No quick fix for Canadian military woes

The Canadian military has been in the news a lot lately and suffice it to say that the common theme is that of an institution in a state of crisis not seen in decades.

First off, we had an open letter released by the Conference of Defence Associations, which was co-signed by more than 60 prominent Canadians affiliated with the defence sector.

The executive summary of that letter was a call for the Trudeau government to, “radically accelerate the timelines for procurement and redress the poor state of our nation’s current defence capacity, capabilities and state of readiness.”

According to these 60+ former defence ministers, generals and security officials, “years of restraint, cost-cutting, downsizing and deferred investment have meant that Canada’s defence capabilities have atrophied.”

Given that major defence procurements often take decades to implement in Canada, this open letter should have been titled a “Mea Culpa.”

The signatories were all in senior positions of power when the Canadian military went woefully off course.

Only now that they are safely aboard their retirement lifeboats are they raising the alarm that Canada’s military is about to sink.

Worse news came when it was revealed from leaked Pentagon documents that Trudeau has no intention of ever meeting NATO’S spending goal of two per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) spent on defence. According to these leaked Pentagon documents, published in the Washington Post, the US military believes Canada’s “widespread” military shortcomings are harming ties with security partners and allies.

For the record, Canada spends currently 1.3 per cent of GDP on defence, which is well short of the NATO target of two per cent.

However, in terms of actual dollars spent, Canada ranks sixth in NATO out of the 31 members of the alliance.

To keep things in perspective, and to illustrate just how arbitrary the percentage of GDP translates to military proficiency, China spends just 1.3 per cent of their GDP on defence – the same ratio as Canada – yet the Colonel Blimp brigade reminds us at every opportunity that the Chinese are a military powerhouse.

REAL PROBLEM IS PERSONNEL SHORTAGE

The truth is that far beyond the size of Canada’s defence budget, the real crisis facing the Canadian military right now is their chronic shortfall in personnel.

The ongoing lack of retention and drought of new recruits has resulted in some 16,500 unfilled positions in both the Regular Force and Reserves out of a combined authorized strength of 105,000.

This massive shortfall creates its own downward spiral as those remaining in uniform face increased pressure in the form of staffing operational deployments, while simultaneously finding the training resources to try and reduce the personnel shortage.

As for getting civilians into recruiting centres, the Canadian Armed Forces have pretty much eliminated all possible obstacles.

Dress codes have been relaxed to the point where all hairstyles and facial hair are acceptable. Tattoos and piercings are permissible, and while uniforms are still worn, service members no longer have to wear gender specific clothing items.

It was also recently announced that a recruit no longer has to have full citizenship; permanent residency is now the basic requirement.

SCANDALS HURT PERCEPTION

However, despite all of these allowances, the military acknowledges that the recent string of sexual misconduct scandals involving senior military officials has had a negative impact on how civilians view the Canadian military.

A recently released government-commissioned report concluded that the sexual misconduct stories, “caused as much damage as defeat in combat would have to demoralize the troops and shock Canadians.”

Last October, in response to the recruiting and retention crisis, Chief of Defence Staff General Wayne Eyre declared the personnel shortage to be the CAF’S number one priority.

Since that declaration, all nonessential activities were halted to allow senior officers to try and address the pressing shortfall.

A recent Ottawa Citizen story illustrated just how serious the military challenge has become. The headline was “Arrival of a new aircraft, lack of trained staff will cause ‘significant disruption for RCAF,’ generals told.”

Essentially, the story outlines that even when the Liberal government does loosen the purse strings to purchase the new F-35 strike aircraft and P-8 Poseidon patrol planes, their arrival and implementation into service will actually further disrupt our understaffed air force.

It has gotten to that point wherein it is akin to that of a starving individual, if you try to feed them too much, too quickly, you will actually kill them.

In other words, the Canadian military is past the point of any quick fix.