Unfit for Duty, Part II: What the Canadian Armed Forces Needs to Rebuild

A military is defined, in simplest terms, by five factors:

1. Purpose

The first step must be to define the CAF’s purpose. In my opinion, the purpose of the military must be apolitical, long-term, and incorporate broad-based capabilities that serve Canada’s national interests. The CAF’s purpose must not be shaped by political whims, media frenzies, or short-term missions. In basic terms, the CAF must be capable of helping to maintain Canada’s unity, national borders, democratic system, citizens’ rights and freedoms, economic prosperity, and citizens’ well-being. It needs to be a combat-capable force able to face all threats foreign and domestic.

Geopolitical realities need to be integrated as well. That includes the role of demonstrating, where appropriate, our capabilities and intentions to aid and, in extreme cases, protect other countries, including the United States, in order to safeguard our own national interests.

2. Combat-Capable Personnel

Canada’s armed forces have often been used as an “emergency management force” for wildfires and floods, as a “training force for other nations” and, most recently, as a social experiment laboratory of the latest transgender, DEI, and cultural concepts, a.k.a. “wokism.” All this comes at the expense of maintaining the CAF as combat-capable force.

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Standing armed forces have one primary mission: to fight. Those who join the CAF understand that and know it may cost them their lives. In return, they expect to be fully trained and equipped. Canada’s troops must be trained to develop the full range of combat skills as well as the leadership skills needed to lead others under the most dangerous conditions. These must be constantly practised and improved to ensure they are up to date and executable on a moment’s notice.

3. Military Equipment

A combat-capable military requires warfighting weapons and weapons systems, from the high profile—ships and fighter jets—to the mundane—rifles, pistols, and even bayonets—to the sophisticated and leading-edge—drones, anti-tank missiles, and anti-ship and anti-aircraft systems. They must be procured in sufficient quantity and available constantly for training, demonstration (deterrence), and, ultimately, deployment and use.

And the military needs robust parts and repair capability. This cannot be a “just in time” maintenance and supply system of the sort favoured in the commercial world. It must be a system with a focus on resilience, speed of repair, and significant redundancy in and of itself.

4. Combat Capability Deployment and Support Systems

Napoleon Bonaparte stated, “The amateurs discuss tactics: the professionals discuss logistics.” The combat-capable CAF must be deployable wherever and whenever they are required. The deployment system must be thoroughly planned and routinely used or, during quieter periods, routinely exercised. Entities that pose a threat must see both a permanent geographically based presence (in every province and territory) as well as a surge capability that reaches internationally.

Canada has a long history of supporting large expeditionary forces across oceans during wartime; restoring such a capability is not an unreasonable expectation, nor beyond the resources of a country of 40+ million with a $3 trillion annual GDP.

5. Replacement Systems—Personnel, Equipment and Supplies

The military must have a reliable system to replace personnel, equipment, and supplies. For personnel, that means a recruitment system driven by a need to find those best prepared to meet the combat-related needs of the CAF, who can be trained in the shortest realistic time frame, and who will be most likely to make a career in the CAF. The replacement system for equipment must be proactive in replacing worn-out systems and equipment, with direct links to procurement systems that are timely and pre-established. It should be based on the CAF’s requirements rather than politics (this is, admittedly, much easier said than done).