Army needs several thousand more soldiers, and helicopters, and tanks

Lt.-Gen. Andrew Leslie, Chief of the Land Staff, at a the Senate Committee on National Security and Defence, February 26:

The commander of the army says Canada's military problems are serious enough that they keep him awake at night, including recruiting troubles and the need for new equipment.

The comment by Lt.-Gen. Andrew Leslie to the Senate defence committee on Monday prompted one senator to wonder if the general is getting any sleep at all. Leslie said the need to recruit thousands of new soldiers to expand the army is a problem because many of the people needed to train the recruits are in Afghanistan or training to go to there.

The army is already troubled by attrition which can run as high as 12 per cent a year in the infantry, meaning that to increase the force by 3,000 to 5,000 soldiers requires an annual intake of 5,000 to 6,000.

"We need more regular and reserve soldiers to do all that we've been asked to do," he said...

Leslie also said he frets at night about helicopters.

"I really, really, really would like to see medium-and heavy-lift helicopters in theatre as soon as possible."

Canadian troops in Afghanistan have had to hitch rides with allies to move around by air. The military sold its medium-lift Chinook helicopters to the Dutch in the early 1990s and now is looking for replacements [CH-47 looks a done deal, with a sweetener for Quebec].

Transport helicopters, however, would also require helicopter gunships - either Canadian of allied - to escort them in some dangerous areas.

Finally, Leslie said his sleep is also troubled by tanks - or the lack of them.

"I want more mass, more Kevlar, more steel around our young men and women when they're travelling on those dangerous roads."

The army's aging Leopard tanks - basically a 1960s design - have saved "innumerable" lives in Afghanistan, Leslie said, but they are getting hard to maintain.

They are also designed to fight in European conditions, not the hot dust of an Afghan summer...

Leslie said he hopes the government will decide within two or three months about a Leopard replacement. He said he has no particular tank in mind, but says the troops need something with solid protection and the ability to shepherd the infantry over the kind of mud-walled ramparts that can shelter Taliban forces...