[john reid]

I am reading some of these posts with a great sadness,some the preconceptions,misconceptions and down right brainwashing (most likely by the press )of the average Canadian citizen of its own military!This is appalling.As an ex serviceman I can tell you that the Canadian Forces spent a great deal of money on me to ensure I DO think. I would take any Canadian soldier,no matter what his military occupation back ground and would show the average businessman what he can do. Contrary to the ordinary joe`s popular belief,the Canadian soldier from the lowest Pte.up( not pvt) is taught how to lead when the crap hits the fan.To confuse discipline with blind following is a common mistake amoung " civvies ". Forgetting all of this for a moment,lets also consider what else the under funded military does.Search and rescue comes to mind.Every day young men and women are putting it on the line to rescue boaters,hikers,plane crashes,etc.never hear about that,doesn`t make good press. Awe yes,peace keeping! (the thing Canadians are soooo proud of shooting off thier mouths about)Do you know it takes very well trained and professional soldiers to untake this? it takes discipline and brains,in other words the very best soldiers with the very best equipment.we have the former.In any event we have to carry our weight in the world if we are to have a say,its the price we pay for nationhood or we can have all the social programs repeated socalist governments can come up with,throw millions away buying meat coats or three strips of paint on a canvass.Well we will be the healthest people the Americans will ever defend.

[whelan costen]

While I understand your frustration, not everyone believes the negative media about our military. There are several post which state the exact opposite. Many of us are informed and know the importance of having a well supplied and well trained military. But our government has not funded the military well over the past 10-15 years otherwise, we wouldn't be in the position we are; we have the best trained military in the World, and it isn't only Canadians that say so. Yes it takes a great deal of training, and very intelligent individuals to deal with the peacekeeping missions. In fact most people will acknowledge that peacekeeping is even more critical than all out war. I have nothing but praise for the Canadian Forces, but I don't feel that our government is serving them well. These people are our future, our youth and they are willing to put it all on the line for whatever their country demands; the people and government ought to be willing to do the same for them, by way of funding and respect! IMO

[Kory Yamashita]

John Reid, I understand the value of armed forces. They perform all sorts of great and useful services. It is those civil services that I would consider joining because I see them as a positive thing. However, I am morally opposed to joining our military because along with those great beneficial services (like disaster relief, search and rescue, peacekeeping, and helping to rebuild other countries), the military also engages in war. And, while I understand the unfortunate necessity for military involvement, I would feel hypocritical to belong to an organisation that is involved in that. I believe strongly in making the connection between political views and personal actions. I don't eat at McDonalds, for example. Or shop at Walmart. Or drink coffee. And I spend my time and money doing outdoor activities. And those are tied to my political philosophies. I believe that as I support anti-globalisation (in the form of McDonald's and Walmarts), I also should avoid in any way supporting war. I merely try to improve my habits and lifestyles continuously (I'm by no means where I'd like to be in this connection between personal activities and political views). </P> But my real point here is that I would like to be a positive impact without the possibility of in any way being a part of a war. You may think I'm a coward, but in the paraphrased words of Gandhi, "I will certainly die for this cause, but there is NO cause for which I will kill." Maybe I'm being a little too picky in what I envision from a government. Or maybe I'm just a total optimist.

[john reid]

While there is no glory in war and Canada should never follow blindly,what is...is.I would say WW1 was not our war but WW2 was.The Canadian military does not represent a militaristic culture but sometimes you have to stand up and be counted,Afghanistan for one. If this Country wants to have any input in the world,it must have a ready military,that`s the reality of it.In todays world as in yesterdays,if you turn the other cheek you`re going to wind up with bruises on both sides of your face. If it worth having,it worth defending........DDAY!

[whelan costen]

This is where I get irritated, WWII was a war we had to fight, Hitler wasn't just trying to take someone else's property, he was trying to create a superior race, he was eliminating all people that did not fit his criteria. Now in today's modern war we have the U.S. attached and supporting bin laden, helping him to fight the Soviets, who wanted to control Afganistan. The U.S. trained bin laden, they supplied weapons, and through the Saudi relationship with Bush they formed a nice money making cooperative. If we had have stopped the relationship between Bush and bin laden, stopped the flow of money for arms and training, the war in Afganistan wouldn't have been necessary, nor would the bombing of the U.S. on Sept 11, have occured.

So IMO the modern wars are not about saving democracy or saving lives, they are about killing who ever stands in the way of making the most money and controlling the natural resources of the world. Somehow it all seems different to me.

[Kory Yamashita]

Well, the US government is like any empire at it's eroding prime. They tell us they fight in the name of democracy, and in order to 'protect our citizens', the government has to strip away basic human rights (privacy, for example). The US sets up conflicts between 'insurgents' and the current government when it will profit major US companies. Then they send US troops to save the day. Or when the insurgents take power and then start saying 'no' to the US, the US makes up an excuse to attack them. Or sometimes they don't even pretend to have an excuse. What it comes down to is this: the evil imperialist that should be feared isn't the Iraqis or the Afghanis, it's the Americans. When things get truly desperate in the years to come, it won't be middle-eastern terrorists who attack Canada. It will be the US seeking our basic resources (assuming we don't just hand them over). I don't believe that the righteous war is in Afghanistan. Most of the hijackers were from Saudi Arabia. And yet again, money deflected the real crime and criminals and thousands of innocent (and some not-so-innocent) Afghanis die. I understand the value of sending our military to Afghanistan to rebuild, but they were there for the more violent times as well, n'est-ce-pas?