If the Liberals Cry Wolf and Everyone is Around; Does Anyone Hear it?

If I hear the world “Militarization” one more time this week I may very well scream, there is a difference between a build up of equipment and a replacement of material that is so old it belongs in a museum.

Canada has decided to order 65 Lockheed Martin F-35 aircraft for around 8.5 Billion dollars total, these aircraft will largely replace and compliment the fleet of the 100 or so Hornet CF-18’s that were originally purchased starting 1982.

In a nutshell multirole aircraft which was purchased nearly 30 years ago is starting to be replaced.

This isn’t even a discussion about if you are pro or con whatever mission our Canadian Forces are currently engaged in. It’s a reality that our Forces have been on the ground somewhere in the world every day for the last few decades. They are there, and if you agree, disagree, don’t care or otherwise it doesn’t change the fact that they are in harms way currently, and based on the track record of either political party they will be in harms way again.

If we are asking our forces to do a mission, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to provide them with the material in order to do so.

Our soldiers were sent to Afghanistan in 2001 in equipment that was procured when Diefenbaker was Prime Minister, you with think there would be some shame held by the political party who was in power in 2001 who sent our troops to Afghanistan in combat equipment that is nearly the same age as our current Prime Minister.

You would however be wrong.

When Canada opted to replace our archaic armoured vehicles in 2007 we saw the same “outrage” we are seeing today.

The question was raised in 2007 as to why Canada needed these new armoured vehicles, the Liberal supporters seemed to almost imply some sort of “hidden” agenda.

When the answer was very simple;

Q: Why did Canada need new Armoured Vehicles?

A: Because the Liberals under a majority government in 2001 sent our troops into a combat zone in material that was not designed to protect soldiers from roadside bombs an IED’s.

There isn’t much that really pisses me off more then when politicians of any stripe politicize our men and women in uniform.

Our Hornet CF-18’s in nearly 30 years old; they were purchased to replace the CF-104 Starfighter and CF-101 Voodoo aircraft which were 20 years old. I don’t think that it can be argued that we as a nation have got our money’s worth out of the Hornets.
I also have very little issue with opting for the Lockheed Martin F-35’s for a few reasons

1) They were jointly developed by Canada
2) Lockheed Martin uses a lot of Canadian subcontractors
3) The US Military is buying 2000 of them, so getting parts shouldn’t be that difficult.

I am not an overly complicated man, but I do feel that if we are asking our troops to do a job with a maple leaf patch on their shoulders at a minimum we shouldn’t be sending them into battle in Sea King Helicopters that were purchased in 1964, which are FINALLY being replaced with Sikorsky CH 148’s as of 2007, but should have been phased out in the early 1990’s till of course the Liberals once again opted to play politics with our armed forces by canceling the contract to replace them in 1993 slashing the DND budget;

Then of course sending our troops to Somalia, Rwanda, and Bosnia for their troubles, within four years of axing the purchase of needed equipment.

I don’t care if you are in favor of the mission in Afghanistan or not, taking out your “politics” on our Forces by clamoring about the replacement of 30 year old jets is nothing short of villainous, especially when anyone with any common sense knows that the jets are WAY overdue for a replacement.

Using the safety of our troops as pawns in an attempt to garner support for party X or Y is nothing short of hitting bottom.

But based on the last few polls, I think the Liberals already know that.