Disappointed with Liberals/Government

[OshawaKid]

Heres my 2 cents worth I'm nineteen I would love to join the military it's always been a dream of mine but our military is becoming a joke really.. I'm not trying to offend anyone I realize this is a Pro-Army site.. but have the Liberals ever given the military anything but chump change and downsizing.. because in my lifetime I can't remember the Liberals giving the military anything really other then a few upgrades of old dated submarines and land vehicles now I'm sure I missed a lot of good stuff they have done for the military but this how they work.. they give the military something good to chew on every couple of months to give relief then they downsize the sh** out of it to make up for the lost dollars.  I will be voting Conservative next election last straw for me. I'm wondering where all our money is going really it's awesome we have excellent health care and helping other countries and helping people who cant help themselves but I'm not paying to help bums in toronto smoke more crack anymore OK? I'd like to see my money go into something decent like new attractions, bigger representative on the world stage, our countries defense considering just about every news headline is suicide bomber/conflict in blank country here/man kidnapped here by rebels/rebels may have nuclear weapons..blah blah the list continues

AN ARMY COMMERCIAL OR INFORMATION ABOUT OUR MILITARY MIGHT ACTUALLY HELP SOMETIME ALSO DUH. I HAVNT SEEN AN ADVERTISEMENT FOR OUR ARMY IN LIKE FIVE YEARS AND THEY WERE DRIVING AROUND IN BULLSHIT HUMVEES THAT PROBABLY BREAK DOWN DAILY LETS MAKE IT ALITTLE MORE INTERESTING THIS IS FROM THE TEENAGE EYE MAYBE IF I KNEW I COULD ACTUALLY HAVE A CAREER IN THE MILITARY AND SIT IN SOME BASE IN TORONTO FIXING THE SAME JEEP THREE THOUSAND TIMES A WEEK BECAUSE IT WAS BUILT IN THE FIFTIES. NOW GO AHEAD AND MAKE FUN OF MY SPELLING OR GRAMMAR OR SOME BULLSHIT RESPONSE THAT MAKES YOU FEEL BETTER ABOUT OUR MILITARY.

 

[Big_C]

I could not agree any more with how you feel.  I am also nineteen and quite disappointed with the Liberal government and I too will be voting Conservative in the next election.  The Liberals allow the Military to get smaller and smaller and supply us with obsolete equipment, while at the same time, take on more and more peacekeeping tasks around the world. 

However, your statement about never seeing any recruitment videos or ads anywhere in the past five years is not true.  Maybe you never watch TV or go outside, but in the past five years the Military has started their new "Strong, Proud" recruitment strategy, with TV ads running constantly and assisted by radio, newspaper and magazine ads.  Just keep your eyes and ears open and I'm sure you will see them. 

But you are right, and many people will agree with us, our Military does need a change, and the Conservatives might just be the answer.....

 

[Hunter911]

Personally, i havent heard any recruiting slogans on the radio, and it has been a good 2-4 months since i have seen an add on TV regarding the military...Infact, the only advertising ive seen around Halifax and Bedford was in the CFRC... which didnt really help much, considering by then you would have already made up your mind most likely 

 

[Jarnhamar]

I'm fairly disipointed with our recruiting posters.

"It's not just about shinny toys you know!"

Way to inspire interest.

 

[atticus]

There is acually a recruiting poster that says that?

 

[Teddy Ruxpin]

No - it's an internal poster about transformation:

"Transformation - It's Not Just About the Gizmos"

or some such...

 

[MikeM]

Yup, thats the one TR..

I like gizmos

 

[career_radio-checker]

In Ottawa we have the CF recruiting mini-van. Its a mini-van decaled with images of the CF and giving the link to the recruiting website. I've also seen recruiting Bil-boards in town; advertizements in the University news paper and hanging over urinals in the washroom. Can't say I've seen them on the TV since I don't have one.

 

[OshawaKid]

Peacekeeping is awesome and I totally agree with it but when your Military can barely handle a peace keeping mission in some tiny african country you know theres a problem.. we have trouble deploying like 10,000 troops without leaving our country virtually unguarded nearly this may piss some people off with real numbers but look how large our land mass is and our military is 60,000 theres NO POSSIBLE WAY to cover all this ground.. with 60,000 try 200,000 maybe more.

 

[canadianblue]

I think thats true, but another thing to consider is that I think the general population has a distorted image of what our military does, and many believe that we should simply allow the US to protect us. Actaully, here's another example of why our military is facing so many problems, I finally got enrolled into the Canadian Forces, family and friends in Canada asked me why I don't get a real job instead, and tell me how we don't even take part in any armed conflicts and were just a bunch of boyscouts that give kids candy in Afganistan and the Balkans. The relatives from the US called my parents, I talked to them, and told them I was joining the Canadian Army, they told me how proud I should be for doing that, as well as saying how proud they were that I'd be willing to be risking my life for the greater good of the country.

Two entirely different prospects in my own opinion, it seems that more American's see the military as a place were men and women come together to fight for their country in a time of need and do a service for their country. American's also seem to have more of a military "culture" then Canadian's do, they are more proud of military achievements. Canadian's seem to be more proud of Pierre Trudeau, as well as the greatest one liner I've heard of why people are so proud of Canada, "were not American's" :

Don't get me wrong I'm proud as hell of what this nation has done, however I find that the values of todays Canada are different from what my grandfathers generation were, and that we no longer find pride in what our military has done in two world wars and through the UN and NATO. Perhaps if we were to bring back more of the military into our general culture, and instil pride in our Armed Forces, then more people would join the Regular Force and Reserves.

Once again just my own experience.

 

[GDawg]

There is acually a recruiting poster that says that?

I'm a recruiter and I have that one up in my office  :-[
I've seen some brilliant ones around regarding transformation but none have crossed my path

It's pretty bad when the best posters I can find are either meant for internal distribution or come from General Dynamics...

 

[Jordan411]

The relatives from the US called my parents, I talked to them, and told them I was joining the Canadian Army, they told me how proud I should be for doing that, as well as saying how proud they were that I'd be willing to be risking my life for the greater good of the country.

Two entirely different prospects in my own opinion, it seems that more American's see the military as a place were men and women come together to fight for their country in a time of need and do a service for their country. American's also seem to have more of a military "culture" then Canadian's do, they are more proud of military achievements. Canadian's seem to be more proud of Pierre Trudeau, as well as the greatest one liner I've heard of why people are so proud of Canada, "were not American's" :

Wow, I have some relatives in the States and that is the exact same response. They know next to nothing about the Canadian Military but are still very proud that I'm doing a service for my country. My family in Canada is very supportive, but I do get a sense that they feel it is a little more of a "teenager thing" to do.  They don't take it nearly as seriously and as respectful as the Americans do. Just my experiences.

 

[Baloo]

No - it's an internal poster about transformation:

"Transformation - It's Not Just About the Gizmos"

or some such...

The same one that has the silhouetted soldier featuring the Camelback, NVGs and C9A2?  :

Or is that supposed to be the point?

 

[Jarnhamar]

The MNVGs that are cut and pasted on and the C7 with the pasted on laser aimer ya.

The one picture sometimes red andwhite, sometimes in night vision colours, of the silhouetted Canadian soldier isn't even a Canadian soldier heh

 

[Monsoon]

I think thats true, but another thing to consider is that I think the general population has a distorted image of what our military does, and many believe that we should simply allow the US to protect us. Actaully, here's another example of why our military is facing so many problems, I finally got enrolled into the Canadian Forces, family and friends in Canada asked me why I don't get a real job instead, and tell me how we don't even take part in any armed conflicts and were just a bunch of boyscouts that give kids candy in Afganistan and the Balkans. The relatives from the US called my parents, I talked to them, and told them I was joining the Canadian Army, they told me how proud I should be for doing that, as well as saying how proud they were that I'd be willing to be risking my life for the greater good of the country.

Two entirely different prospects in my own opinion, it seems that more American's see the military as a place were men and women come together to fight for their country in a time of need and do a service for their country. American's also seem to have more of a military "culture" then Canadian's do, they are more proud of military achievements. Canadian's seem to be more proud of Pierre Trudeau, as well as the greatest one liner I've heard of why people are so proud of Canada, "were not American's" :

Exactly right. OshawaKid, your views about the military are "informed" by people (journalists, mostly) who know nothing about it - very little about the Canadian military and nothing at all about other militaries of the world we should be compared to.  We don't have a million soldiers in uniform and we don't own an aircraft carrier, but what we do have actually works very well - complex equipment breaks down, even when it's owned by the Americans.  Canadians in general tend to be pretty self-loathing when it comes to nationalism, and the military bears the brunt of this self-loathing, being an inherently nationalist institution.

There has been a TV ad campaign on and off for the past few years - it tends to be focused around "recruiting drive" seasons - and the commercials have been running at theatres pretty well without interruption.  I understand there's a new series of commercials being developed - does anyone know about this?

OshawaKid, if you are interested in the military, I would encourage you to find out about the CF first hand rather than relying on the tainted information you'll find elsewhere.

 

[Jascar]

The idea that the Liberals are responsible for downsizing Canada's military never fails to make me laugh. Read a history book, the Cold War ended. Militaries around the world were downsized by left-leaning governments, right-leaning governments and everything in between. This would have happened even if the PC's had been elected in the 90's.

You can reasonably argue that the Liberals have failed to maintain a decent level of funding for the military after all the downsizing, though I'd say the attitude of Canadians has an awful lot to do with that. The majority of Canadians just don't put a high priority on our military, and until they do, nothing big will be done. Something like this usually has to be politically popular to get the ball rolling, and increasing the size and funding level of Canada's military just ain't a popular enough idea with the general population. Voting Conservative is a way of sending a message and perhaps starting some change, but it's likely that the Conservatives will continue the trend of underfunding the military once they realize the small number of votes that helping the military gets them. Rather than complain about the Liberals, go educate some of your fellow citizens on the need for a stronger military.

 

[GO!!!]

Jascar is absolutely right.

A readeable synopsis of federal neglect of the CF can be found in JL Granatstein's "Who killed the Canadian Military". In it, he documents the destruction of the CF by both the Liberals and the Conservatives.

Oshawa kid - I would suggest that you do some reading on the CFs recent operations, and the type of work which is usually undertaken by Infantry units from canada when working abroad. If you have difficulty reading (as your grammar and lack of paragraph structure would seem to indicate) go to a recruiting center and someone from your "bullshit military" will explain all of the pictures to you.

Until then, please refain from any more wanton displays of ignorance.

Cheers.