The 2025-2026 Departmental Reports were released yesterday. These reports lay out the plans and goals for the 2025-2026 year, as well as provide updates on where current initiatives are standing.
Having just raised 2 teenage daughters, I see the definitions of discrimination, abuse and assault have changed so much from my day to put into question any meaningful data trends. Also what would have not even raised an eyebrow when I was younger, causes the younger people to get quite worked up on.
I do worry about the resilience of a great many of the youth of today. Working with Cadets lets me see a lot of awesome youth who will do well, but what I see is that there seems to be a far greater disparity between the successful youth and the ones who cannot cope. In my day there was a large herd in the middle, that were doing ok, not fantastic and not failing either. Nowdays, the middle seems quite empty.
I recently visited an armoury housing an Army Reserve artillery unit. There was a tampon dispenser in the men's washroom, but the unit had no serviceable guns nor much other serviceable equipment in the gunshed. It is clear to any intelligent recruit where the priorities lie currently. No wonder retention is low.
Couple this to the virtually gutting of the military disciplinary system due to right-thinking expert lobbyists in Ottawa, and to substantially degraded leadership in the Army officer corps, and it is not clear to me how the Canadian Army shall ever recover.
Many issues are caused by the lack of money and decisions that were taken a decade or so ago, when CAF budgets were reduced drastically.
Bringing more money will get equipment upgraded, especially in the Army, where most vehicles are past due and weapons, optics and individual kit are outdated. This will help morale and may have an impact on the culture and appreciation of the quality of life.
Having just raised 2 teenage daughters, I see the definitions of discrimination, abuse and assault have changed so much from my day to put into question any meaningful data trends. Also what would have not even raised an eyebrow when I was younger, causes the younger people to get quite worked up on.
I do worry about the resilience of a great many of the youth of today. Working with Cadets lets me see a lot of awesome youth who will do well, but what I see is that there seems to be a far greater disparity between the successful youth and the ones who cannot cope. In my day there was a large herd in the middle, that were doing ok, not fantastic and not failing either. Nowdays, the middle seems quite empty.
I recently visited an armoury housing an Army Reserve artillery unit. There was a tampon dispenser in the men's washroom, but the unit had no serviceable guns nor much other serviceable equipment in the gunshed. It is clear to any intelligent recruit where the priorities lie currently. No wonder retention is low.
Couple this to the virtually gutting of the military disciplinary system due to right-thinking expert lobbyists in Ottawa, and to substantially degraded leadership in the Army officer corps, and it is not clear to me how the Canadian Army shall ever recover.
Many issues are caused by the lack of money and decisions that were taken a decade or so ago, when CAF budgets were reduced drastically.
Bringing more money will get equipment upgraded, especially in the Army, where most vehicles are past due and weapons, optics and individual kit are outdated. This will help morale and may have an impact on the culture and appreciation of the quality of life.