2011 the limit for Army's current Afghan mission/Generals lobbying publicly

From Chief of the Land Staff Gen. Andrew Leslie:

...
Gen. Leslie, the officer responsible for the training and equipping of Canada's land forces, is hoping to provide for his troops at a time when the army is seeking to expand and rebuild after enduring the long war in Afghanistan.

Canada is to leave its mission in Kandahar in 2011, despite calls from U.S. president-elect Barack Obama for the world to commit to greater efforts in Afghanistan [but is the "Prime minister going wobbly on Afstan withdrawal?"]. Gen. Leslie said the army would have been stretched too thin to continue the Afghan mission much longer.

He said the army is already operating at a frantic pace to keep its Kandahar battle group in the field for so many years, with some soldiers going back for the fifth and sixth time before the mission's end date. The army will need about a year off in 2011 before it can take on a mission of that scope again, he said.

"If the government hadn't said we're out in 2011, then probably over the course of the next couple of months I would have had to go to my boss and say: 'In 2011 we have a problem,' " he said.

"I'm now looking at sending soldiers back perhaps for the fifth and sixth time - in modest numbers - by the time we pull out in 2011. And that is an awful lot. Of course the soldier is only as good as the supportive family will be. And so far, the military families have hung tough ... But I suspect by 2011, the army will be stretched really thin," he said.

"We're going to need a bit of a reset, rest period. [But] it doesn't mean we're going to stop everything we're going to be doing post-2011, because there may be other missions."

The army now counts about 20,000 regulars, and plans to boost those numbers by just over 3,000, but it has been able to add only about 500 a year so far, largely because of limits on its training resources, he said. And it cannot devote all of its training to new recruits when it has soldiers heading into combat.

"There's close to 8,000 reservists who are in full-time service right now. And that's how we're getting it done," Gen. Leslie said.

But I would think the Army should be capable of a different and reduced mission after 2011, should the governement decide to continue a significant CF role in Afstan--some possiblities are outlined here.

And, further to BBS's post on the vehicles part of the above story, an earlier post:

"DND seeks more than $2B for vehicles for Afghanistan...

... Insiders question strategy given tough economic times".

More at the Upperdate here.

By the way, does anyone else find it a curious coincidence that the Chief of the Land Staff has joined Chief of the Air Staff Lt.-Gen. Angus Watt by, in effect, lobbying publicly for equipment (and putting some pressure on the government)?

More Cormorants?

See also the end of this post:

Fixed-wing SAR: The C-27J after all?