The Torch: Stretched armies

I'd say this headline could equally well apply to the Canadian Army:

The Army is too small to fight all of the battles facing Britain
We have to decide what we really want from our Armed Forces, argues Allan Mallinson.
...
Allan Mallinson's 'The Making of the British Army' is published by Bantam on September 10

A proper "strategic defence review" is also needed for Canada. But this government is completely unwilling to undertake such a, er, contentious, exercise; see also this post.

As for the Canadian Army,

Army really stretched

Chief of the Land Staff Gen. Leslie on the Army's future

and the government's rather pathetic future plans for the CF:

DND's Reports on Plans and Priorities 2009-2010: Wow. Not.

Update: How bad is it?

Olympics push army to edge
Guarding 2010 Games and G8 summit means compromises elsewhere - even in Afghanistan, defence documents say

Canada is considering outsourcing military work in Afghanistan and pulling soldiers from low-profile foreign missions to relieve the pressure of fighting in Kandahar, guarding the 2010 Olympics and protecting world leaders in Muskoka.

According to documents obtained by the Toronto Star, more than 32,000 military personnel – about half the entire Canadian Forces – will be in training or set to deploy on missions to Kandahar, the Vancouver Olympics and next summer's G8 meeting in Huntsville between now and July 2010...

The defence department has labelled the problem "Personnel Crunch 2010."

"We ... are now at the point where some requests that would seem to be minor (e.g., for only a few personnel) are, in reality, difficult to source initially and impossible to sustain over the 2010 timeframe," says a March 17 memorandum to chief of defence staff Gen. Walter Natynczyk.

Already military officials are considering passing some signature work in Afghanistan, such as the operation of a military college for Afghan army officers, to civilian contractors or retired soldiers.

Canadian soldiers in Kandahar will also be ordered to train and mentor additional Afghan army battalions on the front lines without more troops, say the documents, obtained under the Access to Information Act...

Canadian participation in smaller peacekeeping missions could end or be drastically cut, the memo also reveals.

"If positions on missions (other than Joint Task Force Afghanistan) are no longer required because of changing capabilities or mission parameters, positions should be deleted ... with the aim of accruing personnel ... `savings.'"

The documents don't say which missions could be axed, but Canadians make small contributions to 14 other international operations in the Middle East, Sudan, Haiti, Cyprus, the Balkans and elsewhere [see list here]...

Earlier about the Winter Olympics (note Update):

CF participation in 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics security exercises

Related predate: A fine chief:

General Sir Richard Dannatt: A heroic advocate of the [British] Army
His tenure as Chief of the General Staff has been controversial but as General Sir Richard Dannatt leaves his post he will be remembered as a passionate defender of the Army.

How can a man in a job that demands courage and probity be too honest for his own good? Ask the outgoing head of the Army, General Sir Richard Dannatt, whose troublesome tenure will be remembered not just by how passionately he defended the welfare, training and proper equipping of soldiers but by how hopelessly he failed to protect his own back in doing so.

Two months into the job, the General was on a kamikaze course, saying the unsayable. He accused the Government of abusing the "military covenant" of mutual protection between a nation and its armed forces. He said troops were stretched to capacity [more here]...

His tendency to speak his mind has discomfited ministers - to the extent that Labour is accused of running a smear campaign against him that will crank up as soon as he has gone.

This week, on the eve of his departure, Dannatt again tapped into public concern by calling on ministers to improve equipment that will monitor potential attacks from roadside bombs, the scourge of current troop manoeuvres. His demand for more surveillance systems to counter improvised explosive devices may have been his final salvo from office, but there is a suspicion that he will continue to fire broadsides, possibly with a memoir, after his departure...