National Post- Canadian troops sit in Putin’s crosshairs without the defensive weapons they were promised
While Battling Space Aliens And Capturing Godzilla
Read it and weep: Canada’s top sailor says he’s sure we could stop Russia or China from trespassing in Arctic
I, Napoleon
Find zerself a new army, Rainbow Emperor.
The Decline And Fall Of The American Empire
“It didn’t used to be.”
Mark Steyn; The Best Blood, the Worst Wars
Imagine The Design Proposals
The Canadian government is building a "2SLGBTQI" National War Monument.
This is real.pic.twitter.com/3vRWL2CGG2
— Harrison Faulkner (@Harry__Faulkner) November 8, 2024
Lest We Forget
Bill Kaufmann, for the Calgary Herald;
It’s a generation of ex-warriors now in or approaching their 100th year and whose ranks have thinned to a very few. In one of the last opportunities to share their stories, two Alberta veterans, one who served as an infantryman, the other as a sailor, recall their sense of loss and the horrors of war.
The Decline And Fall Of The American Empire
US Navy Oiler Runs Aground, Forcing Carrier Strike Group to Scramble for Fuel;
gCaptain has received multiple reports that the US Navy oiler USNS Big Horn ran aground yesterday and partially flooded off the coast of Oman, leaving the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group without its primary fuel source.
First reported on the gCaptain forum and by maritime historian Sal Mercogliano, a leaked video and photos show damage to the ship’s rudder post and water flooding into a mechanical space. US Navy vessels don’t typically transmit AIS signals, so we don’t know the exact location of the ship but a Navy source confirms she is anchored near Oman awaiting a full damage assessment.
Fortunately, no injuries or environmental damage have been reported for the ship. This is significant because the 33-year-old vessel is one of the single-hull versions of the Kaiser-class oilers.
BTW, John Konrad is a good X follow on all matters shipping.
Take That Putin
National Post- First submarine in new Canadian fleet won’t be operational until 2037, navy confirms
Even though Blair stated that information is now being gathered the project will take 13 years to actually deliver an operational submarine. Canada doesn’t expect to have initial operating capability for the first sub until 2037, according to the briefings. The Royal Canadian Navy does not have an idea at this time when the entire fleet will be available.
The Decline And Fall Of The American Empire
The Air Force finally handed over a trove of documents pertaining to its sweeping “goal” of reducing the number of white male applicants in a popular officer program after spending months stonewalling requests for their release.
Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman C.Q. Brown — at the time the highest-ranking member of the Air Force — issued a memorandum in 2022 that the branch was updating its racial and gender demographic goals for applicants seeking to become officers, in a bid to prioritize “diversity and inclusion.” Internal documents obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation include a slideshow from 2022 where the Air Force outlines racial and gender quotas and details how it hopes to “achieve” a reduced number of white males in its Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) officer’s applicant program.
The documents reflect the Biden-Harris Pentagon’s intense focus on implementing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies in the armed forces, even as the military continues to combat dwindling morale among its rank-and-file, recruiting and retention shortfalls and low pay.
Canadian Wonder Weapons
Wonder if they work?
Ottawa Citizen- What can Ukraine possibly do with 80-year-old Canadian pistols?
As Long As It Takes
CBC- Canada’s plan to donate refurbished armour to Ukraine is still spinning its wheels
A plan to rebuild and modernize two dozen decommissioned Canadian light armoured vehicles for donation to Ukraine is stuck in bureaucratic limbo more than nine months after the defence department handed the vehicles over to an Ontario company that specializes in restoration, CBC News has learned.
Fulfilling Our NATO Commitment
Sun- DND paid $32K for ‘intersectional feminist’ report on space exploration
The report, entitled Hidden Harms: Human (In)security in Outer Space, was produced by Project Ploughshares — a Canadian “peace research institute” associated with the Canadian Council of Churches.
The Libranos: The Party Of Comfy Contracts
With 68K active duty regulars that’s $570 a bag.
Despite the defence department spending more than $34.8 million on new sleeping bags, the Canadian Army asked late last year that hundreds of soldiers headed to a joint northern exercise in Alaska with the Americans be issued with old, 1960s-vintage bedrolls.
Troops who had used the recently issued General Purpose Sleeping Bag System (GPSBS) late last fall in a preparatory exercise found “several critical issues,” according to an internal briefing note obtained by CBC News.
More than 350 soldiers belonging to the 3rd battalion Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry (3 PPCLI) deployed to Ram Falls Provincial Park, west of Red Deer, Alta., in late November last year, where they spent several days training for northern operations.
Temperatures during the deployment ranged from – 5C during the day to – 20C at night.
Logistik Unicorp of Quebec got the contract.
Let’s Decolonize The Navy
National Security Journal- DEI Is Sinking the U.S. Navy
After persistent recruiting challenges since 2020, the Coast Guard—which is facing a 10% shortage in crews—last year took the remarkable step of sidelining 10 cutters and shuttering 29 boat stations. The Navy, meanwhile, missed its recruiting goals last year by 7,000 and has shrunk by 21,000 sailors since 2021. Then there’s the Army, which reduced its goals rather than acknowledge even larger recruitment gaps.
Take That Putin!
Spiked- Does the US need to ‘queer’ its nuclear arsenal?
According to Nair and her co-author, ‘diversity and inclusion’ are ‘especially important’ for nuclear policy. Apparently, ‘discrimination against queer people’ can ‘undermine nuclear security’ and increase the risk of nuclear war. They also lambast the nuclear-security community for being largely ‘cis-heteronormative’ – for those not up on the queer vocabulary, that means filled with straight men who identify with their birth sex.
G.I. Jane
Blacklock’s- First Data On Military Deaths
The Department of National Defence for the first time acknowledges above-average suicide rates in the armed forces, typically involving women volunteers.
“The number of regular force female suicides was higher with statistical significance from the number expected based on the suicide rate in the Canadian female population,” said a department report. Typical subjects were 33, single, with no combat experience but a history of depression, anxiety disorders and addiction. “There weren’t many who had a history of deployment,” it said.
“It was common for these members to have at least two active mental health problems at the time of death,” said the Report On Suicide Mortality In The Canadian Armed Forces. Suicide rates among men were similar to the national average for civilians, it said.
Today In Canadian Infrastructure
Blacklock’s- Military No Help On Housing
At least a quarter of Department of National Defence buildings and other infrastructure dates from the 1970s and requires “significant maintenance,” says an internal audit. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had proposed to recycle federal property for housing.
“Approximately 25 percent of existing infrastructure is greater than 50 years old and requires significant maintenance, repair and recapitalization to ensure it remains serviceable and compliant with health, safety and environment regulations,” said an Audit Of Defence Infrastructure.
Diversity Is Our Hustle
Trudeau cabinet minister Harjit Sajjan wanted to use Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) personnel as a backdrop for Punjabi pop star Diljit Dosanjh. Dosanjh, a Sikh from the Punjab region of India, is a well-known entertainer in that country.
As first reported in The Globe and Mail, Sajjan, who was minister of national defense for six years, received a request in April for uniformed military personnel to participate as in Dosanjh’s Vancouver performance on Apr. 27.
It is unclear whether the CAF members were expected to sing or dance. As defense minister in 2017, Sajjan presented Dosanjh with a medal while the singer was touring Canada. […]
“Minister Sajjan agreed the concert would be a good opportunity for the Canadian Armed Forces to engage with and expand connect to a diverse community of young Canadians, along the lines of the CAF outreach and recruiting events at professional sporting events,” said Sajjan’s press secretary Joanna Kanga.
Jordan Peterson: In Defense of Canada
This video has little to do with energy and everything to do with how this country’s military has gone to hell in a handbasket. Dr. Jordan Peterson speaks with retired a retired three-star admiral and former head of the Royal Canadian Navy, a three-star army general and a retired air force major. They tear apart DEI and the woke reality in the military today.
If you care at all about the Canadian Armed Forces, or ever served, you should watch or listen to this.
Also, on the nuclear front:
‘Ontario’s moment:’ Minister says Canada building blueprint for nuclear energy future
And it turns out pipelines make money. Who’da thunk it?
Enbridge makes progress on utility purchases; raises earnings forecast