The rapid ability of Canada to bring large scale help in the wake of the recent Typhoon Haiyan disaster in the Philippines as well as the past earthquakes in Haiti and Pakistan is due almost entirely to the reinvestment in our military.
Not a popular thought among Canadians, most of whom would not even know what a Canadian Soldier looks like (and worse not even be embarrassed by that), however 10 years ago it would have taken a couple months probably at best to get the relief we were able to bring to the Philippines in a matter of days. Ten years ago along with the stories about the tragedy there would also be stories in the media about why it took so long for us to do something and why we let our Armed Forces deteriorate so badly.
Because we're brought up on images of the US Military deploying everywhere around the world almost instantly we assume this is how most militaries operate. However the fact is that by far most armed forces in the world cannot function or move far beyond their own borders.
Very many countries in Europe, Asia and the Middle East have larger Armed Forces than Canada has; that being true, it is also a fact that however impressive these countries army's navies or air forces may be on paper or on the parade square, the fact remains most of them are not capable of moving or operating far beyond their own borders.
To use two countries with large armed forces in the news recently as examples, both North Korea and Syria have massive armed forces and can certainly threaten their immediate neighbours with invasion (South Korea, Israel or Turkey) or shoot missiles far beyond their borders, however what these countries cannot do is move their armies beyond their immediate borders, even move them far in their own hemispheres!
A good example would be that, if Jamaica (let's imagine) was located next to Syria, well it could easily be invaded and crushed by it's more powerful neighbour. However, as an island in the Caribbean, it is perfectly safe from invasion by Syria because Syria does not have the ability to move a large amount of troops and equipment fast enough and in large enough numbers to do anything significant to Jamaica ,or even Bermuda.
Even if over several months they did, Syria could not keep those troops fed, equipped resupplied across the Atlantic Ocean with everything from a replacement bolt on a tank track to rifle ammunition. For it's friends like Canada to defend Jamaica it would only require a half dozen ships and maybe a dozen fighter jets to completely cut off any force Syria sent to help.
Why? Because Syria does not have the access to overseas bases, air to air refueling aircraft for fighter cover and a navy with the experience of operating over long distances of the open ocean. It does not have the ability to move, protect and resupply it's large military over vast distances. It would have to move everything it needed in unprotected cargo ships or transport planes without fighter escorts that would be easy target practice for even a token force.
Like by far most of the worlds Armed Forces the Syrian or North Korean military are designed to prop up the government, keep down the population and intimidate their neighours. They are NOT designed to pick up and move around the world.
Any Syrian force sent to Jamaica would eventually run out of fuel, food, spare parts and ammunition - basically everything it needed to operate, move its vehicles, fight and sustain life... it would soon be essentially useless. Unable to drive it's vehicles or fly the planes it got to Syria because of lack of fuel or even get ammunition to the individual soldiers patrolling the streets of Kingston.
There are likely over a hundred countries at least around the world with larger Armed Forces than Canada has, however the difference is that thanks to recent reinvestment in it's strategic capabilities there are also less than a dozen countries - 8 to 10 at most - around the globe that can move their forces anywhere in the world and keep them there with everything they need.
That is something Canada has worked very hard to be able to do over the years and something Canadians should be very proud of.
Not a popular thought among Canadians, most of whom would not even know what a Canadian Soldier looks like (and worse not even be embarrassed by that), however 10 years ago it would have taken a couple months probably at best to get the relief we were able to bring to the Philippines in a matter of days. Ten years ago along with the stories about the tragedy there would also be stories in the media about why it took so long for us to do something and why we let our Armed Forces deteriorate so badly.
Because we're brought up on images of the US Military deploying everywhere around the world almost instantly we assume this is how most militaries operate. However the fact is that by far most armed forces in the world cannot function or move far beyond their own borders.
Very many countries in Europe, Asia and the Middle East have larger Armed Forces than Canada has; that being true, it is also a fact that however impressive these countries army's navies or air forces may be on paper or on the parade square, the fact remains most of them are not capable of moving or operating far beyond their own borders.
To use two countries with large armed forces in the news recently as examples, both North Korea and Syria have massive armed forces and can certainly threaten their immediate neighbours with invasion (South Korea, Israel or Turkey) or shoot missiles far beyond their borders, however what these countries cannot do is move their armies beyond their immediate borders, even move them far in their own hemispheres!
A good example would be that, if Jamaica (let's imagine) was located next to Syria, well it could easily be invaded and crushed by it's more powerful neighbour. However, as an island in the Caribbean, it is perfectly safe from invasion by Syria because Syria does not have the ability to move a large amount of troops and equipment fast enough and in large enough numbers to do anything significant to Jamaica ,or even Bermuda.
Even if over several months they did, Syria could not keep those troops fed, equipped resupplied across the Atlantic Ocean with everything from a replacement bolt on a tank track to rifle ammunition. For it's friends like Canada to defend Jamaica it would only require a half dozen ships and maybe a dozen fighter jets to completely cut off any force Syria sent to help.
Why? Because Syria does not have the access to overseas bases, air to air refueling aircraft for fighter cover and a navy with the experience of operating over long distances of the open ocean. It does not have the ability to move, protect and resupply it's large military over vast distances. It would have to move everything it needed in unprotected cargo ships or transport planes without fighter escorts that would be easy target practice for even a token force.
Like by far most of the worlds Armed Forces the Syrian or North Korean military are designed to prop up the government, keep down the population and intimidate their neighours. They are NOT designed to pick up and move around the world.
Any Syrian force sent to Jamaica would eventually run out of fuel, food, spare parts and ammunition - basically everything it needed to operate, move its vehicles, fight and sustain life... it would soon be essentially useless. Unable to drive it's vehicles or fly the planes it got to Syria because of lack of fuel or even get ammunition to the individual soldiers patrolling the streets of Kingston.
There are likely over a hundred countries at least around the world with larger Armed Forces than Canada has, however the difference is that thanks to recent reinvestment in it's strategic capabilities there are also less than a dozen countries - 8 to 10 at most - around the globe that can move their forces anywhere in the world and keep them there with everything they need.
That is something Canada has worked very hard to be able to do over the years and something Canadians should be very proud of.
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