Thanks soldiers......end this peacekeeping nonsense - just my opinion

[Crown-Loyal]

This is just something I quickly wrote to send into a newspaper to voice my opnions after reading about all the "peacekeeper this and that crap". I didnt end up putting it in so i thought i would put it on here as not to waste it. I really do appreciate what you men and women in uniform do, and put up with, for us. Thanks alot.




When it comes down to the Afghan mission I believe it is our duty as a first world country to intervene and assist countries like Afghanistan when their people are being oppressed. Everyone in Canada, thanks to our armed forces of the past, present and future, are welcome to their own opinion. If the thankful Afghans aren't persuasion enough to support our mission, so be it. However, please, and I must strongly state this, DO NOT refer to our soldiers as traditional peacekeepers. There is no such thing and there never will be. To be a  peacekeeper a soldier must walk into an area that is already at peace. So a soldier in Canada could be considered a peacekeeper, but anytime they are on a boat or plane off to a theatre of conflict they are warriors of freedom, they are soldiers of Canada. Our soldiers are trained to fight wars, they are soldiers. They are not trained as peacekeepers. That is only a name they are given when they must go MAKE peace. So if you wary Canadians must call our soldiers anything but a soldier, please say peace maker. There is no grater insult to a soldier then to call him a peacekeeper. It is like calling a police officer a security guard at Wal-Mart. To those Canadians that repeatedly say " We have strayed from our roles as peacekeepers " my question to you is do you know anything about Canadian history? From the Boer war, First World War, Second World War, Korean War ( yes it was a war ) and so on, our soldiers have displayed the tenacity of the Canadian soldier and our allies and enemies alike have always had the greatest respect for Canada's fighting men and women. You want to know what your precious "peacekeeping" does, do some reading on Rwanda. That shows that the UN Peacekeeping missions do nothing but watch as people get slaughtered. If the Western allies would have made it a mission of "peace making" also known as "war"  many thousands would have been saved from a problem a western government started in the first place. Today’s generation of Canadians are selfish and take peace for granted. We have our lovely style of life because of what our soldiers have done for our country, and the free world, in previous wars. I support them. The government supports them. Now it is time for you to support them. FORTES FORTUNA IUVAT - fortune favours the brave. Thank you soldiers of Canada. Your fight is just and right, history will remember you as hero’s, even if today’s populations do not.

 

[TCBF]

But that history is IRRELEVANT, because it occurred before the events that are considered the REAL Confederation by our self-perpetuating socialist intellectual elite:  Canada was born in the sixties as a result of:

1.  Medicare.
2.  Pearson's Flag in 65.
3.  Trudeau's decision to get out of Nukes.
4.  The creation of a massive, progressively enlightened bureaucracy at federal, provincial and municipal levels, untouchable by the elected or the electors.

So you see, all that Canada did before that was stone age.

;D

Tom

 

[Crown-Loyal]

I respectively have to disagree with you kind sir....

medicare doesnt work

the flag is nice but the old one worked well

trudeau was an idiot.....but getting out of nukes was good

bureaucracy....piss on it.

;D

To be honest our peacekeeping role in bosnia was a war.... golf war 1 was a war...... those are recent.....

 

[Crown-Loyal]

unless you are being smart with me.... i can't tell from writing...but the smily makes me think you might be playing around....hmm very interesting indeed.

 

[TCBF]

Sarcasm.  Canada's secret weapon.

;D

But I try to humourously insert the idiotic thought processes of the Travellers.

To them, what you and I know to be true is irrelevant.

Tom

 

[SHELLDRAKE!!]

Its a nice piece but unfortunately by not submitting it, it becomes just another reminder to myself and the other CF members on this forum that every day is an uphill battle to justify what we do. It seems NOV 11 is the one day per year that a large percentage of Canadians even remember the sacrifices that soldiers have given, and then its back to their important lives that involve reality tv shows and which politician crossed the floor.

I would encourage you to send it in, and perhaps in the sea of misunderstandings your piece might make atleast a few people think.

 

[Hockeycaper]

Crown -Loyal, It is a great piece of writing and I also suggest that you submit it to as many news papers as possible. The weak spined  left wing losers may not like it but it rings very true.

You have my support.
Ben

 

[Michael Dorosh]

Again, why are we pissing on the accomplishments of guys who wore the blue beret over a period of decades?  Does somebody want to tell Colonel Ethell that he "wasted his time" doing something that "wasn't his job"?

Let's get real. A soldier does what he's ordered to.  If that means shovelling snow or fighting fires, then he does it - it's not an insult, it's a testament to his abilities.

I can understand the desire to distance our perceived role, but distancing ourselves from our own history can't be good. Though in the case of the maple leaf flag, I'd say it was. 

And if you all were worried about Ronald Reagan having his finger on the nuclear button, why so eager to have those capabilities at the command of Joe Clark, Kim Campbell, or Jean Chretien?  ??? 

 

[ArmyRick]

Mr Dorosh ???  ???

IMO, too many Canadians have become "socially drunk" off the reputation that Chretein and his cronies pushed of our military being nothing but peacekeepers.  Remember when he committed us to A-stan in 2002 in a COMBAT role and he waffled to the media to explain our role.  He did not have the balls to stand up and say lets fight for whats right. It seems to me that Harper does though.

 

[Michael Dorosh]

Mr Dorosh ???  ???

IMO, too many Canadians have become "socially drunk" off the reputation that Chretein and his cronies pushed of our military being nothing but peacekeepers.  Remember when he committed us to A-stan in 2002 in a COMBAT role and he waffled to the media to explain our role.  He did not have the balls to stand up and say lets fight for whats right. It seems to me that Harper does though.

I quite understand that; it doesn't change the fact that others around the world have also seen us as effective in the peace role, and frankly, I think that's a good reputation to have outside our borders.  We can't live off our reputation at Vimy Ridge forever.  I also think it is good to have a reputation as combat capable.  We still have a long way to go in order to prove that.  Certainly proving that to ourselves first is important, but that's no reason to denigrate the operations that two generations of Canadians partcipated in.  Surely we can remind ourselves of our primary function without making light of our secondary ones.

 

[rifleman]

Tomato, tomatoe. I think we are keeping the peace by conducting combat operations. The only thing the public needs to be aware that on old missions, we sent soldiers because they might have been needed to conduct those type of operations. Thankfully we didn't need to, in alot of cases.

 

[Michael Dorosh]

The only thing the public needs to be aware that on old missions, we sent soldiers because they might have been needed to conduct those type of operations.

Yes, that is the salient point.  A peacekeeper is a soldier trained for war. 

 

[SHELLDRAKE!!]

And yet its easier for the ill informed to say "lets have an army of only peacekeepers" and once thats all we can do, the outcry will come "why do our peacekeepers need to carry weapons?"

Is it possible that some people believe we should only be a peacekeeping military based on the idea that peacekeepers will always be respected by the warring factions and all we have to do is show up with our kevlar blue berets and all will be good in the world? Make love not war?

I believe half the problem is that not only do the public not understand what the CF does, they have no idea what a peacekeeper does.

I agree the wording in that piece should be re written so as to not imply that we are unwilling or ashamed of our peacekeeping missions, but rather force the fact that if Canadians were not respected for their war fighting performance in the past, they never could have been respected as peacekeepers

 

[rifleman]

From what I've seen, some people in the military don't know what a peacekeeper is ;D

 

[Crown-Loyal]

  force the fact that if Canadians were not respected for their war fighting performance in the past, they never could have been respected as peacekeepers

Very, very....well put. May i use that in an editied draft?

 

[rifleman]

The past is nothing to sneeze at bt I would say we were respected because we were professional and disciplined.

 

[the 48th regulator]

I was impressed by a recent Editorial in the National Post and gave my  opinion, which was published.

We are soldiers first

You feel strong in your convictions about what your write, then I suggest you do the same.

It allows you to have your voice seen by more than those who visit this site.

dileas

tess

 

[Crown-Loyal]

I will write up a new version and if it soldiers and ex soldiers think it is good enough I will send it into as many newspapers as possible. I just think it is rediculous that you guys/women would come to help any canadian at the drop of a hat like the icestorms of quebec or the fires of BC but the population won't give you the time of day to pat you on the back and say " thanks guys, you have our support " it makes me disgusted and I am not even in the military. I guess its like the case of a police officer. the general public do not like police but when they need the police they love they thanks them for what they do. The only problem is our military is doing a good thing but I feel that not enough people are aware of it.... I am actually to the point of where I am almost completely depressed and tired of the canadian public and all of their crying of an illegal invasion. I want to do everything possible to help the CF's public opinion change....but i fear the only thing that will do that would be a major conflict and I hope to god that never comes.

 

[raymao]

Hey Crown-Loyal,

I'm in the middle of writing a paper on Canadians in Afghanistan right now. I will hand this in to my prof. next week, you may want to read it, I think I have included relevant issues that pertain to the popular arguments in Canadian Society.

Feel free to make comments on it.

 

[Wookilar]

I know how you feel, many of us do, I think. After awhile, talking to those less informed than us starts to hurt my head.

I was in Ottawa on Saturday, and I happened to be taking my family for a tour of Parliament Hill (very well done, by the way. Would reccomend it to anyone. Unfortunately, the Book of the Dead that I really wanted to see was out getting new names put in it. I guess that should have occurred to me). Out front on the lawn were the peace protesters ............. Now, I'm not going to get into my thoughts on the whole Iraq thing here, but what really bothered me were the people holding signs that wanted Canada to stop the invasion of Haiti............ It just boggles my mind that some people are litterally that stupid.
My wife, being the smart cookie she his, made sure I was pushing the stroller. That way I wouldn't get too close to the flat-face, long-hair (you know the rest) civy's and attempt to educate them (with my boot up their @#$). How does anyone......ahhh!@#$%@$. You all know what I mean.

Crown-Loyal, I appreciate your thoughts and deeds in this. Don't pay too much attention to us, write what is in your heart. It will flow better and come out more natural. Easier to defend if anyone calls you on it.