Roy Batty
01-31-2006, 07:19 PM
Military can absorb recruits promised by Tories if there's money: Hillier
OTTAWA (CP) - The Canadian Forces can absorb the thousands of new troops promised in the Conservative election platform, but only if the new government comes up with the money to train and equip them, the country's top soldier says.
Gen. Rick Hillier, chief of the defence staff, said an influx of 13,000 regulars and 10,000 reservists promised by the Tories would be hard to handle, but it can be done. "Yes, indeed," he said Tuesday. "We can do it."
But it would mean millions of dollars to pay, train and equip them. It would also mean paring down other responsibilities to scare up the experienced soldiers to do the teaching.
"It will mean short-term pain," Hillier said. But the benefits in the long run will be well worth it, he added.
The Liberals promised 5,000 new recruits last year, but put off delivering the money for them for two and three years, which meant few people were recruited.
Some analysts suggest Hillier is overly optimistic.
Howie Marsh, a retired colonel who works with the Conference of Defence Associations, said the Forces would have to cut back drastically in operations such as Afghanistan if it hopes to have the trainers to handle so many recruits.
"Someone's going to have to go to Kandahar and bring home 500 NCOs," he said. "You just can't suck and blow at the same time."
He also pointed out that a recent study suggested the military needs to lure eight people into its recruiting centres for every soldier who winds up donning a uniform. That's a lot of people, especially since the military draws on a shrinking demographic pool of 18-to 25-year-olds.
Hillier's comments came as he formally established a new military command structure in what is probably the biggest organizational shakeup in the Forces in two generations.
The office of the deputy chief of the defence staff has been replaced by four new commands, each with its own area of responsibility.
Canada Command will look after domestic and continental defence. It will deal with Norad and handle natural or man-made disasters at home. Its main job will be producing contingency commands for every conceivable catastrophe, from West Coast earthquakes to terror attacks.
The Expeditionary Force Command will handle operations overseas, including Afghanistan.
The Operational Support Command will ensure that soldiers, sailors and air personnel on operations at home and abroad get the beans, bullets and every other item they need.
The Special Operations Command will control the elite JTF-2 commando force, an air unit dedicated to special operations and a new regiment of about 750 soldiers whose skills will lie between those of the JTF commandos and the ordinary infantry battalions.
Some say the reorganization is overdue, others suggest it's part window dressing.
"Transformation is what we do while we're waiting for the money," said one analyst.
However, Paul Manson, a retired chief of the defence staff, says it's a meaningful move because the former command system was too creaky.
"The old structure was essentially a Cold War structure and although it was coping, it was doing so barely," he said.
The office of the deputy chief just took on more and more roles, until it had hundreds of people working on all kinds of tasks.
"It was a sort of thing that evolved not according to any master plan, but just by a whole sequence of essentially unrelated developments."
David Rudd, of the Canadian Institute for Strategic Studies, said change was needed: "It's difficult to maintain a span of control over so many people with disparate duties, looking after both domestic and international operations."
He added, though, that the move will have to be judged by its results: "At the end of the day, the question is, how sharp is the sharp end?"
Walter Dorn, co-chair of security studies at the Canadian Forces College in Toronto, he'll wait and see how the new commands work.
"We have to show that this isn't just musical chairs, but that it's creating greater efficiencies."
Source: http://www.mytelus.com/news/article.do?pageID=canada_home&articleID=2157653
OTTAWA (CP) - The Canadian Forces can absorb the thousands of new troops promised in the Conservative election platform, but only if the new government comes up with the money to train and equip them, the country's top soldier says.
Gen. Rick Hillier, chief of the defence staff, said an influx of 13,000 regulars and 10,000 reservists promised by the Tories would be hard to handle, but it can be done. "Yes, indeed," he said Tuesday. "We can do it."
But it would mean millions of dollars to pay, train and equip them. It would also mean paring down other responsibilities to scare up the experienced soldiers to do the teaching.
"It will mean short-term pain," Hillier said. But the benefits in the long run will be well worth it, he added.
The Liberals promised 5,000 new recruits last year, but put off delivering the money for them for two and three years, which meant few people were recruited.
Some analysts suggest Hillier is overly optimistic.
Howie Marsh, a retired colonel who works with the Conference of Defence Associations, said the Forces would have to cut back drastically in operations such as Afghanistan if it hopes to have the trainers to handle so many recruits.
"Someone's going to have to go to Kandahar and bring home 500 NCOs," he said. "You just can't suck and blow at the same time."
He also pointed out that a recent study suggested the military needs to lure eight people into its recruiting centres for every soldier who winds up donning a uniform. That's a lot of people, especially since the military draws on a shrinking demographic pool of 18-to 25-year-olds.
Hillier's comments came as he formally established a new military command structure in what is probably the biggest organizational shakeup in the Forces in two generations.
The office of the deputy chief of the defence staff has been replaced by four new commands, each with its own area of responsibility.
Canada Command will look after domestic and continental defence. It will deal with Norad and handle natural or man-made disasters at home. Its main job will be producing contingency commands for every conceivable catastrophe, from West Coast earthquakes to terror attacks.
The Expeditionary Force Command will handle operations overseas, including Afghanistan.
The Operational Support Command will ensure that soldiers, sailors and air personnel on operations at home and abroad get the beans, bullets and every other item they need.
The Special Operations Command will control the elite JTF-2 commando force, an air unit dedicated to special operations and a new regiment of about 750 soldiers whose skills will lie between those of the JTF commandos and the ordinary infantry battalions.
Some say the reorganization is overdue, others suggest it's part window dressing.
"Transformation is what we do while we're waiting for the money," said one analyst.
However, Paul Manson, a retired chief of the defence staff, says it's a meaningful move because the former command system was too creaky.
"The old structure was essentially a Cold War structure and although it was coping, it was doing so barely," he said.
The office of the deputy chief just took on more and more roles, until it had hundreds of people working on all kinds of tasks.
"It was a sort of thing that evolved not according to any master plan, but just by a whole sequence of essentially unrelated developments."
David Rudd, of the Canadian Institute for Strategic Studies, said change was needed: "It's difficult to maintain a span of control over so many people with disparate duties, looking after both domestic and international operations."
He added, though, that the move will have to be judged by its results: "At the end of the day, the question is, how sharp is the sharp end?"
Walter Dorn, co-chair of security studies at the Canadian Forces College in Toronto, he'll wait and see how the new commands work.
"We have to show that this isn't just musical chairs, but that it's creating greater efficiencies."
Source: http://www.mytelus.com/news/article.do?pageID=canada_home&articleID=2157653