Juno News - July 24, 2024


Who is Canada’s new Chief of Defence Staff General Jennie Carignan？


Episode Stats

Length

31 minutes

Words per Minute

179.73059

Word Count

5,724

Sentence Count

367

Misogynist Sentences

11

Hate Speech Sentences

7


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Last week, Lieutenant General Jenny Carignan took command of the Canadian Armed Forces
00:00:07.540 as Canada's next Chief of Defence Staff, the highest position in the Canadian military,
00:00:13.280 making her not only the first woman to hold such a position,
00:00:16.280 but also the first woman to lead a Five Eyes military.
00:00:20.300 The work that lays ahead for General Carignan is serious.
00:00:23.880 She assumes command of the military when the military is facing four crises
00:00:27.820 that each threaten the future of the military.
00:00:31.000 A recruitment crisis, an attrition crisis, a crisis of morale,
00:00:35.380 and arguably, most important, a crisis in leadership.
00:00:39.640 Before assuming the role of CDS, General Carignan was appointed to be the first
00:00:43.900 Chief of Professional Conduct and Culture.
00:00:47.060 Some of these cultural changes implemented by General Carignan include
00:00:51.800 temporarily lowering the dress standards to allow things like colored fingernails
00:00:56.980 and colored hair as well as neck tattoos, gender-neutral language, gender-neutral uniforms.
00:01:04.400 The changes also included mandating tampons to be in every male washroom on a Canadian Armed Forces base.
00:01:12.160 Meanwhile, Canada's NATO allies have issued strong letters and signaled their frustration
00:01:17.600 to the Justin Trudeau government for not only failing to meet our NATO spending requirements,
00:01:22.640 but also failing to meet readiness standards.
00:01:27.000 This is all happening while the Canadian military is very much on a war footing.
00:01:31.260 We are spending billions of dollars supplying the Ukrainian military,
00:01:35.040 waging an active war in Europe,
00:01:36.660 and the situation in the Middle East continues to deteriorate.
00:01:40.320 We are now closer to World War III than we have ever been before.
00:01:43.520 So Justin Trudeau's appointment of Canada's new CDS could arguably be one of his most important
00:01:50.880 appointments in his entire nine-year premiership of Canada.
00:01:54.660 But who is the real Lieutenant General Jenny Carignan?
00:01:58.540 And is she up to the job?
00:02:00.980 Joining us now on the Faulkner Show is the host of the Hard to Kill podcast
00:02:04.880 and a 15-year veteran of the Canadian Armed Forces, Dave Morrow.
00:02:08.900 In 2010, Morrow deployed to Afghanistan with the Vandu Battle Group.
00:02:13.540 Dave, thank you so much for joining us on the show.
00:02:15.800 It's my pleasure, Harrison.
00:02:17.840 So just to get into it, take us through the reaction from the veteran community
00:02:22.960 and the active service community, those that you're speaking with.
00:02:26.200 What was the reaction like when the news broke that Lieutenant General Jenny Carignan
00:02:31.380 was appointed for this incredibly important role?
00:02:33.680 Well, I mean, my circle is relatively large, both the ones that are literally next to me
00:02:41.260 and the ones that are at a distance online.
00:02:44.160 The general sentiment is not great, I'll be honest.
00:02:47.660 And that focuses around the rumors that exist that she didn't perform very well in Iraq.
00:02:54.200 Now, these rumors have been floating around for a while.
00:02:56.980 So overall, I mean, I don't know about her military record all that much.
00:03:02.700 However, this rumor seems to be tarnishing the reputation before she even got into the position.
00:03:08.740 And having hosted other people on the podcast that have made comments about her record and her comments,
00:03:14.940 it leaves a lot of open-ended questions.
00:03:18.160 And like we say in the military, rummant is probably the best source of intelligence out there.
00:03:22.920 And that's rumor intelligence.
00:03:25.200 And that seems to be circulating quite a bit around her tenure in the Canadian Forces.
00:03:29.360 So these are, of course, rumors, but we want to give our audience an insight into what exactly those rumors are.
00:03:36.120 Of course, we don't have evidence.
00:03:37.740 And as you say, it's based on rumor intelligence.
00:03:39.980 But when you talk about these rumors circulating around her leadership,
00:03:44.080 can you explain in more detail what members are saying?
00:03:47.180 Well, I mean, not to pull any punches, but she cut and run while she was in charge of the mission in Iraq.
00:03:56.180 Like I'm currently wearing the shirt, which is Iraqi Iraqi from Corporal News Network that outlines the ridiculousness of that situation.
00:04:06.040 Now, I wasn't there, but having spoken to folks that were, essentially were dealing with a general who was in charge of her troops in Iraq, incoming fire.
00:04:15.180 So rockets started to be lobbed into the camp and she decided to cut and run, call her own evacuation, pack up her carpets.
00:04:23.740 And the only thing that prevented her from getting on the helicopters was another NATO general from the United States,
00:04:30.040 basically dressing her down and telling her to get back into her post.
00:04:33.060 That, to me, is a pretty serious allegation.
00:04:36.280 And I just haven't seen it addressed as of yet.
00:04:41.080 In the interest of fair journalism, True North reached out to the Department of National Defense and General Carignol
00:04:47.400 to provide comment to these serious allegations.
00:04:51.440 And in response, this is what a Department of National Defense spokesperson told True North.
00:04:56.040 We are aware of ongoing disinformation stories currently spreading on social media targeting General Jenny Carignol
00:05:02.320 and her deployment to Iraq.
00:05:03.700 To set the record straight, these claims are entirely false, baseless, and unfounded,
00:05:08.820 with no credible evidence or reliable sources to support these false allegations.
00:05:14.060 They are aimed at undermining our organization and our mission.
00:05:17.920 Well, those allegations, I assume, are part of a broad series of criticisms that have been leveled at the Lieutenant General.
00:05:27.200 And I want to get your comment on two individuals.
00:05:31.360 One, the outgoing CDS, General Ayer, and comments made by the former Conservative leader, Aaron O'Toole.
00:05:37.220 At the change of command ceremony, outgoing CDS, General Wayne Ayer, lashed out at critics of Carignol
00:05:45.220 and basically said that they were helping Vladimir Putin.
00:05:49.200 He didn't basically say that.
00:05:50.100 In fact, he did say that.
00:05:51.540 He said those critics are useful idiots of the Russian regime.
00:05:56.400 Furthermore, Aaron O'Toole took to social media and basically echoed the same comments,
00:06:01.420 saying that most of the people that are criticizing General Carignol's appointments are online warriors
00:06:07.720 who've never spent a day in uniform.
00:06:09.760 You certainly have spent quite a few days in uniform, as I'm sure many of the other critics of the appointment.
00:06:14.520 But how do you respond to those statements?
00:06:18.420 You just got to laugh, Harrison, honestly.
00:06:21.560 This is exactly the problem.
00:06:23.520 And they can't see the forest for the trees.
00:06:26.340 The reason why we have such a toxic culture in both the military here in Canada and the veteran population
00:06:32.740 is because of individuals like this that don't understand what's going on.
00:06:37.500 We're not criticizing, per se, the individual so much as the institution.
00:06:41.880 Because to imply that somehow a person like myself, who is openly critical and have been for years of General Carignol,
00:06:48.660 to say that somehow I only criticize her because she's a woman is so disingenuous.
00:06:54.920 Because if you look at my feed, I go hard at General Ayer.
00:06:58.720 Because I think he's probably the worst General Canada has ever seen
00:07:01.800 and probably oversaw the complete collapse of the Canadian Armed Forces.
00:07:04.980 Now, I'll throw that statement out there.
00:07:07.500 But I don't think General Carignol will be the absolute downfall of the Canadian Armed Forces.
00:07:12.360 And to imply that somehow I'm a Russian agent.
00:07:15.540 I mean, my Russian is not great, but to imply that anybody that criticizes your government
00:07:21.260 is somehow an agent or a useful idiot is laughable, but deeply insulting.
00:07:27.620 But having a thick skin from being in the military and being in the infantry for 15 years,
00:07:31.820 I just shrug it off and add it to the pile of insanity that's been going on within our culture forever, more or less.
00:07:39.760 I want to go back to General Carignol's leadership in the field.
00:07:43.920 Ultimately, to me, that's really what I think should separate those that are suitable for the role of the chief of the defense staff.
00:07:51.340 Obviously, there are those rumors circulating, which we can't substantiate.
00:07:55.540 But she has been leading troops in Afghanistan, in Iraq, as well as she played a combat role in Bosnia.
00:08:03.400 So have you heard anything about her leadership skills from those that have worked under her,
00:08:09.100 besides whatever might be floating around on social media, but just simply about her quality of leadership?
00:08:14.300 Have you heard anything to outline, perhaps, her suitability for this role?
00:08:20.640 No, nothing specific.
00:08:21.560 I mean, the main issue here is the fact that she was rumored to have left her post or tried to have left her post.
00:08:30.420 But additionally, years ago, she was appointed to a new position for culture change in the military.
00:08:35.760 And the clear indication is that that's been a resounding failure.
00:08:40.740 So adding to the list of failures that just the general staff in general have been doing over the last 20, 30 years,
00:08:49.880 it's just kind of astounding that somebody would come out and say that just because she's a woman,
00:08:54.460 somehow she's going to get more attention and more criticism.
00:08:56.840 It's just denying the fact that overall, the entire leadership of the Canadian Forces has failed miserably for decades.
00:09:04.380 Right. And I think with being in the service for so long at a leadership position,
00:09:09.280 there is quite a lot to look at as points of success and points of criticism.
00:09:15.320 I think much of the criticism is fair.
00:09:18.220 Let's get into her role as the chief of professional conduct.
00:09:21.400 A lot went on during her tenure in that position.
00:09:24.980 There was a lot of culture change taking place inside the Canadian Armed Forces.
00:09:28.140 We, of course, know about the gender neutral uniforms, the gender neutral language, tampons in male washrooms,
00:09:35.600 all of that really demoralizing stuff.
00:09:38.620 But how has her, of the things that she implemented in that culture change role,
00:09:44.040 how did that impact the Canadian Armed Forces?
00:09:47.680 I mean, from my perspective, right, as you know, I'm a veteran, so I'm not in the forces.
00:09:52.380 Other than I do work sometimes with some units here and I do have some interaction with folks that are still in.
00:09:58.320 A lot of my friends are senior officers and senior non-commissioned officers now.
00:10:02.360 So what I can hear is not good.
00:10:05.940 Just in casual conversation, most, especially from my generation, fought in the war in Afghanistan.
00:10:12.460 So that corporate knowledge of war fighting is about to leave the forces
00:10:17.760 because there's only about five more years left before most of them are due for retirement.
00:10:21.120 And with that being said, the feeling that I'm getting is that we can't wait to leave.
00:10:27.480 We're only hanging on for our pensions.
00:10:29.860 It's such a disaster.
00:10:31.840 We can't keep this up.
00:10:33.500 I need to get out is the general sentiment.
00:10:36.340 Now, all these extras that came about, tampons in the male washrooms, uniform changes.
00:10:43.220 I mean, I think they're just distractions, to be honest.
00:10:45.780 They're trying to distract from a very, very big problem.
00:10:48.820 Like, we can't fight wars anymore.
00:10:51.560 We don't have ammunition.
00:10:53.520 We can't recruit anybody.
00:10:55.140 We can't keep anybody in.
00:10:56.860 And so that shields leadership from the big issues, which are clearly war fighting
00:11:02.960 and making sure that you have an effective fighting force that can defend Canada.
00:11:06.400 So, I mean, to comment on what it's like in the forces right now, I think it's just demoralized.
00:11:12.640 I think from what I can see, it's very hard to stay in if you are a war fighting individual
00:11:19.280 that wants to protect Canada and wants to seek out and destroy the enemy.
00:11:24.840 I'm laughing when I say it because it's almost like that's not even close to what the mandate
00:11:29.600 is for the Canadian Armed Forces.
00:11:31.040 It's like it's social justice, which is the mandate for the Canadian Armed Forces, which
00:11:35.060 it's clearly not.
00:11:36.400 Of course.
00:11:37.640 You mentioned this, you know, this drop in morale.
00:11:40.760 We've read a lot about this.
00:11:42.480 We've heard about this.
00:11:43.480 We know there is a morale crisis inside the Canadian Armed Forces.
00:11:46.940 But most people are not actually involved in the Canadian Armed Forces.
00:11:50.380 And they don't know what a morale crisis really looks like, whether you're a veteran or inside
00:11:56.060 the military.
00:11:57.020 So when you have these reports of just a drop in morale, people not knowing what their job
00:12:03.160 is and not being proud inside the military, what does that look like?
00:12:07.060 Because we hear about it.
00:12:07.980 We just don't know what a real morale crisis actually looks like on the day to day.
00:12:12.400 I mean, I guess the closest example I could use in like the civilian world is just your
00:12:18.000 your nine to five morale isn't necessarily as important because the overwhelming majority of
00:12:24.580 folks don't have a life or death job.
00:12:26.740 They go, they work, they're not expected to potentially die that day.
00:12:30.500 So the level of morale required for a nine to five is not quite as high as for a military
00:12:35.580 unit.
00:12:36.620 And morale is essentially the fighting spirit.
00:12:40.240 So it's hard to embody.
00:12:41.880 Yeah.
00:12:42.400 But it's also, it's hard to quantify, but you can tell it when there is a high level
00:12:47.240 of morale and troops want to get after it.
00:12:50.520 They want to get to the, on their next deployment.
00:12:54.620 Some, there's a hiccup in, let's say their administration.
00:12:57.260 It's okay.
00:12:58.000 I know it'll get fixed.
00:13:00.040 I'm doing something that is bigger than myself.
00:13:02.820 That is kind of the sentiment.
00:13:04.420 And you'll look after each other and you'll go out of your way to accomplish the mission
00:13:08.620 because the mission is the most important thing above all else.
00:13:11.660 When you lose morale, that all goes by the wayside.
00:13:16.440 You're not as tight on your drills.
00:13:18.460 You forget things.
00:13:19.800 You don't look after your guys as much.
00:13:21.600 You're, you're jaded.
00:13:22.780 You don't seem to want to participate as much.
00:13:26.260 You're kind of forced to do it.
00:13:28.020 And you can see the fighting spirit plummets.
00:13:30.600 And when you're fighting spirit plummets, your ability to actually wage war against a hardened
00:13:34.980 enemy just collapses.
00:13:36.520 And that's been described since the Roman era, the Greeks and countless historical textbooks.
00:13:42.460 And at this point, I don't know how good our morale is to mount a fight against a hardened
00:13:48.040 enemy.
00:13:48.400 And that kind of worries me a little bit because we're clearly in the middle of something.
00:13:52.780 Something bad is definitely on the horizon.
00:13:55.540 I would even argue we're in the middle of a war right now.
00:13:57.900 It's just that we're not literally in trenches.
00:13:59.820 So therefore, we don't perceive it to be.
00:14:02.200 But we have some really big issues that might flare up in a very short window of time.
00:14:07.880 And if we don't have the military prepared for it, I'm genuinely concerned about the security
00:14:14.320 and safety of my family here.
00:14:16.420 So how do we address that?
00:14:18.060 I don't know.
00:14:18.680 But it's definitely not the way we're going about things right now.
00:14:22.040 No doubt.
00:14:22.880 And certainly the new chief of the defense staff has a lot of work on her hands to try to tackle.
00:14:28.360 Now, one of those is without a doubt recruitment.
00:14:31.320 In her change of command speech, she mentioned that changing the recruitment prospects of the
00:14:35.960 military was her number one priority.
00:14:38.980 As someone who signed up to be in the military, you know people still involved.
00:14:43.920 I'm sure you know people who have left.
00:14:46.100 What do you think needs to be done to solve the recruitment crisis?
00:14:49.400 What does the pitch need to be to young Canadians to try to incentivize them to join the military?
00:14:56.520 Well, ironically, she, Jenny Karania, actually discovered what that was with her own poll
00:15:05.060 a few years ago of the Canadian Armed Forces.
00:15:07.400 She sent out the poll to 9,000 troops, a very large poll.
00:15:12.080 And it said, we want a clear mission and we want to know what it means to be a warfighter.
00:15:18.460 Those are the two main things.
00:15:20.320 Now that's a sample size of like that.
00:15:22.480 That's almost a third of the Canadian Armed Forces, believe it or not, or fifth of the Canadian Armed Forces.
00:15:26.200 So that being said, for anybody that wants to join, that is it.
00:15:30.360 What is our mission?
00:15:31.480 What are we getting after?
00:15:32.820 Who needs to get smashed?
00:15:34.400 That is when I joined, what I wanted to do.
00:15:37.760 We didn't have, like, I joined right before 9-11.
00:15:40.380 I joined in 2001.
00:15:42.260 9-11 happened in September.
00:15:44.720 I'd done my recruit training and it really sunk in.
00:15:47.620 I'm like, oh, I'm actually a soldier now and war is likely.
00:15:53.160 What do I do?
00:15:54.260 And I didn't decide to quit.
00:15:56.080 I didn't put my papers in and say, no, I'm not involved in this.
00:15:59.560 I wanted to get after it.
00:16:01.660 I wanted to actually fight in a war because my grandfather fought in the Second World War.
00:16:06.380 It was part of our proud military heritage in our family.
00:16:09.960 And so anybody that wants to join, you just need to pull on those strengths.
00:16:13.660 Patriotism, serving your country, and defending it against our enemies.
00:16:18.680 And that's as simple as the message needs to be.
00:16:21.700 We don't need to recruit folks with purple hair and have all kinds of different identities
00:16:28.020 because at the root of it, the reason why I joined is I needed order in my life.
00:16:32.760 I was 19 years old.
00:16:34.120 I didn't have any structure.
00:16:35.720 Well, I did, but it wasn't as much as I would like to have had.
00:16:39.060 And I saw the military as an avenue to become a man.
00:16:42.380 And you're always going to find young men ready and willing to serve if the messaging
00:16:47.240 is to them because I'll be perfectly honest.
00:16:50.860 The reason why we can't recruit anybody is because you're trying to recruit folks that
00:16:53.160 don't want to join.
00:16:53.980 And I own a company.
00:16:54.900 And if my recruiting efforts were to people that don't want to buy my stuff, then I have
00:17:01.160 a failing company.
00:17:02.740 And so it's a very simple message.
00:17:05.020 Join the military.
00:17:06.100 Learn how to blow stuff up.
00:17:07.280 Learn how to defend your country.
00:17:08.560 And let's get after it.
00:17:09.480 And it's as simple as that, but they choose not to.
00:17:11.600 And I don't quite know why.
00:17:14.160 What do you think?
00:17:15.600 Why do you think the prime minister went forward with this appointment, with appointing General
00:17:20.580 Karen Yon?
00:17:22.280 Obviously, there were other potential people to choose for this role.
00:17:27.340 But he went for Karen Yon.
00:17:29.720 He got great headlines.
00:17:31.180 It is a historic moment.
00:17:32.940 She's the first woman to lead a military in the Five Eyes.
00:17:36.100 It certainly is a historic moment, and it kind of flows along with Justin Trudeau's
00:17:40.260 political ideology.
00:17:41.760 But do you think that the appointment is political?
00:17:44.040 Is that the feeling that a lot of veterans have, that this is about politics and not necessarily
00:17:48.180 about putting the military in a position to be best suited to defend the country?
00:17:52.720 And as you say, a position and a time in the world where war is a serious prospect.
00:17:57.960 And there are wars happening right now.
00:18:01.160 Yeah, like I would argue, I would say that Canada is in the middle of a war.
00:18:05.080 We send billions of dollars to the Ukraine to fight a war.
00:18:09.180 We send our equipment.
00:18:10.060 We send our trainers.
00:18:11.360 We're in a war.
00:18:12.580 So I would say that the chief of defense staff now is a wartime chief of defense staff.
00:18:17.540 And I'm not going to pretend that the chief of defense staff is not a political position.
00:18:22.240 It is.
00:18:22.980 They have to broach the military and the politics of the day for the country.
00:18:27.780 But if the position isn't merited, I think we're in a big, big problem here.
00:18:35.600 Because when you have somebody that is at that top, top, tippy-to-top position of the military,
00:18:42.300 that is the forward-facing element of what represents us.
00:18:46.940 Because that individual is in charge.
00:18:51.540 So therefore, everything downstream is a reflection of that individual.
00:18:55.660 If you choose wrongly, you're going to have some problems.
00:18:58.880 And judging just by her record, I don't know her military qualifications.
00:19:03.980 I don't know what her record was like as a leader.
00:19:05.840 However, just based off of her record in the culture department, it's a resounding failure
00:19:15.440 because we have a recruiting crisis, because we have droves wanting to leave.
00:19:20.680 So with that being said, if you were to just rank apples to apples, oranges to oranges,
00:19:25.280 for the generals that were up for this position, did she merit the position?
00:19:30.520 I don't know.
00:19:31.420 But it seems like, and this is based off of conversations I've had with guests like Philip
00:19:37.780 Miller, who's a lawyer and a veteran on my show, it seems like the appointment was already
00:19:45.160 a FEDACOM plea in the halls of the liberal government.
00:19:48.280 And they were going to make this happen regardless.
00:19:52.340 And that to me, obviously that's politics.
00:19:55.020 But that to me for the military is a death blow because the person didn't merit the position.
00:20:02.240 And our whole system is supposed to be based off of merit, not based off of who you know.
00:20:07.040 And that really taints the whole system.
00:20:10.860 And I don't think it's going to be good for morale long-term.
00:20:14.540 Talk to us about the leadership of General Wayne Ayer.
00:20:17.480 Under his leadership, we have heard not only reports from him and other senior high-ranking
00:20:23.300 members of the military talking about how there aren't enough members in the force to
00:20:27.320 staff the ships in the Navy.
00:20:29.340 There aren't enough force, there aren't enough members to actually deal with the problems
00:20:32.600 at hand.
00:20:33.400 We also read reports about troops in Latvia having to buy their own helmets, chest rigs
00:20:37.960 and belts and that sort of thing.
00:20:39.840 Housing crises on military, on and off military bases.
00:20:43.820 It seems like it's just been one failure after the next under General Wayne Ayer's leadership.
00:20:48.740 Is that the general sentiment that people in the veteran community and in the active force
00:20:53.560 have felt?
00:20:54.520 I mean, I can speak for myself and other folks that I've spoken to both in person and on the
00:21:00.460 podcast.
00:21:02.180 I genuinely think he is part of a plan for just the managed decline of the forces because
00:21:09.920 I can't understand how a general would just let his entire force crumble in front of his
00:21:14.920 eyes if he wasn't actively trying to let that happen.
00:21:17.980 I mean, case in point, he's essentially calling folks like myself Russian agents when he could
00:21:24.040 very well try to ally with folks like myself, learn the battle space, learn that you don't
00:21:30.260 control the message anymore.
00:21:31.900 You need to get ahead of things.
00:21:33.720 I will gladly bring folks on like himself who have a message to say that is positive, that
00:21:39.060 wants to ensure that folks, if they're in, they want to actually be looked after to
00:21:44.520 actually fight wars, to actually feel like they're proud of what they're doing.
00:21:47.340 I gladly have them on, but there's an animosity there.
00:21:51.180 I'm not quite sure what it is, but ultimately his decisions that really flipped my opinion
00:21:57.060 on him because initially I thought he was a great appointment.
00:21:59.900 His records seem great.
00:22:02.080 I don't know him personally, but in terms of chief of defense staff, I thought, yeah,
00:22:06.360 he's likely a good fit.
00:22:07.680 But what really activated me was during the COVID mandates where he clearly knew based off
00:22:13.580 his own records and his own briefings that this was likely going to be a gray zone and
00:22:18.040 likely harm a lot of members in his own military.
00:22:21.600 And he was even advised against doing it, which most people don't know.
00:22:25.660 But he still went ahead and did it anyways.
00:22:28.580 And even after it was proven that this was a human rights abuse, he has yet to come out
00:22:32.740 and apologize.
00:22:33.280 And if he's wondering why folks don't want to stay in and folks are just not wanting
00:22:37.240 to join, things like this matter.
00:22:39.660 They really matter.
00:22:40.760 And you can pretend that you are a wartime general that are looking after the troops,
00:22:44.900 that we need procurement, we need more missiles and bombs, but you're not going to get the
00:22:49.280 personnel in if they don't trust you.
00:22:51.040 And the lack of trust, I think, is the biggest issue.
00:22:53.800 And that's why I think he's one of the worst chief of defense staffs we've seen since likely
00:22:58.620 the 80s and 90s.
00:22:59.760 But it's like a broken record.
00:23:01.200 We keep on seeing, I'm getting old enough now, I'm in my 40s.
00:23:03.980 I remember a time when we had the same issues.
00:23:06.900 Housing was a disaster.
00:23:08.260 Pay was a disaster.
00:23:09.980 Guys were living out of their cars.
00:23:12.060 How did we get back to the exact same point?
00:23:14.960 I just don't understand how leadership continually fails here in this country.
00:23:18.420 And that's what's so frustrating for me and a lot of folks in the veteran community.
00:23:22.780 Part of the whole call for there to be a chief of culture change, if you want to call
00:23:28.960 it that, that was Karen Yon's position.
00:23:31.200 Was that there was a string of senior military leaders who were basically kicked out of their
00:23:37.380 positions on allegations of abuse, sexual assault, and the like.
00:23:42.460 Many have been thrown out.
00:23:44.460 Many of those who were alleged to have committed misconduct have now settled outside of court
00:23:49.060 and basically won their cases.
00:23:52.440 How has that impacted the leadership class in the military?
00:23:58.080 Because we've seen Denny Fortin face issues like this.
00:24:01.960 Even earlier, outside of the sexual misconduct story, we saw Admiral Mark Norman go down as well.
00:24:09.080 And there's been one after another, it seems.
00:24:10.960 But talk to us more about that.
00:24:12.860 Because to me, when I look at that, I'm seeing a whole class of leaders in the military be
00:24:19.100 taken out and then proven right after the fact.
00:24:21.960 Yeah.
00:24:24.140 I mean, this is such a, this is such a hot button topic because I think the powers of VB knew exactly
00:24:35.660 what they were doing.
00:24:36.720 I think they were weaponizing this whole process.
00:24:39.320 It's unfortunate.
00:24:40.440 And I have a very close friend that's even involved in this as well.
00:24:44.720 And it's character assassination.
00:24:47.520 And all it's done is just completely eviscerate morale even more.
00:24:51.840 And the, the worrisome thing to me is that what they've done is they've created the conditions
00:24:56.460 for the actual predators to thrive.
00:24:59.080 And it's not saying that there isn't sexual assaults that happen in the military.
00:25:03.940 And I think that's where most people, if they listen to my opinion, think, oh, well,
00:25:07.340 he's just on the side of the, you know, the, the abusers, not at all.
00:25:11.960 We have a system that addresses it.
00:25:14.160 Now the investigation is a whole other, whole other kettle of fish.
00:25:17.580 I think we do a terrible job here in the Canadian armed forces, but that's not really something
00:25:22.700 I'm well versed in.
00:25:23.720 However, in terms of what we've done in the witch hunts against our general staff, I don't
00:25:29.880 know who would want to be a general at this point.
00:25:32.200 And I think all it's done is, is it's, it's shut a lot of generals up.
00:25:36.540 It's shut a lot of veterans who were generals up because they're fearful.
00:25:41.400 And this is coming from, again, Philip Miller, who basically called it right out.
00:25:46.100 They're petrified of saying anything contrary to the status quo.
00:25:51.140 And it reminds me of, I read Gulag Archipelago, thanks to Jordan Peterson's recommendation.
00:25:56.760 And there's a part of the book where it really stood out where the mayor, he was holding a
00:26:02.420 mandatory town hall, the commissars there, the communist parties there, they're in the
00:26:07.280 middle of a famine.
00:26:08.400 And they had to applaud the great work that the communist party has done to feed the masses,
00:26:15.100 but they're literally starving.
00:26:16.820 And they, they all have to stand up and applaud.
00:26:18.200 And he knows nobody can sit down because if anybody sits down, they're going to be taken
00:26:22.340 off to the Gulags.
00:26:23.720 And ladies are falling down.
00:26:25.260 The weak are falling down because they're getting exhausted.
00:26:27.060 It's a hot day.
00:26:27.620 They're clapping for minutes, which is a lifetime.
00:26:30.180 So he says, I'm putting it into this.
00:26:31.680 He sits down and then they grab him and throw him in the Gulag.
00:26:34.500 That's what I think is happening right now.
00:26:37.200 Folks are so petrified of the ruling party that they will be taken off to the metaphorical
00:26:42.820 Gulag that they're not willing to stand up.
00:26:45.720 I get so many messages with folks that are in like, Hey Dave, I wish I could speak up.
00:26:50.200 I wish I could say more.
00:26:51.880 Well, you know what?
00:26:53.200 I have no sympathy for them because they got to stand up.
00:26:55.920 They got to say something when they see it.
00:26:58.540 I mean, I used to do a lot of training in Petawawa and for the RCR, they have plastered
00:27:04.620 everywhere, never pass a fault.
00:27:07.200 That stuck with me, but it's like our culture today is pass every fault, look down, don't
00:27:12.380 pay attention.
00:27:13.500 And I think that's what they purposely did to the general staff and to the GOFO officers.
00:27:17.880 And now we're just seeing it exist within the entire Canadian Armed Forces.
00:27:21.680 And I think it's going to take decades to kind of build things back up.
00:27:24.680 Talk to me now about the state of veterans affairs in Canada.
00:27:28.500 It's not something that gets a lot of attention in the mainstream media or at a political level,
00:27:33.660 but I think it should.
00:27:35.300 And some of the stories we've read recently have been just disgraceful.
00:27:39.940 I'm thinking in particular about veterans being offered MAID for services instead of actually
00:27:45.420 medical attention.
00:27:46.660 You're a veteran.
00:27:47.720 I know you're part of the veterans community as well.
00:27:50.000 How has the government over the past, well, they've been in, they've been in power now
00:27:53.400 for close to nine, close to 10 years, really.
00:27:55.780 How have they handled veterans affairs?
00:27:59.640 Resounding failure.
00:28:01.020 Like that is the best way I can describe it.
00:28:05.220 There are lots of veterans that need help.
00:28:08.240 A lot of veterans, they don't seek it out.
00:28:10.560 I think the last study showed that only about 20 to 25% of veterans that actually would qualify
00:28:15.260 for benefits, apply for them.
00:28:17.660 I was part of that, you know, 75% that wouldn't apply for benefits.
00:28:21.940 I didn't think I deserved it.
00:28:23.020 Plus I didn't want to deal with veterans affairs.
00:28:24.780 I was so fed up with the military when I left that I wanted nothing to do with the whole
00:28:28.600 system.
00:28:29.720 I realized now they're two very different systems, but overall we're failing veterans
00:28:34.220 at a massive, massive level.
00:28:36.460 I mean, again, it all comes down to trust.
00:28:38.320 Our entire system revolves around trust.
00:28:40.500 When I started getting wind in chat groups that some of the guys had friends that were
00:28:47.420 offered made, I laughed.
00:28:49.260 I was like, no, that doesn't make any sense.
00:28:50.680 Okay.
00:28:50.880 Like somebody's pulling my leg and then slowly, but surely, no, this is actually a thing.
00:28:56.460 And so I dismissed it as a one-off, an individual of veterans affairs that's out of their mind.
00:29:02.380 But it turns out there's a few more and then there's a few more and, oh, this seems like
00:29:07.120 it's policy and now it's starting to look clearer and clearer that in order to ensure
00:29:14.760 that they have a robust system that's well understood and well implemented, they're using
00:29:19.660 veterans as their test group.
00:29:21.360 And I can't think of a more disgusting thing to do as a country.
00:29:24.880 And I only really started getting peaked to this because I have a friend who's in the UK
00:29:29.240 that learned about this before I did.
00:29:32.080 So that tells you something about the amount of media coverage that we get here in Canada
00:29:35.980 on these issues.
00:29:37.600 And, you know, just having been through the system for so long, you know, 14 years, I'm
00:29:41.820 just fed up dealing with the bureaucracy.
00:29:44.140 There's so many different layers of bureaucracy and compensation programs that it's mind boggling.
00:29:49.920 And I truly think that the intent is just to confuse you and demoralize you.
00:29:54.240 So you just give up.
00:29:55.420 So that's why I have the show.
00:29:57.040 That's why I try to put the message out as much as possible.
00:29:59.560 Stick with it.
00:30:00.260 Don't give up.
00:30:00.900 There's plenty of folks that will do things for free pro bono to help get your paperwork
00:30:04.700 in, but the system shouldn't be this way.
00:30:07.480 There are some good people that are trying to make some changes, but ultimately they're
00:30:11.040 bogged down by a government and a bureaucracy that I think is structured on purpose to deny
00:30:17.400 you any benefit.
00:30:18.700 Because ultimately I think the government would prefer a dead veteran than a veteran like
00:30:22.680 myself that speaks up because we are a genuine threat to their power.
00:30:26.180 Because guys like myself, I can't get canceled.
00:30:28.580 I can't get canceled.
00:30:30.420 So I know what goes on.
00:30:33.960 I talk to people that know what's going on and I'm not afraid to speak up.
00:30:38.160 And I think that is the sleeping giant that they've awoken with this.
00:30:41.980 And I can't wait for more veterans to start advocating and start getting in the face of
00:30:45.700 the government and making sure that we get our needs and our coverage for injuries incurred
00:30:53.040 during our careers.
00:30:53.760 It's just, it's only common sense.
00:30:56.360 And if there's a group in Canada that is deserving of it the most, it's certainly the veterans
00:30:59.760 community.
00:31:00.640 Dave, before I let you go, can you talk to us more about the Hard to Kill podcast and where
00:31:04.140 Canadians can find your work?
00:31:06.600 Yeah, absolutely.
00:31:07.440 Thanks, Harrison.
00:31:08.040 Really appreciate that.
00:31:09.380 So the Hard to Kill podcast, the go-to podcast for fitness, health, and mindset for the veteran
00:31:14.400 community and military community.
00:31:16.100 I've been hosting it for about five years.
00:31:18.220 And every week I go live on YouTube and drop an episode with a guest that is an expert
00:31:24.680 in the field.
00:31:25.880 And we have great conversations about all things fitness and health.
00:31:29.320 You can find me on your favorite podcast player.
00:31:32.860 Just type in the Hard to Kill podcast with Dave Morrow.
00:31:36.640 You can also find me on YouTube at the Hard to Kill podcast.
00:31:40.540 Amazing.
00:31:41.220 And a link to the podcast on YouTube, as well as Apple Music, you can find in the description
00:31:46.000 of this video.
00:31:47.200 Dave, thank you so much for joining us on the show today.
00:31:49.680 Absolutely.
00:31:50.120 It was a pleasure.
00:31:50.620 Thank you.