Army woes

David Pugliese of the Ottawa Citizen continues his series of stories on each service's troubles:

Canada's army is stretched almost to the breaking point and replacement stocks of equipment for Afghanistan have been used up, warns the head of land force.

In a strategic assessment written in January, Lt.-Gen. Andrew Leslie discloses that the size of the army has actually shrunk by 30 soldiers since 2005, even though the service is supplying 80 per cent of the personnel for the Afghanistan mission.

"The Army is now stretched almost to the breaking point and something is going to have to give if we are to be sustainable over the short and mid-term," the general writes in his 2008 business plan obtained by the Citizen.

He predicts the personnel situation will only worsen in the short term.

The army is short 250 officers and 1,000 non-commissioned members.

Lt.-Gen. Leslie warns the army is also facing a serious problem with equipment. Spare parts are in short supply and the Afghanistan mission is taking its toll on a significant amount of equipment.

"Obviously all of it has to be replaced from existing stocks, but the initial pool of stocked equipment has long since been used up, either destroyed by the foe or is off being repaired.

"To create a stock of equipment we have to take it from the home based training systems, which has an immediate and negative impact on training. All of our equipment is either deployed, being reset, used in training or broken and waiting either labour or spare parts."

Additional money is needed to buy parts and to hire more people, military or civilian, to fix the equipment which is used for training for Afghanistan, Lt.-Gen. Leslie writes.

The Canadian army is not alone in dealing with excessive wear and tear on its vehicle fleets and equipment. The U.S. military is going through similar problems because of the Afghan and Iraq wars and has had to go back to government for additional funding for repair and overhaul of vehicles and gear. [Why raise only the American bogeyman? Rather than the Brits and their problems? More here.]

On the issue of personnel shortages, Lt.-Gen. Leslie cites increasing attrition rates in the army and in the Canadian Forces overall. That is due to an aging workforce approaching retirement and a strong economy which appreciates skills possessed by military veterans.

The other reason is that many hundreds of the army's most experienced field personnel are now filling positions in recently created headquarters and units, he writes. Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Rick Hillier has started a process to transform the military for the future. Part of that has been creating new commands as well as units such as the Canadian Special Operations Regiment [see "Command Centre" on left here for the commands].

Lt.-Gen. Leslie warns the army can't sustain current operational needs and the requirement to provide new units and headquarters with staff...

Defence Department spokesman Lt.-Col. Jamie Robertson said in an e-mail the army, navy and air force assessments do not reflect the current situation. He noted the government "continues to provide stable, predictable funding with annual increases which will directly result in a stronger, better-equipped, flexible Canadian military."

Lt.-Col. Robertson also pointed out, for instance, that "the army will be able to successfully conclude its personnel training and equipping requirements within the funding levels and equipment envelope provided to it by the Government of Canada."

Asked for other examples of where issues raised by the assessments are being dealt with, the department did not provide any.

Lt.-Col. Robertson also said the use of the "six-month old Strategic Assessments misleads the Canadian public into believing the CF is being inadequately funded. This is simply not the case."

The army document cited by the Citizen, however, was dated Jan. 10, 2008, a little more than three months ago...

In an e-mail, army spokesman Doug Drever noted the service is dealing with its personnel shortages by accelerating junior leadership training. It will graduate 1,000 junior non-commissioned officers this year to address both routine needs and address the personnel gap, Mr. Drever added.

"The army continues to grow each year, expanding by a total of 3,000 positions in the coming years to bolster existing formations and units," his e-mail noted...