Canada’s troop commitment to Eastern Europe is exposing weak points in its military
Summary
For years, people in the defence community have been warning that the next big war would be a “come as you are” event — with each nation showing up and fighting with what it has. The difference between victory and […]
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For years, people in the defence community have been warning that the next big war would be a “come as you are” event — with each nation showing up and fighting with what it has.
The difference between victory and defeat would depend on how quickly and effectively a country could mobilize and manoeuvre its forces.
That sort of mentality permeated the Cold War. It divided Europe into two heavily armed camps for decades and cast a long shadow of nuclear terror across three generations.
The tanks, barbed wire and big guns have been gone since the early 1990s. The Liberal government’s recent activation of 3,400 soldiers, sailors and aircrew for duty with the NATO Response Force (NRF) brought with it a chilling echo of those long-ago times.
It also exposed some of the major shortfalls facing the Canadian military in both personnel and equipment.