Dear Editor,
I believe Mr. Holmes should stop for a minute and consider the following points with regards to spending money on the military.
I spent 29 years in the Canadian Army, many of those years while Mr. Trudeau was PM which, during his many years in office, meant reduce, reduce, reduce the military. I went to Quebec during the FLQ crisis, filled and placed sand bags along the Red River during flooding and delivered people to hospitals during snowstorms in Winnipeg. Soldiers do not train for these types of missions; we train for war. Oh by the way, we are at war.
At one point the armoured corps had no tanks, they had been reduced to recce squadrons, then in the 70s the government purchased Leopard tanks from Germany that are still in use today. In 80s the air force got the CF-18, still in service with at least two crashes in the last six months. The new Hercules airplane is replacing the 30-plus year old ones. The air force search and rescue is still flying the Sea King helicopter which is again over 30 years old and has had many crashes in the last few years, after PM Martin cancelled the Comorant purchase all those years ago.
All this equipment takes many man-hours and dollars to keep operational. How many of us have a 1970 car that we drive? Not many as we have replaced it because it was too costly to maintain or parts where no longer available. At some point we have to replace stuff and nothing gets cheaper it only gets more expensive.
The government sent soldiers into war with a soft-skinned vehicle, this is a term used by the military for vehicles that have very little protection. Surprise when we started losing soldiers to roadside bombs that blew these vehicles apart, even fire from rifles pass through this type of vehicle.
Don’t forget part of the military budget is for wages, supplies, etc.
A North American Security Perimeter with the USA is the only way we can be protected, as our military cannot defend the area we have.
If we don’t spend money on the military and give them the equipment they need how can we ensure our sovereignty?
The fact that we can express our points of view, and speak English/French rather than German is because of a soldier.
Gary Mason
Okotoks
