[prz]

Bullshit, j-monster. Like most dittoheads in this country you spout on and on about the state of our armed forces, but you don't have a clue.

During the last decade, since I left the forces, the army has received:
1) new uniforms
2) new body armour and helmets
3) new APCs and recce vehicles
4) new radios
5) new helicopters
etc etc.

Go whine about Sea Kings somewhere else; that's an anti-submarine helicopter, completely useless in the war on terra.

About the only pieces of equipment used by soldiers at the pointy end that I still recognize are their boots and their rifles. These kids today have more night vision equipment and other shiny toys to play with than we ever did.

It amazes me that people can squeak on endlessly about how it would be irresponsible to ramp up spending on health care or whatever, but they think we should throw cash at the military without having any notion of where it needs to be spent. Yes, the CF can always use more funding, but to say it has been utterly neglected is patently false.

If you want to dispute that, I suggest you go out and serve in the military for a while, and then work in the defence industry for a few years, and then our background will be more or less even.

Now: if I was to accept the notion that Iraq is a battleground in the war on terra, the falsity of which was recently proven in London's tube system, I would have to ask you this: which troops do you want to send to Iraq? Because Canada doesn't have enough soldiers to send. Our forces have only recently managed to recover from being massively overcommitted, and we still have overseas commitments to meet. We don't have troops for Iraq, and hiring and training 5,000 more regulars and 3,000 more reservists isn't going to happen overnight.

Which brings me back to my question: when are you signing up? If we're going to meet the commitments you want to rush us into, we need live bodies in uniforms. Throwing money at the forces won't deal with the troop shortage; we need volunteers. And since you're so gung-ho for the war, you seem the ideal candidate.

Don't look at me; I've done my part.

What new helicopters did the CF receive in the last decade? The Griffons are much older than that arent they? Or are you talking about the contract that was announced for the new ones? I believe those are not going to be ready until 2009.