First Canadian Parliamentary Battalion
The perfect way to develop an Afghan policy...NOW!
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Canada needs a new and elite infantry unit -and this one will really make a difference!
The battalion to which I refer is the First Canadian Expeditionary Battalion ("ef peb" it has a ring to it kinda like "Van Doo").
This unit will be comprised totally of Parliamentarians -both members of the House and Senate will be welcome -in fact their participation will be mandatory.
We have plenty of equipment to kit them out in proper desert camouflage complete with helmet and armoured vest, give them all a nice C7 rifle and a week or so of training to teach them how to work it all -and then Voila! -onto shiny new C17s for a quick hop to Kandahar.
Immediately upon arrival they will march off the C17s and into LAV3 vehicles where they will remain in constant convoy throughout the area until 133 casualties have been sustained.True, the LAVs are not all new, in fact some of them will have sustained battle damage and may be barely roadworthy -but that is what these guys gave our troops -and they deserve exactly the same. This process won't take long as soon as the Taliban learns of this new "high value target".
Of course washroom breaks and food breaks will be allowed at suitable intervals -but in the field -on the desert. No special deals for these crack troops. I am sure they wouldn't have it any other way.
As soon as 133 casualties have been sustained it will be back on the C17s for the survivors for an immediate return to Ottawa for an emergency debate on Canadas Afghan policy and plan. Perhaps some clarity will then be added to the current policy of "No military commitment after 2011 -but ongoing military activity".
Just think of how "cost effective" this entire exercise will have been! NO expenditure on pay (these "troops" are already on the payroll) and no expenses beyond field duty allowance which runs less than $20 per day. There will never in history have been a cheaper parliamentary junket -nor a more productive one!
Furthermore, Battalion Commander Stephen Harper and Regimental Sergeant Major Peter MacKay will have acquired valuable command experience. This gives true meaning to the term "boots on the ground."
And of course -should the debate in Ottawa prove fruitless within 24 hrs -well those C17s will be sitting on Uplands airfield ready to take the FPEB back to Kandahar for another "tour!
Frankly I think this is a superb idea. In 35 years in the military I never saw a parliamentarian truly "in the field" although there were many who showed up for a few minutes for the obligatory photo op. This will be different. No photo ops allowed -just miles and miles of desert road and mountain scenery as viewed from the loud confines of the back end of a LAV3 at high speed day and night punctuated by the periodic blasts of IEDs.
I bet we could get a well-researched bill through in less than a day.
And I am more than willing to risk these guys to prove my point -as they have proven willing to risk our sons and daughters to prove absolutely nothing!
Lets hear it for the First Parliamentary Expeditionary Force! A force truly to be reckoned with!
Jock Williams Yogi 13
The battalion to which I refer is the First Canadian Expeditionary Battalion ("ef peb" it has a ring to it kinda like "Van Doo").
This unit will be comprised totally of Parliamentarians -both members of the House and Senate will be welcome -in fact their participation will be mandatory.
We have plenty of equipment to kit them out in proper desert camouflage complete with helmet and armoured vest, give them all a nice C7 rifle and a week or so of training to teach them how to work it all -and then Voila! -onto shiny new C17s for a quick hop to Kandahar.
Immediately upon arrival they will march off the C17s and into LAV3 vehicles where they will remain in constant convoy throughout the area until 133 casualties have been sustained.True, the LAVs are not all new, in fact some of them will have sustained battle damage and may be barely roadworthy -but that is what these guys gave our troops -and they deserve exactly the same. This process won't take long as soon as the Taliban learns of this new "high value target".
Of course washroom breaks and food breaks will be allowed at suitable intervals -but in the field -on the desert. No special deals for these crack troops. I am sure they wouldn't have it any other way.
As soon as 133 casualties have been sustained it will be back on the C17s for the survivors for an immediate return to Ottawa for an emergency debate on Canadas Afghan policy and plan. Perhaps some clarity will then be added to the current policy of "No military commitment after 2011 -but ongoing military activity".
Just think of how "cost effective" this entire exercise will have been! NO expenditure on pay (these "troops" are already on the payroll) and no expenses beyond field duty allowance which runs less than $20 per day. There will never in history have been a cheaper parliamentary junket -nor a more productive one!
Furthermore, Battalion Commander Stephen Harper and Regimental Sergeant Major Peter MacKay will have acquired valuable command experience. This gives true meaning to the term "boots on the ground."
And of course -should the debate in Ottawa prove fruitless within 24 hrs -well those C17s will be sitting on Uplands airfield ready to take the FPEB back to Kandahar for another "tour!
Frankly I think this is a superb idea. In 35 years in the military I never saw a parliamentarian truly "in the field" although there were many who showed up for a few minutes for the obligatory photo op. This will be different. No photo ops allowed -just miles and miles of desert road and mountain scenery as viewed from the loud confines of the back end of a LAV3 at high speed day and night punctuated by the periodic blasts of IEDs.
I bet we could get a well-researched bill through in less than a day.
And I am more than willing to risk these guys to prove my point -as they have proven willing to risk our sons and daughters to prove absolutely nothing!
Lets hear it for the First Parliamentary Expeditionary Force! A force truly to be reckoned with!
Jock Williams Yogi 13
Comments
It conjures up a visual of our elected politicians smacking their palms repeatedly on the hoods of their LAV’s while shouting schoolyard epithets at the Taliban.
I favour bringing back the tradition of the generals leading their troops into battle. Think the effect that might have had on those muddy, bloody fields of WW 1 if the Brit. generals were to be the first over the top and through the barbed wire.
But if not the generals, then indeed encourage the politicians to join and even lead our troops into battle.
Canada is sending our best and bravest to -theoretically - help defeat the Taliban and allow Afghanistan to develop as a democratic nation.
The recent farcical “election” shows that a viable democracy is nowhere on the Afghan horizon.
The IEC should at the very least, if it is a serious agency, have insisted that the seemingly reasonable recommendations of Abdullah to promote a fair election be adhered to. Evidently the current Afghan government is incapable of doing so without substantial “encouragement’. Seemingly then negligible progress has been made toward democratic ideals.
The Afghan people have shown that their interest in moving toward a democracy does not supersede their archaic tribal behaviours. The Taliban show no sign of being discouraged and the disastrous events of today involving the British troops must surely force a re-think of even training the Afghanis to form their own defence force.
I anticipate that when the Canadian people and the Canadian politicians decide that we have given enough and we withdraw our troops it will be similar to removing our tents from a shifting sand dune. In a very short time no one will notice we were even there- except the families of Canadian soldiers sacrificed for that unsalvageable, unalterable Fifth World Nation.