Big Cod, big splash

The Economist has run a most unlikely profile of Rick Hillier and his effect upon both the CF and the Canadian electorate. The only disappointment is that the piece is too short to do the topic real justice:

“WE ARE not the public service of Canada,” General Rick Hillier once told journalists. “We are the Canadian Forces and our job is to be able to kill people.” Such a robust view of military power was unusual when General Hillier was appointed chief of the defence staff. In the three years he spent in the post before stepping down earlier this month, he almost succeeded in making it mainstream.

Canadians have often seemed more comfortable with an army that puts up tents and dishes out aid than with one that actually shoots people. The reasons for this are partly historical: the Liberal Party, which ruled Canada for most of the second half of the 20th century, drew much of its support from Quebec, where a dislike of military adventures dates back to the days of the British empire. Defence spending was frozen in the 1970s and 1980s, and then cut back in the 1990s.

Bucking this history, Canada announced in 2005 that it would assume NATO responsibility for providing security in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province and sent 2,000 soldiers to do the job. The task of selling the deployment of these troops fell to the plain-speaking general. The Taliban and Osama bin Laden were, he explained, “detestable murderers and scumbags” who should be hunted down.

To keep public opinion on his side, General Hillier made regular appearances on television accompanied by Afghan veterans, bringing him a level of fame previously unknown for an army officer in Canada...

The point they fail to make - and it's an important one - is that the general's fame wasn't his aim. Rather, it was a necessary evil in order for him to do the job with the level of effectiveness he needed. In other words, Hillier wasn't chasing cameras and microphones for his own sake, but for the sake of his men.

Still, it's interesting to see that the Big Cod has made enough of a splash to get noticed in a big pond.

Thanks for the pointer to Quotulatiousness, home of the former Laziest Reservist in Canada. Or at least, that's how he described himself to me over pints one fine evening a few years back...