- Reaction score
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- Points
- 160
Unreasonable demands lead to a lack of morale on base
Letter to the editor
My nephew, who is currently attending the Military Police Academy at CFB Borden, related to me on the current low morale and lack of family support at that institution.
Enlisting to seek a proud profession, he related how he was so turned off by the treatment that he could not see himself remaining in the military past his initial engagement.
For example, as a result of the “snow in” in December during which the entire base was closed for three days, the commander ordered that all staff and students come in on their hard-earned weekends off to make up for the loss. The problem is that there was no apparent loss since no exams or other important tasks were missed.
Talk about taking the holiday cheer out of the troops, they should’ve been with their families on the weekends.
Physical training is also being done on the soldiers’ own personal time at 5:45 a.m., three times a week.
A fit soldier is important, but like any other “job training” it is to be done on work time, not personal time.
With more and more military families having a working spouse, it is the job of the soldier to help the spouse get the kids to breakfast and to school. This can’t be done if the commander is making troops come in at that hour to run.
To make matters worse, many of the students and staff have had to seek medical attention to resolve issues of “shin splints,” sprained ankles and other leg related injuries.
Obviously the MP Academy didn’t get the memo from the Chief of Defence Staff that soldiers are to have a balanced military and personal life.
Now more than ever the troops really do need the public support since it’s clear from his account that the military itself isn’t providing it.
Anne Hayes,
Beeton
From Simcoe.com
Letter to the editor
My nephew, who is currently attending the Military Police Academy at CFB Borden, related to me on the current low morale and lack of family support at that institution.
Enlisting to seek a proud profession, he related how he was so turned off by the treatment that he could not see himself remaining in the military past his initial engagement.
For example, as a result of the “snow in” in December during which the entire base was closed for three days, the commander ordered that all staff and students come in on their hard-earned weekends off to make up for the loss. The problem is that there was no apparent loss since no exams or other important tasks were missed.
Talk about taking the holiday cheer out of the troops, they should’ve been with their families on the weekends.
Physical training is also being done on the soldiers’ own personal time at 5:45 a.m., three times a week.
A fit soldier is important, but like any other “job training” it is to be done on work time, not personal time.
With more and more military families having a working spouse, it is the job of the soldier to help the spouse get the kids to breakfast and to school. This can’t be done if the commander is making troops come in at that hour to run.
To make matters worse, many of the students and staff have had to seek medical attention to resolve issues of “shin splints,” sprained ankles and other leg related injuries.
Obviously the MP Academy didn’t get the memo from the Chief of Defence Staff that soldiers are to have a balanced military and personal life.
Now more than ever the troops really do need the public support since it’s clear from his account that the military itself isn’t providing it.
Anne Hayes,
Beeton
From Simcoe.com
