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PLANS FOR CANADIAN ARMY RESTRUCTURE

PLANS FOR CANADIAN ARMY RESTRUCTURE ANNOUNCED

So far, the reviews are positive, on the plans for the future of the Canadian army, released today. Highlights:

Basically the combat support companies in the infantry battalions will be gone. Each of the infantry companies is meant to be self-sufficient, presumably with its own integral anti-armour, sniper and recce assets (which used to be grouped at the battalion level). Two other types of battalion troops will be handed to other arms: the assault pioneers will be taken over by the engineer corps, and the mortarmen by the artillery. This also means on deployment the army will be able to pull together battle groups from multiple at-home units, rather than focussing them on a specific battalion like the PPCLI in Afghanistan.

Second, all the heavy stuff (tanks, field guns) is going out to 1 Brigade out west (where there's still room to fire them). The eastern units will be reroling regular (and possibly reserve) mech units to light infantry and recce. The light infantry in particular is going to get more back into the special ops game. One of my favourite bases, Wainwright, in Alberta, is going to get a big upgrade as Canada's mechanized warfare center. They're finally talking about putting weapons on the helicopters, too.

The obvious problem: The Strathconas are going to get the tanks... however, there aren't enough recce vehicles (ie Coyotes) to flesh out the other two armoured units (RCD and 12 RBC) as full regiments, so they'll be half-strength for the foreseeable future. There's some talk about giving these guys a UAV squadron each to compensate, which is a little weird, but there it is.

It would have been nice if the CF had bit the bullet and contracted for a 105mm variant of the LAV, or some other similar Direct Fire Support Vehicle for its "Interim Concept" (as Shinseki did controversially in the US with the Stryker LAV), and given a squadron each of them to the recce units, instead. DFSVs (essentially, wheeled, lightly armoured tanks, or heavily armed armored cars, depending on how you look at it) are coming on strength with the US, and were used very effectively by the French in Desert Storm and Chad, and also by the South Africans: a Hercules-portable 105 platform would have given the Canadians a much more convincing fast-deployment capability to low- to medium-intensity battlefields, which would only enhance our effectiveness either as a UN peacekeeper or a US/NATO ally over the basically pure boot infantry forces we're forced to send into theatres now.

FINALLY FIGURED OUT WHAT THE

FINALLY FIGURED OUT WHAT THE NORWEGIANS WERE DOING IN KANDAHAR

I could never figure out the repeated references to Norwegian soldiers in the Kandahar force... until today. The Norwegians, you see, have an effective mine flail in their army inventory. The Americans, Canadians, et al. do not. The Marine commander in Kandahar specifically singled out the Norwegians for praise at a recent dinner I read about. Now you know, Bjorn.