Posted by Greg from Abbotsford BC Canada on May 09, 2021 at 04:08:42:
In Reply to: Re: DND Selling off More Equipment (Let's make A Deal!) posted by Rob Thompson on May 09, 2021 at 00:37:18:
The problem stems from the "private business" mentality
that has been applied to the government. This recent
fad has already caused untold damage to several areas
of the government at all levels. The reason that
"private business" thinking doesn't work with things like
the justice system or the armed forces is because they
aren't supposed to show a profit. I was discussing this
topic with a buddy of mine and the only feasible method
we came up with to make the armed forces "profitable"
would be to send our armed forces out on looting and
pilaging missions in other peoples countries. Hyperbole
aside, the fact remains that the army isn't supposed to
do anything but lose money.
The final problem with our army is the "Good Security
Guard" paradox. This paradox is described as follows:
The good security guard patrols his building fanaticly.
Since he does such a good job, the building is safe and
no problems occur. After six months of doing a good job,
the good security guard is let go by building management.
The reason? There hasn't been any reason to have security.
The building management doesn't realize that the reason
that there haven't been any problems is because they have
had such a good security guard.
What does the above all mean? Our armed forces problem
stems from the fact that they haven't had a major failure
that threatened Canadian national security. Coupled with
our exemplary war record, we've become complacent. The
UK had the Battle of Britain. Every European mainland
country remembers both WW2 and the Cold War. The US had
Vietnam. Canada had Somalia, but instead of attempting
to fix the problem, they just simply eliminated the whole
Airborne Regiment. I'm not excusing the actions of those
involved, but by comparison, if the Airborne was the RCMP,
the actions of a few members of 2Commando and the events following
would be like scrapping the RCMP because a prisoner died in
cells after getting brutalized in a violent arrest. Would
we scrap the RCMP? No, we'd take the Queen's Cowboy/Girl(s)
responsible and nail their hides to the first available
tree. The inevitable arguement goes that the RCMP and the
Army are two completely different organizations and comparing
the standards are impossible. Not as different as you
might think. Both are branches of the federal government
of Canada(Which begs a side question re: the substantial
pay differences in the two jobs, espec. in the lower ranks.)
. Both are military organizations, at least on paper (If a
Mountie trys to tell you different, point out the following
two points to him: 1)The ROYAL in the RCMP was given in honor
of it's combat experiences in the Boer War. 2) During war,
the RCMP becomes part of the Canadian Armed Forces.). If
you attempt the arguement of "Different jobs, different
standards of conduct", why are the lower paid ones held
to the higher standard of conduct? Now, I'm not trying
to bash the RCMP, just trying to make a point.
Now that I've drifted completely off topic, to get back to
the point. Trying to run our armed forces like a "private
business" is a mistake. Now that we've chopped it down
to the point where we need to start selling off our best
equipment to keep the rest of it running, what's next?
Hmmmm...If we send the PPCLI across the border and have
them all sell plasma we could raise enough to meet our
latest budget short-fall!