[Date Prev][Date Next]
[Chronological]
[Thread]
[Top]
Re: Ideal CF Size?
At 08:55 PM 6/22/00 +0000, Albert King wrote:
>Currently the Cf has about 60,000 people in uniform, that's way down from
>about 78,000 just a few years ago. What would be a good size for the CF? I
>think to do an effective job we would need around 250,00 reg. force and maybe
>350,000 reserves. Whether that's a reasonable goal I don't know.
>
The CF currently has under 55,000 Regukar Force personnel, well under the
60,000 ceiling. And I hear that recruiting targets have fallen short in
recent years, so that we may suffer more attrition before things get better.
That aside, I wonder how you decided that 250,000 plus 350,000 would be
reasonable. What missions do you foresee, what is the 'threat' we need to
be prepared to meet?
What breakdown would you give to the Army, Navy, and Air Force?
What primary roles would each service have, and what manpower would you
apply to each?
What principal equipment would each service have? More of the same, or new
significant additions? And to meet what mission tasks? (For example, a
carrier battle group would look very impressive in Halifax Harbour, but
what force projection does Canada do? The last operational use of Canada's
aircraft carriers, the 'Maggie' and the 'Bonnie' were to deploy UN mission
equipment and troops, cheaper by hired RO-RO and aircraft now.)
If we focus on the Army for a minute, would you propose a proportionate
increase of existing roles and units allocations? If not, what restructure
would you apply to the Regular Force? How about to the Reserve Force?
What generic line of reasoning would you see the government using to
explain such a force strength to the average Canadian?
How would you justify the expenditure? Would you raise taxes, or reduce
spending elsewhere, if so, where?
It's all simple enough to throw generic force strength number around, but
it starts to get complicated when you have to base it in the real world. If
a concerned party were to propose a significant force strength increase to
the MND, thse are a few of the questions they would be expected to cover.
(Albert, I don't mean to seem to be on the assault, I just thought that we
needed a broader base on which to discuss viable/necessary force levels.)
Pro Patria
mike
Michael, Miriam and Roland O'Leary
Visit The Regimental Rogue at:
http://regimentalrogue.tripod.com/index.htm
The address [email protected] will cease to be effective on 27 Jun 2000.
Return e-mails should be directed to [email protected] until I have a
new 'permanent' address. - MMO
--------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: To remove yourself from this list, send a message
to [email protected] from the account you wish
to remove, with the line "unsubscribe army" in the
message body.