By Scott Taylor
Anyone even remotely connected to the Canadian Armed Forces knows that they are in a woeful state at present.
A multitude of recent media reports have detailed how the lack of trained personnel, spare parts and the advanced age of equipment, vehicles and weapon systems has resulted in nearly 50% of Canada's arsenal being un-serviceable at any given point.
This dismal readiness result pertains equally to all three service branches; the Royal Canadian Navy, Royal Canadian Air Force and the Canadian Army.
No one knows the extent of this crisis better than the senior leadership who have to cut corners in order to try and meet their operational obligations. It is also the responsibility of those brass hats to pound on the desks of their political masters to address the existing shortcomings in the institution.
But the problem is that these Canadian generals instead choose to sugar coat the situation when advising parliamentary committees.
On Thursday September 20, Major-General Robert Ritchie, the director of the strategic joint staff appeared before a House of Commons committee. In short, Ritchie told the committee that the Canadian Army does not have enough vehicles to support the forward deployed NATO mission in Latvia and to conduct a similar sized training exercise in Canada. To recap: Since 2017 Canada has deployed a battle group to Camp Adazi in Latvia as part of a multi-national NATO Brigade as part of the alliance's Operation REASSURANCE. The number of Canadians deployed has steadily grown from an initial 850 to the current 2,200. That number is to swell to 2600 by 2026.
Until the Spring of 2024, those Canadian troops preparing to deploy to Latvia would conduct a full scale, brigade level, combined arms proving exercise at CFB Wainwright in Alberta. Due to a shortage of funds, spare parts and personnel, those proving exercises were discontinued, with the military leadership claiming they were unnecessary anyway.
The brass' explanation at the time was that the troops could get on-the-job training once they arrived in Latvia alongside the Russian border.
Now we learn from Ritchie's testimony that the Canadian Army no longer has the capacity to conduct such proving exercises on a brigade level scale. With over 400 vehicles of all types now parked at Camp Adazi there isn't enough roadworthy vehicles left in Canada to do such training.
With everything we own in the storefront window, Ritchie still tried to put a rosy spin on the situation. "We do not have a mirror complement of that equipment in Canada, nor is it required," Ritchie testified, making reference to the policy change implemented last year. "The vehicles that the individuals are using for that [Latvia] deployment are the ones that they need to conduct the pre-deployment training on so that they understand the systems and have the trust and confidence in using that equipment."
Which would seemingly support the very need for a proving exercise prior to deployment.
However Ritchie pressed ahead to further defend the decision to do the combined arms training in Latvia, saying soldiers are getting training on the ground and in the conditions in which they might have to fight. "There is a deterrence effect by virtue of conducting the training in location on the front line for which the multinational group is defending," Ritchie said.
He added that a "conglomerate of reasons have led us to the decision to move the pre-deployment training to Latvia, which was exceptionally well received by Latvia and all the allies."
There you have it folks, the silver lining if you will. We do not have the equipment, the vehicles, the spare parts or the personnel to conduct an exercise in Canada, but it pleases the Latvians to do that training on their soil and it scares the bejeezus out of the Russians across the border.
Sadly for Ritchie, the on-the-job training in Latvia is not going as swimmingly as he would have his political masters believe. According to documents obtained by the CBC, during the most recent deployment, Canadian soldiers did not have a "venue during workup training. This required a more academic approach to preparations" for the major NATO brigade exercise known as Oak Resolve.
In other words more of a classroom instructional than a combined arms tactical affair with tanks, artillery and tactical air assets.
During Prime Minister Carney's visit to the troops in Camp Adazi last month, journalists accompanying him were advised by disgruntled soldiers that much of the shiny hardware on display was in fact unserviceable. Despite the fact that the forward deployed brigade group is a top priority for spare parts in the supply chain, they still have roughly 30% of vehicles listed as 'off-road' or inoperable. This includes Canada's few remaining Leopard 2 main battle tanks.
Some could argue that by putting a positive spin on the situation, Ritchie is merely being a loyal foot soldier. He is making do with what he has.
We saw this in 2002 when we first deployed a battle group to Afghanistan. We did not have desert camouflage uniforms to equip them, so the Army generals told the media this was a good thing as the dark forest green camouflage uniforms would make the Canadians stand out as Canadian. You could not make this stuff up.
However, it does not need to be like this. In December 2023, Vice Admiral Angus Topshee issued a video statement regarding the state of Canada's navy, and it was the blunt truth. "Colleagues and shipmates, The RCN faces some very serious challenges right now that could mean we fail to meet our force posture and readiness commitments in 2024 and beyond. This situation is serious, but our problems are not unique, and I know that the Air Force and the Army are facing similar challenges."
Topshee was right. The RCN has still not righted the ship completely but at least his sailors know that he had the guts to speak truth to power.
