Although I wasn't one, I know several submariners. They are dedicated people, and brave enough to go down in the sea in ships.

The only politician I ever heard of who did so on a regular basis was Jimmy Carter, ex-President of the US.

If the comments about the Canadian military's equipment and equipage is even half true (and I don't doubt what has been said for a moment), it's a piss-poor reflection on Canada.

It's also a helluva comment on the Canadian military, who are dedicated enough to risk their lives on the low-level crap they are given to work with. When I was in the National Guard we were armed with M-1 rifles and carbines, leftovers from WW2 and Korea, but still very servicable; trucks that weren't the latest models in the military inventory, and tanks that had seen better days. We knew that they weren't the latest and best and they weren't held out to be.

Failure to replace that equipment before we were deployed (to Chu Lai, South Vietnam, actually) would have been criminal. To ask the military of Canada to deploy to Afghanistan and combat without the best available uniforms and equipment is the same -- as it would be with every country.

I don't want to see a Canadian die because s/he was issued cheapshit equipment by some bean-counting bureaucrat than I'd want to see an American or a Brit or a Russian or an Aussie die for that reason.

An ex-Infantryman salutes the Canadian military, past and present.