Political Crossfire Forums

Roxanne of the world · Joined: 12 Apr 2005 Posts: 104 Location: Canada

I am just Wondering what you all thought about the Canadian Army.

I know they have a reputation of being small, but look at the diffrence they make peacekeeping wise. Let me know what you think!

thundertaker · Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2005 1:54 pm Post subject:

The Princess Patricia Canadian Light Infantry Regiment is supposed to be one of the best of it's kind in the world. Of the modern Canadian army, that's all I know really.....

D@N · Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2005 1:49 am Post subject:

I am proud of our army, but also have distain for it, they have participated in some imperialistic and stupid wars, but have done great good as well. They are small, and unequipped, but still pull off a magnificent job.

the was a tank range compition on TV a while ago, and the Canadian army had to borrow some Abraham's for it, I think they won though.

thundertaker · Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2005 2:56 am Post subject:

D@N wrote: I am proud of our army, but also have distain for it, they have participated in some imperialistic and stupid wars.

Such as?

smirnoff · Joined: 10 Feb 2005 Posts: 3514

Canada would pwn the US in a war, not becuase Canadas forces are necessarily better, but becase Canada still has friends.

D@N · Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2005 9:32 am Post subject:

thundertaker wrote: D@N wrote: I am proud of our army, but also have distain for it, they have participated in some imperialistic and stupid wars.

Such as?

Well, When you look at it, WW1 was a very stupid war. It came down to one official Dying, that ended up in the death of some twenty million and the devastation of much of europe. Canada was just co-erst into that as 'a British colony'

When it comes to all the wars in the Slavic region, Yugo, Bosnia, kosovo and such, I can't really comment there because I know little about the circumstances of the situation

Why are we still in Afghanistan? There hasn't been trouble their for a while. and we've lost more soldiers their from friendly fire then enemy fire. Plus Afghanistan was a fairly pointless war, mostly out of anger and poor planned revenge tactics. They were off the ball in their goal of catching OBL

The Boar war was also a stupid skirmish as a result of un checked colonialism.

However, WW2 merited the actions of the Canadian Forces as well as forces from around the globe. As the struggle against fascism and Imperialism was a worthy cause, and a great victory for all countries of the world.

thundertaker · Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2005 9:53 am Post subject:

D@N wrote: thundertaker wrote: D@N wrote: I am proud of our army, but also have distain for it, they have participated in some imperialistic and stupid wars.

Such as?

Well, When you look at it, WW1 was a very stupid war. It came down to one official Dying, that ended up in the death of some twenty million and the devastation of much of europe. Canada was just co-erst into that as 'a British colony'

They weren't coerced. Canadians were just as eager, if not more so, to fight the Germans as the British were. And there were sound reasons for not letting the Germans take over most of Europe, as they were in a position to. The German soldiers feared the Canadians more than any other soldiers. They dreaded finding themselves on the opposite side of a Canadian unit, as they were known to be extremely aggressive and were always conducting raids into German trenches.
As for the Boer war, can't really argue with that, though the Boers were treating British settlers pretty badly at the time, it was mostly about seizing those gold mines in the Transvaal.
With Aafghanistan, that was justified, as the Taliban were refusing to hand over the man who was almost certainly responsible for 9-11, though it was unfortunately, poorly executed because he hasn't been caught yet. And troops need to stay their until the country has become stablised, otherwise it will go to hell again, and the Taliban will be the main beneficiaries if that happens....

Roxanne of the world · Joined: 12 Apr 2005 Posts: 104 Location: Canada

thundertaker wrote: D@N wrote: thundertaker wrote: D@N wrote: I am proud of our army, but also have distain for it, they have participated in some imperialistic and stupid wars.

Such as?

Well, When you look at it, WW1 was a very stupid war. It came down to one official Dying, that ended up in the death of some twenty million and the devastation of much of europe. Canada was just co-erst into that as 'a British colony'

They weren't coerced. Canadians were just as eager, if not more so, to fight the Germans as the British were. ....

Canada had to go to war during to first world war, because of its ties to the british empire.

Propaganda · Joined: 24 Nov 2004 Posts: 231

Wasn't Canada still a colony during WW1? I think It's wrong to knock Canada for joining WW1. Canada was a pretty big contributor to that war, they sent almost 100,000 troops who fought very well on the British side. There ware also huge problems because of the draft, I'm not sure but I think it was Frech Canadians who didn't want to get drafted and fight in Europe. Canada had some representation in WW2 also, namely Normandy. Since then Canadian Army has been a nonfactor, contributing couple of hundred(maybe a thousand) troops here and there.

thundertaker · Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2005 3:44 pm Post subject:

Roxanne of the world wrote:

Canada had to go to war during to first world war, because of its ties to the british empire.

The Canadian people were just as eager to volounteer to fight as the British. At the time, most canadians felt that they were Britons who happened to live in North America, as typified by this recruitment poster of the time:

People in the white dominions were often more gung-ho than the native British population about the war. In Australia, a greater proportion of their young men volounteered to fight than Britain. I'm not sure about Canada though, because you have to factor in the French-Canadians, who were more reluctant to fight for King and Country.....

Citizen of Canuckistan · Joined: 12 Sep 2004 Posts: 173 Location: Calgary, Canada

Canada sent 500,000 men to europe in the airforce, navy and army at the cost of about 60,000 dead and 200,000 wounded. Canada lost just as many, if not more, than the US did except we fought for 3 years vs 6 months.

Canadian-kid · Joined: 08 Apr 2005 Posts: 513 Location: Maratimes

Roxanne of the world wrote:
Canada had to go to war during to first world war, because of its ties to the british empire.

No we didn't, The government went ahead and went to War to secure votes. The citizens of Canada who were still fond of their former home would have been outragged if Canada didnt go to War with Britian. Pretty much a forced choice but we still could have backed out of war.

RM88 · Joined: 16 Dec 2004 Posts: 1163

smirnoff wrote: Canada would pwn the US in a war, not becuase Canadas forces are necessarily better, but becase Canada still has friends.

I could not resist posting this. It does not matter more countries will side with the U.S because they rely on the U.S more economically. No country will ever attack or declare war on the U.S because they are scared and they know they are going to lose.

timmtc · Joined: 01 Nov 2004 Posts: 1382 Location: Vancouver Canada

Canadian-kid wrote: Roxanne of the world wrote:
Canada had to go to war during to first world war, because of its ties to the british empire.

No we didn't, The government went ahead and went to War to secure votes. The citizens of Canada who were still fond of their former home would have been outragged if Canada didnt go to War with Britian. Pretty much a forced choice but we still could have backed out of war.

What are you talking about? The government didn't legislate this to get votes, they did it because the majority of Canadians supported going to war. Canadians, at the time were for the most part natural born British citizens or first generation Canadians who actually felt some allegiance to England, those Canadians signed up, and the government shipped them. You act like people were lined up and conscripted, which is actually far from true, volunteer enrollment was extremely high, and no conscripted soldiers were actually sent into combat.

eynon · Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2005 2:07 am Post subject:

timmtc wrote: Canadian-kid wrote: Roxanne of the world wrote:
Canada had to go to war during to first world war, because of its ties to the british empire.

No we didn't, The government went ahead and went to War to secure votes. The citizens of Canada who were still fond of their former home would have been outragged if Canada didnt go to War with Britian. Pretty much a forced choice but we still could have backed out of war.

What are you talking about? The government didn't legislate this to get votes, they did it because the majority of Canadians supported going to war. Canadians, at the time were for the most part natural born British citizens or first generation Canadians who actually felt some allegiance to England, those Canadians signed up, and the government shipped them. You act like people were lined up and conscripted, which is actually far from true, volunteer enrollment was extremely high, and no conscripted soldiers were actually sent into combat.

to illustrate his point; my great-grand father volunteered in 1915 along with most of the other men in his small Alberta town....he was 38 when he did it.

Anson · Joined: 01 Jun 2004 Posts: 877

thundertaker wrote: D@N wrote: I am proud of our army, but also have distain for it, they have participated in some imperialistic and stupid wars.

Such as?

How about Paul Martin's dirtiest move since he came into power in Canada? His help in the ouster of the democratically elected Aristide in Haiti. Such a sad situation for the Haitian people when the UN, France, Canada, and the US invaded and overthrew that democratically elected government last February. That was a dark moment for the Liberal Party of Canada.

And someone already mentioned Afghanistan, what a joke that was/is for the Canadian government.

D@N · Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2005 9:32 am Post subject:

It was a stupid Idea also to ban all canadian citizens from volenteering to fight in the spanish civil war, many Canadians did so anyways, include Dr Norman Bethune(spelling?) I think that was a proud moment for Canadian armed citizens, though its not realy tied to our armed forces.

Canadian-kid · Joined: 08 Apr 2005 Posts: 513 Location: Maratimes

timmtc wrote:
What are you talking about? The government didn't legislate this to get votes, they did it because the majority of Canadians supported going to war. Canadians, at the time were for the most part natural born British citizens or first generation Canadians who actually felt some allegiance to England, those Canadians signed up, and the government shipped them. You act like people were lined up and conscripted, which is actually far from true, volunteer enrollment was extremely high, and no conscripted soldiers were actually sent into combat.

If the government didn't then they would have lsot votes next election, Duh! your right there was no conscription, did I say conscription? no read my post carefully before you make such out landish remarks. How can I act? typed words show no emotions or tone of voice, don't read into a posts emotion so much.

timmtc · Joined: 01 Nov 2004 Posts: 1382 Location: Vancouver Canada

D@N wrote: It was a stupid Idea also to ban all canadian citizens from volenteering to fight in the spanish civil war, many Canadians did so anyways, include Dr Norman Bethune(spelling?) I think that was a proud moment for Canadian armed citizens, though its not realy tied to our armed forces.

Yeah, only recently were they given recognition and benifits for fighting in that war. Something like 2,500 soldiers participated in the war.

To Canadian-Kid

I understand you're new at the whole debate thing so i'll be a little easy. I think that to say participating in WWI was wrong is a complete joke. You've probably never ever taken a history course, or even a civics/political science course. The army was a volunteer one, and people CHOSE to participate on their own will. What is wrong with sending a volunteer army to do so?

timmtc · Joined: 01 Nov 2004 Posts: 1382 Location: Vancouver Canada

Anson wrote: thundertaker wrote: D@N wrote: I am proud of our army, but also have distain for it, they have participated in some imperialistic and stupid wars.

Such as?

How about Paul Martin's dirtiest move since he came into power in Canada? His help in the ouster of the democratically elected Aristide in Haiti. Such a sad situation for the Haitian people when the UN, France, Canada, and the US invaded and overthrew that democratically elected government last February. That was a dark moment for the Liberal Party of Canada.

And someone already mentioned Afghanistan, what a joke that was/is for the Canadian government.

Speaking of dark moments, let's talk about the supposed "peacekeeping" mission in Rawanda, where Canadian peacekeepers could only stand and watch as thousands of men, women and children were killed with machette's.