Cost of military mission tops $3B

Misc CDN | 445 hits | Jan 30 10:06 am | Posted by: Hyack

Canada's military mission in Afghanistan cost $3.1 billion up to last September, with more than half of that spent after Canadian troops established a combat toehold in Kandahar two years ago, a government report to the Commons says.

Comments

by Canadian_Mind
Wed Jan 30, 2008 12:20 am
"The tank and helicopter acquisitions are a reaction to combat casualties the Canadians suffered after the current Kandahar mission began in February 2005, bringing Canada's total war cost to at least $7 billion so far."

Bullshit. If we didn't buy them for this war, we'd be buying them for the next one. As such they should be treated as any other piece of military kit or hardware is when they calculate how much a war is costing us, which is usually ZIP.
by Streaker
Sat Feb 02, 2008 7:48 pm
"Canadian_Mind" said
"The tank and helicopter acquisitions are a reaction to combat casualties the Canadians suffered after the current Kandahar mission began in February 2005, bringing Canada's total war cost to at least $7 billion so far."

Bullshit. If we didn't buy them for this war, we'd be buying them for the next one. As such they should be treated as any other piece of military kit or hardware is when they calculate how much a war is costing us, which is usually ZIP.

Well it certainly didn't take very long for the military to turn you into an utter moron, eh?
by Tricks
Sat Feb 02, 2008 8:49 pm
Wow...
by sasquatch2
Sat Feb 02, 2008 10:06 pm
Canadian_Mind wrote:
"The tank and helicopter acquisitions are a reaction to combat casualties the Canadians suffered after the current Kandahar mission began in February 2005, bringing Canada's total war cost to at least $7 billion so far."

Bullshit. If we didn't buy them for this war, we'd be buying them for the next one. As such they should be treated as any other piece of military kit or hardware is when they calculate how much a war is costing us, which is usually ZIP.

You are largely correct although the usual suspects yell BS when somebody posts in inconvenient truth.

The difference between maintaining a standing army in peacetime and a fighting army in war are however considerable.

Cost of deployment (Freight) of men and material. Replacement/repair of battle damaged/ destroyed/lost equipment. Cost to payroll for combat bonuses etc. Ammunition expended.

However usually the entire costs are calculated in these estimates which are largely inaccurate.

It is as ridiculous as the bills presented for Policing large events. The personell were being paid anyway and the only relevant costs are the extra fuel for vehicles and overtime. And yet the bills are calculated on the total payroll costs of personel who would be normally paid anyhoo.
by sandorski
Sat Feb 02, 2008 10:47 pm
"Canadian_Mind" said
"The tank and helicopter acquisitions are a reaction to combat casualties the Canadians suffered after the current Kandahar mission began in February 2005, bringing Canada's total war cost to at least $7 billion so far."

Bullshit. If we didn't buy them for this war, we'd be buying them for the next one. As such they should be treated as any other piece of military kit or hardware is when they calculate how much a war is costing us, which is usually ZIP.

You're right, but so is the $7billion assessment. Either way, that's really not that bad considering we have Annual Surpluses larger than that. From a $ Cost perspective Afghanistan has not been a problem at all.