More, please, and louder

It seems Cmdre (ret'd) Eric Lehre, at least, is interested in making the case for the navy. From e-mail correspondence:

Your post says "'Six attacks, including two hijackings, have been reported by vessels transiting the Gulf of Aden' since May 19." While there may be other NATO ships in the region, (normal only 5-8 coalition ships cover the entire Persian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz, Gulf of Oman, and Red Sea area) there is, evidently, not enough of them. Moreover, Canada, as a G-8 member and a country where 75% of her GDP comes from international trade, must contribute to this effort and any other that keeps that trade moving. By the way these ship deployment usually cost less than 20 million in incremental funding. Peanuts. (From a former Persian Gulf Coalition Task Group Commander.)

Well said. Again, my depth of military knowledge is weakest on naval matters, but I've always felt the two strongest arguments for a strong Canadian navy are 1) protection of the world's longest coastline, and 2) contribution to a strong international order in order to protect our security and economic interests as a trading nation.

Our country needs less assumptions by sailors that the need for their branch of the CF is self-evident, and more discussion of how Canada's basic national interests are served by a strong navy. Pitter, patter, ladies and gents...