We Can't Make It Happen!

The following appeared in my column, Home Sweet Home, in the Pembroke Daily Observer on Tuesday 30 March 04....  Cheers, Dianne

    “Make it happen.” This is an order dreaded by just about everyone in the military community. It most often means that someone with power has made a commitment and now “you follow through and make it happen and I don’t care how.” 

        Politicians are good at making promises, but they aren’t the people to follow through.  In the case of Canada’s military personnel, that stressful job is delegated to our military leaders and it filters all the way down to the troops.

     Recently, I watched on television Prime Minister Paul Martin – with his uncharacteristic firm resolve and very positive demeanor – announce to the world that Canada will provide troops to help transform political stability to Haiti. My first thought was: how I wish I could hear that same firm resolve and positive demeanor in the prime minister’s tone as he committed immediately to more troops, less taskings and modern equipment. But I’m not holding my breath waiting.  Promises are a waste of breath, a waste of time and have no value because they are only hot air, which dissipate quicker than yesterday morning’s fog.

     Martin’s comments also saddened me because it illustrated very clearly to me one of two things: either he is not listening to his advisors or the advice he is getting on military issues is not adequate. Either way, it’s our troops that are suffering.  And because they are, so are their families.

     The announcement by our finance minister that some of our troops will be receiving an income tax break further showed just how out of touch with reality our politicians are.  To add insult to injury, Mr. Goodale and our Minister of National Defence, Mr. Pratt, were both quoted as saying this wonderful gesture would ‘improve troops’ morale’.  Well, many of us in the military community see this poorly thought out gesture as nothing more than dangling the proverbial carrot.  As for morale, it has only eroded even further as it pits one group of troops against another because not all tours are entitled to the tax break.

     Someone said to me recently, “Well, isn’t it their (the military’s) job to go to war?”  No, it is not their job.  Their job is to defend Canada if and when necessary.  However, there are those who believe that in order to defend Canada, we must fight terrorism before it reaches our shores.  Others are not so sure this is the best use of our troops.

     Regardless of where you stand on this issue, the bottom line is that for years those of us in the military community have been stating that our military men and women need help in various ways.  With each tour’s experiences, they come home to their families a little different than when they left.  The constant demands and stresses placed on them are extremely difficult both physically and mentally and they are taking their toll.  Concerns are expressed time and time again. But no one with the authority to make a difference appears to be listening – at least no one who is able or willing to consider our military and their families as anything more than pieces on a chessboard – to be moved around at will.

     There is a provision that our troops, on completion of a tour, do not have to go on another one for a year after they return home.  But that doesn’t mean that they are home with their families for that year.  Given that while on tour, they have lived in conditions no Canadian would want to consider – excessively tight quarters, isolation, dust, sand, heat, long work hours, not to mention the stresses and dangers involved – it takes a considerable amount of time for them to fit back in to the comfortable life we all share here in Canada.

     Depending where an individual is in his or her military career, there are career courses to complete, and yet more training.  And that means more time away from families.   How long do you have to keep banging your head against the wall before the pain is constant and there is no sign of relief?  Our military families aren’t interested in promises; they are not interested in studies, or consultations or whatever you want to call the delay tactics used by our politicians.  The families are only interested in results and so far they are not seeing them.

     One minute there is talk of giving our troops a break – no more commitments for a while – give them a chance to rest and regroup, and the next minute our troops are off again.  How long does our prime minister think this will go on before there will be a much bigger exodus of military members leaving this lifestyle because they just can’t take it any more.  How long before these intense stresses take their toll on our military families and force more families to separate permanently.  How long?

     It is fine to say that we must help countries in need, but who is going to help Canada when there are not enough troops or proper equipment to protect our shores?  Are we close to that happening?  We are closer than most Canadians know. 

        Our complacency is our biggest enemy. Canada has adopted a mindset that says nothing is going to happen to us, only to our neighbors south of the border.  How naïve; how sad.  Is it going to take a situation like 9/11 on Canadian soil for our politicians to wake up to the realities of this century? Our troops need support – continuous support. 

        Yes, of course, make it happen. No one wants excuses or reasons why it can’t happen. They only want results.  I worked as a civilian for the Canadian military for more than 22 years and I have experienced first-hand the effects of that phrase filtering down the lines. I’ve witnessed how it adds tremendously to the stress level.  I’ve watched morale plummet, and every time it tore at my heart to see these fine, strong, dedicated soldiers so ‘down.’

       Considering that they do put their lives on the line for all Canadians, they deserve more respectful treatment.  Our military families don’t want promises or excuses or reasons why not, they just want leadership from our politicians on which they can count. They certainly deserve it. 

        Consider this. It’s the military spouses who are almost single-handedly bringing up tomorrow’s peacekeepers.  But at the rate things are going, Canada will be hard-pressed to find large numbers from today’s military community becoming the soldiers of tomorrow.  If something isn’t done now, it will be too late. Then what?

         Well, Mr. Prime Minister, on behalf of voting Canadian military families everywhere, let’s start at the bottom of the totem pole and send this order upward.   Give our troops a break; give our troops more recruits; give our troops more up-to-date equipment; give our troops on any tour the same benefits; give our families their husbands, wives, fathers and mothers back. Now.  Make that happen.      Dianne Collier