My fellow Blogphiles, I must address two news stories that have caught my attention this week.
The first being the so called controversy over the retitling of the Canadian Forces. As many of you are aware I do believe that this is the right and proper thing to do. Canadian Forces personnel lost a lot of history and certainly their Esprit de Corps was lost. I remember when I was a serving soldier and we all became Green, our Naval personnel looked so out of place in southern waters and ports without their White Uniforms.
The nay sayers say it is a step backwards in our multi cultural Canada. Well this is codswallop. If anything it will give a sense of pride to new Canadians that are sworn in over the years to come.
As for those who say Quebecers are upset...heck Quebeckers get upset at everything. However the famous Van Doos did not lose their Royal designation in 1968 when the Liberals were toying with our military.
To this day they are still known as The Royal 22nd Regiment of Canada. Also to all the rest of you Royal naysayers I say go have a look at the RCMP, or the RNC (Royal Newfoundland Constabulary). They both have the Royal designation in their name
So all the best to the serving members and future members of the RCN, The RCAF and the Canadian Army. You have a lot to be PROUD of.
The second titbit of news tucked away is the fact that the US apparently has discovered that a good portions of the tax dollars spend on various contracts in Afghanistan has wound up in the hands of the taliban upwards of $312 million of hard earned tax money.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011/08/17/taliban-contracts-us-military.html
I for one cannot understand how this is new news. One cannot live and work in any Arab country without kickbacks, bribes, and general giving away sums of cash in order to win a contract or to complete a job.
This is common knowledge amongst ex-pats who have lived and worked in these countries. In fact when bidding for contract in the FSU I added a 15 per cent fudge factor to cover the bribes and kickbacks. So to the USA I say pay attention to what happens in contracting in poor under developed countries, stop wasting your taxpayers cash.
So now as HMCS Vancouver relieves HMCS Charlottetown they will return to Halifax for some much needed R&R and get reacquaint with their loved ones.
Progress Report on Captain Terry Hunter
