The basic shifts in the global balance of power in the last eight years have wrought sweeping changes in the standing armies of most of the developed world, particularly the members of NATO. During the Cold War, Canada maintained a mechanized brigade group in southern Germany, but now that a general European war seems unlikely, United Nations peacekeeping duty and "protecting the sovereignty of Canada" (border surveillance) will be two of the military's main tasks. However, in the face of some recent governmental decisions and unfortunate events, fulfilling these tasks will be more than the usual challenge. Canada's armed forces have always been very small in relation to its population, and minuscule when compared to the size of the country. In 1994 and 1995, in order to cut costs and address a deficit crisis, the Canadian government began to reduce still further the size and budget of the Canadian Forces. From 1995 to 1999, military spending as a whole will drop from 2.0% of Gross Domestic Product to 1.5%, and remain at less than 9% of government expenditures. The strength of the regular forces will drop from 70,500 to 60,000. Headquarters staff in all commands will be reduced by one-third overall, the commands themselves will be restructured, many officers will be retired or released, and most equipment procurement and modernization programs will be indefinitely shelved or cancelled. In accordance with the 'Total Force' concept of regular and reserve components working together, the number of reservists will be reduced from 37,650 to 23,000, as will the number of reserve units, but troop quality will be improved and units will assume a primary role of augmenting regular units on overseas deployments (Canada's military is unusual in that its reserve forces are much smaller than its standing military; in the developed world, the only similar country is Japan). Currently, significant numbers of Land Forces personnel (a brigade headquarters, one infantry battalion, and logistical units) are deployed in Bosnia as part of the United Nations peacekeeping mission there, but this deployment would not have been possible without significant participation by reservists. In addition to these personnel and fiscal restraints, Canada's military is also currently undergoing a moral and political crisis of confidence. In 1992-93, a "commando" (battalion-size unit) of the Canadian Airborne Regiment was deployed to Somalia as part of the United Nations relief effort there. The following year, the news story broke that a Somali civilian thief had been caught and beaten to death by a small group of soldiers, and that the incident had been covered up by individuals in the chain of command all the way up to the most senior levels. As of this writing (October 1996), the individuals directly responsible have been charged, a number of junior and senior officers have been punished for negligence, the Airborne Regiment itself was disbanded in February 1995, the Minister of Defence and the Chief of Defence Staff have both resigned, and a formal government inquiry is still in progress. The situation begs for a comparison to the popular reaction in the United States after the revelation of the My Lai Massacre, and it would seem that the public is reassessing the modest-but-respectable position the military occupied in Canadian society until now. ORGANIZATION AND EQUIPMENT As of 1995, the Canadian Forces (so named because they have been under a unified command since 1968: the three components are the Land Forces, Maritime Forces, and Air Force) had the following equipment and were organized as follows: Total numbers Land Forces (Regular/ Reserve): 20,300/ 29,400 Maritime Forces: 10,000/ 6,500 Air Force: 17,100/ 1,750 LAND FORCES The Land Forces are organized into four Area Commands, and contain the following units: Arctic Region is a special case. There is no permanent Land Forces deployment in the Yukon or Northwest Territories. However, the Canadian Rangers are a special component of the Primary Reserve, with a total strength of 3,100. Most of them live in the Arctic or in isolated coastal regions, and are organized into 109 small patrol groups as a form of part-time 'coastwatcher corps.' Atlantic Area (Canada's four Atlantic Seaboard provinces) Regular units 1 independent engineer support regiment the Combat Training Centre 1 air defence regiment; located near Fredericton, New Brunswick Reserve units 2 armoured regiments 3 artillery regiments 8 infantry battalions 5 service battalions 1 medical company Quebec Area (Quebec province) Regular units 1 mechanized infantry brigade group (1 armd regt, 1 mech and 2 motorized inf bn, 1 arty regt, 1 engr regt), majority of unit located near Montreal Reserve units 4 armoured regiments 3 artillery regiments 12 infantry battalions 3 engineering squadrons 3 medical companies 2 service battalions Central Area (Ontario) Regular units 1 task force headquarters (intended to become a divisional headquarters on mobilization) 1 mechanized infantry brigade group, (1 armd regt, 1 mech and 2 motorized inf bn, 1 arty regt, 1 engr regt) majority of unit located in Petawawa Reserve units 6 armoured regiments 6 artillery regiments 20 infantry battalions 2 engineering squadrons 3 medical companies 6 service battalions Western Area (The four western provinces & part of western Ontario) Regular units 1 mechanized infantry brigade group (1 armd regt, 1 mech and 2 motorized inf bn, 1 arty regt, 1 engr regt), majority of unit located near Edmonton, Alberta Reserve units 6 armoured regiments 7 artillery regiments 11 infantry battalions 5 engineering squadrons 6 medical companies 7 service battalions Remarks Regular units are organized along British lines and are roughly equal in numbers to American units of similar size. Since the disbanding of the Canadian Airborne Regiment, each brigade maintains one jump-trained infantry company to preserve some rapid-deployment capability. Armoured units use the Leopard C-1 MBT or Cougar wheeled reconnaissance vehicle (similar to an LAV, but with a 76mm gun). Mechanized infantry units use the M-113A2 APC, and motorized ones the Grizzly or Bison wheeled APC (again, similar to the LAV but armed with machine guns). Anti-tank support is provided by TOW missiles (including 72 of the TOW-Under-Armour M-113 variant), and Carl Gustav 84mm recoilless rifles. Artillery units use the 155mm M-109 self-propelled gun. On deployment overseas, each brigade would receive one air defence battery of 12 ADATS missile systems from the air defence regiment in Atlantic Area. Reserve units, despite their titles, are usually of company size (about 150 personnel) or less, and usually very modestly equipped (e.g. the infantry are usually carried in trucks and have fewer support weapons, while artillery units use towed 105mm howitzers purchased in 1956). Some classes of equipment, such as infantry small arms, have been replaced in the last five years, but others (such as the Leopard tanks, M-113 carriers, and M-109 self-propelled artillery) were acquired more than 20 years ago and will not be replaced for at least another 10-15 years. NAVAL FORCES Atlantic Ocean (based in Halifax, Nova Scotia) 3 submarines (SS) 2 destroyers (DDG) 6 helicopter-carrying frigates (FFH) 2 regular frigates (FF) 2 tankers 1 ASW helicopter squadron Pacific Ocean (based in Esquimalt, British Columbia) 1 destroyer 3 helicopter-carrying frigates 1 regular frigate 6 coastal patrol craft 1 tanker 1 ASW helicopter squadron. Remarks The Canadian Coast Guard is an unarmed civilian service. It was merged with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in 1996. The Maritime Forces are midway through a frigate-building program that will see several more ships commissioned before 2000. AIR FORCE 5 fighter squadrons (1 training) with F-18 Hornet 2 EW squadrons with CL-601 4 maritime reconnaissance squadrons (1 training) with CP-140 Aurora 3 ASW helicopter squadrons (1 training) with CH-124 Sea King 4 transport squadrons (1 training) with C-130 Hercules 1 transport squadron with Airbus A-310 1 transport squadron with CC-109/-144 3 tactical helicopter squadrons (1 training) with CH-135 (Chinook) 4 reserve helicopter squadrons with CH-136 (Huey) Remarks The F-18 fleet, through rotation and refitting of its aircraft (Canada has 122 of them but only 60 or so are out of storage at any given time), is expected to last until 2020. The Air Force has also recently acquired 5 KC-130 tanker aircraft for in-air refuelling. Brian Train is a former Canadian Army officer with extensive experience in both Canada and the Far East. Back to Cry Havoc #19 Table of Contents Back to Cry Havoc List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1999 by David W. Tschanz. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com