This threads gone dark while I've been off line.
Let me just say that nothing that I've said says anyone has to give up their summer leave. I'm dead set against that.
Yes, I'm calling for a paradigm shift in the system. For the ResF as much as the RegF.
Let's look at the fundamental problem Canada has right now. A force that has shrunk over the last several decades while its administrative overhead has expanded almost exponentially.
Any military has two fundamental function: first, to have a war fighting capability and second, to be able to administer itself. By administration I mean everything from recruiting to training to career development to equipment management to infrastructure management and so on. The reason for this is simple; the first is its raison d'etre and the second is the way that it meet the primary function. When allocating resources, senior leadership has to make a judgement call as to how to divide them amongst the two functions. There's a simple truth here. One can defer war fighting capabilities in the hope that a war will never happen while we can't defer administration because if we do then the whole house of cards will collapse while we are still living in it.
This is basically why the Class A reservist is a problem for the system. He contributes nothing to the day to day administration and in fact adds to its burden. His sole purpose is to be available for some future undefined combat capability that may or may not ever be needed.
On the other hand the system is enamoured with the Class B reservist because she does contribute to dealing with the day-to-day administrative burden. In fact, the only reason the RegF tolerates the ResF is because it is an inelegant way of developing and accessing Class Bs.
My problem is that I think that deterrence requires a credible military capability and, once deterrence fails, a credible fighting force. I'm not slagging individual people or units here, we have elements that do work and work well, but as a total force, Canada's military is far from credible.
The RegF always sees the solution to the problem as being to provide more funding for more RegF members and equipment for the RegF. If it doesn't get that it cuts out the least necessary capabilities of the day. If there's anything that living with the various Canadian governments should teach us it's that, for the Army, additional funding will not be forthcoming in the way that it would like. This is primarily because the Army is a hard sell in the first place and, in the second place, the Army's leadership is made up of particulalry bad salesmen.
That leaves us tied to our current resources and tweaking what we do have. One thing the Army has that's underperforming massively is the 16,000 or more ARes members that the government does pay for. The reserve force is legislatively designed specifically to be a stand by force. It's not a force that is designed to bulk out continuing, full-time positions in peacetime. It's a blatant misuse of the ResF to swamp the system with Class Bs for anything other than temporary training. I'd go so far as to say its against the law.
The problem--yup, another problem--is that because of a half century of misuse and abuse, the current ARes, and especially its dysfunctional leadership, makes it very difficult to fix. In a perfect world we could just buy them some kit and let them turn themselves into a northern National Guard. We all know that this COA would meet with limited success at best.
The only way that I can see creating a more credible Army is through a system of hybrid units and real integrated leadership and force management which would not only make various RegF officers responsible for developing the ResF into credible elements with the RegF personnel and equipment assigned to them, but to also making them accountable for that. That such a change requires a major adjustment in attitudes as well as the implementation of a host of enabling resources and policies goes without saying. This isn't just a solution that will be effected by having some RegF guys here or there give up their summer leave to train reservists. It's an entirely different way for the RegF and the ResF to do business.
The question one really has to answer is what other options are there?
