“CAF – Canadian Armed Forces”

OTTAWA – The military’s chaplain-general says many soldiers are struggling with the high cost of living and morale is the lowest it’s been in recent memory.

Chaplains say in a briefing note written to the chief of the defence staff that more Armed Forces members are asking for help to make ends meet.

Military chaplains are seeing an increasing number of soldiers, sailors and aircrew who — squeezed by the high cost of living and stuck in a system that forces them to relocate — are in financial distress and seeking assistance.

That disturbing assessment is found in the latest report to Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Wayne Eyre from Canadian Forces Chaplain General Brig.-Gen. Guy Bélisle. A copy of the report was obtained by CBC News.

The report found that military morale is flagging for a variety of reasons.

A leading NATO official and Canada’s top military commander have both warned allies within the past week that their ammunition shortages have reached a crisis state, and are calling for urgent action to boost production of critical artillery rounds.

Gen. Wayne Eyre, chief of the defence staff, recently told a House of Commons committee that if Canadian troops were called upon to fire their big guns at the same rate as Ukrainian troops fighting to repel the Russian invasion, their supply of shells would last for only a few days.

Lt.-Gen. Steven Whelan wiped away tears this morning as military prosecutors asked the judge in his court martial to withdraw the case against him.

Whelan had pleaded not guilty to one count of conduct to the prejudice of good order and discipline for changing a performance report in 2011.

The military alleged he gave the complainant in the case, a woman who was under his command at the time, a better score to prevent her from telling senior commanders about flirtatious emails Whelan had sent her before they worked together.

If you needed more proof that Canada is no longer a serious country, look no further than the announcement that the feds are looking to cut $1 billion from our pathetic defence budget. It reveals our government’s frivolously toxic mix of fiscal incompetence, obsession with symbols over substance, and hostility to our country and our culture.

The Canadian military is currently recruiting more new candidates than active soldiers are leaving the ranks, says Defence Minister Bill Blair.

“We’ve reversed the trend, and in fact, the number of people joining is now exceeding for the first time in nearly three years the attrition, the people that are leaving, and that is good news,” Mr. Blair told the House of Commons defence committee on Sept. 28.

I don’t believe a word Blair says.

The Liberal government is looking to cut almost $1 billion from the annual budget of the Department of National Defence (DND) — a demand the country’s top military commander says is prompting some “difficult” conversations within the military.

Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Wayne Eyre and Deputy Minister of Defence Bill Matthews testified before the House of Commons defence committee late Thursday, where they acknowledged in more detail the ramifications of the federal government’s spending reduction plan.

“There’s no way that you can take almost a billion dollars out of the defence budget and not have an impact,” Eyre told the four-party committee. “This is something that we’re wrestling with now.”

Will they have to lay-off the transvesite make-up squad?

Canada’s top soldier and a deputy minister are warning members of the Canadian Forces against working and sharing information with militaries “whose interests diverge from our own.”

Looking back, one of the most difficult periods for the Canadian Armed Forces in recent history was the late 1970s and early ’80s. Successive governments had cut into the military’s budget, downsizing and reorienting the forces while also delaying modernization. By the 1980s the CF faced obsolescence in the face of significant advances by Warsaw Pact forces.

But while downsizing had cut the military’s standing forces, it still retained a capable administrative system with enough institutional memory to execute the new programs. By 1990, the military had replaced a number of its key systems with platforms (like the CF-18, CP-140, and the Leopard 1) with other major ones, like the Halifax Class frigates and the North West Warning system that was on the cusp of delivery.

Anton Parker followed in his grandfather’s footsteps with a career in the Royal Canadian Navy.

With the longest hair of his life, complemented with a handlebar mustache and mutton chop sideburns, his grandfather might not even recognize him as a military sailor.

“The military should strive for discipline and uniformity,” Parker said while on board HMCS Vancouver, a frigate deployed in the Indo-Pacific region. “But there’s a need in the modern world for people to express individuality. The navy is trying to strike that balance.”