This isnt gonna be a good first post but I think its time someone stood up to the banter here a bit. Simply put the continuing ignorance regarding the role of the NDP in the degradation and missmanagement of the military is astounding. Dont any of you realize its successive conservative and liberal govs who have done this? Dont you know by now the Tories would choose a tax cut over properly giving you guys more than 5 measly bullets a year for rifle training? Or enough armor vests or helmets so returning troops dont have to hand them over to incoming troops? The ndp had nothing to do with this situation. We only ever were able federally to effect some small changes during minority govs only as of late.
How about those afghan training workups for troops about to go into theater? Apparently theres no training to recognize ied's? This from an ex marine corps guy who joined the forces recently and is horrified at the lousy pre deployment training... What about those dark green armor vests on tan camos? We can afford billions for aircraft (wholeheartedly support any and all purchases as we need just about everything we can get our hands on at this point) but we cant afford basics for the boots on the ground?
Dont get me started on unions some of you guys just dont realize where the middle class in this country came from. If it wasnt for unions we'd all be competing with cheap labor. Trust me on this one you WILL see a major influx of immigrants who WILL take your wages to the bottom on civvy street under the libertories.
Alberta is giving its oil away. Look at Norway with its 200 billion in its trust fund and get back to me. And yes its as hard to get oil out of the north sea as it is from the tar sands.
Im a big supporter of the military. And a long time NDP supporter who knows many vets in the ndp. There is no reason we cant spend 30 billion a year on the military today. Its not a choice between social programs and the military. Its a choice between tax cuts for billionaires, oil firms ect... and program spending. Are there some in the ndp who are anti military? Of course as there are in all parties. Itd be a whole lot smarter to get informed about who supports you in all parties. Rather than ignore the corridors of power in favor of simplistic propaganda from the right. That same right that sold the chinooks and gutted what little was left in the forces that the libs hadnt already gutted.
As a 2 time candidate for office (provincially) I will continue to support the forces and especially the little guys. Hillier has a hell of job ahead of him to reform the stagnation in the forces and ass backward thinking that has also led to a lot of the degradation. I just hope the men and women under arms will realize where their real support lies. Its not just in one party.
As for afghanistan there is reason to be concerned. A war against the taliban has become a war against opium. Thus against a vast swath of the afghani population. At the very least we need to buy that crop to turn it into cheap meds on the world market. We shouldnt be in the US boat on this they are paranoid about anything "drugs". Recent election wont likely change that. If not the mission could very well be fubared. Nato and press reports are not very optimistic here. From kids starving less than a couple miles from base camp in Kandahar to reports of the taliban massing now less than 100 miles from Kabul... I doubt those handful of leos can overturn a badly managed campaign.
How about those afghan training workups for troops about to go into theater? Apparently theres no training to recognize ied's? This from an ex marine corps guy who joined the forces recently and is horrified at the lousy pre deployment training... What about those dark green armor vests on tan camos? We can afford billions for aircraft (wholeheartedly support any and all purchases as we need just about everything we can get our hands on at this point) but we cant afford basics for the boots on the ground?
Dont get me started on unions some of you guys just dont realize where the middle class in this country came from. If it wasnt for unions we'd all be competing with cheap labor. Trust me on this one you WILL see a major influx of immigrants who WILL take your wages to the bottom on civvy street under the libertories.
Alberta is giving its oil away. Look at Norway with its 200 billion in its trust fund and get back to me. And yes its as hard to get oil out of the north sea as it is from the tar sands.
Im a big supporter of the military. And a long time NDP supporter who knows many vets in the ndp. There is no reason we cant spend 30 billion a year on the military today. Its not a choice between social programs and the military. Its a choice between tax cuts for billionaires, oil firms ect... and program spending. Are there some in the ndp who are anti military? Of course as there are in all parties. Itd be a whole lot smarter to get informed about who supports you in all parties. Rather than ignore the corridors of power in favor of simplistic propaganda from the right. That same right that sold the chinooks and gutted what little was left in the forces that the libs hadnt already gutted.
As a 2 time candidate for office (provincially) I will continue to support the forces and especially the little guys. Hillier has a hell of job ahead of him to reform the stagnation in the forces and ass backward thinking that has also led to a lot of the degradation. I just hope the men and women under arms will realize where their real support lies. Its not just in one party.
As for afghanistan there is reason to be concerned. A war against the taliban has become a war against opium. Thus against a vast swath of the afghani population. At the very least we need to buy that crop to turn it into cheap meds on the world market. We shouldnt be in the US boat on this they are paranoid about anything "drugs". Recent election wont likely change that. If not the mission could very well be fubared. Nato and press reports are not very optimistic here. From kids starving less than a couple miles from base camp in Kandahar to reports of the taliban massing now less than 100 miles from Kabul... I doubt those handful of leos can overturn a badly managed campaign.