Justin Trudeau hints at boosting Canada’s military spending

I'll believe it when I see it.

 

[dapaterson]

For a force employment command, it has a lot of force generation and institutional functions that need another home.

Move those units to extant formations. Then cull mercilessly.

 

[dimsum]

I’m of the opinion as well that we need a joint command to actually synchronize our overall environments. Right now CJOC is not that but it could be.
I would argue though that we need two joint commands. I would suggest that Canada needs to get on board with combining NORTHCOM into NORAD and taking NORAD from an aerospace defensive construct into a joint combined multi domain defensive construct.

CJOC runs international stuff and a revamped NORAD runs continental stuff.

The bigger question would be whether the US wants Canada in NORTHCOM.

 

[Good2Golf]

The bigger question would be whether the US wants Canada in NORTHCOM.

Maybe in FURTHERNORTHCOM?

 

[FJAG]

I’d agree IF the PRes can be reformed/reformatted — right now I don’t see the CA having that desire. Hence my hedging towards the Reg units.

I really can't understand why there hasn't been a desire. Other than an improved PRes challenges the needs for PYs. I do hope we aren't that parochial. In any event there is zero question in my mind that it has to happen or the death spiral will continue.

I don't see CANSOF having room for a Lt Bde as well in Pet without an expansion of the training area.

But currently that's what is there - 2 CMBG has a recce regt, an arty regt, an engr regt, two inf bns and a svc bn all located in Petawawa now. A light bde wouldn't be much different in total numbers. One of the dirty secrets about Petawawa is that no one uses the 3/4 of the ranges in the south end. It needs to be forested out.

There needs to be a Joint HQ - and not spelled JARMY (the J is silent), I'd rather have the Div HQ's be actual deployable entities (or at least 1 Div) so that leaves the need for Joint HQ for NA, as well as potential Pacific Forces.

I think you need to be surgical with staffing and command for it - but I see being able to kill off a lot of other HQ's if one retains CJOC.

Yeah. I rethunk that.

I’m of the opinion as well that we need a joint command to actually synchronize our overall environments. Right now CJOC is not that but it could be.
I would argue though that we need two joint commands. I would suggest that Canada needs to get on board with combining NORTHCOM into NORAD and taking NORAD from an aerospace defensive construct into a joint combined multi domain defensive construct.

CJOC runs international stuff and a revamped NORAD runs continental stuff.

Interesting idea. That takes us back to a CanadaCom and a CEFCom.

CJOC needs a vigorous application of hacksaws and machetes to its HQ structure. Last figures I saw suggest that the HQ alone is nearly the same size as a Reg F infantry battalion.

The size of a RegF inf bn? You wish! If only our inf bns were that large.

100 people. Tops.

Probably a few more if you count in the regional task forces, and the CFJOSG, but I like your thinking.

 

[rmc_wannabe]

Probably a few more if you count in the regional task forces, and the CFJOSG but I like your thinking.

CFJOSG has always bugged me, strictly because it is an unnecessary middle man between the planners and the doers.

Anything J1, J4(Mov or Sustain), or J6 is going to be drafted by CJOC COS Sup, tasked to the individual units (CFCMU, 3 CSU, or CFJSR) and then carried out. Moreso, a JOSG led JTFSC creates more layers of bureaucracy in theatre than its worth and causes friction points with a force element's integral support.

It all seems like a PY sink to play Hot Potato with support tasks.

 

[dimsum]

Maybe in FURTHERNORTHCOM?

Hear me out here…

CANADACOM

 

[Good2Golf]

C for Canada and C for Combined are two circles of a Venn diagram that pretty much don’t touch…

 

[Fabius]

C for Canada and C for Combined are two circles of a Venn diagram that pretty much don’t touch…

Not in the thankfully defunct Canada Command but very much so in NORAD.

 

[Good2Golf]

Not in the thankfully defunct Canada Command but very much so in NORAD.

NORAD is not so much ‘combined’ as hardcore bilateral. Combined usually carries the connotation of several nations interoperating, more so than just two.

 

[McG]

C for Canada and C for Combined are two circles of a Venn diagram that pretty much don’t touch…

It works for CANR already inside NORAD

 

[Good2Golf]

It works for CANR already inside NORAD

Again, same note as I noted to Fabius. In my experience, when I hear a C of combined such as in a CTF, CJTF or a CJSOTF, it’s several nations collaborating together.

By a pure definition, could a bilateral activity between just two nations be described as combined? Sure. Never seen it though. I don’t know of any position in NORAD that is described as a ‘combined’ position. Combined as a term doesn’t appear in any official material I know of, but always open to leaning if it has.

About NORAD

 

[Fabius]

I have always understood combined as meaning two or more nations but whether a combat command focused on the defence on North America with the existing NORAD as it’s inspiration is bilateral or combined is largely an academic question.
Either way it would be a unified command with both Canadian and US personnel, assets and authorities, responsible for the defence of North America in the air, sea, and land domains and would integrate with the respective national cyber and space elements.

 

[Kirkhill]

US Pattern

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs - advises POTUS - General/Admiral O-10/OF-9
US Army Chief of Staff - commands the army? - General O-10/OF-9

Commander Forces Command - administers the non-operational army - General O-10/OF-9
Forces Command trains and prepares a combat ready, globally responsive Total Force in order to build and sustain readiness to meet Combatant Command requirements."

Operational commanders subordinated to Forces Command include the commanders of I Corps, III Corps, V Corps, XVIII Corps - all Lt Gens O-9/OF-8

Commander North Command, an operational Joint Force Command - General (USAF) - O-10/OF-9
Commander North Command also Commander NORAD

Component North Command commanders include:

Commander US Army North - Lt Gen 0-9/OF-8
Commander US Marine Forces North - Lt Gen O-9/OF-8
Commander US Air Force North - Lt Gen O-9/OF-8
The US Naval Force North is and Admiral O-10/OF-9 double hatted from the USN's Fleet Forces Command.

North Command subordinates include

Deputy -Lt Gen US Army Reserve O-9/OF-8 double hatted as Vice Commander NORAD
Commander Alaskan Command - Lt Gen USAF O-9/OF-8 double hatted as Commander NORAD Alaskan Region and Commander 11th Air Force

NORAD subordinates include

Vice - Lt General US Army Reserve O-9/OF-8 double hatted as Deputy Commander North Command
Commander NORAD CONUS - Lt Gen USAF (ANG) O-9/OF-8 double hatted as Commander 1st Air Force
Commander NORAD Alaska - Lt Gen USAF O-9/OF-8 double hatted as Commander NORAD Alaskan Region and Commander 11th Air Force

NORAD Deputy Commander - Lt Gen RCAF O-9/OF-8
Commander NORAD Canada - Maj Gen RCAF O-8/OF-7

....

If I were to follow this pattern then:

CDS - General/Admiral OF-9
CCA - General OF-9 - equivalent to the Army Chief of Staff
CCA (Admin) - General OF-9 - equivalent to Commander Forces Command responsible for providing ready forces, including useful reserves

Lts Gen OF-8
Deputy CCA (Admin)
Deputy CCA (Ops and Planning)

Majs Gen OF-7
Assistant Deputy CCA (Admin)
Assistant Deputy CCA (Ops and Planning)
Commander 1st Division (High Readiness)
Commander 2nd Division (Low Readiness - Reserve)
Commander Expeditionary Division A - skeleton
Commander Expeditionary Division B - skeleton

Joint Commands

Commander Canada Com (Joint) - Lt Gen/V Adm OF-8
I want that person to be at least the equal of the Commander Alaska Command so that they can talk across the boundaries on equal terms

On the same grounds the Commander CANR should be a Lt-Gen RCAF, the same rank as the DCOM NORAD,

Battalion CO's are Lt Colonels. They have Majors reporting to them. One of those Majors is appointed as his Deputy.
Why doesn't the same rationale apply to the NORAD structure?

....

Commander Expeditionary Force?
How big a force to you want to deploy?
If only a battle group then Commander CEF only needs to be a Colonel.
If a brigade then a Brigadier, if a division then an MGen.

....

Where the winding round the axle seems to occur is the worry about Lt Gen's having to have 50,000 pairs of heels to click.

Lt Gen US V Corps

V Corps Headquarters will have approximately 635 soldiers, with approximately 200 who will support an operational command post in Europe. The Corps Headquarters is projected to be operational by autumn 2020. On 12 February 2020, the Army announced that V Corps' new headquarters would be located at Fort Knox, Kentucky.

That is from Wiki and it refers to a time past when V Corps was being reactivated after being off line for a decade or two.

V Corps is/was in command of

• 2nd Cavalry Regiment, in Vilseck (Germany)
• 41st Field Artillery Brigade, in Grafenwöhr (Germany)
• 12th Combat Aviation Brigade, in Ansbach (Germany)
• Atlantic Resolve rotational units:
  • Rotational Light Division at Mihail Kogălniceanu Air Base (Romania)
    • 1x Rotational Infantry Brigade Combat Team
    • 1x Rotational Sustainment Brigade
  • Rotational Armor Division in Bolesławiec (Poland)
    • 2x Rotational Armor Brigade Combat Teams
    • 1x Rotational Combat Aviation Brigade
    • 1x Rotational Sustainment Brigade
• NATO Enhanced Forward Presence (EFP) Poland

Effectively the Corps commander has command over 2nd Cavalry Regiment, some support elements and such other troops as may be assigned.

The rank of the Commander reflects the people the Commander will have to talk to, where they slot in the organization and the number and type of subordinate commands place under them.

...

US Generals don't seem to have a problem with reporting to an officer that has the same grade although they may have a more responsible position.

 

[Eagle_Eye_View]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/military-aptitude-tests-medical-standards-recruitment-trials-1.7141214

CFAT and medical standards are being removed for some trades.

 

[PuckChaser]

Before the panic sets in, looks like they're removing the need for CEMS for trades with softer requirements and waiving CFAT if you have uni/college completed which makes a lot of sense.

 

[Spencer100]

Just don't use the word 'cuts' ....

Email reveals that Ottawa told Canada's top soldier not to call budget changes 'cuts'​

Canada's top soldier was told he couldn't use the word "cut" in a memo to soldiers about the federal government's budget plans for the military, newly disclosed documents reveal.

The emails late last summer between Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Wayne Eyre's office and the Department of National Defence (DND), obtained by the Star under the Access to Information Act, highlight the bewildering semantics — and the tension — between Canada's soldiers and its politicians when it comes to defence spending.

Email reveals that Ottawa told Canada’s top soldier not to call budget changes ‘cuts’

Canada's top soldier was told he couldn't use the word "cut" in a memo to soldiers about the federal government's budget plans for the military, newly disclosed documents reveal.

www.thestar.com

I wish they would just get moving on this and do the change they really want. IngSoc has such a nice ring to it. Ministry of Love is very nice too. You just know He wants too.

I would bet anyone a case of Blue ( ) if they changed to the Ministries of Truth, Love, Peace, and Plenty. That no one would notice and the CBC would defend it too.

 

[rmc_wannabe]

Before the panic sets in, looks like they're removing the need for CEMS for trades with softer requirements and waiving CFAT if you have uni/college completed which makes a lot of sense.

This is overdue.

With my MELs, I would be disqualified under CEMS, however, do not breach Universality of Service and am still deployable.

I can imagine it being a huge dissatisfier in the whole process, finding out you're more than qualified toserve... except for the fact you have a perfectly manageable ailment that was a cause for concern 40 years ago...

 

[TacticalTea]

Mhm, I'm sure lowering standards will have no impact at all.

"I was a little taken aback ... I really want to serve my country."

Highlighted above, the problem with military recruitment, workplace environments in general, and everything going wrong in society.

 

[Spencer100]

Mhm, I'm sure lowering standards will have no impact at all.

"I was a little taken aback ... I really want to serve my country."

Highlighted above, the problem with military recruitment, workplace environments in general, and everything going wrong in society.

Its a feature not a bug! This is the plan.....its going swimmingly.....

 

[dapaterson]

Mhm, I'm sure lowering standards will have no impact at all.

"I was a little taken aback ... I really want to serve my country."

Highlighted above, the problem with military recruitment, workplace environments in general, and everything going wrong in society.

The occupational medical standards remain in force.