Tanks for the Memories

Just as the United States and other North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries are shovelling money and weapons into the Ukraine with a colossal front-end loader, little Canada wanted to seem like it was doing something too. Over the last while, Canada announced that it would purchase a missile defence system for the Ukrainians, even though Canuckistan’s military does not currently have one. The Trudeau regime’s generosity didn’t end there either: Canada is set to buy brand new armoured vehicles for Zelensky & co. along with all sorts of other war-related goodies. But that’s okay, when you’re ground zero for the globalist experiment it’s best to make foreign jurisdictions the number one priority, the accumulation of debt, a worsening domestic situation, and the apocalyptic escalation of war in Europe be damned.

Ukraine’s fight for ‘the future of us all,’ Trudeau says.

Even though the West has outsourced much of its manufacturing capacity to China and other third world countries, NATO member states are still adept at making weapon systems. Much to my surprise, Canada’s defence minister, Anita Annand – A real Anglo-Saxon name if I’ve ever heard one – announced in the winter that Canada would be sending armored personnel carriers to the Ukraine. The 90-million-dollar purchase from Roshel, the Mississauga-based manufacturing company, consists of 200 Senator APCs. According to the company’s website, “Roshel designs this high-performance multi-purpose armored personnel carrier specifically for law enforcement and border patrol applications.” Soon everyone in Canada will be roaring around in similar vehicles just to avoid using public transit, which is far more dangerous than a war zone.

Moreover, in a news release dated January 10, 2023, the Department of National Defence (DND) announced that Canada would be purchasing a National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) from the United States. The missile system would then be donated to Ukraine. According to the news release, “NASAMS is a short to medium range ground-based air defence system that protects against drone, missile, and aircraft attack, with a high success rate. Canada’s NASAMS donation will help Ukraine strengthen its air defence systems against destructive air attacks on military sites, civilian critical infrastructure, and population centres.” These purchases go along with other donations of money, weapons, and materiel already given to the embattled state.

After weeks of pressure, German chancellor Olaf Scholz finally agreed to provide Ukraine with Leopard 2 tanks. In a statement Scholz said “’We must always make it clear in everything we do that we are doing what is necessary and possible to support Ukraine, but that at the same time we are preventing the war from escalating into a war between Russia and NATO.”

As you have undoubtedly heard, NATO countries deliberated at length about donating Main Battle Tanks to Ukraine. The donation of tanks, in particular, constitutes a symbolic and physical escalation of NATO involvement in the conflict. Although the tanks will not be supplied with crews, NATO countries have committed to training Ukrainian personnel on their use in addition to furnishing maintenance and logistical support.

Canada, is among 19 other countries that field Leopard 2 tanks and require a signoff from the German government to re-export them. Even if Canada wanted to jump on this frenzy of tank gift-giving, it turns out our fleet of Leopard 2s are in a sorry state of disrepair. The Canadian army used its Leopard 2s very effectively during its time in Afghanistan, however, that deployment ended in 2011. Since that time, the battle cats have been in storage, rusting away. In a 2018 academic paper entitled, “Leopards Without Claws,” its author Maj. Matthew D.C. Johns estimated that only 15-20 percent of the army’s Leopard 2s were usable. “The current approach to managing and employing the Leo 2 FoV is institutionally unsound, logistically unsupportable and rapidly approaching obsolescence,” he said.

During my lifetime, Canada has always had some sort of military equipment procurement comedy play out in the public square. Beginning in the 1990s, controversy swirled around the replacement of Sea King helicopters, and that debacle is described by military historian Aaron Plamondon as a politicized, “multi-decade saga.” While that procurement quest was playing out, the Canadian Forces were forced to keep their Sea King helicopters flying well past their expiry dates. Over the decades you may’ve seen sad photos of a Sea King or two lying in a heap. After flying 550,000 hours, the Sea King, first acquired in 1963, was officially retired from service on December, 31, 2018 as the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) put the CH-148 Cyclone maritime helicopter into service. That has to be some sort of record.

I am not making light of those who have have served in the armed forces with distinction, I just think as far as procurement, bureaucratic bloat, and political leadership (and upper-echelon military leadership) is concerned, our soldiers deserve much better. Canada has a small, elite military that is good at what they do. The problem is that you could fit them all in your local football stadium. There are approximately 70,000 active personnel, 19,000 reservists, and 5,500 paramilitary personnel in the Canadian Forces. According to the most up-to-date numbers, the government bureaucracy that oversees all things defence from arctic defense policy to sex-changes is comprised of 26,399 cubicle jockeys who warm seats at National Defence and another 3,566 at Veterans Affairs.

The soldiers who are stationed in Europe at this time have been ill served by the bloated bureaucracy and political posturers at home. Normally, units are provided with mess services so they can get regular meals on a daily basis, but this essential service has not been provided to our soldiers stationed in Poland, a deployment that began in the winter of 2023. Instead of being provided with a cook, 100 Canadian soldiers were told to eat at local restaurants; they were reassured that they would be reimbursed by the Department of National Defence (DND). With bureaucratic machinations at home in Canada slowed to a snail’s pace, our soldiers were not being reimbursed; instead, they resorted to maxing out their credit cards and resorted to borrowing money from loved ones at home.

Meanwhile, Canadian soldiers stationed in Latvia have had to pay for essential gear such as helmets, vests, equipment belts, and rain ponchos out of their own pocket. They are also dangerously underequipped in other ways: troops are lacking adequate numbers of anti-tank weapons, anti-drone systems, and air defence capabilities.

Furthermore, in Latvia, Canadian troops are stationed right next to Danish soldiers who have been, ironically, furnished with modern Canadian-made equipment.

The federal liberal regime has of course been lavish in its monetary and materiel support of the Ukraine. While our soldiers languish in penury and are deployed without adequate equipment and weapon systems, as of July 11, 2023, the Trudeau government has sent or has committed to sending Zelensky and company $8 billion, including $1.5 billion in military aid. Even though that is an imprecise number, it is lavish compared to what our hypocritically sycophantic government spends on our own troops. The military aid is comprised of a whole litany of vehicles, equipment, and weapon systems that the Canadian Forces needs to have in their own arsenal.

It is difficult to know if NATO’s bonanza of militaristic gift giving will have an impact on the war’s outcome. That’s not really what it’s about though, is it? It’s about keeping our globalist overlords happy with yet another Forever War while Canada continues to decay.

GA