Well,
To be brutally honest, I believe that we as a military are pathetically weak. And I don't mean that in the combat capability sense (although that is also sadly true), I mean it in the sense of personal and institutional fortitude.
If we have troops complaining (let alone crying!!) about being deployed and working 18/24, then we have fundamentally missed the boat somewhere in training those individuals as to what they SHOULD (not could) expect on operations. If we are molly-coddling our junior soldiers, then we have no one to blame but ourselves for creating abjectly false expectations about what it is that they should expect to endure when push comes to shove and requirements dictate that they get on with the job despite not having a full "swing-shift", stainless steel toilets, internet access, fresh rations, etc, etc.
I'm not going to sit here and tell "war stories" other than to illustrate a point. When my former unit deployed to Afghanistan on combat operations back in 2002, we wore FFO (with plates) continuously for 3.5 months. We had no stoves to heat washing or coffee water for the first month. We went without showers for 2 weeks at a time during the first 3 months. We ate out of foil bags and burned our own excrement. We worked 7 days a week, 18 hours per day. We lived in 2-per Recce tents on a gravel floor. We had no HLTA, and we had no projected R&R. We didn't have an end-tour date, and half-way through the tour we still fully expected to be there until the deed was done. 9 months? 12 months? Whatever. The fact of the matter is that I NEVER saw anyone crying or snivelling about their self-selected lot in life on Op APOLLO....
All of the above leads me to wonder if we haven't created an entirely irrational and self-defeating expectation of "entitlement" amongst our soldiers in recent years. My theory being that all of our so-called "peace support operations" of the past (and present) with their "4-star" accommodations, their guaranteed R&Rs and HLTA, their connectivity with hearth and home, etc, etc, have set the conditions where Canadian troops now harbour unrealistic expectations of comfort and security. Perhaps it is time for an institutional "wake-up call"..... A bit of "tough love" if you will....
Don't get me wrong. I am all for making life as painless as possible for the troops that are doing the business. But aside from the logistic burden and institutional dangers of doing so, are we perhaps doing the bayonets themselves a disfavour? Are we making life so comfortable that the troops are losing sight of the aim? I honestly don't know the answer to that one, but I can tell you that living the austere "WainCon" life in K'har kept us pretty focussed and sharp. I'd love to see someone do a quantitative study on the deletorious (or not) effects of a "soft life" in an operational environment. It would be fascinating.
Physically crying to the Ombudsman? I certainly hope not. If so, those troops need a swift kick in the nads. And if that sort of wake-up call doesn't sort them out, then they need a trip home to turn in their kit. Quite frankly, that is pathetic. Been there, done that. You can get used to anything if you have the right attitude/outlook and the requisite unit (or sub-unit) spirit to carry you through.
This crap pisses me off to no end. Yes, there is undoubtedly an element of media inflation at work here. But that could not exist without the whinging spark to initiate the media fire. A very, very sad state of affairs. Quite frankly, I find it horribly embarassing. Especially coming from troops who plant their butts on stainless steel crappers when they are not scarfing fresh rations or taking a hot shower in between their horrific work shifts, scheduled R&R, and HLTA.....
Just my rather jaded $.02
) and the support trades. Sunday routine is a REMF concept and not fit for this Roto.
