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armed forces

Lest we forget our military

Published

1 year ago

5 minute read

From the Frontier Centre for Public Policy

By Lee Harding

An ocean of distance separates Flanders Fields from Ottawa. By now, we are separated just as much from the sentiments of the poem with the same name. In Flanders fields

An ocean of distance separates Flanders Fields from Ottawa. By now, we are separated just as much from the sentiments of the poem with the same name.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

………..If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

The author, John McCrae, was one of 61,000 Canadian soldiers killed in the Great War. Forty thousand Canadians followed them In the Second World War. Their sacrifice, competence, and accomplishments did much at home and abroad to make the world notice the once-colonial Canada had come of age.

Alas, the armed forces began to erode a generation later. In early 1968 we saw the integration of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) partially as an exercise to reduce military spending and its numbers from over 105,000 to 70,000. The military expanded to 88,000 in the 1989 under Brian Mulroney’s leadership, but eroded thereafter.

The military in recent years has been increasingly short changed especially during the most recent years  a time when the federal government has massively ramped up spending most everywhere else. Whereas Pierre Trudeau wanted to pull Canada out of NATO decades ago, his son Justin simply balks at the organization’s target of two per cent of GDP-spending. Instead, the sparsely-populated, second-largest country in the world dedicates just 1.29% of its economy to defence with an effective force of only 38,000 troops. Our $36.7 billion annual expenditure is about $20 billion short.

Back to Trudeau Sr. who had some unconventional sympathies. In 1952, he joined five Canadian Communists at a Soviet-sponsored conference in Russia. In 1960, he sojourned through China for six weeks at the invitation of the Maoist state, the same year he naively attempted to canoe from Florida to Revolutionary Cuba. As prime minister, Trudeau Sr. cherished Soviet ambassador to Canada, Alexander Yakovlev as a dear friend. Visits to Chairman Mao in China in 1973 and Fidel Castro in Cuba in 1976 brought mutual praise from both.

It’s hard to rally the troops against your foes when you consider them friends, so it was perhaps for both father and son. At the beginning of his new mandate in 2015 the new PM stated his admiration for China the most of all countries for its ability to get things done quickly because of it “basic dictatorship.” Coincidentally it turned out that the Canadian military was hosting Chinese troops  on Canadian soil to train them in winter warfare.

Military readiness was subverted to politics when showcasing diversity and recruiting sexual minorities became the CAF’s overwhelming obsession. Unfortunately, this was not the only political overlay to distract, if not undermine, the forces.

Lawyer Catherine Christensen, who represents 300 veterans, told the National Citizen’s Inquiry on COVID-19 that the vaccine mandate devastated the military–and for this she holds the PM primarily responsible. Divisions killed morale, objectors retired early or were dishonourably discharged, while some were vaccine-injured. She warned the already bare-bones military has been reduced to a disturbingly vulnerable state.

Recently, military chaplains were informed they could no longer pray at public ceremonies, especially to a God conceived as a “He.” One military chaplain lamented to the press that Canada had “violated” its “covenant with the dead” who fought “for God and country.”

Lest we forget? Too late, we already have. In September, all 338 MPs stood and applauded an alleged Nazi who fought against our Russian allies in WWII. If McCrae is right, Canada’s war dead are all astir while its living are fast asleep.

Author

Lee Harding is a Research Fellow at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy

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Military may be ground zero for the war on woke

Published on December 15, 2024

By

From The Center Square

By 

“We’ve seen under the last three and a half years of the Biden-Harris administration, it’s been hard to recruit and keep good service members, in part because of the bad woke policies, the loss of focus by this administration on what the mission is”

President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Defense, though not yet confirmed, has pledged to root out “woke” ideology in the military.

Other Republicans have lamented the same issue for years but done little about it, but if Peter Hegseth can be confirmed, the U.S. military may become ground zero in the Right’s war on woke.

Military veteran and Fox News Host Hegseth has repeatedly attacked the military leadership’s embrace of “woke” culture, which usually refers to the ideology around transgenderism, gender pronouns, and racial identity politics.

Despite allegations and attempts to end his bid, Hegseth has stood firm, though his fate in the Senate is unclear. A public statement from Trump last week put to rest any thoughts that Trump was considering withdrawing the pick.

“Pete is a WINNER, and there is nothing that can be done to change that!!!” Trump said in a statement.

The American Accountability Foundation released a list of 20 officers who Hegseth should fire. Notably, during his viral interview with Joe Rogan, Trump told a story about how military leaders in Washington, D.C. told Trump that destroying ISIS quickly wasn’t possible, but when Trump visited the military leaders on the ground, he heard a different story. Those commanders, Trump said, told him it was doable but Washington, D.C. had tied their hands.

“The woke takeover of the military is a major threat to our national security,” AAF President Thomas Jones wrote in a letter to Hegseth earlier this week.

“As global tensions rise, with Iran on the march, Russia at war, and China in the midst of a massive military buildup, we cannot afford to have a military distracted and demoralized by leftist ideology,” he added in the letter, first obtained by The New York Post. “Those who were responsible for these policies being instituted in the first place must be dismissed.”

That anecdote highlights growing sentiment on the Right that the effectiveness and mission of the military has been hijacked by a handful of leaders in the Pentagon.

Lawmakers have raised that concern for years, pointing to a slew of recent federal spending backing controversial Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policies.

Last year, Trump’s pick to lead the U.S. State Department, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., told The Center Square that woke policies were “hollowing out” our military.

A Department of Defense comptroller report from the same year included $86.5 million for “dedicated diversity and inclusion activities” as well as language showing the importance of DEI to the military.

Syrian children are back in schools, in sign of some normalcy

“The Department will lead with our values – building diversity, equity, and inclusion into everything we do,” the report said.

The actual figure spent on backing the same kind of policies is likely much larger and impossible to know, as the language and ideology has permeated much of the employee training, H.R. policies, and more.

Other anecdotes highlight the prevalence of the newfound way of thinking for Armed Forces. For instance, as The Center Square previously reported, official training materials for West Point cadets included warnings about white privilege.

Rubio released a report detailing these same issues, which includes another example where a slide presentation for the Air Force Academy was titled, “Diversity & Inclusion: What it is, why we care, & what we can do.”

This same taxpayer-funded training warns cadets to avoid saying words like “mom” and “dad” because the language is gendered.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., spoke about the NDAA and blamed woke policies for the armed forces’ difficulties meeting recruiting goals. Even after lowering recruitment targets, the U.S. military has fallen short of its recruitment goals in recent years.

“We’ve seen under the last three and a half years of the Biden-Harris administration, it’s been hard to recruit and keep good service members, in part because of the bad woke policies, the loss of focus by this administration on what the mission is,” Scalise said at a news conference Tuesday.

With Trump and Hegseth in the executive branch and leadership like Scalise behind it, cleaning house of the Pentagon might be possible, albeit difficult.

“We start addressing that by routing out more of the woke policies over at the DOD,” Scalise continued. “Of course, that ultimately is going to get fixed when President Trump takes office next month. He talked about those things during the campaign, what he would do to restrengthen and reinvigorate our military.”

If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Hegseth would lead the largest and most complex federal agency with an annual budget of $840 billion and 3.4 million military and civilian employees.

Hegseth, 44, was an infantry officer in the Army National Guard from 2002 to 2021. He graduated from Princeton University in 2003. He was later commissioned as an infantry officer in the Army National Guard. He served in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Guantanamo Bay. He left with the rank of major, according to the Army National Guard. Hegseth earned two Bronze Stars, two Army Commendation Medals and the National Defense Service Medal with Bronze Service Star, among others.

But Hegseth faces scrutiny over a 2017 sexual encounter in which a woman told police the former Fox News anchor blocked the door of a hotel room in California and sexually assaulted her. Hegseth has denied the allegation and said that the encounter was consensual. The woman reported the allegations to local police. Hegseth was never charged with a crime. He reached an undisclosed settlement with the woman in 2023.

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armed forces

Canadian military survey on ‘extremism’ asked soldiers if they’ve worn ‘Make Canada Great Again’ hats

Published on December 9, 2024

By

From LifeSiteNews

By Clare Marie Merkowsky

A survey approved by Canada’s Department of National Defence and sent to Canadian soldiers about ‘right-wing extremism’ seems to define ‘extremism’ as including patriotism and questioning mainstream narratives.

A survey sent to the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) questioned soldiers regarding so-called “extremism” activity, including wearing “Make Canada Great Again” hats.

On November 26, the Department of National Defence sent CAF members an “extremism” probe gauging “Hateful Conduct and Right-Wing Extremism in the Canadian Armed Forces,” written by the Ontario Tech University’s Network for Research on Hateful Conduct and Right-Wing Extremism in the CAF.

“The collected information will provide researchers with the means to understand and provide recommendations on how to detect and combat hateful conduct and radicalization among CAF members,” the news release read.

“Study results could also help develop recommendations on targeted interventions, systemic reform, and policy,” it continued.

According to screenshots obtained by independent media outlet True North News, the survey’s definition of “extremism” seems to include patriotism and questioning mainstream narratives.

One section asked if soldiers had purchased “extremism merchandise” such as a “Make Canada Great Again hat,” “‘liked’ an extremist group post on social media,” or “provided strategic advice or training to an extremist group” in the past two to five years.

The questionnaire questioned if soldiers had ever “searched for and watched extremist music and/or videos,” “sported a tattoo or clothing with extremist symbols,” or verbally or physically attacked a member of a racial or religious minority.

Later, the survey asked CAF members to what extent they agree with statements including, “Jews have too much control over certain institutions,” “Canada appears to be moving towards fascism,” and “non-white immigration trends are a threat to white people.”

While the survey was approved by both the Department of National Defence and CAF Social Science Research Review Board, the former has since distanced itself from the probe.

However, as radical as the survey is, it is in keeping with the woke agenda embraced by the Canadian military under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Since Trudeau took office, the Canadian military has become increasingly woke and has been forcing LGBT ideology on its personnel. At the same time, military recruitment has plummeted.

In April, Canada’s first “transgender” military chaplain was suspended for alleged sexual harassment, after he reportedly sought to grope a male soldier at the Royal Military College while drunk.

As LifeSiteNews previously reported, the military spent Canadians’ tax dollars on pro-DEI polls, guest speakers, presentations, and workshops, as well as LGBT flags. The workshops covered topics including “the gendered nature of security,” while one talk discussed “integrating gender and diversity perspectives.”

In 2021, the defence department revealed that it has two separate committees and eight programs that worked to appoint homosexual advisors to “innovate” religious instruction and gender-neutral uniforms.

In June of 2023, the Canadian military was criticized for “raising the pride flag” in honor of the “2SLGBTQI+ communities.”

That same month, Canadian troops in Latvia were forced to purchase their own helmets and food when the Trudeau government failed to provide proper supplies. Weeks later, Trudeau lectured the same troops on “climate change” and so-called disinformation.

Last November, officials admitted that the nation’s military is shrinking to dangerously low numbers as Trudeau continues to push the LGBT agenda on Canadian soldiers. In addition to low recruitment, the military is struggling to retain soldiers.

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