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From the National Post:
Our forces are running out of boots
The army has a simple hope that all new recruits can be issued at least one pair
Chris Wattie
National Post
February 18, 2005
Plans to expand the ranks of the Canadian Forces by up to 5,000 new troops -- expected to be one of the key new spending initiatives in next week's federal budget -- are running into a prosaic roadblock: army boots.
According to documents obtained by the National Post, the military is running out of combat boots for its new recruits, even before the widely anticipated announcement of additional soldiers.
An unclassified "CanForGen" message, a directive from the head of the army to all supply depots, says several common sizes of the Canadian Forces' black high-topped combat boots are out of stock and several others "are at critical levels."
The army quartermasters are ordered to issue instead "substitute boots" such as the heavier all-weather combat boots or older, used footwear. "It is our hope that we will be able to at least ensure all new recruits have at least one pair of boots."
Critics say the boot shortage makes a mockery of the Liberal government's pledge, made during last summer's federal election campaign, to bolster the ranks of the Canadian Forces by 5,000 new troops and to add another 3,000 part-time soldiers to the reserves.
In the House of Commons this week, Bill Graham, the Defence Minister, promised a substantial increase in defence spending in the Feb. 23 federal budget. "Watch this budget," the Minister said on Tuesday during Question Period. "We are turning the corner. We will be delivering, as we have indicated, the resources our forces need to provide the role that they do in the world."
Much of that increased spending is expected to be allocated to the additional men and women in uniform, but Gordon O'Connor, the Conservative defence critic, said the fact the army does not have enough boots for the new recruits speaks volumes about the government's defence policy.
"This announcement was a political gambit during the last election ... It was never thought out -- they just threw it out like a grenade on the table," Mr. O'Connor said. "Ever since, the Defence Department has been scrambling to figure out how to do it.
"They can't bring people aboard and give them civilian shoes. If they don't have boots, they can't bring them aboard ... It's so screwed up and so underfunded, it's just something awful."
He said the military is so short of trained personnel, funding and equipment, it will take more than five years to bring the new soldiers into the ranks.
"They're short of instructors. Their recruiting and training system's a mess," he said. "There's about 10,000 people right now stuck in the training system."
Mr. O'Connor said it will take a budget of $18-billion -- up from defence spending of about $13.2-billion -- and at least four years to reverse the effects of more than 10 years of funding and personnel cuts.
"It will take a number of years to stop the rot and start pushing it back," he said.
A spokeswoman for the Department of National Defence said the government had placed an order for more than 50,000 pairs of "Boots, combat Mark III."
Elizabeth Hodges said the $4.5-million contract with a southern Ontario shoe manufacturer specified that the additional boots were to be finished by the end of February but she did not know if the delivery was on schedule.
Howard Marsh, a retired army colonel and analyst for the Conference of Defence Associations, says the boot shortage is symptomatic of a much more troubling problem in the military: the "dumbing down" of the Canadian Forces.
"The Canadian Forces is getting a lot younger, and what's getting lost is the years of experience of senior officers or non-commissioned officers who are retiring," he said. "We've got this black hole in experience levels."
Colonel Marsh said that over the next eight years a number of senior soldiers will reach their early retirement date and many will leave the military, taking with them a wealth of on-the-job experience.
"There aren't enough of those senior warrant officers with 20 years' experience who realize when the generals say we're adding 5,000 new troops that means we're also going to need more combat boots.
"This is just the start of a long season of inexperience," Col. Marsh said. "It could get a lot worse than boots if we start getting people making mistakes with live ammunition or technicians putting the wrong part in a Sea King [helicopter], for instance."
© National Post 2005
Our forces are running out of boots
The army has a simple hope that all new recruits can be issued at least one pair
Chris Wattie
National Post
February 18, 2005
Plans to expand the ranks of the Canadian Forces by up to 5,000 new troops -- expected to be one of the key new spending initiatives in next week's federal budget -- are running into a prosaic roadblock: army boots.
According to documents obtained by the National Post, the military is running out of combat boots for its new recruits, even before the widely anticipated announcement of additional soldiers.
An unclassified "CanForGen" message, a directive from the head of the army to all supply depots, says several common sizes of the Canadian Forces' black high-topped combat boots are out of stock and several others "are at critical levels."
The army quartermasters are ordered to issue instead "substitute boots" such as the heavier all-weather combat boots or older, used footwear. "It is our hope that we will be able to at least ensure all new recruits have at least one pair of boots."
Critics say the boot shortage makes a mockery of the Liberal government's pledge, made during last summer's federal election campaign, to bolster the ranks of the Canadian Forces by 5,000 new troops and to add another 3,000 part-time soldiers to the reserves.
In the House of Commons this week, Bill Graham, the Defence Minister, promised a substantial increase in defence spending in the Feb. 23 federal budget. "Watch this budget," the Minister said on Tuesday during Question Period. "We are turning the corner. We will be delivering, as we have indicated, the resources our forces need to provide the role that they do in the world."
Much of that increased spending is expected to be allocated to the additional men and women in uniform, but Gordon O'Connor, the Conservative defence critic, said the fact the army does not have enough boots for the new recruits speaks volumes about the government's defence policy.
"This announcement was a political gambit during the last election ... It was never thought out -- they just threw it out like a grenade on the table," Mr. O'Connor said. "Ever since, the Defence Department has been scrambling to figure out how to do it.
"They can't bring people aboard and give them civilian shoes. If they don't have boots, they can't bring them aboard ... It's so screwed up and so underfunded, it's just something awful."
He said the military is so short of trained personnel, funding and equipment, it will take more than five years to bring the new soldiers into the ranks.
"They're short of instructors. Their recruiting and training system's a mess," he said. "There's about 10,000 people right now stuck in the training system."
Mr. O'Connor said it will take a budget of $18-billion -- up from defence spending of about $13.2-billion -- and at least four years to reverse the effects of more than 10 years of funding and personnel cuts.
"It will take a number of years to stop the rot and start pushing it back," he said.
A spokeswoman for the Department of National Defence said the government had placed an order for more than 50,000 pairs of "Boots, combat Mark III."
Elizabeth Hodges said the $4.5-million contract with a southern Ontario shoe manufacturer specified that the additional boots were to be finished by the end of February but she did not know if the delivery was on schedule.
Howard Marsh, a retired army colonel and analyst for the Conference of Defence Associations, says the boot shortage is symptomatic of a much more troubling problem in the military: the "dumbing down" of the Canadian Forces.
"The Canadian Forces is getting a lot younger, and what's getting lost is the years of experience of senior officers or non-commissioned officers who are retiring," he said. "We've got this black hole in experience levels."
Colonel Marsh said that over the next eight years a number of senior soldiers will reach their early retirement date and many will leave the military, taking with them a wealth of on-the-job experience.
"There aren't enough of those senior warrant officers with 20 years' experience who realize when the generals say we're adding 5,000 new troops that means we're also going to need more combat boots.
"This is just the start of a long season of inexperience," Col. Marsh said. "It could get a lot worse than boots if we start getting people making mistakes with live ammunition or technicians putting the wrong part in a Sea King [helicopter], for instance."
© National Post 2005
