“Our job is to be able to kill people”

Following up on Nathan’s recent comments regarding Canada’s commitments in Afghanistan Canada’s top soldier Gen. Rick Hillier has confirmed that Joint Task Force 2, Canada’s secretive SpecOps unit, will be on the hunt for al Qaeda and Taliban remnantsin Afghanistan. He was quoted as saying:

We’re not the public service of Canada, we’re not just another department. We are the Canadian Forces, and our job is to be able to kill people.

The Canadian Forces are a small but tough bunch. There are more people in the Toronto Police Department than in the whole CF, and these guys are charged with defending the world’s second largest country at home and abroad with minimal funds and public support.

I recently interviewed a group of Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry based out of Edmonton doing basic mountain ops training in the rugged wilderness near my town. Unlike larger armies (ie. the US) who have officers whose only job is to train soldiers, the CF Officers have to fulfill this obligation above and beyond their regular occupation. One officer in fact told me that many soldiers actually have 6 or 8 jobs. They didn’t even have drivers to ship them out here to the Rockies, and after a hard week which included a 36 hour straight tactical training op, they had to load up in their trucks and drive the 8 hours home.

I have nothing but respect for any professional, volunteer soldier. But being one in Canada these days is extra-tough, and deserving of even more esteem in my humble opinion.