Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Canadian military will rely on public servants to boost its ranks by 300k

ottawacitizen.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

281–290 of 382 posts

Re: Canadian military will rely on public servants to boost its ranks by 300k

#281

Post by rogerrogerr »

amrocha wrote: post #270
rogerrogerr wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep - the US is bad at fighting insurgencies, but a state military? Over in days. This does not materially change between Canada’s current military vs 5x their current military. But fighting pissed-off indigenous Canadians? I wouldn’t sign up for that part. None of this is relevant because the US does not want to own Canada.

I don’t know why you would think the US military would succeed this time when the last time it was successful in a large scale war was 80 years ago.

When was the last time it was fighting a nation-state controlled, uniformed army?

Re: Canadian military will rely on public servants to boost its ranks by 300k

#282

Post by snypher »

sigwinch wrote: post #245
notatoad wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

except they say the training will include firearms and drone flight.

The top brass in Canada would benefit to know who among the civil service has circuitry and dexterous control skills. And if it were me, I’d like a high-res scan of each person with the intent of precomputing who could convince ICE software of an already-established American’s identity.

Wild, but I like the way you think.

Re: Canadian military will rely on public servants to boost its ranks by 300k

#284

Post by JumpCrisscross »

jjk166 wrote: post #192
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The US invading Canada isn't a realistic possibility Of course it is. Troops would just be moved to “temporarily” occupy shit we want. (Or move to liberate Alberta.) Hell, you could probably do it with ICE agents. > Any attempt to do so would trigger a civil war within the US You’d take up arms against the U.S. because it invaded Canada? Of course you wouldn’t. Neither would others. It would be brushed way as an an…

> You’d take up arms against the U.S. because it invaded Canada? In a heartbeat. I oppose violence in general, but if forced to choose between fighting an innocent Canadian and fighting someone who has betrayed America's ideals and turned the nation I love into a mockery of itself, it's a very easy choice. Anyone willing to brush such an unjustified invasion away as another atrocity is an enemy of the US. > Of course…

> In a heartbeat

I respect you for that. I don’t think most Americans would, particularly if their prosperity isn’t threatened (which it wouldn’t immediately be).

> not a realistic possibility

Why? It’s a precedented hybrid war tactic.

> If you don't consider fighting them to be a real military campaign, shooting through 300,000 desk clerks who don't even have uniforms isn't going to make it one

America could occupy plenty of strategically-interesting Canadian territory before it can mobilise. That’s the advantage of reserves. They’re already distributed.

> I'm saying this is a bad way to oppose it

Do you think it’s counterproductive? Or just useless?

Re: Canadian military will rely on public servants to boost its ranks by 300k

#285

Post by myko »

palmotea wrote: post #125
gpm wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The difference here is presumably for the last hundred years, ending last November, there was simply no chance of a invasion of Canada. Nukes might fly overhead and end the world as they struck targets on either side, but other than that we were safe and any significant military action we took part in would be overseas and thus not justify calling up a huge number of reservists. Meanwhile Norway was occupied in WWII,…

> The difference here is presumably for the last hundred years, ending last November, there was simply no chance of a invasion of Canada. The chance of Canada being invaded didn't change at all in November. The amount of hyperbole about Trump has been utterly astounding, and fears of an Canadian invasion are an instance of that. And my sense is that actually a fair amount of the bad stuff Trump has done (though defin…

Unfathomable that people are still downplaying the disaster trump has been at this point. Extremely sad.

Re: Canadian military will rely on public servants to boost its ranks by 300k

#286

Post by petermcneeley »

rvba wrote: post #269
TriangleEdge wrote: post #260

This reminds me of the movie 300 where an army shows up with potters and other tradesmen, while the army of Sparta were all soldiers. Opinion: as an expat, I'm not sure who would join the CAF nowadays. Not much to be proud of in my opinion. Without exaggerating, not a single person I grew up with is doing well, and I had to leave Canada to start my family.

> as an expat How can we know that you arent a russian propaganda account, who created a legend that you live outside of Canada, when in reality you never lived there and your lies that "Canada military bad" are just written from Moscow?

How do I know you arnt a CSIS account that targets the chats of those with lived experience in Canada and tries discredit them?

Re: Canadian military will rely on public servants to boost its ranks by 300k

#287

Post by pyuser583 »

FridayoLeary wrote: post #170
hollerith wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. Also, even if Canada were to shut down all NORAD radars and command posts on Canadian territory and to kick out every US soldier and to tear up all agreements with the US, Canadian cities and important Canadian infrastructure within 100 miles of the US border (i.e., most Canadian population and infrastructure) would probably get nuked in a nuclear war just so that the US cannot rely on those resources during…

You missed an important point which is that Switzerland under the guise of neutrality helped the germans finance the war. For most of the time it very much was not in Germanys interest to invade. If their track record is anything to go by, if they had it probably wouldn't have taken them very long. Very few military lessons can be learned from the Swiss for the simple reason they have never fought in a war. As a Brit…

Switzerland gave refuge to a large number of German refugees.

Re: Canadian military will rely on public servants to boost its ranks by 300k

#288

Post by al_be_back »

TriangleEdge wrote: post #260

This reminds me of the movie 300 where an army shows up with potters and other tradesmen, while the army of Sparta were all soldiers. Opinion: as an expat, I'm not sure who would join the CAF nowadays. Not much to be proud of in my opinion. Without exaggerating, not a single person I grew up with is doing well, and I had to leave Canada to start my family.

> the movie 300

In high-tech warfare we're seeing these days your metaphor is reversed. These artisans (potters etc) are tech engineers, mathematicians, chemists. They are quick to mobilize and become effective (operate drones, robots, cyber, complex machines).

I cannot comment on your opinion of Canada, it's too vague in my opinion.

Generally, western Armed Forces (CAF included) reduced their personnel and spending when the Cold War ended (90s). Rightly so. Since then, war is fought very differently and AF are now very quickly adapting.

Recent conflicts in near/along Levant and near/along the Black Sea, show how effective certain types of warfare are in the current climate.

Re: Canadian military will rely on public servants to boost its ranks by 300k

#289

Post by MadnessASAP »

wbl wrote: post #181
palmotea wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All that is assuming a limited nuclear exchange is possible, without further nuclear escalation. I find that pretty unbelievable. > One Soviet war plan that was made available to Western scholars in the 1990s anticipated this invasion of Northern Europe (with conventional forces) starting immediately after the Soviets make a large nuclear strike on Western Europe. Note that tanks crew are basically immune to nuclear…

A nuclear weapon does not do very much to a tank unless it is extremely close. You are better off with a guided munition.

A tank doesn't do much without a significant amount of combat support and logistics backing it up.

It wouldn't be clear of the fallout before it ran out of fuel.

Re: Canadian military will rely on public servants to boost its ranks by 300k

#290

Post by asdff »

dragonsky67 wrote: post #237
asdff wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That isn't really what happens. The unit would just surrender. That's how it went down in WWII early in the pacific campaign. Western nations don't go down to the last man.

Don't count other nations the way you do the US, and don't compare the behaviour of troops defending some piece of jungle on the other side of the planet with those defending their homes.

I mean being given the prospect of the possibility of being treated fairly as a prisoner vs committing suicide I think many would end up being a prisoner. There is no rampant idealism in Canada like say Imperial Japan that would make someone resist their own inherent pragmatism.
Post reply on HN