We would like to step off as quickly as we can so feedback is important to begin to plan adequately for this important effort.

Use this site for comments.

Heck - if the weasels on Parliament Hill decide to call an election, it might even be interesting to find out how many candidates even know what an infanteer/phantassin is ...

I REALLY get ticked off when the media do a shoddy job on Remembrance Day - part of the blame rests with the guys in uniform who don't do a good enough job of priming the pump, and ensuring the journalists have enough good raw material.

Also, Remembrance Day is a Saturday this year - many infanteers (part-time and full-time) won't have to go to the office, but can attend a local service, instead (and, some churches hold special remembrance services on Sunday - my minister asked me to read the lesson last year).

Looking further down range, when's the last time you saw a Canadian article like this
(i.e. "The Canadian Infantry go where nobody else can go" ...or, my favourite ... "Nobody really wants to fight, but somebody has to know how - that's why the Canadian Army has Infantry")?

Dileas Gu Brath, Ducimus
M.A. Bossi, Esquire

(following article is from the San Diego Union-Tribune):

I suggest you start with the Central Ontario Branch organization. LCol "Crash" Johnson (Lone Scots) whom you know well is involved and can provide some direction.

That's the spirit though. Imagine an association that actually has people seeking out branches to join. This is what we need.

Every Infanteer has an arena to share his professional comment. Ask the hard questions and hear common complaints. For years we have been complaining about the same old things, Operational tempo, Reserve training systems failures, kit that never seems to get bought. Now we will have one voice, focused on our issues and working to solve them.

This is the place. Join us and become part of one greater movement. The Canadian Infantry Association, since 1912, representing us, Regular, Reserve, back from the dead and renewed in its vigour.

(oh god! this is really catching on)

Does the association have a strict policy in regards to media releases of any nature?! I have found that the various units do not have positions that of a "media officer". One that would oversea raising the profile of their respective regiments in their various locations. The media resources are there to take advantage of. Just wondering if the association can be used to further the profile of the infantry in the public eye.

... the U.S. Marine Corps League ... military service organization was founded in 1923 and chartered by Congress in 1937, to assist Marines' widows and orphans and keep alive the history of the Corps.

It has since expanded its areas of interest to include a wide variety of community service projects, such as recruiting and youth programs, Lutz said. But the group's core purpose remains the same.

``Veterans are our primary concern,'' Lutz said ...

[here's the complete article]

Semper Fidelis: Years after he retired, he's nation's top Marine
By MELISSA WOOD
� 2000, The Virginian-Pilot

Ernest Lutz of Chesapeake is proud and grateful to be the Marine Corps League's Marine of the Year for 2000.

The 69-year-old retired master sergeant was overcome with surprise and delight to be picked from among more than 50,000 veteran and active-duty Marines during the final, suspense-filled moments of the league's national convention in New Orleans this summer.

Lutz retired from the Marine Corps in 1971, but those who know him well -- such as his wife, Gloria, and fellow Marine Corps leaguer Bob Fountain of Chesapeake -- say that at heart, Lutz is still and always will be a Marine.

``The Corps is part of your life forever,'' Lutz said. ``You couldn't forget even if you wanted to.''

At home in his inspection-neat, comfortable Great Bridge ranch house last month, Lutz looked Leatherneck-trim at just under 6 feet and 175 pounds, dressed immaculately in a crisply ironed white shirt, tie, black trousers and shiny black military oxfords.

Reminders of his almost quarter-century of service, from Inchon through Vietnam, are everywhere.

Three renditions of the famous memorial of the Marines raising the flag at Iwo Jima are in Lutz's home office, a cozy, gabled room over the garage. Framed photographs of military planes and helicopters crowd the walls. More photos, of duty stations around the world and old squadron mates, spill across the table and desktops and fill the half-dozen or so photo albums stacked on the floor.

In 1948, Ernie Lutz, a 17-year-oldfrom Arkansas, joined the Marine Corps, filled with leftover wartime patriotism and a certainty of purpose he didn't stop to consider.

Two years later, the 19-year-old private first class was part of the Korean War's Inchon invasion.

Twenty years later, as a gunnery sergeant, he reported for duty near Da Nang, Vietnam,as head of a helicopter maintenance crew. Despite two decades of experience, the latter duty was much harder, he recalled. In Vietnam, he had responsibility for lives other than his own.

While he was there, his unit didn't lose a single man, he says proudly.

Near the end of his career, Lutz was given a prestigious assignment, as flight engineer with a Marine air unit that flew government officials and VIPs. In one of Lutz's favorite photos, the Corps' most decorated Marine, Chesty Puller, long retired, and his wife stand by Lutz's aircraft. In the photo, taken in the early `70s, Puller is not smiling.

``That's how he always looked,'' said Lutz, fondly gazing at Puller's stern visage.

Other, more recent photos with President Clinton and former Kansas Sen.Bob Dole reflect Lutz's rise to prominence with the Marine Corps League. He is vice commandant for the Mid-East region, and is a member of its national board.
Marine Corps League was meeting.

He was immediately interested in the chance to be a Marine among Marines again, still serving but in a different way.

He threw himself wholeheartedly into the local chapter, concentrating on recruiting more members. Membership in the Chesapeake chapter has grown from about 20 to 85 or so members over the past seven years, he said.

The military service organization was founded in 1923 and chartered by Congress in 1937, to assist Marines' widows and orphans and keep alive the history of the Corps.

It has since expanded its areas of interest to include a wide variety of community service projects, such as recruiting and youth programs, Lutz said. But the group's core purpose remains the same.

``Veterans are our primary concern,'' Lutz said.
In 1993, after civilian careers with Bell Helicopter and as a real estate agent, Lutz saw a newspaper notice. A local chapter of the

Fountain said that Lutz, one of the league's best-known and most respected members, logs thousands of miles each year talking about the Marine Corps League, but hates to talk about himself.

Each year before the Marine of the Year is named, said Gloria Lutz, the group allows a little anticipation to build, reading the whole history of the winner's military career and post-military accomplishments before the name is actually announced.

About halfway through this year's citation, when the presenter got to the part about helicopters in Vietnam, Gloria Lutz said, she squeezed the hand of her husband of 46 years and said, ``Honey, that's you.''

Yep, one of the main aims of the association is the public promotion of the Infantry Corps. I do not believe this position exists within the council but maybe it should be added.

The whole structure needs to be looked at in order to insure we are organized to do what we want to do. Maybe we don't have to change anything? But we need to look at it. Volunteers?

Rick, just looked at the chat site. Good site but a little intimidating at first. Can we simplify it? Good place to meet. Wouldn't mind getting to talk to some of you on line. Will try to be on at 2200 hrs Sunday if anyone is interested.

Yours,

There are several chat server applications, but most seem to be geared to people putting in one-liners. The site I linked to is just the only one I found which allows additional input, ie posting a fairly long post-it note then getting short inputs from the others in the room, then voting on it. There is another, simpler package that allows longer inputs but no supporting documents, so maybe I'll post a sample for it as well.

I'll try to be in the already-listed chat room tonight. I assume you mean 2200 London, Ontario time (2000 Calgary time)

Sorry was a little late tonight. We could set up a time when we could all meet. This may be a good way to stimulate discussion on the Action Plan.

Rick, I think you should lead and decide a time. I will monitor. Best time for me is after 2200 hrs EST.

Sunday 19 November 2021
War Museum has responsibility to sound warning
Col. (Ret.) A. Sean Henry
The Ottawa Citizen

The Citizen seems to be emulating The Times of London by publishing the letters of duelling academics -- a blood sport if there ever was one! ("War Museum must broaden its perspective," Nov 12). Victor Suthren is correct to suggest a broad mandate for the Canadian War Museum, but loses his way when he describes what that mandate should be.

The first responsibility of the museum is to foster remembrance and gratitude in new generations for the sacrifice of those who fought and died to build Canada and preserve its values of peace with freedom.

The second responsibility is to sound a warning that aggression, conflict and war are hard-wired into the human psyche. By all means, strive for peace through negotiation, but if negotiation fails, then protection of vital interests by force is the crucial final option.

History teaches that nations and societies that make a virtue of weakness soon disappear from the radar screen. One of the greatest casualties of this approach have been Canada's Armed Forces, which have declined to near impotence. The siren call of low-budget/low-risk classical peacekeeping has been loud, especially since the end of the Cold War.

Reality intervened with a jolt in places like Kuwait, Somalia, Bosnia, Rwanda and Kosovo. Although the barbarians were not at Canada's gates in these cases, the danger to our vulnerable trading relations, through instability, was very real.

History has not ended and human nature has not changed. Greater wars loom on the horizon as the national interests and ambitions of major players such as China, a revitalized Russia, and others come into play. Of greater immediate concern is another Middle East war, with vital oil supplies placed at risk. The latter has the potential to devastate Canada's fragile prosperity.

Col. (Ret.) A. Sean Henry,