coachron said:
My, but there is a lot of defensive reaction to any suggestion that the military solution is rarely a solution to anything with the possible exception of contributing to the death and injury of mainly young and impressionistic people. It may or may not come as a surprise to members of army.ca that not all Canadians are quite so keenly supportive of the war making project, particularly as far as it concerns the Middle East and South Asia. Nearly 2500 American lives have been sacrificed, not to mention 17,000 wounded, by an administration that had no cause whatsoever to invade Iraq. Historical attempts by, for example, England in the 19th century and the Soviet Union in the 20th to invade and occupy Afghanistan suggest that there is more than a little reason to worry about Canadian Forces deployment in that country by a government that appears not to have thought much about the mission.
Yes, there is a place in the world for the warrior. There also is a place for those who question whether high school is the place to indoctrinate people in the science and attitudes of war fighting without balancing that indoctrination with information that war is an outmoded method of solving problems.
Coachron:
Like any profession, we reserve the right to defend ourselves against scurrilous, ill-informed, or distorted commentary. Further to that, in our particular case we learned, decades ago, that we must shoulder much of the burden of telling our own story, and trying to keep the public we serve informed with facts as opposed to half-truths, and mindlessly repeated chants that sound good at the Student Union but don't cut much ice in the real world.
The Co-op program exists across Canada (I was involved with it in NW Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan) and has been in existence since at least the late 90's: long before most Canadians could even find Afghanistan on a map. Its acceptance by such a diverse range of school boards suggests to me that it is seen as a valuable program.
If you accept that a state has a right to secure its own defence externally and to have a monopoly on the use of armed force internally, then you more or less accept the premise that the military should exist as a part of the nation, just as the police service or the fire service. It seems to me that you also accept that violence and lethal force can be applied in legitimate service of the aim of society and the state. (If not, you negate the first premise...)
So, if we are a legitimate part of this country, then we have the same rights as any organization to make ourselves known to Canadians. Since Canada relies on a volunteer professional force, we must recruit to survive and be that legitimate agency the country needs. It also follows that we should fill our ranks with the best people we can obtain. In a society such as Canada, with its alarming ignorance of things military, and the prominence (not to say dominance) of certain vocal anti-military groups, we start out from a disadvantage. Therefore, we need to be creative in our methods. Co-op is one of these creative methods.
If a school board, on its own free will (which is how it works, by the way...) decides to admit the Co-op program, we will make use of that opportunity. To do otherwise would make no sense.
To assume that the students (or, for that matter, the school board) do not know what they are doing, or are somehow "dupes" of the military is too fantastic to credit. Although, I guess it is consistent with the viewpoint that the military is filled with mentally deficient high-school drop outs. I mean, why would "real people" ever join the military when unemployment is so low, right?
Finally, I doubt you will find too many people serving in the military today who are so myopic as to view the military as a "solution" to much of anything, any more than we might view the police as a "solution" for crime, or welfare as a "solution" for poverty. All complex situations (like Afghanistan) require multi-pronged solutions, combining all of a nation's powers and abilities.(Just as Canada is involved on several fronts in developing Afghanistan to be a successful state) In some situations (like stopping the more obvoius activties of the Taleban and friends), the use of deadly force against those who are violently opposed to the shape of the solution is an important component. It is not the only component, and all by itself it may not be productive, but it is an important tool. And, by the way, the endless repetition of the cautionary tales of the British Empire and the Soviets in trying to conquer Afghanistan is largely misplaced, since neither NATO nor the US Coalition is trying to "conquer" Afghanistan. (There are not near enough troops there, for a start...) And, in most of the country,(at least when I was there in 04/05) ISAF and the Coalition are not viewed as enemies as they are in the Pashtun south.
Where we in the military (specifically, in our case, the Army) come in is as the national component responsible for the controlled and reasoned application of deadly force, or at least the believable show of the ability to use that force. In order to do that, we have (at the mos basic level) to train people to kill and survive attempts to kill them. If we don't do that, we're not effective. If we're not effective, then we have failed Canada and we are not meeting the first two premises. Since what we do is physically and mentally demanding on several levels, it makes sense to start entry-level training at an age when people are likely to have the stamina, fitness and enthusiasm to be good professional soldiers. That means recruiting younger people, most of whom in Canada are in some form of school.
So, if we are to exist and be effective, we need to recruit young Canadians in school. Co-op is one way to do that (and only one way...only a percentage of Co-op students pursue the military as a career). It lets young people get a taste of the military (with no real committment), while completng an important stage of their education: two useful and important natinal goals. But, if school boards don't want us, we won't be there. We'll do the best we can, somewhere else.
Cheers
saw our troops in Manitoba and Quebec Provence during the Flood of the Century. Also the freezing rain storm down east.
