In the beginning:
In 2006, the Conservatives committed to building up to a military of 75,000 regular forces and 35,000 reserves within five years of taking office.
OK, that's cool. Ambitious, but cool. Uh oh ...
Last year, DND said it needed six years to meet that goal due to the rate of retirements.
All right, so it'll take a year longer than they promised. I guess we can live with that. Oh, crap:
The target has now been downgraded to 70,000 full-time soldiers and 30,000 part-timers, but there is no longer a timeline.
OK, then, not looking too good. But how are we doing so far? Well, shit:
Military shrinking all the time instead of growing
David Pugliese, CanWest News Service
Published: Thursday, November 15, 2007
... The size of the Canadian Forces in March, 2007, was 63,779, according to the report. But the size of the military's trained effective strength, a term for troops actually available, dipped from 52,533 in 2006 to 52,459 this year, it added. That's because of an increase in retirements and those personnel on long-term medical rehabilitation.
And my point? Yeah, you know where I'm going with this, don't you?
And if we follow that final link above, we read:
Minister MacKay provided details as to how the Canadian Forces will grow and evolve under the Canada First Defence Strategy. They include:
* Expanding to 70,000 Regular Force and 30,000 Reserve Force;
So, let's recap. The Cons initially promised 75,000 regulars and 35,000 reservists within five years of taking office. Then the timeline slipped a bit. Then the numbers shrank significantly. And, to top it off, the numbers are actually going in the wrong direction altogether. Therefore, using Sandy Crux reasoning, we can of course conclude:
Stupid, worthless hack. But wait ... we're not done here. Because there's actually a more important point to be made.
As my regular (long-suffering) readers are well aware, besides being a hopeless retard, Blogging Tory Sandy Crux is also a shrieking paranoid:
Opposition don’t want to hear Tory accomplishments
Sandy seems to think that we here in what I like to call "reality" are somehow embarrassed by the overwhelming success of Stephen Harper and his biker chick-fucking Harperettes over the last two years. Far from it, Sandy, dear. In fact, let me explain how this really works.
I don't think we in Leftardville should try to downplay Sandy's list. I don't think we should try to minimize it. Rather, I think we should spread the word about that list, so that others who are not batshit fucking crazy whackjobs can come see for themselves the dishonest desperation of the CPoC and its hideous propagandists.
Let us not shun the Sandy Crux list of "accomplishments." Instead. let us promote it. Let us celebrate it. Let us absolutely revel in the list, and in its inherent dishonesty and dumbassitude.
I challenge you all to take the list, and pass it on to friends. In particular, pass it on to members of the media who need a good chuckle and don't mind cleaning up after they wet themselves with laughter.
Yes, by God, the country needs to understand the record of Stephen Harper and his gang of pathetic sad sacks, and it's truly convenient that Blogging Tory Sandy Crux has documented it all for us. Unintentionally, of course, but documented it nonetheless, and for that we should be eternally grateful.
So get to work. You know what you have to do. It's your mission, and I know you won't let me down.
40 comments:
The funny thing is, we have no problem with the recruiting end. We would have little poblem hitting those numbers... But um, there is a small problem with the number of available instructors to train those recruits.
The after effects of our decade of darkness will be reaching out for a long long time yet.
alpha male:
You'll notice that I am carefully not apportioning blame here for the current state of affairs. I am simply pointing out two incontrovertible facts:
* The Conservatives made clear and explicit campaign promises regarding military recruiting that they couldn't possibly keep, and
* An utter failure to meet those (reduced) targets is now being touted as a laudable Conservative "accomplishment."
You're free to determine who is at fault for the current situation, but there is no sane way you can claim that the Conservatives have "accomplished" what they initially promised.
...there is a small problem with the number of available instructors to train those recruits.
Do you have some reference for this assertion?
But um, there is a small problem with the number of available instructors to train those recruits.
What do I care? Get it done and chop chop. I'm not paying taxes for you to sit at your computer all day and bad mouth the elected governments of this great nation to other Canadians whose values you've so nobly pledged to uphold and protect.
"Decade of darkness." Gawd, where do they get these people?
CC, I am not going to suggest "...that the Conservatives have "accomplished" what they initially promised." As that would be a lie.
Further, my thanks and gratitude for the civil discourse.
For the rest of my commentary, I am afraid you will have to take an insider's word for it. Amongst the other things that happened to the CF during the mid '80s through the '90s was the troop reductions (which impacted everything). Our commitments have been steadily rising despite the troop reductions.
One can not simply throw a switch, and demand all things get fixed. Dramatic change takes time.
Ti-guy, respectfully, shut the fuck up.
The Canadian Forces have been gutted by years of being used as a political football by successive governments, starting with Mulroony.
It's a fucking fact. The target numbers for recruitment and staffing are set by politicians. They then go "there now, we've beefed up the military".
alpha male was simply pointing out the simple reality on the ground.
Yes folks, we do not remember Mulroney nor Kim Campbell very affectionately either.
Hell, Kim's summer job gave us the LSVW. A vehicle so poorly built, when we deploy it, we grab "Made in..." other country stickers (a not so true story to inject levity to the conversation).
I think that shut the fuck up was probably over board.
Pardon.
Nah, Ti-Guy is a big boy, he can take one to the chops.
On Alpha's point, it is true. I know two CF Trainers that are now in retirement and who have been asked repetitively to return to doing training.
Their response has been a very polite no thank you. They still both work and serve Canada in other ways, but I think they were both very tired of the politics and being political punching bags.
Yes folks, we do not remember Mulroney nor Kim Campbell very affectionately either.
Alpha Male: Exactly how old were you in 1993?
19. Just getting into the army. I do remember those times, despite all the beer I was drinking.
Oh, and if you were on my site recently, you would know I have at least 12 years in right now (15 going on 16 now actually).
Nah, Ti-Guy is a big boy, he can take one to the chops.
An online "shut the fuck up" is "one to the chops?" No, it isn't. It's the equivalent of some ill-bred little urchin sticking his tongue out. Which, where I come from, is more offensive than an actual "one to the chops," I'll have you know.
Just getting into the army. I do remember those times, despite all the beer I was drinking.
The beer I was paying for. We all know how cheap it is on the bases.
The above was deleted, so I can fix spelling. Grammar, well, I can be a lost cause sometimes.
Oh? And how cheap? Do you have even the beginnings of a clue as to how NPF works?
And that "I was paying for" line is so tired... The seventies called, they are looking for their one-liners back.
The price of a beer in a mess today averages $2.75 a bottle, which is more then the beer store, and less then most bars. It is not subsidised, we are just not looking to make a profit in our messes.
Can anyone imagine nurses and teachers whining as much?
The Canadian corollary to Godwin's Law. Any online discussion eventually comes down to beer or hockey. Or both.
I love this country.
Hmmm beer.
Ti-Guy, if you are trying to get my goat, I am curious... Just what do you intend to do with it if you do get it?
Ever wonder if maybe political blog commenting bickering is responsible for the declining birthrate?
Ti-Guy, if you are trying to get my goat, I am curious... Just what do you intend to do with it if you do get it?
I want you to shut up, Alpha Male. I want you to stop using my tax dollars to insult/demean the citizens of this country.
Think you can do that?
Demeaning you should be someone's full time job, but it ain't mine.
You are an idiot yes, but a harmless one. I wonder to what I owe the honour of offending you with, but alas, with your tiny brain, it could be any number of things.
Now, unless you have somthing to offer other then more of your pedantic school yard antics, I think I will ignore you now.
Ever wonder if maybe political blog commenting bickering is responsible for the declining birthrate?
How many pups have you pushed out, sweetie?
Less sass-back, more "on the back", IF you know what I mean...
I think I will ignore you now.
Thank God for small miracles.
"pups"?
You calling me a bitch old man?
Blogger Ti-Guy said...
Nah, Ti-Guy is a big boy, he can take one to the chops.
An online "shut the fuck up" is "one to the chops?" No, it isn't. It's the equivalent of some ill-bred little urchin sticking his tongue out. Which, where I come from, is more offensive than an actual "one to the chops," I'll have you know.
Oh Ti-Guy, stop being such a pussy, jeeze. Seriously you have been tell people to STFU for a long time. Don't start whining about it now.
Ya pussy
pssttt
shut the fuck up ;-)
Blogger Alpha Male said...
The above was deleted, so I can fix spelling. Grammar, well, I can be a lost cause sometimes.
Join the Dark Side Aplha, write for the Wingnuterer
muhahahahahahahaha
Blogger Alpha Male said...
Ti-Guy, if you are trying to get my goat, I am curious... Just what do you intend to do with it if you do get it?
You will note that Ti-Gut wears rubber boots,... just saying ;-)
Ti-Guy? What the fuck are you on about?
He accepts the unlimited liability, we pay him, he gets to do with his salary what he wants.
If beer sold at no profit is what he wants to spend it on, why the fuck are you whining like a stupid cunt?
You calling me a bitch old man?
No. If I intended to call you a bitch, I'd have said exactly that.
Haven't you been paying attention, lo these many years? Or did you get distracted by the complex calculus involved in establishing the exact ratio between online commentary and real-life sexual activity?
Bobby Orr is God.
Well, beer and entrance into art musuems. Rembrandt is cool. Go to the Rjiksmusuem if you are ever in Amsterdam and check out The Night Watch... It is much more detailed, and massive then yo could imagine from a book or on line viewing.
Course, best of all worlds for me there... Great beers of Europe all on tap throughout the Netherlands (and what has to be the world's best public transportation and bicycle lanes).
In the absence of anything but “an insider’s word” to the contrary, I’m still not convinced by the assumption (albeit not illogical) that budget cutbacks in past years have resulted in a chronic shortage of trainers that we’re given to believe is the impediment to the DoD meeting its recruitment targets. If this were the case, then would it make sense for DoD to be spending large amounts of money on television advertising campaigns aimed at obtaining recruits if they were logistically unable to train them in sufficient numbers? This doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense to me.
It's DND (Department of National Defence) they are politicians and bureaucrats, not soldiers there (the CF is the entity controlled by the DND)... In my experience, the DND often does many things which do not make sense.
Personally, I call DND HQ the "Puzzle Palace".
It's not just budget cut backs, but numbers were also cut back... Without a corrsponding cut back in duties and operations.
They are meeting the recruitment numbers for the most part.
It's the soldiers leaving out the other end that are the problem.
And, what alpha male was saying, wasn't that they weren't meeting the recruitment numbers, but that once they have them they are lacking the older, more experienced soldiers to train them.
Red Tory, if I told you something about Concordia, or University's in Quebec, you'd probably take my word for it, why is the military any different.
DND... yes, my bad.
So if they are just "politicians and bureaucrats" and a lot of what they do doesn't make sense, then I guess we are quite right to be highly skeptical about anything they have to say on the war in Afghanistan then.
By the way Cameron, why would I take your word about Concordia or anything else for that matter? I don't know you from Adam.
Cause I work there...
Cause I work there...
"Excuse me...I work at a nu-cu-lar power plant, so I would *know* a little something about nu-cu-lar physics..."
/Homer Simpson.
what's your fucking problem ti-guy?
RT did you notice how I intentionally and correctly identified two different entities involved with Canada's military?
DND says little about Afghanistan, the CF says a lot. To be blunt, what the CF is saying about Afghaistan, and what I personally saw while there jive... Do go togeather.
Doubt what we are saying all you want. Queston what we are saying all you want.
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