Well let’s,let the facts speak for them selves…
Of the 4,260 soldiers affected by what the National Defence ombudsman has called ‘profoundly’ and ‘fundamentally unfair’ deductions, more than 1,500 are currently so disabled as to be unemployable.
No doubt thousands of cards and good wishes were sent to soldiers on the frontlines in Afghanistan for Valentine’s Day recently. Back home, a different expression of affection is being shown more than 4,260 injured soldiers whom the bureaucrats and policy makers would rather Canada forgot.
Read Disposable Soldiers
Aka,General Rick Hillier[Chief of the Defense Staff]
Now I am not sure why Hillier’s fellow soldiers refer to him affectionately as the,”Big Cod”.
But I am guessing his nick-name is not in anyway related to cod-pieces.
But then again this is the military we are talking about.Where machoism ,chest beating and phallus references are fairly common,so who knows.
But outside of military circles General Hillier has raised a few unaffectionate eyebrows.With his McCarthy like ability to forget that he works for the government,not they for him.
That said,on one level I can understand some of Hillier’s outspokenness.
Particularly when it involves government cost cuttings,and or mismanagement of the Armed Forces.As long as Canada’s fighting men & women are in harm ways,the government most ensure(to the best of it’s ability) that these men & women get the best equipment possible.
Indeed due to his position [chief of the defence staff] to expected Hillier to hold his tongue in situation that impact the lives of soldiers under his command would be unrealistic and could even be seen as criminal.
But when General Hillier publicly and openly questions government policy(s)he has gone to far.
Such outspokenness invariable leaves governments,of what ever stripe, with few options but to react…
Russian claims that they had tested the “father of all bombs”. Which can apparently evaporate all life…
“All that is alive merely evaporates.”
Now there’s an image,me thinks someone needs a lesson in public relations.
Are in fact not true.According to Retired Lt. General McInerney, chairman of the Iran Policy Committee, and former Assistant Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force,America has the ‘father of all bomb”.
The U.S. has a 14-ton super bomb more destructive than the vacuum bomb just tested by Russia, a U.S. general said Wednesday.
Which I am assuming can evaporate even more life.Or as they would say, keep us “safe” from evil,and “protect” my right to blog…
McInerney continued ,by aiming his remarks at Iran…
“a new massive ordnance penetrator that’s 30,000 pounds, that really penetrates … Ahmadinejad has nothing in Iran that we can’t penetrate.”
The following is an ode to the soldier as it appeared(minus my comments of course) on the blog of CKNW talking head,Adler.
My comments(all in good humor of course) are bracketed.
The Soldier
The Soldier The average age of the military man is 19 years…(just the age the army likes em,young,naive and still believing)
He is a short haired, tight-muscled kid who, under normal circumstances is considered by society as half man, half boy.…(again just like the army likes em young healthy and in the prime of their life)
Not yet dry behind the ears, not old enough to buy a beer, but old enough to die for his country….(such is the “logic” of bureaucracies)
He never really cared much for work and he would rather wax his own car than wash his father’s; but he has never collected unemployment either…(again just like the military likes em,green with no or little worldly knowledge)
He’s a recent High School graduate;…(a lot of good that will do him,and did him,the army ? come on dude)
he was probably an average student,…(that or lower,if he’s in the infantry)
pursued some form of sport activities, drives a ten year old jalopy,…(not just him,I am in my forties my car is just as old)
and has a steady girlfriend…(or boyfriend)
that either broke up with him when he left,
or swears to be waiting when he returns from half a world away….(because kid’s are naive that way)
He listens to rock and roll or hip-hop or rap or jazz or swing and 155mm howitzer
He is 10 or 15 pounds lighter now…(stress does that)
than when he was at home…(home sweet home,family and friends,life as it should be)
because he is working or fighting….(poor sap)
from before dawn to well after dusk….(again poor sap)
He has trouble spelling,…(that’s why he’s in the infantry)
thus letter writing is a pain for him,..( because its hard to bullshit when you have finally figured out the truth about stupid wars)
but he can field strip a rifle in 30 seconds…(the taxpayers money has been well spent,while he gains a highly sought after skill )
and reassemble it in less time in the dark…(in the dark you say,well the taxpayers money has definitely been well spent,the boy’s going places)
He can recite to you the nomenclature,(but he can’t spell)
of a machine gun or grenade launcher…(a very “useful”skill indeed)
and use either one effectively if he must….(what talent
He digs foxholes and latrines…(a life skill for sure)
and can apply first aid like a professional
He can march until he is told to stop…(sounds like fun)
or stop until he is told to march...(what else does one do after one stops marching,one stops)
He obeys orders instantly and without hesitation,…(that’s why he is nineteen and in the infantry)
but he is not without spirit or individual dignity. He is self-sufficient…(only as much as the army lets him)
He has two sets of fatigues:….(well it’s not like he’s isn’t going out to the prom)
he washes one and wears the other…(makes sense,the guy’s a genius)
He keeps his canteens full and his feet dry…(water is vital,blisters suck)
he sometimes forgets to brush his teeth,(unlike his gun)
but never to clean his rifle...(nor his fatigues)
He can cook his own meals,..(he can feed himself?)
mend his own clothes, and fix his own hurts...(well mom’s not there to do it)
If you’re thirsty, he’ll share his water with you; if you are hungry, his food…(unlike the conservatives)
He’ll even split his ammunition with you….(again unlike the conservatives)
in the midst of battle when you run low….(because even when lives are at risk the conservatives penny pinch)
He has learned to use his hands like weapons...(well he had better,with those penny pinching conservatives)
and weapons like they were his hands…(? you will have to explain that one to me)
He can save your life – or take it,…(save me ?kill me? )
because that is his job…(so they tell him,be sides can’t have freedom without cracking a few eggs/heads)
He will often do twice the work of a civilian …(because we citizens are all so lazy and demanding,and want more than two set of fatigues and a flag to wave)
draw half the pay…(he don’t need you reminding him of that,back home food banks are life savers for many a military families,thats because they are so appreciated)
and still find ironic humor in it all….(yep here he is risking his life supposedly for our freedom,while the government penny pinches,pays him crap,while paying themselves huge)
He has seen more suffering and death then he should have...(yeah wars are funny that way,seems it’s always the elite,who have never known suffering,that constantly advocate war)
in his short lifetime.
He has wept in public and in private,…(he cries ?)
for friends who have fallen in combat and is unashamed….(since when is mourning something to feel shame over,O yea that man thing big boys don’t cry)
He feels every note of the National Anthem vibrate through his body while at rigid attention,..(until he comes homes and can’t get any help,despite the fact he gave it his all,”freedom and all” and not just his own)
while tempering the burning desire to ’square-away’ those around him who haven’t bothered to stand, remove their hat, or even stop talking…(again until reality and the real world dis-spell such quaint notions,either then or the next time he cashes his pay check)
In an odd twist, day in and day out,
far from home,
he defends their right to be disrespectful…(so they always say,but this is not WW II,you know a real threat, today its the Taliban for christ sakes.run for your lives the Taliban are coming…)
Just as did his Father, Grandfather, and Great-grandfather,…(again this is not WW II)
he is paying the price for our freedom...(well actually my freedom has nothing to do with it, he is paying a price because stupid politicians have yet to figured out, military solutions are in fact not solutions)
Beardless or not, he is not a boy….(that is until he tries to buy a beer)
He is the Fighting Man...(well that depends if he is killing or trying to buy a beer)
that has kept this country free…(because it’s under threat right)
He has asked nothing in return,…(wait till he gets home and tries to get government assistance for medical issues,basic income etc )
except our friendship and understanding...(which he definitely will not get,sure as hell not from the penny pinching conservatives sacrifices or not)
Remember him, always,(like the government does, when and if the boys come home wounded,mentally damaged,or can’t find work etc…)
for he has earned our respect and admiration with his blood…(until we flip the channel)
And now we even have women over there in danger,…(silly girls)
doing their part in this tradition of going to War...(just as they did in WWII)
when our nation calls us to do so…(yours is not to think and question yours is to do,believe what we tell you.Damn it if we say the Taliban are a threat ….)
Please send this on.
But then boys will be boys….
Vandoo paratroopers engaged in public acts of drunkenness, nudity, defecation, feces-ingestion and simulated sodomy, all of which directly led to the 1995 disbandment of the entire Canadian Airborne Regiment.
That was then this is now,and it would seem not much has changed
