Trying to sustain 3 (while raising two of those three) SF/SOF units at the same time whle the Army is struggling just to keep up to authorized strength is self-defeating; when I raised this point, Major Dion told me that that is the reason why he wrote this paper in the first place. And Major Dion is an SF Officer. Interesting. It seems that, in reversal of what tends to happen with our Southern neighbours, "Big Army" is at the mercy of SF and SOF; weird...
Correction: Major Dion put this paper out on another forum some months ago hoping to avoid what is now happening - Things aregetting worse; not long ago JTF 2 stated on its public website that it's adjusted its physical entry standards on its selection course to reflect "functionality", and as a result the pass rate has rsien from some 10-15% to ~45%. And all the while competing with the new Special Operations Regiment - with the proposed Marine Commando Regiment to come. The Army is struggling with a 1,000 man shortage of junior NCO's, and more soldiers are leaving the CF now than are joining. The wheels on the cart may be getting wobbly soon, if not already.
Another member of this board on another thread had proposed that the CF send more candiadates on the Ranger and Q-Courses: never having been to Ranger School myself, I yet have no doubt that it is effective at toughening people up. But inititail entry training should do that, not a specialized course. As for the Q-course, while Canadians do attend it, we don't need to duplicate the US SOF model; for starters, we have just to small an Army for that kind of compartmentalization.
I really need to get out, get an FAC and a hunting license, and learn to hunt, or something.
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