Canada worried about aging stock of guns

Canadian Press via Sun Media ^ | 2006-05-09 | Murray Brewster

[Clive]

-

[Pittsburg Phil]

Canada is pathetic.

[fanfan]

Canada ping.

Please FReepmail me to get on or off this ping list.

[Little Bill]

In 1968 I had 4 rounds to get on target, or be called an armature, I, a lowly grunt, the RTO's could do it in two, 105, 155, eight inch, 175, the Arty TOC made the call.

[conservative in nyc]

Canada is pathetic.

The former Liberal government decimated funding for the Canadian Armed Forces. Like our Democrats, the Liberals are pathetic. The new Conservative government is trying to remedy a decade of Liberal neglect. It may take a while, but it's not the fault of the men and women of the Canadian Armed Forces.

[-=[_Super_Secret_Agent_]=-]

i think you're pathetic.

[Oztrich Boy]

The roughly $42-million purchase of six brand new M-777 guns and ammunition was hastily approved last summer after the army could not guarantee that "collateral damage" or civilian casualties would be limited with its existing 105-mm artillery pieces.

That amount of money could operate the Canadian Gun Resistry of civilians guns for maybe 7 months.

[Jaysun]

$42 million for guns. Think of all the diversity pamphlets that could have been printed with that money. They could of put a condom in the hand of every child for half that price! What a shame.

[Doc91678]

Is this precognition to a liberal takeover of the American government? I can see it now as in the mid nineties.
Let's cut the military.
let's gut the intelligence agencies.
Let's increase taxes.
We'll just tell Americans it is for their own good. That is while al-Qaeda and Iran are sending nuclear weapons to America and setting them off in our cities. Then the "progressive Left" in their inimitable way blames it on Bush.

[Billthedrill]

Huh. I did see some guys in trenchcoats and maple-leaf stickered briefcases circulating at the local gun show...

[NorthOf45]

These guns are a huge benefit. Here's to purchasing many, many more.

[-YYZ-]

I don't know how many of these our army needs, but I'm sure it's a hell of a lot more than 8 or 12. I'm guessing a few hundred of them would be in order (not on order, not yet at least - you don't want to rush into these things, but there's not time for an extremely lengthy procurement process, either).

[art_rocks]

We, the US, have not always given the Canadian army the respect they deserve. When it was decided in WW2 to make an elite unit of US and Canadian soldiers, the Canadians sent their best soldiers per the agreement. The US opened up the brigs and sent over drunks, thieves and troublemakers.

Not our finest hour in our treatment of our allies.

[jokar]

The US opened up the brigs and sent over drunks, thieves and troublemakers.

You got a link to that ?

[Cannoneer No. 4]

When the U.S. and Canada called for volunteers, Lieutenant Colonel Robert T. Frederick, the American commander, specified only that U.S. volunteers should be single men between the ages of 21 and 35 who had three or more years of grammar school and who had backgrounds as lumberjacks, forest rangers, hunters, cowboys, game wardens, prospectors, and other outdoor workers.

The Canadian Army established more exacting standards for its volunteers: they had to be willing to undergo parachute training; they had to be physically fit; they had to have prior infantry training; they had to have a knowledge of internal-combustion engines; they had to be NCO material; and they had to have experience as mountaineers, skiers or woodsmen (or they had to have some other kind of winter training).

Thus, from the start, the Canadian soldiers were of higher quality and motivation. In contrast, many of the American "volunteers" came unwillingly. Sergeant John Yoder Jr., stated that he was "volunteered by his first sergeant." Yoder returned from training one day and found his orders for Helena, Mont., atop his footlocker. (Fort Harrison, near Helena, was the site of FSSF training.) The initial American component of the FSSF also included a large percentage of jailbirds, ne'er-do-wells and dissenters, as unit and post commanders took the opportunity to rid themselves of troublemakers. Although many of those "disreputables" were rejected, a substantial number of them were accepted, because Frederick was looking for rugged and somewhat reckless characters.

Eventually, Frederick assembled a force of individualistic, physically tough American fighting men who were steadied by the influence of the older, more disciplined and initially, better-trained Canadians. While the Canadians numbered only one-third of the FSSF's soldiers, they occupied about one-half of the leadership positions. Most of the battalion commanders and senior sergeants were Canadians, and most of the junior officers were Americans. A strong spirit of rivalry emerged between the Americans and Canadians, but national distinctions quickly disappeared as the FSSF jelled into an effective fighting unit.

[Cannoneer No. 4]

[Cannoneer No. 4]

Canadians Exchange Fire with Taliban

[drlevy88]

Oughta get the "Human Cannonball" kind of gun and use it to shoot pigs at the Moose.

[neverdem]

Good timing!