DO YOU SUPPORT THE TROOPS?
Today's story in the Regina Leader Post, by way of Neale News, is the type of story that fills me with a profound sadness for how little Canada, under the Liberal government, has allowed our military to not only falter, but by so allowed them to be disrepected. This is nowhere more evident than in this report that our troops are using some weapons that are up to 60 years old."Canadian soldiers embarked on the country's largest combat mission since the Korean War are using handguns that date back even further -- to the Second World War."
"Major Gary Vassbotn, the army's section head for small arms, said the Browning was adopted as a sidearm in 1937 and the last pistol was produced by John Inglis & Co. in 1944. But while the handguns may be old, he said they are in excellent condition."
I respect that the Major is trying to make the best of the situation but there is very little that can be said to change the fact that the good men and women of Canada's military have not garnered nor commanded the respect that they deserve. This fits in with the New Left philosophy, set out in the sixties, of any traditional authority figures (family, police, military) as symbols to be reviled.
My father served in the Canadian Navy during World War II. That a generation is being raised to see these people as negligible or worse is astounding. Again, it points to a culture where no one can tell the difference between right and wrong, black and white or good and evil anymore.
Recently a fluffy Los Angeles columnist, Joel Stein, who used to write a glib column for Entertainment Weekly got into a snaffu when he said that he did not in fact support American troops. Many on the right were disgusted with him. In the abstract what he said was wrong...but I respected his honesty. I can't be mad at him. At least you know where you stand with someone like that.
The same cannot be said of people like Bill Graham, Paul Martin, Michael Moore, John Kerry, David Miller and numerous others who hide their contempt behind fake plastic smiles, oily handshakes and falsified ceremonies.
Canada, under the past 12 years has devolved into a hypocritical tableau of left-wing platitudes which serve to placate the masses but obfuscate the truth; no more so than in the treatment of our military. From the massive cutbacks; to the lack of respect; to the ad the Liberals produced in the last election to fear monger; the left has shown that all they have ever had for the men and women of the armed forces is condescending attitudes and vitriol.
The issue of the aging weapons is less the problem than it is a symbol of the problem.
I am glad for the armed forces of Canada that under Prime Minister Harper, this will begin to change.
posted by Nicol DuMoulin @ 2:39 PM
2 Comments:
My wife trained in Canada as an Air Cadet during the 90's. She confirms they were using rifles from WWII. Her Drill Sergeant said many Canadians were killed by their own weapons because in actual combat they couldn't hear the preceding "click" of a backfire that they'd been trained to listen for...
That was fifty years ago... when the weapons were "new".
Wow Straphanger. That was an interesting tid bit of infomation I never knew about. Thanks!
I was an army cadet from 1999-2003 and we still use those .22 and .303 rifles, but cadets has become a lot more scaled back because parents/the public don't want cadets to be little soldiars. We used to be able to shoot C7s (M-16s), and the discipline has become so watered down because you can't yell at anyone, can't single anyone else, can't 'hurt' a kid emotionally etc... Your wife probably would see cadets today and reminise (sp?) about the good ol days when cadets (and kids in general) had discipline.
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