Esprit de Corps

1. Weighing in on military fat
(Canadian Military/Personnel)

It came as quite a shock for most Canadians last week when it was reported that almost half of our military personnel are overweight and that a shocking one in four is considered obese. These statistics—compiled ...

2. Lacking intelligence
(Canadian Military/Politics)

... of judgment. As for Canadian military investigators probing the alleged actions of a US soldier, they can save taxpayers some money by letting that one go ASAP. Under no circumstances will the US ...

3. Peter MacKay's boogeyman
(Canadian Military/Politics)

When papa Elmer MacKay put his young toddler Peter to bed back in the late 1960s, he must have invoked visions of evil Cold War Russians into his son’s head to put him to sleep. How else could one explain ...

4. Just Staving Off Failure
(International Conflict/Afghanistan)

... Alliance during the early phases of the US intervention to oust the Taliban in 2001. Along with a handful of other Americans, Chet had been deployed as an advisor to assist the ruthless Uzbek warlord General ...

5. No Justice with Karzai in Power Says Akbar Bey
(International Conflict/Afghanistan)

... clerics and tribal Pashtun chieftains on the other, there were certainly some wildly divergent assessments of the situation. However, with the major offensive in Helmand province recently concluded, ...

6. MacKay in Colvin's Crosshairs
(Canadian Military/Politics)

... Colvin claimed that his warning of prisoner abuse had been repeatedly ignored by his superiors in Ottawa, the counter-barrage aimed at the diplomat has been both ruthless and relentless. Not exactly a ...

7. 16-9: In This Issue
(Magazine/In this Issue)

      Help is on the horizon: Massive shipbuilding programs should aid industry and provide added capabilities – by Sara Caverley –   In the wake of the failure of two ship solicitations, ...

8. Hiding the War's Cost is Not Supporting the Mission
(International Conflict/Afghanistan)

... and the national press corps quickly realized that something was amiss. Once they had watched the newscasts and realized that withholding the costs made it look like DND was trying to hide something, ...

9. Battling the Scourge of Piracy
(International Conflict/Middle East)

... and Marine commanders with access to subject matter experts who are familiar with the regions to which their troops may soon be deployed. While my lectures provided a boots-on-the-ground perspective ...

10. Canada has Not Earned the Right to Lead NATO
(Canadian Military/Politics)

... a responsible appointment. Would the U.S. love to have Canada at the helm of NATO? Absolutely. Since the Harper Conservatives came to power in 2006, Canada has been in lockstep with U.S. foreign ...

11. We Must Cut and Run From Old Afghan Plan
(International Conflict/Afghanistan)

... already upheld his election promise to increase troop levels in that war-ravaged country. An additional 17,000 U.S. combat soldiers will be deployed in the coming months, many of those to be based ...

12. Afghan Peace Unlikely in Near Future: Ron Hoffman
(International Conflict/Afghanistan)

The Canadian mission in Afghanistan has been rocked over the past month with the deaths of 10 Canadian soldiers during what was supposed to be a quiet winter month of December. At the same time, ...

13. Joint Support Ship has floundered in a 'minefield'
(Canadian Military/Procurement)

... was launched at a cost of $2.9-billion, a base of $2.1-billion, plus an estimated $800-million for 20 years of servicing. Seen by some as "all-singing, all-dancing" supply ships, these new hulls ...

14. Shortfalls of report on Afghan mission no laughing matter
(International Conflict/Afghanistan)

... as they were ultimately disappointing. What has caused the erosion of public support for the mission is the perception that, somewhere along the line, we lost our direction and ended up engaged in ...

15. Council a pain to those selling Afghan war
(International Conflict/Afghanistan)

... projects in southern Afghanistan. When Senlis - an international think-tank specializing in security and development policy- held a news conference on Parliament Hill back in May, it called for the ...

16. Taming Afghanistan about more than troops
(International Conflict/Afghanistan)

...  the same song sheet with regards to the mission in Afghanistan. Although previous statements made by O'Connor had seemingly been contradicted by Gen. Hillier in news reports, the minister blamed ...

17. Road to Kandahar just too dangerous
(International Conflict/Afghanistan)

... and friends had furnished us with a Kalashnikov assault rifle and a pistol, along with the necessary permits for self-protection. "No one travels in Afghanistan without weapons," explained Sonny Yuceler, ...

18. Enemy ducked big offensive
(International Conflict/Afghanistan)

... relax in our warm homes and enjoy a turkey feast, the Canadian battle group was poised to launch a massive offensive against Taliban holdouts in southern Afghanistan. Cleverly dubbed Operation Baaz Tsouka ...

19. The Sky is Falling! The Sky is Falling!
(International Conflict/Middle East)

By Michael Nickerson June 7, 2006 AS THE STORY GOES, Chicken Little was sitting under an oak tree one fine day, when suddenly an acorn fell on her head. Being young, not overly bright, and just ...

20. Is Canada at war in Afghanistan, or not?
(International Conflict/Afghanistan)

... armoured personnel carriers are suitable. To be fair to O'Connor, the events of 9-11 changed more than American foreign policy; it seems they have also replaced logic with rhetoric in common word usage. ...