Posted by Michael Dorosh from Canada on April 18, 2021 at 20:35:34:
In Reply to: Re: It'll be a real tragedy when you're gone yess because you'll be in charge posted by Andyboy on April 18, 2021 at 13:53:50:
First off - as for 1940s youth WORKING for a living - I thought there was a Depression going on at the time? I really think Mr. Magoo responded well to this actually - all Militia men are volunteers, and infantrymen on average probably spend as much time in the gym as your average high school soccer player or hockey player - they do take it more seriously than you might think.
Education not equalling intelligence - well said, and of course you are correct. I didn't mean to imply that I think Regular Force personnel are any smarter or more stupid than reservists. However, do you disagree that the best and brightest tend to stay away from a career in the Regs? My best friend, currently in Yugo, has two degrees and was kind of astonished at the level of intelligence he found in his compatriots when he joined the Regs two years ago. Look at the need for doctors in the forces, for example - any doctor knows he can make more on civvie street, so why bother with the military? I don't suppose anyone joins the infantry thinking it a fast track to becoming a millionaire either. I'm not saying that we don't need an army - we do - but it just doesn't attract quality people anymore. Yes, there should be civic pride - there are all kinds of shoulds - unfortunately, society has become very individualistic, and not many people put nation before self any more.
Yes, the Army had from 1939 to 1944 to train, but you miss my point -THEY DIDN'T. Read John English, or any other account of why we did so poorly in Normandy. a) the training we did do was not of high value and b) no amount of training could have prepared the Army to do much better against the Germans - the most experienced and best led army in the world. We won because of our numbers, and our firepower (chiefly heavy bombers and a sophisticated artillery force). Training didn't do much.
You say that "The Molitia and reserves are supposed to be a firm base upon which to start the mobilization and I have never suggested otherwise, however pretending to be well trained is not the same as being well trained." I agree. It comes down to - do you want 100 extremely well trained men to form a cadre around, or 10,000 less-well trained men. Either way, if the Canadian Army commits as much as a division to any kind of major war fighting operation, it will be composed mostly of civlians and militiamen. I think it behooves us to retain as many people as possible, as long as they are able to perform meaningful functions.
Good points about pepperpotting as a basis for further training. But from my perspective, our training is the same year after year in my unit. High turnover does make that necessary I suppose, but our MTSC exercises have a monotonous sameness about them. Luckily there is usually one "good" exercise a year - a couple years ago, it was helicopters, this year we did an amphibious exercise, to keep things interesting. But mostly its just the same thing - it has to be, because of all the newbies every year. The problem is retention. What is the solution? I don't think running the troops into the ground with 50 km rucksack runs is the answer.
I didn't mean to imply that Reg Force courses are longer because they are "dumber"; apologies if anyone was offended by that.
My point about employers is this - in order for a Reservist to meet the high standards of training and fitness you espouse, is it not necessary for reservists to take that kind of time off from work? If not, how would you go about implementing a plan in which reservists are expected to attain said high standards, given three Wednesdays and a weekend each month?
As I pointed out, I've been in three years times four, and in a perfect world Reservists would have the time to devote to their craft. But in a perfect world we would have a 100,000 man Regular Force, and 2 million young males and females would volunteer for a fully equipped, well led Militia.
But we have to work with what we've got.
So I ask you again - how do we best do that?