OTTAWA - The country's military police watchdog has told Parliament it still does not have the full authority it needs to discharge its mandate, despi...

OTTAWA - Canada's top soldier says the armed forces have no fat left to cut ahead of this week's austerity budget.But Gen. Thomas Lawson told the Sena...

OTTAWA - Money being cut from National Defence will inevitably slice into the Canadian military's ability to carry out sustained missions at home and ...

OTTAWA - "There's no place like home" could become the battle cry of the Canadian military as spending on overseas operations is forecast to take a st...

The Harper government's new focus on the Americas means a dramatic change of effort for the Canadian Forces and an overt participation in the U.S. war...

OTTAWA - The head of the African Union is set to visit Ottawa this week.Thomas Yayi Boni's meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper could bring a re...

ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - Prime Minister Stephen Harper's trip to a military base in Labrador on Friday will finalize a long-awaited federal loan guarantee f...

Shrinking budgets in the years ahead is leading to questions about what kind of military Canada will have. Defence spending has increased...

OTTAWA - Compensating disabled veterans for the clawback of their military pensions could cost more than expected because the federal government is no...

HALIFAX - Some of Canada's most severely injured veterans say they are still seeing their military pensions clawed back despite a court ruling that fo...

President Obama and the leaders of the world's most successful alliance, NATO, -- one that deterred nuclear war and kept the peace in Europe after centuries of conflict -- gather in Chicago this weekend to talk about the future. Obama and Prime Minister Harper should consider Mexico when they meet with other NATO leaders in Chicago.

Canada and the U.S. have finalized one agreement and renewed another to better co-ordinate civilian and military forces against threats. ...

OTTAWA - The Harper government has hired a consultant to inject a little war into this year's Canada Day bash on Parliament Hill.A Toronto theatre exp...

It's the hidden cost in Canada's fight against terror: long johns geared for chemical warfare.The Canadian Forces are looking to replenish depleted st...

OTTAWA - Canada's auditor general is raising questions about the practice of contracting out maintenance on military equipment, and warns National Def...

OTTAWA - Plucking Canadians out of the world's hot spots is a growing area of concern and study for military planners, who until a few years ago didn'...

There's the apocryphal story in the United States that if a soldier says he's a soldier at a bar, he won't be able to buy himself a drink for the rest of the night. It's time that we bring this type of appreciation back to Canada.

"A lot of people don't know what goes on in the woodwork of the Forces," the Corporal tells me. "In a sense, it's good that Afghanistan happened; it allowed us to show Canadians what we do, and what their taxes are paying for. And usually, if there's a sense of animosity against the army, it's because a lot of people don't know much about us."

My heart begins to pound as I see the green sign of the beach. I see other rafts ahead and can't be sure if the troops are fast-casting off them yet until I see their bodies make small, white explosions into the water. The driver yells "Go!" and the two men behind me somersault into the water with a crash.

The captain leads me through the base to pick up my kevlar vest and helmet. The officer sitting at reception's eyes grow wide at seeing my camera dangling around my neck. Understandably, the Forces are sometimes wary of the press. Minutes later, I don not the uniform of the Canadian soldiers, but rather the one they use during exercises for "enemy" troops.