Suck it up, private!

Oh, Christ, here comes the whining:

Military brass bite their tongues over the 'hollow army'
Why generals may be playing down the exhaustion of the Canadian army

It is an extraordinary testament to the resilience of Canadian troops that they've been able to conceal how much this country's combat forces have been exhausted by years of war in Afghanistan.

The refusal of the military to acknowledge the weariness means Canadians are unaware that the exhaustion of the combat mission is far worse than it has appeared. It's a fighting mission, we need to remind ourselves, that will continue for another 2½ years (until the end of 2011)...

While preparing a recent documentary about Natynczyk for The National, I was able to obtain a leaked internal military report on the state of the forces, signed by Leslie. The report actually refers to "the hollow army."

The restricted report, circulated several months ago only within the uppermost levels of the Defence Department, points out the current efficiencies in all branches of the military. Its most searing conclusion is that the army "is now operating beyond its capacity."

"The war in Afghanistan," the report warns, "illustrates deficiencies in the army and the Canadian Forces."

By way of rebuttal, Canada's Blogging Tories would like you to know that they have red t-shirts and yellow ribbons and fridge magnets up to here, and what are these crybabies whining about? In particular, "Neo Conservative" would like you to put a sock in it and think about the snowmobilers.

In totally unrelated news, CC HQ blogger Matt Bin writes books about stuff he knows, but don't let that convince you that he understands what he's talking about.