The Army's Woes

Here's what I don't understand: if we're in the fight for civilization - Iraq, Afghanistan, wherever - where's the draft?

Now, I don't actually believe that we are, in fact, in the fight for civilization. And I don't believe we need a draft for Afghanistan. Nevertheless, if Harper, Ignatieff et al are serious about wanting to win this war, the fact is we need more troops. (It might also be a fact that more troops won't help.)

At the beginning of the Korean War, Prime Minister St. Laurent went on television and, Parliamentary mandate behind him, asked for 20,000 volunteers for the fight in Korea. Given that exactly zero terrorists had launched attacks on New York or Washington from the DPRK, you could argue that there's an even more compelling argument for soldiers today. Nevertheless, there's been no call for volunteers outside of the already-planned manpower increase.

A major call for volunteers would also - potentially - give Canada the leverage we need to influence NATO to whatever strategy we want to see followed. If we think more manpower is all that's required, we can raise the soldiers but refuse to send them until other countries ante up too. If we want the strategy to change, having a manpower reserve to negotiate with is at least a better negotiating position than we have now - nothing.

Finally - and here I'll defer to others with experience - my understanding is that the Canadian army has historically (post-WWII) been more officer- and NCO-heavy with the expectation that, if fighting ever started in Europe, the force could be expanded quickly. If this is true (again, deference) we are uniquely positioned to play a larger role relatively quickly. Relatively, because even a quick expansion would take many months.

Given that none of the other NATO members have ponied up so far, and the United States literally has no more troops to send, we could play a major role if we were so inclined.

As I've said, I'm becoming increasingly wary of furthering our committment to Afghanistan. But for those who continue to support it - given that NATO is effectively ringing the alarm bells over manpower issues - this is a no-brainer.