Why should we care what happens to our veterans?
If you ask that question, you will likely be the recipient of a good telling-off by those who think anyone who serves is a hero. However, some feel that blind hero-worship is both off-putting and non-responsive. Perhaps some are heroes, but are they all? And are they really defending our freedom? And, if so, then so what? Is it not like any other job? They didn't have to enlist. They knew what they were signing up for. Why should we care?
So lets strip away all talk of patriotism and freedom and democracy and stick to something we can all understand. Lets examine the question using enlightened self interest: what do our soldiers and Mounties do for us?
The RCMP provide safety and security. They patrol in dark corners and remote locations, applying the rule of law. Lesser known, but just as significant, are the search-and-rescue and safety patrols they conduct.
In a blizzard, on a highway, you will often find one of the Mounted hard at work, ensuring motorists don't ignore the Road Closed Sign and drive into danger. The RCMP use ground patrols and helicopters to find missing people. They pull victims from frozen lakes and carry them out of wilderness. They rush into danger to save people from harm.
The Forces perform similar tasks here in Canada, but on a bigger scale. The Canadian Forces, by dint of numbers and resources, can rescue entire cities from trouble. They hold back the floods in Winnipeg. They clear snow from blocked streets in Toronto. They deliver supplies and heat during ice-storms in Quebec and Nova Scotia. They fight forest fires in BC and re-build hurricane-destroyed roads in Newfoundland. They jump out of helicopters into the Arctic sea and North Atlantic to save sailors from drowning. They get food and medical supplies to every corner of the country, whenever people are in trouble.
But what makes them different? We have other police, firefighters, first-responders. Why do we need the Forces and RCMP? Couldn't we get rid of them; download the work to the others?
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We could, sure. But in order to make it work, these other groups would have to assume the same employment condition: unlimited liability. Unlimited Liability refers to the agreement one makes upon enlistment. One agrees to serve, to obey instructions, without regard to personal safety. This means that, no matter how dangerous the circumstance, you run in. Charge across that mine field? No problem. Jump 30' from a helicopter to the frigid ocean? You got it. Snowshoe through a blizzard to bring medicine to a stormbound community, despite the - 109 wind-chill? Sure thing.
The RCMP and Forces serve with the understanding, not that they might be injured, but that they will be injured. They expect to be a broken wreck by the time their enlistment is up, and just as likely, well before. They accept that role because they know that their sacrifice often means lives are saved. They understand that, in dangerous situations, someone has to get in and do what is needed. And that these jobs can only be done effectively by those who have been trained to disregard personal safety.
Even if we disbanded the Forces and Mounted, the work that they do and the ways it must be done will remain. Disbanding the RCMP and Forces would require us to find replacements who would serve under the same exact terms. The only thing downloading services would accomplish would be changing the name of the operators.
Which brings us to our treatment of veterans.
Given the principle of unlimited liability, we cannot escape our duty to those that serve. They agree to take personal damage up to, and including, giving their lives in service to us all. Therefore, it follows that we all have unlimited responsibility to look after for those who serve when those damages occur.
A responsibility which we have been evading for decades. Perhaps a century.
The myriad ways we have found to duck out cannot be listed here. But that list has been growing since 2006, when the New Veterans Charter put limits on the pain-and.-suffering award. Government continues to find ways to short-change veterans: fighting them in court, cutting service delivery, even violating their privacy to gain an upper hand. We keep putting limits on our responsibility after the individual has already given their body and mind for us.
Not only is this grotesquely unfair, it is also really bad for our future. If you ask around, you will find that military and police services are still largely family businesses -- the children of members will likely enlist themselves. Our recruitment forecasts count on that. So what happens when we short-change the veterans?
Veterans that are parents and relatives will tell their children not to enlist, that there is no honour is serving such a callous and uncaring nation. Other veterans will talk to their friends about what happened, about how they sacrificed for their country and their county tossed them away like trash. A massive word-of-mouth campaign. A veteran's story is precious to anyone considering joining up. As these horror stories get out, recruit may change their minds about signing up with the Mounties or Forces.
There goes our future recruitment.
This is already happening. Some veterans are telling their kids to do anything -- be plumbers, work fast-food, sweep streets -- anything other than put their lives on the line for us. Every failure of benefits or inappropriate incident at Veterans Affairs pushes those future recruits further away.
And those other forces? The ones you think would replace the RCMP and military? They have been watching as well. They know what we are doing to our veterans. I doubt they would be quick to leap into the breech.
If we don't start fixing the issues at Veterans Affairs, if we don't start providing proper and timely benefits to our veterans, then one day soon, we may not have a national police force or a military. We won't have anyone to save us, to help us, to keep us from danger. We will be left to our own devices.
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Next week: So what if veterans are angry?
Follow Jeff Rose-Martland on Twitter: www.twitter.com/rosemartland
Check it out in the National Defence Act:
http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/N-5/
http://www.dopdfdownload.com/download/info__publicintelligence__net--20080930_Felderman_N-NC_Plans_Summary_Interagency.pdf
http://publicintelligence.net/canada-command-usnorthcom-civil-assistance-plan/
http://www.cdfai.org/conference2002.htm
http://www3.carleton.ca/csds/docs/occasional_papers/npsia-29.pdf
http://www3.carleton.ca/csds/docs/occasional_papers/npsia-33.pdf
http://www.thepresidency.org/publications/post-911-studies/the-us-canada-strategic-partnership-in-the-war-on-terrorism
&
http://www.bing.com/search?q=Philippe%20Lagass%C3%A9&pc=conduit&ptag=A21BC39FF1E5042BDBAF&form=CONBDF&conlogo=CT3210127&ShowAppsUI=1
Philippe Lagassé holds a Master's degree from the War Studies Program at the Royal Military College, Kingston
http://news.gc.ca/web/srch-rchrch-eng.do?mthd=advSrch
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=16499
Bill 60
http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?Language=E&Parl=40&Ses=2&Mode=1&Pub=Bill&Doc=C-60_1&File=59#10
Like Harper & his CONS being partners with CGI who are key partners with U.S. Government & Military, including Department of Homeland Security...
"CGI...more than 30 years, we’ve partnered with U.S. defense, civilian, and intelligence agencies"... http://www.nhdf.org/7-national-symposium/exhibitors/whos-exhibiting/cgi
http://www.cgi.com/en/CGI-Awarded-Prime-Contract-Multiple-Award-ID-IQ---US-Army-Forces-Command
And Harper & his CONS awarding CGI contracts with our government worth BILLIONS, placing thousands of CGI employees into every department of our government, including our courts & law enforcement agencies, etc...
http://www.admfincs.forces.gc.ca/apps/dc/contract-contrat-eng.asp?q=3&y=2011&id=id105548
http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/pd-dp/contra/2007-06-30/000489-eng.htm
http://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/dept-min/pd-dp/contra/details.asp?yr=2011&q=1&c=6227
"biggest cuts are to the Department of National Defence, at $1.1 billion over three years, & Public Safety, to trim $688 million"... http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/03/29/federalbudget-flaherty-public-service-cuts.html
AND Harper & his CONS cutting thousands of public service employees from Department of National Defence & Public Safety, directly following CGI setting up National "Defence, Public Safety & Intelligence Unit"...
http://www.canadianbusiness.com/article/48169--cgi-hires-military-transformation-leader-to-head-canadian-defence-unit
'A huge part of the population that elected the Conservatives were veterans and soldiers hoping for a little bit more respect for the sacrifice that they endure,' says Sean Bruyea
The Conservatives have made support for the troops an integral part of their party brand, but when the first ever veterans' ombudsman recently blasted the government for denying veterans adequate benefits it exposed a sense of betrayal felt by soldiers and their families who thought they would be better off with Harper, said a Canadian Forces veteran and longtime advocate for disabled soldiers.
more info:
http://homecomingvets.com/2012/02/13/sean-bruyea-posts-suggestions-on-how-to-fix-veterans-affairs-canada-and-the-veterans-review-and-appeal-board/
They have done their part, we must do ours!
End of discussion.
Was I indignant in the 90s? No. For the simple fact that I, like many Canadians, were either completely unaware or trusted that such things would be taken care of in short order. Many such issues went unreported or under-reported. When they did make national media, civilian reaction would have been disbelief. Citizens would automatically assume that such outrageous conditions would not be allowed to continue and would be rapidly addressed.
That is not an excuse, just an explanation.
The 90s were difficult for everyone financially but, had citizens known how deeply affected the Forces were, we would have spoken up. It is easy to think that one news item is an isolated case. However, if we had known, for instance, of the bullet-less training exercises, you can be assured there would have been reaction. The image of our troops running through the woods shouting BANGBANG at each other because DND could not afford to give them ammunition would have had people very disturbed. Just as we were with Op Apollo when those pictures came back of the Forces in a desert wearing forest camouflage.
Please continue your excellent writing, your response to my comment sounds like a future post in itself, and one that I think needs to be written.
Again, thanks.
But seriously, using WWII as the model for every war over the last 65 years is a capitalist's paradise of lies.
158 lives wasted, utterly wasted.
If the Conservatives miserable treatment of veterans makes it tremendously harder for Canada to take part in American misadventures, thank goodness.
We each have a responsibility to be involved in Canada's decisions, whether that be going to Afghanistan or providing for veterans or changes to the legal code, or anything else. Standing back and letting our elected officials abuse our veterans is avoiding that responsibility.
Though it's hard to curb a majority government.
Actually it's the government of the day that does. I didn't send Canadian troops to Afghanistan, didn't order the bombing of Libya, nor am I itching to get Canadians involved in Syria.
And because of that it's also the government that's responsible for the veterans.
If we all are MAD to believe we need our military, would the sane approach be to disband our forces?
History may play an active part in our decisions
. Until we can rid the world of greed, hate and feeling inferior, self preservation will also guide our decisions.