At what point...

Given the 'plain' speaking nature of current Chief of Defence Staff Hillier, are we beginning to see the first signs of a more politically active Canadian Military?

Personally, I'm happy to see the more aggressive stance adopted since Hillier's choice as CDS, but it's certainly a fine line to tread.

'MBA types' hurt military, commander says

Jeff Lee
Vancouver Sun

Saturday, May 20, 2006

DUNDURN, SASK. -- Years of gutting the Canadian military to bring efficiencies to an organization that relies on layers of operations have deeply harmed the country's military capability, according to the commander of one of western Canada's best-known army battalions.

In an interview sharpened by Canada's decision Wednesday to extend its mission to Afghanistan two more years, Lt.-Col. Wayne Eyre, the commanding officer of the 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, blamed "MBA types" for gutting experience-generating infantry battalions.

And he said Canada will continue to lose valuable, experienced soldiers because it doesn't offer them overseas missions, instead overtasking them with training and teaching jobs that keep them away from their families without giving them the adventure they crave.

Eyre also criticized the federal government's decision last month to cancel a smaller secondary task force that would have seen overseas operations in Afghanistan, Sudan or Haiti, and which directly impacted 200 of B.C.'s reserve soldiers who had volunteered for the mission.

Many of those soldiers had quit jobs, put schooling on hold or moved out of apartments in order to join the task force, Eyre said in an interview during a training exercise where a small group of reservists were preparing for a primary task force deployment in February to Afghanistan.

"For me personally it was extremely professionally disappointing. Extremely, because I would have commanded it. But also, what happened is they ripped the battalion apart," said Eyre, a 20-year veteran who was at the Battle of Medak Pocket in Croatia.

As a result, the 3rd Battalion Princess Patricia's is lending one rifle company, including 27 B.C. reservists, to a battle group from Ontario that will take over the newly extended mission.

The government cancelled the secondary task force because of concerns the military was overstretched and could only meet its Afghanistan commitment but not further demands elsewhere in the world.

But that problem started back in the 1990s when the military made ill-advised changes based on a theory it could become more efficient, he said.

"It's because we've got too many MBAs," he said. "Business and military are fundamentally different. Businesses strive for efficiencies. You eliminate redundancies. When you start taking out redundancies, redundancies that were put in place because of the realities of combat, and you're then faced with challenging overseas missions, you've shaved the ice so thin there is nothing left."

Despite his criticism, Eyre said in a second interview Friday he fully supports the decision to be in Afghanistan.