Let's remember that the Canadian Forces' commitment to the highest standard of professionalism serves the nation in another way: Their excellence exemplifies the best of the nation, which the talking heads/naysayers/ and other " experts " can not refute, no matter how hard they try.

For every honest observer, Canadian Forces' honorable service is a barometer of the health of the society.

In every generation, always the best.

Close down all the useless Liberal Arts Victims Womens Studies Programs and give the money the Armed Forces.

Go Canada! Into another war without the Spineless Quebecers! Let them bitch, WHO CARES! Wanna win a war?, LEAVE THE FRENCH AT HOME. We can rescue them again when the worthwhile people are free... A useless people promoting an obsolete language, dragging the rest of us down....who needs them!

I always enjoy your threads on our military

You make us proud

There are many occasions where I firmly believe that it is our diversity of character and our diversity of beliefs that make our Country of Canada stronger.
By this I refer to our right of centre and left of centre atitudes to daily life, not ethnic, political or religeous beliefs.
Like a horseshoe magnet, we have individualized polarity but as a whole, we attract those whom meet our aura of magnetism.
I think of the Canadian Forces as the body of the magnet.
Strong, resolute individuals that as a whole provide an example of the best Canada has to offer. Representative of the magnet's best qualities, they embody both polarities that together attract, individually would repel.
Non-judgemental by virtue of their discipline, they represent the raw essence of our still growing culture.
Their complex tasks far outweigh anything their great-forefather soldiers imagined, they are not the simple killers of an ancient age.
Ambassadors of an idealism, they are not conquerors, nor muderers, nor usurpists.
They kill, when it preserves life, an oxymoron no one more than a soldier is familiar with.
We owe them respect for what they do because we cannot do it.
Yes, we have "Doctors without borders", the "Red Cross" and many agencies that assist those in distress but it is the soldier who walks in first and assesses the situation, calculates the danger and responds when the danger warrants, so that others can lend their aid.
No soldier cares what politics has placed him in harms way once the bullets fly.
Only two focused thoughts arise, stay alive and don't let my buddies down.
When the smoke clears, the all safe sounds, the politicians and care-givers move in.
But the soldier moves on.
Win hearts, pacify animosity and stay alive.

Best there is at what they do, the Canadian Soldier.

I hope this gal did not have any aspirations of working for the CBC. That just went out the window with those comments. God Bless her.

Jeff

"We owe them respect for what they do because we cannot do it"

Might I add "And it NEEDS to be done". (or God help us all)

I concur with the above but I am left to wonder where and when today's poll came from stating that 90% of Canadians want the troops brought home in 2011 if not sooner.
I also would like to know who funded it and what the questions were. I have trouble with the thought or the lack of thought exhibited by those that seem to believe that Canada is immune from attack by the wackos. And I still recall the use that the Taliban made of the soccer stadium in Khandihar prior to the arrival of the NATO troops in '02. If we do not take these creeps on in their own backyards they will soon be in ours. We cannot /MUST NOT allow that to happen.

Thank-you for that a different bob.

Great post, Damian. Thanks for that.

Go JTF2! Oops, we're not supposed to talk about that.

Damian: "Canadian soldiers are putting themselves in harm's way to protect those whose purpose is to educate us on why this work in a desolate, wretched corner of the world is worth our concern. The least we can do is pay attention."

I am frequently alarmed when our national anthem is played every morning in Toronto schools, because far too many students slouch through it: hands in pockets, playing with something, talking to each other, not singing, etc.

Before we sing O Canada, I ask the students to stand with their hands at their sides, straight and tall, "on guard" for Canada. I often spend the singing of the anthem, silently correcting them with a look or quietly walking over to them and showing them by my posture how I want them to stand.

When O Canada is over, I ask the students why it is important to show respect for our country, for our national anthem. I get very few responses and even fewer mentioning our military men and women in the field. I take this opportunity to point out to them that every freedom they enjoy has come at a cost -- and that we have Canadian soldiers dying in Afghanistan for our freedom and the freedom of the Afghanis. In most cases, they're listening.

Perhaps our "educators" need to be educated, as far too many of them seem to accept their students being disrespectful of our national heritage.

"Close down all the useless Liberal Arts Victims Womens Studies Programs and give the money the Armed Forces."

No Fred, we should keep them going. To appreciate how good the Armed Forces really are, we need a standard against which to measure.

Herald the truth, D. Great post.

This is one Canadian who is proud of the military.

My favourite line from the piece,

"She was powerful and strong and straightforward and saying 'This is my place in the world'."

Thank you for this. As one who is trained up and ready to go with a fresh contingent of Canadas finest men and women, I appreciate the comments.

Capt Bob, Chaplain

By LTC (RET) Dave Grossman, author of "On Killing."

"Most of the people in our society are sheep. They are kind, gentle, productive creatures who can only hurt one another by accident. Most citizens are kind, decent people who are not capable of hurting each other, except by accident or under extreme provocation. They are sheep.

I mean nothing negative by calling them sheep. To me it is like the pretty, blue robin's egg. Inside it is soft and gooey but someday it will grow into something wonderful. But the egg cannot survive without its hard blue shell. Police officers, soldiers, and other warriors are like that shell, and someday the civilization they protect will grow into something wonderful.? For now, though, they need warriors to protect them from the predators.

"Then there are the wolves and the wolves feed on the sheep without mercy." Do you believe there are wolves out there who will feed on the flock without mercy? You better believe it. There are evil men in this world and they are capable of evil deeds. The moment you forget that or pretend it is not so, you become a sheep. There is no safety in denial.

"Then there are sheepdogs," he went on, "and I'm a sheepdog. I live to protect the flock and confront the wolf."

If you have no capacity for violence then you are a healthy productive citizen, a sheep. If you have a capacity for violence and no empathy for your fellow citizens, then you have defined an aggressive sociopath, a wolf.

But what if you have a capacity for violence, and a deep love for your fellow citizens? What do you have then? A sheepdog, a warrior, someone who is walking the hero's path. Someone who can walk into the heart of darkness, into the universal human phobia, and walk out unscathed

Let me expand on this old soldier's excellent model of the sheep, wolves, and sheepdogs. We know that the sheep live in denial, that is what makes them sheep. They do not want to believe that there is evil in the world. They can accept the fact that fires can happen, which is why they want fire extinguishers, fire sprinklers, fire alarms and fire exits throughout their kids' schools.

The sheep generally do not like the sheepdog. He looks a lot like the wolf. He has fangs and the capacity for violence. The difference, though, is that the sheepdog must not, can not and will not ever harm the sheep. Any sheep dog who intentionally harms the lowliest little lamb will be punished and removed. The world cannot work any other way, at least not in a representative democracy or a republic such as ours.

Still, the sheepdog disturbs the sheep. He is a constant reminder that there are wolves in the land. They would prefer that he didn't tell them where to go, or give them traffic tickets, or stand at the ready in our airports in camouflage fatigues holding an M-16. The sheep would much rather have the sheepdog cash in his fangs, spray paint himself white, and go, "Baa."

Until the wolf shows up. Then the entire flock tries desperately to hide behind one lonely sheepdog.

Thanks Damian, and to all the uniformed men and women fighting this war for me.
You are heros.

Allow me to say that I'm very happy to have the Canadian Forces on our side.

But what if you have a capacity for violence, and a deep love for your fellow citizens? What do you have then? A sheepdog, a warrior, someone who is walking the hero's path. Someone who can walk into the heart of darkness, into the universal human phobia, and walk out unscathed

Amazing words that I agree with wholeheartedly.

"a soldier's life is a life of honour...though none but dog would have it"

prince rupert

Fred's commentary is pretty much, well exactly bang on. People have often asked me what made me decide to join the Canadian infantry, more specifically the PPCLI. The answer is really quite simple, and Fred nailed it. You have a capacity for violence and a deep love for your fellow countrymen, and want to see them protected at any cost.

There's been a long stretch in this country where people just think of the soldiers as peacekeepers, that's a myth, we never were or are peacekeepers. We may be put into that role by the government but that is not what we train to do.

That was well said Fred.

My nephew is on his way to Afghanistan.A big strapping young man who's temper I would not like if it were at pointed me.I fear for him as he was lucky to escape Iraq without a scratch[dual citizen ship].After leaving the Marines he was lost,bouncing around from job to job,not really fitting in.With the Canadian infantry he's back home,doing what he does best,kicking ass.

...should say "pointed at me".

This authors revelation is why I can see myself supporting some type of mandatory service for Canadians(grandfathered of course). I believe the benefits would be immediately noticeable.

OT/ wrt the comment about the woman in the tank; IMO women should not be on the front lines(sorry I don't know the proper terminology). I hold this opinion for many reasons, but most of all for my fear for woman POW's. When a more classic style war happens, I shudder to think about how these women will be treated and what negative affect it will have on the Canadian and military psyche.

Fred - your analogy is perfect. Thank-you for writing it for the rest of us to read.

Trouble is Fred that, if CBC radio last night is to be believed, the sheperd is musing that since America is sending in more wolf hunters, the Canuck sheepdogs can be freed to do what the sheep like best: mend fences, build bridges, teach the farmer how to farm and a ton of other feel good deeds.

I don't have a problem with the honour, quality, or anything related to our military.

That said, Karzai and his henchmen on their first parliamentary act enshrined Shar'iah Law- you know the kind of stuff that goes against all the human rights codes, human rights codes, codes of civility, and don't forget those lovely punishments of cutting off heads, hands, feet, whippings, and general ill-will (conversion to Islam or death to all Kufr) to all Non-Muslims.
And what do we have going on in the three years since then?

We have the CANADIAN MILITARY supporting Karzai and his imposition of a draconian, pre-medaevil penal system.

So in essence, we have Canada fighting for and enforcing Shari'ah Law.

I bet that makes them all proud.
It makes me sick to my stomach.

One of our lives laid down in any 'Stan' is one too many. Get your asses out of there and ship in weapons by the planeload. Let them slaughter each other -and trust me they will- and we can take on the survivors with a few hundred neutron bombs.

Canadians over there dying for Shari'ah Law.
Shameful. Disgusting. The government should be totally ashamed of itself for staying there.