April 2000

The Reserves, three points of view (page 1)

Reserves 2000 recently organized at the RCMI a panel discussion on the past, present and the possible future of the Reserve military forces in Canada. The Dining Room was virtually packed for the dinner and presentations with Reservists from every unit in the Toronto area, representatives from National Defence Headquarters, Land Force Central Area Headquarters, 32 and 33 Canadian Brigade Groups, Montreal, and several representatives from south of the border. The Master of Ceremonies for the evening was BGen Jim Hanson, the Honorary Lieutenant-Colonel of 25 (Toronto) Service Battalion.

BGen Hanson prefaced his introduction of the panellists by christening the ground. He said, "For those of us in the Reserve community, which is almost all of us who are here tonight, this is a critical time." This was the raison d'être for the dinner, and the panel discussion. Each of three panellists bought a different perspective, and variety of skill sets to the forum.

They were in order of appearance: MGen Jack Cudmore (Ret'd) - Born in Canada and a graduate of the University of Toronto. MGen Cudmore carries dual US and Canadian citizenship. He joined the New York Army National Guard as a medical officer, and was to become Commander of the 41st Infantry Division. Senator William Rompkey (Liberal) - A Lieutenant in the Navy Reserve, Sen Rompkey served as Chair of the House of Commons Standing Committee on National Defence and Veterans Affairs (SCONVA), and as Co-Chair of the Special Joint Committee on Canada's Defence Policy. He is the Vice-President of the North Atlantic Assembly (NATO Parliamentarians).

Dr. Douglas Bland - A member of the Queen's University School of Policy Studies. Dr Bland served in the Canadian Forces for over 30 years, starting with the Fort Gary Horse and then with the 8th Canadian Hussars, he retired as a Lieutenant -Colonel. Based on his US Army experience MGen Cudmore pointed out that the Reservists are seven times cheaper to train and maintain than a Regular Force soldier. Because they have civilian occupations, they are reservoir of skills. The flip side is that their weapons handling skills were generally less proficient than in the Regular Force because of less time to shoot. Cudmore stuck a cross border cord with the audience when he said, "Normally Reserve component forces are under funded, under equipped, and they are ill maintained, because after all they are the reserve component". Looking at the audience Cudmore said, "Seeing so many young serving officers in this audience I think is outstanding. It shows that that your militia is alive and well, no matter what happens to the funding".

Next with his sage advice on the political aspects facing the CF was Sen William Rompkey. He harkened back to his six years spent in the Navy and produced a grocery list of the benefits and advantages of being in the Reserves. In addressing the proposal for changing the role of Reservists, Rompkey offered, "There is a suggestion for example, that we should perhaps change the role of Reservists, and not to emphasis combat as much as other support units. It seems to me that would be a wrong way to move". Sen Rompkey pointed out that there is no defence committee in the Canadian Senate, and that he thought there should be. He encouraged the audience to make their feelings known on the issue.

Dr Douglas Bland started his presentation by saying that organizations do not matter. He noted that the discussion would be going nowhere fast if we began talking first about the future organisation of the Reserves and Regular Force. Dr Bland said, "Defence policy, is not about, nor should it be concerned with, preserving units, perpetuating units, services, traditions, and so on. National defence policy is about defending Canada". He said that the leaders of both the Regular Force and the Reserves need to begin to speak to each other. They need to form a consensus of what ideas are important, and what ideas should lead the forces into the future. The former army officer suggested that too many people in the CF do planning by slogan. As an example, he referred to the term "Total Force". Bland said, "They thought up the term and forgot about the consequences".

After all of the panellists were finished the floor was opened to questions for approximately 25 minutes, during which an additional insight on the Reserves was offered by was offer by BGen (Ret'd) Gordon Gannon USMC. The debate did not finish in the Dining Room, but it carried on in the Long Bar, only pausing at last call.

Click here to return to my home page