What Bases should stay open and which Bases should be closed

[canuck101]

I know we have too many bases which ones should close and which ones should stay open.  We have very little presence in the north should we put a base in the north insteed of one in southern Canada.  Should we form bigger bases that the airforce and army share ie combining the old bases of kingston, Trenton and North bay on one base like Petawawa. If you have any comments or idea's on this please add.

 

[pbi]

Who says we have "too many bases?" Cheers.

 

[bossi]

We have very little presence in the north should we put a base in the north insteed of one in southern Canada.

No.  "Out of sight, out of mind."
The further we retreat from the public eye, the quicker and deeper our budget will be cut
(ironically, a vicious circle, since costs increase proportionately with distance from supply sources).

The biggest mistake our Army has made in recent years has been to close bases in major population centres.
Yes, we need training areas in remote locations - however, we also need to be seen by the taxpayers in order for them to take pride in their military.
It's all about public perception, and we are slitting our throats by retreating to the boonies.

 

[Inch]

You can't move North Bay because of the "Hole", Trenton is one of the biggest Air Force bases in the CF, and the last time I was in Trenton, I didn't see a whole lot of room to be able to move Kingston there. Moving Trenton is out of the question, the amount of land required for a military airfield is pretty hard to come by.

I agree with pbi and bossi, we cut a huge amount of bases in the 90's in favour of the mega bases. We closed Calgary, London, Summerside, Cornwallis, Chilliwack, 2 of the 3 Military colleges, Portage la Prairie, we also just recently moved 2VP out of Winnipeg, I'm sure there's some I missed but you get the idea. During the whole Sept 11th ordeal, it was found that 2 fighter bases wasn't enough, so after moving all the fighters (I include T33s in this) to Cold Lake and Bagotville, we now had to send out detachments of a few fighters to Comox, Greenwood, and Trenton to be able to respond quick enough to emergencies at the major centres.

I don't think closing more bases will accomplish much, that's just my opinion though.

Cheers

 

[Scratch_043]

Don't forget about Downsview.

I wonder how much the people of Toronto would be able to forget about the military if there was still a huge base downtown??

 

[Black Ops]

North Bay's Underground Complex is soon to be closed. Theyre is a new complex being built above ground accross from base HQ. North Bay will be around for yearrrrrrs to come .

 

[combat_medic]

I would say that the LAST thing the CF needs right now is fewer bases. At the moment, there is no army base west of Edmonton, and if there were some kind of emergency in Vancouver, there would be virtually no capacity to respond to it, other than the few hundred reservists in the Lower Mainland. The CF needs a larger presence in this country, certainly not a smaller one.

 

[Fishbone Jones]

We need MORE bases for MORE soldiers, and I don't particularly care where you put them. Just put them, somewhere, and staff them.

 

[HollywoodHitman]

There is simply no question that there needs to be a fulltime Army presence back in BC. Chilliwack should be re-opened. The RCMP can run it's show out at the JIBC.

 

[Glorified Ape]

Don't forget about Downsview.

I wonder how much the people of Toronto would be able to forget about the military if there was still a huge base downtown??

Downsview is nowhere near downtown Toronto. That being said, having a base in Toronto would be nice since it would mean I might be able to get a posting in my hometown.

 

[bossi]

Downsview is nowhere near downtown Toronto. That being said, having a base in Toronto would be nice since it would mean I might be able to get a posting in my hometown.

Don't worry - AFTER you've done your time in the field, there should still be a few positions in Toronto
(e.g. LFCA HQ, 32 CBG HQ, RFC at reserve units, Recruiting, Staff College)

 

[Scratch_043]

Downsview is nowhere near downtown Toronto. That being said, having a base in Toronto would be nice since it would mean I might be able to get a posting in my hometown.

I said downtown to make a point.

 

[aesop081]

And exactly what point is that ????

 

[Scoobie Newbie]

"No.   "Out of sight, out of mind."
The further we retreat from the public eye, the quicker and deeper our budget will be cut
(ironically, a vicious circle, since costs increase proportionately with distance from supply sources).

The biggest mistake our Army has made in recent years has been to close bases in major population centres.
Yes, we need training areas in remote locations - however, we also need to be seen by the taxpayers in order for them to take pride in their military.
It's all about public perception, and we are slitting our throats by retreating to the boonies."

Kinda like moving from Winnipeg to Shilo.  :  :'(  :rage:

 

[Yeoman]

should have left 1 RCR in london. sure I lived just 20 minutes outside of london, but that's not the point  
anywho; yeah we do need some more places to have guys at. most definetely we should have troops out in the bc area, but really it comes down to the fact of "well there wouldn't be a big enough training ground to have an entire battalion plus all the support trades to work in over there" is what someone somewhere would pull.
just like when 1 RCR was in London, they deemed it too far from Petawawa, so they moved em up here.
we definetely should have some type of base in bc for sure, a rather large base, and put 1 PPCLI or 3 PPCLI out there. they shouldn't have moved 2 VP from Winnipeg, I know a couple of guys I know where pretty ticked off with that one. And alot of guys from 1 RCR are still bitter of moving from London (would be nice to be called the hollywood battalion again, like the old guys tell me), and that happend in what? 89-91? quite a while ago.
most definetely we need a larger presence in major areas. who knows, maybe one day it'll happen again, never say never.
Greg

 

[JasonH]

For a government wanting to recruit more, they sure are doing the opposite.  We have no reg force on the west coast (in British Columbia), we should reopen or build a new base here. 

Yes, I'm a bit biased... I don't wanna leave Vancouver but I do hah  :-\

 

[NavyGrunt]

Yeah I think the idea of us "having to many bases" is wild- where did you hear that? More bases, more soldiers, more gear.....

perhaps for a presence up north we could make a camp for winter warfare training and exercises and rotate different reggies through it.....but that why we have the "rangers"...that was for northern presence specifically.

 

[Zoomie]

BC has plenty of CF presence...  Ever heard of Comox and Esquimalt?  Sure they're not populated by the crunchies but it's still quite a number of Reg force members.  In the modern age of planes, trains and automobiles the boys in Edmonton are only a short hop away from the West Coast (if so required).  In the mean time I am sure that we can rely on the Navy to prowl our waters and let us Air Force types keep the sky's safe.

The PPCLI moved out of Esquimalt a while back, I don't think they can have their own shacks back - the fish-heads are happily ensconced in them right now.

 

[NavyGrunt]

the fish-heads are happily ensconced in them right now.

Thats "squids" to you wedge head.... ;D

 

[JasonH]

Navy is like the Armies little brother, no one picks on them except for the Army 

Either way, I'd like to stick around here then go off to some remote area