00:23:39.900Now, how can the Canadian military strike fear back into our enemies?
00:23:44.000Well, um, you know, if you've got a couple of hours, I could go all through my notes here.
00:23:52.960But look, I'll tell you the, the, the first thing that needs to happen.
00:23:56.320And I think what I would say that, uh, it needs to be a government objective to do it.
00:24:00.880And when, uh, when we were serving outside the country in Afghanistan and some of our other, uh, missions, we, we talked about, we used an approach called the whole of government approach.
00:24:11.380So that was to ensure that all governments were supporting this mission, uh, whether it was, uh, foreign affairs or global affairs or, uh, or, uh, economics or, or whatever.
00:24:21.040Everybody was working towards this goal.
00:24:22.880So the, so I think what we need is a whole of government approach to fixing the Canadian Armed Forces and the Department of National Defense.
00:24:31.760And then you need, you know, uh, leadership from the government and leadership means the prime minister himself must say, this is important to do this service to our country's honorable and important.
00:24:42.740And then all the ministers need to be brought together and say, okay, guys, that we're going to fix this using a whole of government approach.
00:24:48.800So then talking about the importance of service, being prepared to fund the military correctly and properly.
00:24:56.920That means it's going to mean sacrifices in other areas, perhaps in some of the social programs.
00:25:01.640I mean, if you've looked at how much money we spend on, uh, on the military compared to some of the other, uh, some of the other departments, it's, uh, you know, it's one of the smaller departments, but the other, the problem is that it, it is a discret discretionary budget.
00:25:16.520So the military budget can be rated anytime you need to cut some, so like, for example, we've just had a billion cut a few months ago, right?
00:25:25.780Or announcement of a billion dollars cut.
00:25:28.020There's no question that has an operational impact.
00:25:30.560And so you need to make the, the, uh, budget non-discretionary, i.e. you give the budget, you can't cut it anymore.
00:25:37.700And it stays, it stays and perhaps increases, uh, incrementally every year.
00:25:43.220Uh, but that way, that means that if you're going to buy a piece of equipment, it's not going to be de-scoped and backed off in, uh, for the further years because you'll have steady funding all the way across.
00:25:53.700So then you need to rebuild your personnel side.
00:25:58.120You need to, you see, because it's, it's all, I said, it's interconnected.
00:26:01.340So if you're, if you're not, if you're a personnel, uh, you're missing a lot of personnel, you can't do the training because who does the training?
00:26:08.240It's the sergeants and warrant officers that I was talking about who are getting out.
00:26:11.340They're the ones that train the recruits.
00:26:13.080And then who is, uh, buying the equipment?
00:26:15.160Well, you need project managers who are, you know, mid-level majors and captains.
00:26:20.620So you don't have enough of them to buy, to do procurement, you know, so it's all interconnected.
00:26:25.300Um, so you need to redress the personnel, uh, structure and then you need to, and the thing is, after, after you decide to do all this, you need to explain to Canadians and to have the courage to go out there and say, yep, it's going to require some sacrifice.
00:26:41.260Some of the social programs might not get everything they need and they might get cut, but it's because we need money for the military.
00:26:48.840And if you don't have sovereignty, security in your country, the other social programs cannot happen.
00:26:54.780I mean, frankly, if somebody is kind of a, you know, banging at your door, we have a, people don't realize we have a boundary with Russia, you know, right through, right over the North.
00:27:04.080And so what a, what a great way of, uh, of, uh, you know, increasing our funding for the military to base more soldiers, sailors, Airmen, and women up North.
00:27:13.040And that way also work with our, uh, our indigenous partners that, you know, it, it, it, it can all be interconnected with, with the proper approach.
00:27:22.800And then of course, training and what made us great and feared, as you say, was the fact that we had trained and we were, we, our troops were highly trained and able to actually, um, you know, do an operation, uh, with losing the minimum amount of folks.
00:27:38.040But inflicting the amount of greatest amount of casualties on the enemy.
00:27:41.820And so, and today, so, you know, will we fight a war?
00:27:52.520And, uh, and the way to do that is personnel, equipment, uh, training and leadership.
00:27:58.380And general, the last question I have for you before I let you go, say there's a young Canadian watching this and they're contemplating joining the military.
00:28:06.380What would be your pitch to them as to why they should serve this country?
00:28:11.220Not withstanding everything I've said, the military, a military career is one of the greatest things you can, you can undertake.
00:28:18.400First of all, you can either join as a, as a private, you know, in the, uh, in the ranks as my wife did.
00:28:24.220She spent five years in the ranks and then was, uh, sent to, to military college and came out as an officer, served a total, 21 years.
00:28:43.400And you don't have everything you need.
00:28:44.820However, what you have is the best people in the world, our young men and women in Canada are incredible people.
00:28:52.860They will surprise you with their energy, the enthusiasm, their initiative, every time you, you work with them.
00:28:59.520Uh, and you know, when, when you get downtrodden and I know some of our senior officers at national defense headquarters talking about the chief of defense staff and all the way down are feeling the pressure of the policies and everything that's going on.
00:29:12.360However, I'm sure that when they want to get picked up and they want to feel great about what they're doing, they just have to go talk to the troops, go and see what they're doing in the field, go ask them how it's going.
00:29:22.480And, and they'll tell you, you know, point blank without any fricking filter, exactly what things are, what's happening in there.
00:29:29.240And so, so it is a great career, uh, the possibilities of, you know, it's, it's a well-paying career.
00:29:35.100And one thing I didn't realize when I joined is the pension at the end is fantastic, you know, so these are things that you don't think about when you're a young lad or a woman, uh, joining the military, but, uh, outstanding career, lots of fun, great, uh, great friends, lots of travel, uh, lots of opportunities.