But hey, don’t take it from me; take it instead from a long serving, accomplished veteran, wise in the ways of the world. In this case I speak of Maj. (ret'd) Barbara Krasij-Maisonneuve, who last fall waxed eloquent in an interview with The National Post about how “the whole DEI, radical progressive movement is forced on [the military].” And along with a female hiring quota “we added all of the DEI, tiny little minority special interest groups to that quota. And now we spend money making a third bathroom or putting sanitary napkins in the men’s room and stuff, but we’re still buying our own helmets.” Yes, you read that right: sanitary napkins in the men’s room are what stand between our soldiers and their heads getting blown off. Damn that DEI!

Now if the good Major’s last name seems familiar it might be because she is married to one Lt.-Gen. (ret’d) Michel Maisonneuve, who a couple of years ago caused a stir when he railed in a speech while accepting that year’s Vimy Award on how in today’s world “taking personal responsibility for our own actions has disappeared from the landscape” with society “lost in these days of entitlement, Me First, not my problem and endless subsidies and handouts.” He also weaved in something about how the world will come to an end at the altar of climate change and such, but you get the picture.

And the Maisonneuves are certainly not alone in this. Donald Trump has ridden back into the White House on a sea of anti-woke, anti-DEI bile, and our soon-to-be prime minister, Pierre Poilievre, has vowed to change our military from a “woke” culture to a “warrior” one. Yes, all our problems will just melt away if we get back to basics; where we promote on merit, not quotas; to a time where we weren’t so sensitive to the feelings and aspirations of minorities; where we reward a person on merit, not demographic profile.

Well I have news for the Maisonneuves and anyone else under the impression that the military was once a meritocracy. It never was a meritocracy. For decades (nay centuries) it has rewarded overwhelmingly white men, and even more to the point, white privileged men. Any idiot with a bachelor’s degree in his pocket gets to be an officer and lead men into battle, not solely on merit, but on class, education and connections. The upper ranks are filled as much by politics than actual accomplishments.

The whole idea of DEI is to give capable people an equal chance, to level the playing field. Krasij-Maisonneuve all but says that our current CDS got the post because she’s a woman. Well, yeah! If things were left to the anti-woke brigade, she’d never have had the shot, no matter how eminently qualified she is.

All this culture war crap distracts from the real problems with our military, be it bureaucratic cock-ups, limited budgets, poor planning, or mundane things like lack of affordable housing, all of which has nothing to do with pronoun preference and the like. In these perilous times the last thing we need are distractions. But it is distraction the Trumps and Poilievres of the world will happily exploit if we let them.

The Northern Flank

Photo credit: al Jazeera

By Vincent J. Curtis

On Wednesday, July 24, Russian and Chinese bombers together entered the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone, approaching to within about 320 kilometers of the American coast.Though the aircraft, identified as two Russian T-95 (Bear) and two Chinese H-6 bombers, remained in international airspace, this new show of force and demonstration of expanding military cooperation has the United States concerned.  The bombers were tracked by NORAD, and intercepted by U.S. and Canadian fighter jets. But it was the first time that Chinese bomber aircraft have flown that close to Alaska.

China and Russia both acknowledged what they called a joint patrol over the Bering Sea. 

Chinese naval ships have appeared near Alaska in international waters, as recently as mid-Jul, 2024, when four Chinese ships were spotted in the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone, which extends 200 nautical miles (370 kilometers) from the shore.

The United States has become so concerned about the broadening China-Russia military cooperation that they released a new strategy document on June 21, 2024, entitled 2024 Arctic Strategy.  The United States military sees the Arctic as a “strategically important region for the United States.” The United States is content to see the status in the Arctic region remain quo; and hence views Russian and especially Chinese efforts to change the economic and military balance in the High Arctic with skepticism.  The High Arctic is portrayed as a vulnerable northern flank of NATO and of the United States; and activities there could divert U.S. military efforts from more decisive places elsewhere, “threaten the ability of the United States to project power both to Europe and the Indo-Pacific region, constraining [US] ability to respond to crises.”

Threats in the High Arctic can become direct threats to the U.S. homeland which demand military protection.  The Arctic Ocean provides a route for Russian nuclear submarines to quickly get close to the U.S. mainland before firing nuclear missiles.  Those familiar with the geography will see that that means the Russian subs have to enter sovereign Canadian Arctic waters, sailing as far south, possibly, as James Bay.

The Russian threat has long been known, but China could play the joker in the deck. China is the potential alteration to the current balance of power in the Arctic. “The PRC includes the Arctic in its long-term planning and seeks to increase its influence and activities in the region. Though not an Arctic nation, the PRC is attempting to leverage changing dynamics in the Arctic to pursue greater influence and access, take advantage of Arctic resources, and play a larger role in regional governance.

“The PRC seeks to bolster its operational expertise in the Arctic, where its presence, while limited, is increasing. The PRC operates three icebreakers—the Xue Long, Xue Long 2, and Zhong Shan Da Xue Ji Di—which enable the PRC’s dual civil-military research efforts in the Arctic. Over the course of the PRC’s 13 Arctic research expeditions to date, the vessels have tested unmanned underwater vehicles and polar-capable fixed-wing aircraft, among other activities. People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) vessels have also demonstrated the capability and intent to operate in and around the Arctic region through exercises alongside the Russian Navy over the past several years.”

In April, Canada released a new defense policy, Naked and Afraid, in which defense of the High Arctic justified increasing defense spending to reach, with difficulty, 1.79 percent of GDP.  If only someone in the Trudeau government took defense seriously, Canada could take on the role of being the guardian of NATO’s (i.e. America’s) northern flank.  Canadian defense doves can console themselves with the thought that a vigorous Canadian defense effort in the High Arctic would protect Canadian sovereignty from three threats: from China, Russia, and from the United States, who will not respect Canadian sovereignty if the U.S. must project the power of its Joint Force because Canada can’t handle the threats posed by the other two countries.

“Although the vast majority of the Arctic is under the jurisdiction of sovereign states, the PRC seeks to promote the Arctic region as a ‘global commons’ in order to shift Arctic governance in its favor. The PRC’s 2018 Arctic Policy claims non-Arctic states should contribute to the region’s “shared future for mankind” due to the Arctic’s global significance. Its “Polar Silk Road” has been used to gain a footing in the Arctic by pursuing investments in infrastructure and natural resources, including in the territory of NATO Allies.” The Chinese policy is a direct threat to Canadian sovereignty in the High Arctic.

The U.S. is content for now to “monitor and respond” to threats as they occur at present.

“Insufficient investments in early warning and air defense sensors in the Arctic will increase risks to the U.S. homeland. A lack of Arctic-capable domain awareness and communications capabilities would hamper the U.S. military’s ability to operate in the region in response to competitor activities.” Complementing these needs of the U.S. dovetails well within the aims of Naked and Afraid, and ought to spur serious pursuit of the strategic aims and spending priorities of the new defense policy.

Getting Uncomfortable

By Michael Nickerson

Ok class, please take a seat. You’ll see that there are padded recliners for everyone this year, as we had a few complaints about the leather sofas provided in the past. Not very comfortable was the general gist, and I know our vegan students didn’t much appreciate sitting on animal skin. Well I can assure you we don’t want that! Comfort is key! So sit back, relax, choose your massage setting, and when everyone is ready we’ll proceed with our Remembrance Day festivities. And in the interest of keeping things light we’re dispensing with the actual ceremony and all that war unpleasantness. Instead, please enjoy these puppy videos!

          I don’t know about you, but when I was a wee lad that wasn’t the way our Remembrance Days were observed. For one thing there was no YouTube, so finding films of puppies was a bit of a chore. But more importantly, they were rather somber, reverential affairs lead each year by our school janitor, a World War II naval veteran who served on a Royal Canadian Navy MTB in the North Sea. He made sure that the school staff took the day very seriously, and the day became our first exposure to the concept of armed conflict and the best and worst of humanity. Not the most comfortable of experiences that, and nary a puppy in sight.

            Fast forward to today and it seems school Remembrance Day ceremonies have moved away from a sobering reflection of war, sacrifice and loss to an exercise in not offending the sensibilities of anyone involved. At least that was initially the plan for the kids of Sackville Heights Elementary. You see, concerned over possibly upsetting some students that have come from conflict zones, the school made a rather cheeky request for veterans to attend, but only wearing civilian clothes. In an email to families, their school principal explained that they wanted to ensure that everyone involved would feel “comfortable” and some had expressed “discomfort with images of war which includes those of individuals in military uniforms."

            Now I’m all for concern about the feelings and fears of others to the point that I might finally get a tattoo reading “woke” in big bold letters…though somewhere I can also conceal it should it make anyone uneasy (damn this woke stuff gets complicated!). But there are times when things are so serious that trying to be accommodating to everyone turns the whole thing into a pointless farce. Learning about the cost of armed conflict in all its bloody reality is not the time for a congenial meet and greet with tea, cookies and a round of Tiddlywinks.

            This very fleeting policy was born out of the best of intentions, and rest assured the school’s staff has been thoroughly pilloried in public for being nice if rather ignorant. But the whole episode I think was rather telling about what Remembrance Day means today. Nova Scotia Liberal Leader Zach Churchill opined that the day is for “celebrating” our veterans, as if it’s some sort of festive holiday. Lost in all this back and forth is what many would argue is the purpose of Remembrance Day: recognizing the shear insanity that is war. As Robert Huish, associate professor of international development studies at Dalhousie University, opined to CTV News, the day is an opportunity to educate students on not just “a simple history that explains the dates and times of conflicts, but the real meaning about how war changes a society.”

            These discussions need to be had, and from an early age. The simple fact is armed conflict occurs when we as a society screw up. It’s then that we turn to our militaries to deal with the mess we have made, sometimes with their lives. It’s a brutal, uncomfortable subject, one we seem to avoid to the point that a large portion of our society doesn’t understand the sacrifice we ask of our military, nor the relentless effort needed to avoid them having to make that sacrifice.

We’ve put comfort over responsibility. And the subject of war should never be comfortable. Only when you get uncomfortable talking about it do you know you’re on the right track.

REMEMBRANCE: Unsung Heroes

By Mike Blais

I think no one is more affected during Remembrance than those whose loved ones made the ultimate sacrifice during the Afghanistan War. Time has yet to blunt the depths of their grieving. The annual cycle of honouring Canada’s fallen poses a constant reminder, and traumatic recollections for; mothers, fathers, sons and daughters and of course, their regimental brothers and sisters. All will assemble with Canadians on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day, of the eleventh month to offer profound respect for the fallen and, equally important, to acknowledge their national sacrifice.

One hundred and fifty eight valiant Canadians were sacrificed to the war in Afghanistan. Many more would succumb to their wounds and injuries long after repatriation. This was particularly true during the dark era wherein the Harper Conservatives gutted the department of Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) capabilities despite the fact that Canada incurred most of the combat casualties under their stewardship. We know that during Canada’s longest war, thousands of troops sustained catastrophic levels of mental duress and as is with many modern wars, the number of suicides has now superseded the numbers of those who were killed in action (KIA).

Tragically, the levels of support provided to the survivors are lacking on many levels. Many Memorial Cross recipients felt that, once the intense dramatics inherent with the repatriation and subsequent journey down the Highway of Heroes had passed, they were accorded substandard levels of respect, and services through Veterans Affairs Canada. To be fair, the current government has since addressed some of these shortcomings. However, most of the casualties were incurred at a time when survivor supportive benefits were grotesquely deficient.
Faced with overcoming grief and simultaneously confronting a bureaucratic wasteland, many simply gave up. The unsung heroes of this very unique community, chose instead to fight and have their voices heard.

One such unsung hero is Jacqui Girouard, (spouse of CWO Robert Girouard – KIA Nov, 2006) who the Canadian Veterans Advocacy successfully nominated for the Queens Diamond Jubilee medal in respect for her survivor related efforts.

Another is Amanda Anderson (Spouse of Cpl Jordan Anderson, PPCLI, who fell to an insurgent IED in 2007 while serving in Afghanistan). Consequential to the departmental adversity Amanda confronted, she now leads a mission specific support network designed to assist bereaved military families. Her support network helps families to navigate the maze of bureaucratic necessities Veterans Affairs Canada requires in order to provide compensation and the suite of benefits that are now provided to the survivors of the fallen. Amanda currently administers a private Facebook Group that is focused entirely on the survivors. In addition to administrative support, the group offers peer support with respect to coping with grief, raising children as a solo parent and identifying mental health provisions that may be required for individuals and family units. Amanda is acutely aware of the administrative difficulties they are confronting and has become the Canadian Veterans Advocacy’s leading subject matter expert (SME) on survivors as we collectively strive to improve the standards of care VAC provides to our Memorial Cross community.

Amanda is currently promoting improved mental health provisions for both widows and their families. This is a serious issue and while the current government has responded by doubling the amount of professional mental sessions VAC will support to 20 sessions, this is hardly sufficient. Surely we can agree that the death of a spouse or child is the most difficult mental health challenge a person can encounter?
Surely, we understand military widows’ grief is exacerbated by losing a loved one in a war zone or through suicide. Surely, we understand that the mental health challenges which survivors encounter are profound and lifelong.

Grief never ends. Accordingly, Amanda and her team are fighting to have this restrictive policy reformed and mental health provision extended and accorded by need, not bureacratic restrictions. 

Amanda’s second priority pertains to the establishment of a team of dedicated case managers and veterans service agents. Legislation and policy respecting survivors’ national sacrifice is unique and consequently, poses many challenges to the rank and file at VAC. Survivors are distinct from veterans and in order to provide effective support, the department must acknowledge the issues of grief and death related trauma are diverse in scope and intensity.  Mission specific training in the bureaucratic nuances and entitlements of the survivor legislation and a clinical understanding of the levels of service-related compassion required must be improved. 

Canada’s first First Soldier

By Vincent J. Curtis

General Sir William Otter (December 3, 1843 – May 6, 1929) was the first Canadian born Chief of the General Staff, making him Canada’s first “First Soldier.”  His career is a monument to the Administration principle of war, and of showing up for work every day.

Otter was born in near Clinton, which lies in Southwestern Ontario, then Canada West.  Many young men his age in Canada West signed up for the Union Army during the depression of 1863, but Otter instead joined the colonial Non-Permanent Active Militia, a force under British command, in Toronto in 1864

Enrolling as a private in the Victoria Rifle Company of the Queen’s Own Rifles, Otter was appointed Staff-Sergeant on October 21, 1864, then Lieutenant in the 2nd Administrative Battalion at Niagara 1864-65. On his return he was appointed Lieutenant in No. 1 Coy QOR May 19, 1865; Adjutant, August 19, 1865; Captain, March 8, 1866; and Major, June 4, 1869.  Otter was CO of the QOR from 1875 to 1883.

Otter’s first action was at the Battle of Ridgway, a Fenian Raid near Niagara Falls, which saw the inexperienced Canadian troops routed in confusion.  He received a service bar on his Canadian General Service Medal for that and 1870, the year of the first Riel Rebellion, but also a year of another Fenian raid.

In 1883, Canada created its own army, styled the Permanent Active Militia, or Permanent Force, and Otter secured an appointment as the Commanding Officer of Canada’s Infantry School in Toronto.  Sent west under the command of General Frederick Middleton to deal with the second Riel Rebellion, Otter commanded the Battleford Column (April – July 1885); and, at the Battle of Cut Knife (May 2, 1885), Canada’s first professional was worsted by a couple of Indian amateurs, Poundmaker and Fine-Day. Poundmaker, invoking a mercy rule, spared Otter’s whupped and retreating column further casualties, their having suffered 8 KIA and 14WIA.  After Batoche and the end of the rebellion, Otter was unable to nab an elusive rascal named Big Bear, who (all’s well that end’s well), eventually surrendered.

Withal, Otter was appointed Commander of No 2 Military District effective July 1, 1886; and in 1893, was appointed the first Commanding Officer of an outfit called the “Royal Canadian Regiment of Infantry” (or some such).  Otter was known to be something of an austere professional, or martinet, and that proclivity for extreme attention to military detail and discipline seems to have passed on, generation after generation, in 1RCR.  This sort of attitude can arise in men who have seen action, experienced failure, and they employ it against those who haven’t.  Otter was appointed Inspector of Infantry on May 16, 1896.

When the Secord Boer War rolled around (1899-1902), Canada sent a large contingent of troops to aid the British effort. For this service, Canada created a Special Service force, and Lieutenant Colonel Otter commanded the 2nd (Special Service) Battalion of the RCRI, which was dispatched to South Africa, and saw action at the Battle of Paardeberg.  In South Africa, he could have encountered Sam Hughes and Charles Ross. Otter was gazetted Colonel on July 19, 1900.

Returning to Canada, Otter was appointed OC Military District No 2, and in 1908 he was promoted BGen and appointed CGS (1908-1910), becoming the first Canadian born head of the Canadian Militia, which, until then, had ben commanded by a British officer. (The RCN didn’t come into existence until 1910.).  He retired, aged 67, in 1910 in the rank of MGen, and was knighted in 1913.  During World War I, he came out of retirement to command detention operations of enemy nationals in Canada.  In 1922, he, along with Sir Arthur Currie, was promoted to full General.

In 1914, Otter published The Guide: A Manual for the Canadian Militia (Infantry) perhaps a Canadian first attempt at a comprehensive training manual. He also headed the Otter Commission which established the perpetuation of Canadian Expeditionary Force units in Canadian militia units.

Cold Comfort

Photo Credit: DND

By Michael Nickerson

It can get cold in Canada. Seriously, I kid you not. We’re quite famous for it. Last winter I even saw snow! Indeed, it’s that white stuff dogs love to roll around in and people wish for every Christmas. Tad cold to be around if we’re honest, but amazingly we have stuff to deal with that: gloves, boots, toques, sweaters, scarfs, long underwear, and parkas to name just some of those tried and true solutions. Like good little scouts you can count on Canadians to be ready for whatever winter throws at us!

            Well not quite all Canadians. For if you’re one of the poor slobs kitted out with the latest and greatest from the defence department, namely the new General Purpose Sleeping Bag System (GPSBS), you better hope the weather is mild and you have an extra pair of long johns in your sack. Because doing anything north of the 50th parallel will be at best uncomfortable, and at worst downright dangerous.

            As recently reported by Murray Brewster of CBC news, last November 350 soldiers belonging to the 3rd battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry were out on a training exercise in Ram Falls Provincial Park near Red Deer, a place not known for its balmy climate. With temperatures approaching minus twenty at night, soldiers complained of being cold even while tucked in tight with their GPSBS in a stove-equipped tent. According to an internal briefing note from the battalion’s quartermaster, the new sleeping bags were "better suited for use in weather conditions that are characteristic of late spring to early fall."

            Now when the government released this year’s defence policy update “Our North, Strong and Free: A Renewed Vision for Canada’s Defence” I dare say it didn’t stress being strong and free south of the 50th parallel. Though to be fair, the new GPSBS was meant to be a bit of a jack of all trades. As a member of the GPSBS project team Alexandre Legault indicated in a government news release in 2023, “It’s about making sure we have everything the soldier needs to be able to perform in Iraq in the summer all the way to the high Arctic in the winter.” Unfortunately they missed that winter bit.

            Needless to say, for an arctic nation this has become a bit embarrassing, even making international headlines. You can almost hear our allies’ snickers. As defence expert Rob Huebert of the University of Calgary put it to the CBC: “I wonder if they should have just gone to Canadian Tire.” A bit cheeky that, but considering the program has so far cost $34.8 million, he might be on to something.

            If you were to average out that cost over our combined regular and reserve army strength, it works out to about $765 per soldier. And while Canadian Tire is a little lacking in military grade sleeping solutions, a quick check of what other arctic nations are using is instructive. Consider the Finns, who proudly use sleeping bags by Austrian manufacturer Carinthia.  A sleeping bag actually designed for the “high Arctic in the winter” will set you back about $425, without factoring in bulk buying. I dare say if you bought 45,502 sleeping bags you could do a hell of a lot better than $34.8 million.

            And this brings us to the thorny issue of military procurement in this country. It’s so poor that we have sleeping bags better suited to New Orleans than Nunavut, at almost twice the price of our allies. It’s one of many cockups by a ministry more concerned with covering its ass than properly supplying our soldiers. The result is either substandard equipment or none at all with never ending promises of things to come providing cold comfort for our freezing soldiers.

            We can’t afford to spend years sorting out a problem decades in the making. We have allies, like the Finns, who have already done the legwork for us. Given how eager NATO members are for us to rearm, one can bet they’d be more than happy to share that knowledge so we could start buying off-the-shelf solutions now instead of customized solutions later. Our thermally compromised soldiers deserve no less.

Junkyard Diplomacy

By Michael Nickerson

Junk. If you asked Lester B. Pearson some 70 years ago whether Canada’s diplomatic influence would come down to what junk it has on hand, he’d scoff! Even the mere suggestion that a rich nation like Canada, fresh from playing a pivotal role in defeating the Nazis, would be offering up scraps to our allies, scrounging through our proverbial basement for some military hand-me-downs in times of conflict, would be heresy. We’re part of the G7, a founding member of NATO for goodness sake! We should be pulling our weight and leading the diplomatic charge; blue berets here we come!

            Alas no, just junk. As the conflict in the Ukraine drags on in its third year, our latest contribution to NATO’s call to keep the Russian Bear from landing on Europe’s doorstep amounts to a ragtag collection of military surplus that makes up in numbers what it might lack in cutting-edge effectiveness. To wit: 80,840 1970’s era CRV7 rocket motors sans warheads; 970 surplus C6 machine guns; 10,500 WWII-era 9mm pistols (oldies but goodies!); 29 decommissioned M113 armored personnel carrier chassis and 64 Coyote LAVs to serve as spare parts. There is nothing like trying to get some diplomatic mileage out a little fall housecleaning, eh?

            And if things keep going the way they are, the Ukrainians might get themselves even more equipment that we plan on mothballing because we can’t afford the maintenance. Before you know it, the Black Sea will be littered with old Canadian minesweepers and the odd bobbing submarine to use as target practice, and the skies dotted with ex-Snowbird tutor jets the Ukrainians will no doubt repurpose in some clever way we could only dream of.

            Seems like a win-win, no? Well, not exactly. Sure, we’ve cleaned out our cupboards, taken the trash to the curb, and got things all neat and tidy for all those new toys we’re apparently going to get at some point in the distant future. But as long as our contribution is limited to junk, we really have no significant voice or sway in how this war plays out. And oh my but is it playing out in some very frightening ways. 

            Sick of taking it on the chin for over two years, the Ukrainians took the fight to Russia in August, actually invading their territory in the Kursk region in what Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Andrew Leslie described as “a bold, brilliant, gutsy move.”And by all indications they plan on staying there. 

            So what you say? Seems like a clever piece of strategy that. Unfortunately they’re doing it in part with our crap and have committed us to a situation that is both very dangerous and very difficult to extricate ourselves from. As history buffs will attest, Russia has a rather long and bloody history involving people invading them, and they get a tad twitchy at the idea of it happening again. In fact, the growing presence of NATO on their doorstep has been one of the reasons floated by Russia for their invasion of Ukraine. And whether intended or not, our little bit of housecleaning has put Canada in the middle of an actual proxy war with Russia.

            Specifically, Canada and NATO are now attached to an incursion into Russian territory, by a country that when this conflict is hopefully over will most likely join NATO. Now call me crazy, but if I were Putin, or the average Russian, that state of affairs wouldn’t be very palatable, and it makes it incredibly hard to see how the situation can be brought to any reasonable diplomatic conclusion thanks to that “bold, brilliant, gutsy move” on the part of our new ally.

            Unfortunately, however it plays out, Canada is merely on for a very dangerous ride at this point. Long gone are the days of the “honest broker” or a NATO member with any military heft to back up its point, much less defend our interests (even our own soil) if this all goes pear shaped. That’s junkyard diplomacy for you…may the fates be kind.

ROADMAP TO SUCCESS: Filing a VAC Claim

Mike Blais has become a stolid advocate for veterans

By Michael Blais CD

The Canadian Veterans Advocacy has matured over the past fourteen years. We have transformed from an organization which originally contested inadequate government veterans' policies through protest. Now that many of our legislative objectives were secured, CVA has become a stolid base for close to 12,000 disabled veterans, their family members and Memorial Cross recipients. Over time, we have established a solid foundation of Subject Matter Experts (SME) who have successfully assisted thousands of mentally and physically wounded veterans throughout our mandate. Through these engagements, commonalities have been identified and CVA SME Group has prepared a series of Aide de Memoires to provide information & guidance to those seeking acknowledgement in regard to their national sacrifice. Or for those within VAC’s client base, relevant information pertaining to available entitlement programs and directions on how to apply for any additional benefits which they deserve.

We will start by asking, just how do I file a disability claim with Veterans Affairs Canada? You have several options but I would suggest that you simply contact VAC by telephone, 1-866-522-2122. Inform them you wish to make a claim for [FILL IN THE BLANK] and request that they send the appropriate documentation to your home. Or you can email them through the VAC website. To VAC's credit, they provide a series of supportive links which present vital information to the applicant on how to successfully process a disability claim. The CVA Aide de Memoire presents five VAC links ranging from application forms and benefit navigators to disability tables and compensation values for illness or injury. The RCMP are provided services through their own unique link.

The process commences once you receive or download VAC’s 923e form.  I would strongly encourage you to make the appropriate preparations before filling out this form. There are a total of ten pages, most of them requiring that you provide relevant information which will ultimately determine whether your claim is successful and, if so, the degree of the financial compensation which you will be granted. Failing to adequately comply with the department’s requirements will result in substantial delays in the time it takes VAC to process the claim. Read the questions carefully. Think before you respond. Be prepared. Have handy your service number, deployment(s) periods and date of service and any medical or administrative documents relating to the injury and the theatre of operations. Make an honest determination on how the injury has affected your quality of life and be inclusive of the adverse impact it has borne on your family, social, sport and personal relationships. Quality of life responses are critical if the adjudicator is to properly assess the depths of your disability. Be sure to read VAC's Quality of Life rating chapter and document when and how any commonality factors adversely affect your quality of life. When making your preparations, do so with the perspective of your worst days in mind. There is no such thing as too much information or trivialities, so be comprehensive.

Regarding medical documents, it is vital that you talk to your doctor about your injury and how it relates to your military service. Define the circumstances to them. They are civilians. Should you fail to convey to the doctor the correlation between trauma and your military service, the documentation which they will subsequently submit may not directly link the injury. Linkage is the primary objective. If necessary, resort to the Access to Information (ATI) Act to secure your military medical files.

Sign the 3rd party consent form. This will expedite the time it takes to process your claim by providing authority to the adjudicator to engage your health professional(s). Complex cases often include the services of psychiatrists, psychologists, occupational therapists, physiotherapists and others with relevant information pertaining to your claim or involved in your subsequent treatment plan. Or supplemental benefits. Provide your banking information for direct deposit. If you prefer a cheque, be advised this will further delay payment.

How long will it take? The adjudicators are highly trained individuals, if you have applied due diligence in your preparations and complied with the department’s administration requirements, the claim should be processed in an expedient manner. Should the applicant have provided everything required and is seeking recognition for a non-complex issue such as hearing, there is a good chance that processing will conform to the department’s stated objective of 16 weeks. The more complex the condition is, the longer it is going to take. I would remind veterans who are applying for conditions related to mental trauma to be aware that Veterans Affairs will sponsor their treatment costs from the date the application is accepted by VAC and will be extended for two-years regardless of the determination of the claim.

You will be formally notified by mail when your claim has been adjudicated and, if successful, informed of the compensation percentage awarded. You have two options for the tax-free award: monthly payments or a lump sum award. Should the size of the award require you to consider financial advice, VAC will pay 500 dollars toward this service.

Not everyone will be pleased regardless of the decision. For many, the experience is bittersweet as while being successfully processed, the percentage degree of compensation was far below expectations. Should you feel that an error in Law or policy occurred, you may request a Departmental Review. Should this fail, you next option is to contact the Bureau of Pensions Advocates representative and request they appeal the case before the Veterans Review and Appeal Board. The same process is applicable should the claim have been denied.

Running With Scissors

By Michael Nickerson

Safety first. Two simple words every kid has heard from their parents since the invention of fire. Closely followed by: Don’t play with matches; Don’t run down stairs; and Don’t run with scissors. Being a rather hyper child, I got that last one a lot, if for no other reason than I ran around constantly and if I had scissors in my hands so much the better! Somehow I managed to not put anyone’s eye out, and I’m proud to say I haven’t run with scissors in some time. Not much call for it really. I guess that makes me an adult now.

Well let’s not go that far, but you get the idea. Children can be a tad irresponsible and are likely to get killed without some mature, grown-up guidance. And let’s face it, there is no need to run with scissors. Dangerous stuff that at any age, and who needs cutting implements that hurriedly? But what if we really do need a set of clippers posthaste?  What if lives depend on getting someone a sharp pair of shears a fast as your little feet will get them there? You might lose an eye, but the answer seems clear. Throw caution to the wind!

Well Canada isn’t facing a massive need for hordes of children to go charging hither and yon clutching the latest in pointy-ended grooming implements, but it is facing a rather pressing need for adults (presumably of the mature variety, but let’s not quibble) to throw caution to the wind and race to get on the A.I. train before it and everyone else leaves the proverbial station. For lives really are at risk and this country’s safety imperiled if we don’t get our act together and face the revolution of artificial intelligence head on.

Now we’re not talking about ChatGPT, Siri, Alexa, or your phone’s spellchecker. We’re talking about systems that can autonomously control drones, game out strategy options quicker that any human could hope, and employ facial recognition that could both stop a terrorist and intrude on civilian privacy. Encryption, planning, industrial design, these developments are all happening now, and our allies and foes are already rushing headlong into a future developing in leaps and bounds by the day, not the months and years we all seem to think we have.

Back in March, aeons ago by A.I. standards, the Department of National Defence published their strategy when it comes to the future of A.I.. It’s not voluminous but it does recognize the opportunities and perils of the technology, the significant cultural change needed to develop and adopt it, and the ethical questions that come with such a powerful tool. A.I. has the potential to be more significant and dangerous than the invention of nuclear weapons, but also a lot easier to attain.

The strategy has set a target of being “A.I. enabled” by 2030, which by their estimate is a pretty ambitious timeline. Unfortunately that’s about six years too late which means that in the name of military security and effectiveness, we must ask the DND, Canadian Armed Forces (CAF), and whatever government happens to be governing at any given moment to effectively ‘run with scissors’ as fast as their bureaucratic bunions will let them.

But are these really the right adults for the job? Part of that job will involve not just onboarding the software, but deciding and enforcing ethical standards to go with it. Whether it’s the current state of procurement, or recent examples of the CAF using social media to snoop on innocent Canadians, the prospects aren’t encouraging. And the current Liberal government can barely get a handle on regulating social media, much less A.I.

What is needed is a central entity, be it an oversight committee or preferably a dedicated ministry, composed of bipartisan members with the mandate to (let’s all put on rosy glasses now) rise above daily politics and focus on these challenges now, with real powers and real money to get real results. A.I. isn’t waiting folks. We need to pick up those scissors and run like hell. It’d be nice if we had adults who might actually be able to handle it.

TOTALIZE Plus 80

By Vincent J. Curtis

August 7th to 11th, 2024, mark the Eightieth Anniversary of Operation TOTALIZE.  This operation was intended to be Lt-Gen Guy Simmonds’, the 2nd Canadian Corps’, and the 21st Army Group’s punch and pincer arm that would force the closure of the Falaise Gap, entrapping the German 7th Army of some 150,000 troops.  Totalize was timed to co-ordinate with Gen Omar Bradley’s Operation COBRA in the far west of France, and was intended, secondarily, to hold the German heavy armour in front of the 21st Army Group.

Of all the forces landed on D-Day, the Canadians advanced the farthest. No.2 Troop, C Squadron, 1st Hussars, commanded by Lt. William F. McCormick, found an unopposed route from Camilly on Phase Line Elm all the way to Phase Line Oak, the Caen-Bayeux rail line.  Turing east, McCormick’s troop exploited as far as Carpiquet airfield. Seeing Caen essentially undefended, McCormick tried, but failed, to reach higher command by radio; and, inexplicably, higher command wasn’t wondering where No. 2 Troop was.  D-Day ended with the 3rd Canadian Division digging in on Phase Line Elm, three miles north of Caen, with four hours of daylight remaining.  The Germans occupied Caen in strength that night.

There followed: Op WINDSOR to capture Carpiquet village; Op CHARNWOOD to capture Carpiquet airfield and Caen north of the Orne; Op ATLANTIC to capture Caen south of the Orne, and to create a bridgehead for an attack on Verrières Ridge (Op SPRING).

Lt-Gen Guy Simmonds was at his wits end with the incompetence at divisional and brigade levels; and quality even at the battalion level was uneven.  Hence, Totalize was structured to minimize command decisions.  Simmonds invented the APC, by the “defrocking” of “Priests,” i.e. Sherman tanks that had their turrets replaced with 25 pdr guns; “artificial moonlight,” and he used heavy, strategic bombers in a tactical role.

As I wrote for the 75th anniversary, “Totalize was a familiar set-piece battle, but using bigger hammers, closer timing between blows, and other techniques of ancient renown.  Tactically, Totalize was a case of hi-diddle-diddle- straight up the middle, the middle being the Caen-Falaise road.  Heavy strategic bombers were to carpet bomb both sides of the highway south of the start-line.  Immediately upon completion of the air mission, artillery would open up and the first wave of tanks and APCs would drive south in a night attack, bypassing pockets of resistance along the way.  Tracers from Bofors 40 mm guns and target marking artillery shells were guides to direction.

Great innovations from Simonds, but then gremlins crept in to undermine the plan.  There was no radio comms with air.  Some bombs dropped on 3rd Canadian Division HQ and wounded Maj-Gen Rod Keller.  Bombing the route of advance created a tank obstacle course which was run en mass at night by inexperienced APC drivers.  Simonds ordered a halt at noon on the 8th to bring up the artillery after the first objectives were taken.  Given a respite, the Germans regrouped and a second dose of heavy bombing failed to destroy German counterattacking panzer groups.  Totalize stalled.

Trying to restore momentum, Simonds ordered Worthington Force to capture Hill 195.  The result was the most infamous event of Totalize.  An inexcusable navigation error had Worthington Force, a battlegroup consisting of the British Columbia Regiment and the Algonquins, seize Hill 140, seven kilometers from the assigned objective.  Unsupported by Canadian artillery or Typhoons, it was annihilated by a counterattack force of German Panther tanks.”

In a near postscript to the combat, Totalize culminated with the capture of Hill 195 on the 11th by a lone infantry regiment that infiltrated at night into the position.  The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada, under the command of Lt-Col Dave Stewart, who, with Scout platoon ahead, and his battalion following in single file; occupied Hill 195, eliminated what opposition there was, established a defense, which included a couple 17 pdr anti-tank guns; and repulsed German attacks that day.

Their line pierced, the Germans withdrew to Falaise.

What’s A Promise Worth?

By Mike Nickerson

Clean your room! That was my parents’ opening salvo in a long test of wills, understandable given that my room resembled a cross between a scrap yard and a fuzzy petri dish. But thankfully there was always an easy answer to that problem that didn’t involve sorting or disinfectant. I’d promise to clean it. This bought time until the next confrontation, when I’d point out the fiscal limitations of cleaning my room. When that didn’t work, it was time to note the impact all that cleaning would have on my health, or the environment, or how it might keep me from helping old ladies cross the street. And it all worked famously until my parents kicked me out and sold the house.

            Well NATO just told Canada to clean its room for about the umpteenth time last month at their summit in Washington D.C., and guess what? We promised we would. Or more specifically, Justin Trudeau did, promising to increase military spending to two percent of GDP by 2032 despite repeated (and surprisingly reasonable) arguments that it is an arbitrary and flawed metric. But two percent it is; now leave us alone.

            Of course the brilliance of this is that neither Trudeau nor his government will be around to make good on that promise. A nifty trick that, something I wish I thought of during those tense family negotiations of yesteryear. No, it will most likely land on Pierre Poilievre’s shoulders to sort out, though if his recent pithy musings about Canada’s military are anything to go by (“I will replace the woke culture with a warrior culture”) NATO better not be banking on us picking up our metaphorical dirty underwear anytime soon, especially given Poilievre’s zeal to cut spending and taxes the second he takes office.

             Unfortunately this has not stopped many a pundit and general from dreaming of all the new kit we’ll be buying to reach that two percent figure, with visions of sugar-plums dancing joyously in their heads. Well, not so much sugar-plums as submarines, which are considerably more expensive. And it’s also glossed over a far more fundamental problem, namely a severe lack of personnel to make all this hallucinating a reality.

            Now it’s well known that Canada’s military is short some 16,000 members, with shortages in just about every area save for senior brass. What perhaps is less talked about is a severe shortage of staff to handle the procurement of all that lovely new kit, to say nothing of a depleted and underfunded diplomatic corps to keep us from having to use it in the first place.

            It’s an open question whether the funds for all those shiny new toys NATO wants us to buy will ever materialize, for really, what’s a promise worth these days? But there are unspent billions currently on the books that could be spent right now getting Canada ready to use those toys should Santa Pierre actually come through with the goods, and that’s spending on people, be it hiring, housing, training, guaranteed medical and financial support for veterans, cost-of-living subsidies, or simply better food in the mess hall.

            And if NATO is so eager for Canada to step up, then they should be more than happy for new recruits to embed in their militaries for training, procurement officers to liaise and learn from their NATO counterparts, and a refreshed diplomatic core to work and learn alongside their allies in the art of avoiding conflict in the first place. It’s the sort of fundamentals that need to be in place long before you start acquiring multi-billion dollar weapon systems. And it will allow Canada to truly start contributing now as opposed to 2032, by which time, at the rate we’re going, the world will likely just be a cinder.

            So by all means play for time offering promises and platitudes, a tried and true method for messy children and feckless governments alike. But in the meantime actually start doing what is possible now, and that’s invest more in Canadian forces members than sparkly new toys that go boom. For those socks won’t pick up themselves.

Attack class submarines

Vincent J. Curtis

On 16 September, 2021, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced a trilateral security pact with the UK and the US, called AUKUS, (or NOTCANNZ in some circles) The UK and US would help Australia acquire nuclear powered submarines.  An hour before the announcement, the Aussies informed the French government that it was cancelling the contract to acquire the French designed Shortfin-Barracuda class submarine, a conventional diesel-electric, which the Aussies were going to dub the Attack class.  The French explosion and cries of maudit-anglais, were heard around the world.  (Roughly translated, the French complained of an Anglo-Saxon condominium.)

On 11 June 2022, Australia’s new Labour government made financial settlement with the French to the tune of US$584 million, which is a lot to pay for blueprints you’re not going to use.

Australia’s strategic requirements ask of her submarines an unusually long operational range, a manifestation of the ‘tyranny of distance’ in the Pacific theatre.  Australia’s current Collins class submarines, conventional diesel-electrics, are on the big side.

A Collins class sub displaces 3100 tons (surface), is 77.4 m in length, 7.8 m beam, 11,500 nmi range, 50 days endurance, and a complement of 58.

The Attack class subs would have displaced 4500 tons (surface) be of 97 m length, 8.8 m beam, 18,000 nmi in range, 80 days endurance, and a complement of 80.  The rising threat of China, and a desire to operate closely with the United States in respect of China, accounts for the greater capability of the newer class.  By granting Australia access to U.S. nuclear technology, the U.S. gives the RAN much greater operational capability in terms of range and endurance.

Australia replaced its Oberon class subs with the Collins class.  Canada replaced hers with the Lemon class of subs. (HMCS Lemon, Cumquat, Pomegranate, and Pumpkin.  What’s that?  The Victoria, Chicoutimi, Windsor, and Corner Brook?  Hokay.)

The Upholder/Victoria/Lemon class displace 2455 tons (surface), are 70.3 m in length, 7.2 m beam, 8,000 nmi range, an endurance of 30 days, and a complement of 53.  Though acquired by Canada in 1998, the class did not become fully operational until 2016.  Under the Trudeau government’s defence white paper, Weak, Anxious, Distracted these subs are to undergo life-extending refits for another life-cycle of eight years.  This will take the service of the class into the early 2030s.  These babies are already pushing forty years old, and by the middle 2030s will be at the half-century mark in age.  They’ll have definitely hit CRA.  Even if the steel can hold up to the pressures of 200 m depth, the electronics in them will be as obsolete as vacuum tubes.

Replacing the Lemons (er Victorias – can’t help myself!) with Attack class subs seems to present itself.  Attacks may offer more capability than Canada needs – if you’re focussed on the North Atlantic.  But after the Ukraine, the US and UK can likely handle the Russian Atlantic threat without Canadian help.  In the Pacific, however, where China continues to sabre-rattle vigorously over Taiwan, and extends her reach farther south in the Pacific and into the Indian Ocean, the RCN might find usefulness in the North Pacific, home not only to the Chinese fleet, but to the port of Vladivostok.

Alternatively, Canada could opt for the nuclear-powered version of the French sub, giving her fleet under-ice capability.  But the Trudeau government doesn’t want that.  Perhaps fearing the adverse perception of ‘nuclear’ as beset the Mulroney government’s acquisition plans, or perhaps it doesn’t want to know, and therefore have to confront, Russian and American presumptions upon Canada’s claimed territorial waters in the High Arctic.  Ignorance being bliss.

The Attack class won’t come cheap.  The Aussies were budgeting A$90 billion to acquire a dozen.  That translates into C$28 billion for four.  Canada is already committing C$77 billion for 15 frigates.  Will the RCN get another C$30 billion for 4 new subs or will that capability lapse?  Decisions need to be made before 2025 to avoid lapse.

Naked and Afraid: The Defence Policy Update

By Vincent J. Curtis

Naked and Afraid, Canada’s defense policy update, is a catalogue of irresolute, empty promises for a future government to fulfill, and is fraught with pollyannish conviction.  Naked and Afraid is the 2024 update to the 2017 Defense Policy paper, Weak, Anxious, and Distracted; and, despite being the successor to a seven-year-old document, N&A projects a vision of spending over a twenty-year period. It boldly declares timidity: its forecasted expenditures will bring Canada’s defense spending to a colossal 1.79 percent of GDP by 2029-30, short of the 2023 commitment to 2.0 percent.

Prime Minister Trudeau received an extraordinary letter, dated May 23rd, signed by 23 United States Senators, calling attention to that shortfall, and asking for a more ambitious program from him at the NATO conference in July. 

Canada will be relying upon polar bears to do much of the CAF’s dirty work.  The expenditures are remarkably deficient in fighting teeth: $18.4 billion over 20 years is allocated to acquire new “tactical helicopters”.  Problem is, the detailed wording doesn’t distinguish between an AH-64E Apache tactical helicopter and a CH-147F tactical lift helicopter. There’s $2.7 Billion over 20 years allocated to acquire long-range missile capability, which could mean a Lockheed-Martin HIMARS rocket artillery battery (passim). There’s mention of, but no money associated with, acquiring a ground-based air defense system for critical infrastructure; and one reads Saab’s MSHORAD missile system between the lines. There is only mention of “exploring options” to acquire long-range air- and sea-launched missiles, Tomahawk cruise missiles fitting this description.

Otherwise, there’s $9.0 Billion over 20 years for updates to existing equipment to preserve deployability.  There’s mention of, but no monetary commitment towards, upgrading or replacing the “main battle tanks” and the LAVs.  After 20 years, one would think replacement was unavoidable, but the hesitancy to make a commitment is palpable.

All this is rather strange when the main threat to Canada, supposed by the paper, is in the far North.  To move a battle group around the High Arctic would require about 100 tac lift helos, but that’s not foreseen in the paper.

To deal with threats to the far North, there’s money for surveillance and infrastructure, and a mention of, but no money allocated to, some mythical conventionally powered sub with under-ice capability. There’s $1.4 Billion over 20 years to acquire maritime sensors to monitor the maritime approaches to the Arctic and North. There’s $222 million over 20 years (where do they get these precise numbers?) for a new satellite ground station in the Arctic. There $307 million over 20 years for airborne early warning aircraft, which could mean either a Boeing P-8 Poseidon or a couple of Saab’s GlobalEyes (passim).  There’s $5.5 Billion over 20 years to acquire satellite communications capability. And there’s reference to “exploring options” to acquire a suite of surveillance and strike drones.

There’s stuff in Naked and Afraid that should be routine defence expenditures: replenishing ammunition stocks that were given to Ukraine. manufacturing our own artillery shells, training, housing, health- and child-care, and upgrading domestic infrastructure. 

Significantly, there’s no specific mention of the Type 26 frigate; there’s only money set aside to refit the existing fleet ofHalifax class frigates.

In EdC Vol 30-12 and 31-2, I sketched what threats to Canada’s sovereignty in the far North would look like, and what’s required to meet them. Meeting them requires an all of government approach, including skeptical reviews of foreign investment. The RCN and the RCAF have to be able to put platoon-plus sized units at threatened locations in Canada’s Arctic Archipelago, and be able to support them both logistically and tactically.  A Gripen E operating off an austere runway in Resolute Bay will be better than a daintier F-35 out of Bagotville, but that’s water under the bridge.

Naked and Afraid seems to be a grab-bag of pet and harmless expenditures without a strategic vision.  Just like the Indo-Pacific Strategy.

Everything’s Sir Garnet

By VIncent J. Curtis

“Everything’s Sir Garnet” was, for over a hundred years, an expression in the Canadian army that meant all was in good order.  The reference is to Sir Garnet Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley, after whom Wolseley Barracks in London, Ontario, was named.  Wolseley commanded the Red River Expedition which, in August, 1870, bloodlessly put down the first Riel Rebellion.

Wolseley was born in Dublin, Ireland, on 4 June 1833, the son of a British army officer who died when Garnet was still a boy.  His impoverished family could send him to school only in Dublin, and he was forced to leave school at the age of 14. Unable to afford the purchase of a commission, Wolseley was nevertheless gazetted an ensign in the 12th Foot on 12 March 1852, in recognition of his father’s service.

Wolseley served in the Second Anglo-Burmese war in 1852, where he was severely wounded and invalidated home.  Promoted successively to Lieutenant and then to Captain, Wolseley was sent to Crimea in December 1854.  Significantly, he was seconded to the Royal Engineers during the siege of Sevastopol, and then appointed to the Quartermaster General staff for the re-embarkation of British forces at the end of that war.  Wolseley was twice wounded and twice mentioned in dispatches.

Wolseley next saw action in the Indian Mutiny, distinguishing himself at the relief of Lucknow and in the defense of the Alambagh position.  He ended the war appointed deputy assistant Quartermaster General of a division, eventually to be promoted to brevet lieutenant- colonel, having frequently been MID’d.  He followed his division to China for the Anglo-French expedition of 1860 where, again, he distinguished himself, and promoted substantive Major.

As a result of the Trent Affair arising from the American Civil War, Wolseley was sent to Canada in November, 1861, as a special service officer.  He seems to have spent a lot of time throughout the war in the confederate states as a military observer.  At its end, Wolseley returned to the province of Canada, was promoted brevet colonel (on 5 June 1865) and appointed Assistant Quartermaster General.  Involved in repelling the Fenian Raids of 1866, Wolseley was appointed AQMG for Canada on 1 Oct 1867, and was in that role when the Red River Rebellion broke out.

The Wolseley Expedition set out for Fort Garry (present day Winnipeg) from Fort York, Toronto, on 1 May 1870 with the following forces:

1st Bn 60th Reg’t of Foot, 377 all ranks

Det Royal Artillery, 1 officer, 19 ORs, 4 x 7 pdr brass mountain guns

Det Royal Engineers, 1 Officer, 19 ORs

Det ASvcC

Det AHospC

1St (Ontario) Rifles, 29 officers, 350 ORs

2nd (Quebec) Rifles, 29 officers, 350 ORs

plus about 400 aboriginal voyageurs, 150 horses and 100 teamsters that were hired and employed along the way.

The expedition travelled to Georgian Bay, likely by rail, and embarked upon two steamers, the Algoma and the Chicora, to take it to Thunder Bay on Lake Superior, passing through the St. Mary’s Canal at Sault Ste. Marie along the way.  Problem was, the canal passed through U.S. territory; and, while Wolseley was able to sneak the Algoma past the sleeping U.S. Customs agents, they refused to let the Chicora through, since it would mean allowing British soldiers onto U.S. territory. Wolseley was forced to unload the boat and make a three-mile portage of men and material on the Canadian side of the river, the emptied steamer being allowed to pass through U.S. territory.

Re-embarking, the Expedition reached the Department of Public Works station at Thunder Bay on May 25th.  From there, Wolseley moved west to Lake Shebandowan, and departed for Fort Garry in canoes from there.  Crossing the lake, the expedition followed an old Hudson’s Bay Company trap line until they reached Lake Kashabowie and discovered the Dawson Trail, incompletely constructed for the expedition, but enabling them to reach Fort Francis on August 4th. Wolseley reached Lake of the Woods at Rat Portage (present day Kenora, Ontario) on August 15th. They floated down the Winnipeg River to Lake Winnipeg, and thence across the lake to where the Red River empties into it.  Wolseley formed up his troops, marched upon Fort Garry, and, finding the southern gate open and the fort abandoned, occupied the place on August 24th, without a shot being fired.  Riel and his government had fled, and Dominion sovereignty was firmly established over the new province of Manitoba.

Wolseley transported over 1000 men, all their supplies and materials, and artillery across hundreds of miles of trackless Canadian bush, at the height of summer, while plagued with blackflies and mosquitoes. The expedition’s success was a testament to Wolseley’s foresight and preparations, from which his long experience as QMS and time with the Royal Engineers played no small part.

Field Marshal Wolseley ended his career as the Commander in Chief of the British Army on 3 January 1901.  He died, aged 79, on March 25, 1913, and is buried, fittingly, in St. Paul’s Cathedral, London.

Fill Your Own Sandbags!

By Michael Nickerson

There’s something liberating about unemployment. Sure the bank account might get a little thin, and it’s probably not the thing you want to lead with when you’re out on a date. But there’s something truly cathartic when you can speak candidly about your old job, how taken for granted you were and how crappy your job really was without worrying about whether you’re going to make employee of the month. Tell it like it is; stick it to the man; blow that whistle and come what may!

Well one has to wonder whether Wayne Eyre has felt that liberating feeling given the rather candid farewell tour he’s been on while winding down his duties as Chief of the Defence Staff. To be fair, the good general has never been known for his sunny ways. But his commentary these last few months has been rather curt and to the point. The armed forces are short people, money and equipment, and far from prepared to meet an ever growing list of threats brewing at home and abroad. In essence, we’re currently screwed and better get our act together!

And something else Eyre has apparently made very clear to his bosses and counterparts in federal government: Fill you own sandbags! For that matter, make your own fire breaks, evacuate your own towns, and generally get with this thing called climate change, because the military is both way overstretched and rather sick of bailing out underprepared provincial governments with their ever-more-frequent natural disasters, to say nothing of caring for our neglected elderly in long-term care or taking over a ham-fisted pandemic response.

In a “leaked” video provided to The Ottawa Citizen Eyre stated in a virtual town hall with military leaders that he “made it quite clear to other departments that our capacity to do what we did last year is not the same, especially with reduced readiness (and), increased deployments to Latvia,” and that he viewed the employment of armed forces members in firefighting to be a “wickedly wasteful” use of their time, training and resources.

Apparently the message has at least in part been received if Emergency Preparedness Minister Harjit Sajjan is to be believed. Now given his track record as defence minister one might find it more amusing than a relief to hear that the government has a plan to fill the emergency response gap. In what is described as a “pilot” expansion of the Humanitarian Work Program the government will leverage the help of St. John’s Ambulance, The Red Cross, veteran-led Team Rubicon, and the Search and Rescue Volunteer Association of Canada (SARVAC) to coordinate and support the wild-fire emergency response in British Columbia and the Northwest Territories this summer. If it’s anything like his implementation of the “Strong, Secure, Engaged” defence policy, things should go swimmingly.

But at least it’s a start, and an acknowledgement of Eyre’s dire warnings. Unfortunately our current defence minister hasn’t got the memo. For while Bill Blair has certainly given lip service to the military’s current problems, he has also waxed eloquent about how there’s something “incredibly reassuring to Canadians when the Canadian Armed Forces show up and men and women in uniform are out in their communities and they’re sandbagging and helping people evacuate and get to safety.” Well given the training, discipline and organization that our military has and provides that sentiment is certainly understandable. I’m sure we’d all like the military’s medical core treating bed sores and changing diapers in long-term care, but it’s not really what they’re set up for.

That doesn’t mean the infrastructure is not there or the expertise lacking. We do have bases across Canada that could be called upon for staging emergency response when needed. And there is no end to the expertise in organization, coordination, and logistics among retired military personnel who I venture would take emergency response preparedness, planning and training over ‘trading a helmet for a hardhat’ any day.

However, that will take money, and it will take a collective decision to let go of our military security blanket and develop a dedicated organization to deal with our ever-warming planet. Just ask that retired guy, he’ll tell you.

PICKING CANADA'S NEXT CHIEF OF DEFENCE STAFF: We are at a Crucial Crossroads

By Colonel (Ret'd) Michel W. Drapeau

Canada is not the only armed forces losing their edge; England and Germany are two other examples. However, Canada appears to be the only country marking time.

The Minister of National Defence is totally right to observe that when you notice that your policies and strategies haven’t worked for the past decade or so, it is time to change course.  A change to dress policy was not the appropriate way to correct the systemic cumulative recruiting and retention shortfalls.

From my perspective, in peace and war, everything flows from the leadership; Leadership is paramount to the success of any armed forces. Military leaders directly control the climate and quality of its armed forces. They provide purpose, direction and motivation to serving military and potential recruits alike. 

For the past 60 years or so, Canada has appointed its Chief of Defence Staff from the restricted pool of serving Lieutenant-Generals/Vice Admirals. This practice has ensured the maintenance of the status quo throughout the period as each such officer had been hand-picked by the outgoing Chief of the Defence Staff. 

Such bureaucratic rigidity must be put aside to permit the CAF to be led by a younger leader adapted to the modern world realities who can both inspire and tackle increasingly complex and interdependent problems  such as recruiting and retention of soldiers. 

In my opinion, the current CAF existential crisis demands that government does a ‘deep dive’ into the officer corps (including Reserves and retired CAF personnel) to pick the new CDS; a leader who possess the confidence, enthusiasm, leadership skills and cognitive capacity to lead the CAF out of the present predicament.  A leader capable of inspiring both the Canadian public and the serving members of the Canadian Armed Forces

Rest in Peace, Soldier

By Michael Blais CD

Private Jess Randall Larochelle, Medal of Military Valour, Afghanistan War combat veteran and proud member of The Royal Canadian Regiment (RCR), was called to ‘Niner-Higher’ on August 30th, 2023. He was 40 years of age and died at his home on Commanda Lake, just outside of Nipissing, Ontario.

Sadly, Private Larochelle had been suffering from serious health issues for some time and first responders had been summoned on more than one occasion to his home to either provide him with treatment or transport to the hospital. At the time of his death, he understood how ill he was and according to his parents, Larochelle was at peace with the fact that he would soon die.

His cremation has already taken place and as per his final wishes, there will be no formal service to celebrate his life. As Jess loved sitting around a roaring bonfire, his family has encouraged supporters to light a bonfire as a tribute to his memory. Jess proudly served our nation and his extraordinary act of valour, committed seventeen years ago at the height of Canada’s combat mission in Afghanistan will never be forgotten.

Private Jess Larochelle was awarded the star of Military Valour for his actions on the fateful night of 14 October, 2006. He had volunteered to be part of a small contingent dispatched to an Observation Point (OP) on his rifle company’s flank as they stood down from offensive operations to bivouac for the night. Larochelle was manning the OP’s General-Purpose-Machine-Gun (GPMG) when a superior Taliban force attacked with a salvo of Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPG).

The enemy barrage was lethally effective. The GPMG sustained a direct hit, the blast flinging Larochelle to the ground. He blacked out momentarily. Awakening to discover he had sustained serious spinal injuries, he was deafened by the blast and his vision was impaired due to a detached retina. Looking around, he was shocked to discover he was virtually on his own. Two of his fellow RCR comrades were dead, and three others were bleeding, unconscious and in dire need of medical attention.

The enemy advanced on the RCR OP, unleashing a hail of rifle, light machine gun fire and RPGs. The insurgents were closing in on Larochelle’s position. Surely no one would have condemned Larochelle for retreating under such adverse circumstances. He was 23 years of age, a private, without the benefit of the extensive military experience, combat skills and leadership training possessed by the other nineteen Medal of Military Valour recipients.

This critical moment was when the battlefield intensity required an extraordinary act of bravery. The tactical situation was critical, borderline catastrophic. The GPMG, the OPs primary defensive weapon, was non serviceable and the position’s rudimentary defensive barriers had been compromised. To make matters worse, Larochelle was grotesquely outnumbered. The odds he faced were subsequently assessed as being somewhere between 20-40 to one.

Against these odds Private Jess Randall Larochelle, of the RCR, stood fast. Despite being partially blinded, deafened, crippled with pain and bleeding from his wounds, he fought back with the only weapons available to him. He managed to get the GPMG working, however as his ammunition rapidly dwindled the situation remained critical. Larochelle resorted to firing M-72 rocket launchers.

Repeatedly exposing his upper torso to enemy fire, Larochelle laid down an effective barrage of no less than 15 M-72 rockets. These explosive warheads disrupted the Taliban attack and eventually drove the superior Afghan force to withdraw. As such, at no point did the Taliban engage their primary target, which had been the bivouaced RCR rifle company.

Without a doubt, Larochelle saved the lives of his three injured comrades and through his valour alone, provided sufficient time for his ‘sleeping’ rifle company to hastily adopt a defensive posture and to reinforce the OP.

General (ret’d) Ricky Hillier, a wartime former Chief of the Defence Staff, formally approved Larochelle’s nomination for the Medal of Military Valour. Today, Hillier claims that he was not aware of certain crucial information when he submitted the original nomination. Hillier believes this new information would have elevated Larochelle’s nomination would have merited him the Canadian Victoria Cross.

Never pass a fault.

In recent months Hillier has spearheaded the drive to see this fault corrected. In tandem with Afghanistan veteran Bruce Moncur, Hillier helped to create the not-for-profit organization, Valour in the Presence of the Enemy. Their goal is to get Larochelle his due recognition.

Despite Larochelle’s tragic, premature demise, Hillier and his team have vowed to keep alive their quest to have the Medal of Military Valour’s citation reviewed by the office of the Governor General.

Hopefully, this fault will soon be resolved and Private Jess Larochelle, will be awarded the first Canadian Victoria Cross posthumously.

Pro Patria 

Jesse Larochelle's Victoria Cross Bid: The Resistance Within

By Michael Blais CD

I CANNOT HELP but feel a profound sense of betrayal by the manner in which Valour-in-the-Presence-of-the-Enemy’s quest has been treated by Canada’s Chief of Defence Staff and his risk-averse advisors at NDHQ. It is perhaps just another symptom of inept leadership: One that fosters the growing disconnect which exists between the current regime, and veterans – particularly Afghanistan veterans – along with supportive civilian elements within the general population.

One could argue that the fight to have Private Jesse LaRochelle’s Medal of Military Valour citation reviewed is a prime example. There is new information, I repeat new information, has now been presented which was not available at the time of LaRochelle’s original nomination. As a consequence, former CDS General Rick Hillier and several senior Afghanistan War commanders, feel that a fault has unintentionally been made in this case.

Had they had prior knowledge of this new information, Private LaRochelle would have been nominated to be the recipient of the Canadian Victoria Cross, not the Medal of Military Valour.

It is important to note that this is not a political issue. The government of the day – Liberals presently, and whoever wins the next election – has no constitutional authority in such matters. A review can only be initiated through a request by the CDS to Canada’s King through the office of the Governor General.

Yet no one is asking the government to intervene. No one is asking parliament to legislate the changes which would provide an exception to the supposedly ‘hard and fast’ five-year deadline which was imple- mented decades ago by a long dead king in the aftermath of the Second World War. I use the term “supposedly” as a legal precedent was established in 1991 when thousands of Korean War veterans were finally honoured with campaign medals after 38 years of their service going unrecognized.

Of course, it would have been nice to see every MP in the House of Commons rally in support of a Conservative MP’s Private Members bill (Just a reminder that it was the Conservatives who were in power when LaRochelle’s original nom- ination was submitted), and an expedient endorsement within the senate to ensure non-partisan support for a review.

But this level of political support, while appreciated, is unnecessary. Protocols remain unchanged and the responsibil- ity for requesting the review is the sole purview of the Canadian military.

The Royal Canadian Regimental motto is “Never pass a Fault”. However, despite

being a Princess Patricia, General Wayne Eyre, the current CDS could have easily resolved this issue. All that was required was a request from Eyre to the Governor General’s office defining the importance of the new information. Eyre would be expressing his support for the review as requested by General Hillier and every Canadian task force commander that we sent to war in Afghanistan.

One would think this to be a ‘no-brainer’. However, the CDS instead responded with a litany of bureaucratic-bullshit-baffling- brains excuses and lame cliches. Instead of correcting the fault, accepting his role and leading the call for a review, CDS Eyre exhibited only intransigence and denial.

Request denied. No respect. And that is the problem with Canada’s current CDS. He appears more concerned about cultural change and diversity-appeasement than military ethos. Instead of honouring a valiant soldier’s sacrifice in a manner that would have imbued this nation with martial pride, stimulated recruitment and demonstrated that Canadians soldiers of all ranks, not just officers, are worthy of the highest levels of award in respect to their national sacrifice. Harrumph! Phap!

How disappointing and rinky dink. Should this decision not be that of the Governor General? Should not Her Excellency be provided with rather than denied, this new information so that she could make an informed choice as to the merit of this case? If Her Excellency’s final word on the subject was ‘no’,then we could tell ourselves we had tried our best. Instead, it appears that we have been betrayed from within. The Governor General will not see new information defining the highest level of valour. That vital information is being suppressed by a CDS who has apparently lost his way.

‘Adapt, overcome, prevail’. It is great to see that General Hillier and VITPE have not given up the fight. They are willing to keep their powder dry until the current CDS has been replaced and perhaps, a new federal government has been elected in Canada. Support for LaRochelle’s VC within the veteran’s community and several major veterans associations remains resolute. But we must remain united. You can help keep the quest for justice for Jesse by spreading the word within your personal sphere of influence and proudly buying and wearing a Jesse#VC t-shirt. I’ve got mine, and hundreds of others do as well.

We will fight until the government appoints a CDS who will not pass the fault, who will place his trust in those who led us into battle during the Afghanistan war and correct the fault by endorsing Pte LaRochelle’s uncommon valour and sending the appropriate request to the Governor General’s office. We will not stop until this new information is presented to her excellency and an informed, not suppressed, decision is rendered.

We will not pass the fault!

“Help right the recognition of our sons and daughters who served us with Valour in the Presence of the Enemy – starting with Jess Larochelle. Buy a t-shirt, wear it proudly and simultaneously help us finance the public campaign to have his incredible deeds reviewed to see if a Victoria Cross is appropriate.”

– General (ret’d) Rick Hillier

Riders On the Storm

By Mike Blais CD

FINALLY, IT’S SUMMERTIME and once again, the riding season is in full gear. Every weekend, thousands of veterans are taking to the roads on motorcycles, to foster the spirit of the nation. Many of my friends ride and I have no doubt about the good things they are doing for our military, the veterans’ community and yes, keeping alive the spirit of service within the general public throughout the summer.

Canadians have become accustomed to seeing convoys of varied lengths, with riders united under the distinctive patches of the Canadian Army Veterans (CAV) Motorcycle Units, Veterans UN-NATO Canada, Commandos Motorcycle Club and other veterans centric riding groups. Through this awareness, the Canadian public learn of the endeavours which they are organizing or supporting at the time.

Truly, the numbers of veterans riding is steadily growing, and deserves public acknowledgement. More often than not, these clubs are the CAF’s standard bear- ers during the summer months, focusing on the troops, Canadian veterans and the great levels of sacrifice which they have selflessly committed to our great nation.

The Highway of Heroes Ride, returned in 2022 after being suspended during the pandemic. Hundreds of veterans, accom- panied by members from four Memorial Cross families, led over 2000 supportive riders from Trenton to Port Hope.

Who can forget the dark days of the Afghanistan War when Canadians lined the highway overpasses as the nation’s fallen warriors were repatriated? Accompanied by their families, the flag draped coffins were transported down the “Highway of Heroes” from CFB Trenton to the Coroner’s Office in Toronto.

There is no better way than this Highway of Heroes Ride to memorialize that spirit: To honour the valour of those

(PHOTO: COURTESY SCOTT CASEY)

currently serving as well as the sacrifice of the veterans of the Afghanistan War. Held on Saturday June 3, this year’s ride was a resounding success.

Kudos are due to the ride’s organizers and the citizens of Port Hope for sup- porting veterans in such a meaningful manner. You are all doing an excellent job in fostering the spirit of the nation. For this we are grateful.

The seventh Rolling Barrage Coast to Coast Ride to Combat PTSD, kicks off

from St John’s NFLD on August 1 and, 19 days later, will conclude in Burnaby BC. Conceived in 2016 by retired RCR veteran Scott Casey, the nation-wide mission was designed to “fight the stigma of PTSD and raise funds for programs or organizations that help CAF members, Veterans and First Responders.”

The inaugural Barrage coincided with the celebrations commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge. As such the name for the endeav- our was chosen in recognition of the Canadians who innovatively developed the novel tactic of rolling barrages of artillery fire in support of the advan- cing infantry in an era of brutal trench warfare.

The Barrage is truly an amazing en- deavour. Daily ride segments are open to veterans and supporters within the general public who wish to participate with a national effort designed to heighten awareness of PTSD and the great mental trauma which Canada’s finest have experi- enced during both war and peace.

This year, fifty veterans will be undertak- ing the ‘Full Pull’ at their own expense. They will join organizer Scott Casey on the east coast and ultimately, 7073 kilometers later, will dip their wheels in the Pacific at the conclusion of the ride.

Those wishing to join or support the Barrage when it arrives in their respective communities will be pleased to learn that detailed information about each daily segment of the journey and email contacts for those taking the lead at the time are available on TRB website.

Organizers have done a great job in securing accommoda- tions and community support as well as designing routes which include visits to national historic sites, gas stations and engaging local communities in respect to meals and lodgings.

Check it out at https://therollingbarrage.com

Author’s endnote: Tragically, it appears that every summer, motorcyclists, including veterans, are catastrophically injured or killed due to another driver’s negligence or lack of concentra- tion. Please, be extra vigilant this summer when you are on the road and take an extra moment to be aware of the presence of motorcycles within your arcs of responsibility. Motorcyclists are vulnerable. What would have inconsequential contact with a motor vehicle could very result in death or serious injury to a motorcyclist.

Time for me to go fishing. Have a great summer!

Do Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures?

By Michael Blais CD

Recruitment for the Canadian Armed Forces has clearly reached a critical level. All three service branches are being affected. The Royal Canadian Navy recently initiated the one-year term of service known as the Navy Experience Program (NEP) in an attempt to address their personnel shortfall. At present, 16,500 positions remained unfilled out of a combined Regular & Reserve force authorized strength of 105,000.

Over the last six months, the government has taken a number of extraordinary steps to encourage Canadians to consider a career in the military. Some of these steps include efforts to resolve the endemic, long term plague of sexual misconduct at all rank levels. This effort is based upon the implementation of Charter of Rights-driven measures which are designed to foster culture change.

I am certain that we can all agree upon the notion that sexual assault has no place among our honourable band of brothers and sisters. However, the measures regarding cultural evolution have certainly created a deep division between traditionalists and those who now consider themselves to be woke.

The traditionalists, including myself, joined the military out of patriotism and we proudly embraced the unique concepts of uniformity and service-before-self. Many of us feel that this new direction has undermined the uniformity standards which we once cherished, and our past service has now been deemed to be culturally unworthy. In other words, we have become dinosaurs.  

By current standards I am indeed a dinosaur, having served two tours in West Germany during the Cold War and a UN Peacekeeping tour in Cyprus in 1985. I can assure Esprit de Corps readers that The Royal Canadian Regiment (and other proud units) fostered a strong sense of regimental identity through our uniformity in appearance, deportment and drill.

Back in those days, moustache and hair protocols were strictly enforced, and beards were the sole preserve of the battalion’s pioneer platoon. These trademark beards were considered to be an honorific earned in recognition of the pioneers’ long and proud history.

Many of us dinosaurs consider the term ‘military cultural evolution’ abhorrent. As a result, we feel that the Liberal government’s extraordinary changes to dress and deportment standards, with the focus on diversity, has destroyed the core standards necessary to field a professional armed force.

Canadian society may have evolved considerably since the Charter of Rights was adopted, but the fundamental elements of war have not: they remain mission, team, self. 

I feel replacing long-standing military uniformity standards – which have served this nation well in war and peace since before confederation – with civilian standards will be self-defeating and will foster ridicule from our allies.

What difference have these changes made to date? Did allowing members to break free of the traditional military persona and instead embrace their individuality result in a surge of new diverse recruits, eager to embody the envisioned standards dictated by ‘cultural
evolution’?

How have these changes impacted retention? Have they perhaps created an adverse response among those who joined seeking to achieve those military standards traditionally associated with professional armed forces? What about those traditionalists who believe the military has become a tragic laughing stock under the Liberal government and are releasing because of it?

Time will tell, but frankly, I’m not optimistic that the result will be a positive one.

Desperate measures by DND have not been limited to damage control of the recruitment challenge created through years of sexual assault incidents at even the highest levels of the CAF. Citizenship requirements have been drastically reformed and now those living in Canada as non-Canadian permanent residents, as well as their children, are eligible to enlist.

For me, this is of concern on two levels. First, how can we expect someone to make the ultimate sacrifice for a country of which they are not yet a citizen? Second, wouldn’t there be a potential loyalty conflict should a Canadian military deployment be into the birth nation of this permanent resident? While DND claimed that over 1,400 permanent residents applied within a month last November, we have no numbers on how many were accepted, or if this surge has had any impact in reducing the overall personnel shortage. Time will tell.

I wonder if things are improving or actually growing more desperate. It seems that Canadians, instead of responding favourably to these efforts at cultural evolution, continue to look upon the military with ever greater distrust. To illustrate how dire things have become, at the end of May, it was reported that groups of school students from four high schools in Nova Scotia united and petitioned their school board to remove DND recruiters from their schools.

These students have taken to protesting whenever recruiters show up at their school. They designed and distributed a pamphlet entitled Top ten reasons not to enlist. Surely these actions are precedent-setting and counterproductive to recruiting in Nova Scotia. As reported in The Coast, the general theme of the students’ arguments, is that the military ‘promotes violence’ and ‘enables the exploitation of young people.’

The ultimate irony is that the Liberal government has finally ordered new frigates to replace the current fleet and will spend billions of dollars replacing the antiquated fleet of CF-18 fighter jets with state-of-the-art F-35 Strike Fighters. 

It will be a terrible shame if when this new hardware is delivered, we don’t have the personnel capable of operating them. Eh?