Fellow Dragoons,
Forwarded for information. Please consider giving it your support.
Terry
K.R.T. Seeley
Secretary/Treasurer
RCD Association
----- Original Message -----
From: Gary Del Villano
To: William H. Smith ; Terry Seeley ; Charles Gruchy ; Clifford R. Carpenter
Sent: Sunday, October 27, 2002 3:46 PM
Subject: DEFENCE PETITION
Fellow Dragoons,
I'd like your help to get this started ASAP. I would want your permission to pass
the petition around to our fellow Dragoons and guests at Leliefontein celebrations, making
the point that if the Regular members feel it is a conflict of interests, that they by all
means may wish to refrain from signing.
Perhaps you can assist as well by getting signatures of neighbours, friends and
assorted old military comrades. In addition, Terry, could you pass this to all Dragoons
on the Regimental net?
I intend to pass a similar appeal to every regimental association I can get email
addresses for. I was pleased to get a phone call from one member already thanking us for
the presidents message on Bill's recent Newsletter.
Gary
It reads as follows.
______________________________________________________________
We are former sailors, soldiers and airmen or airwomen. In our time, and those
serving now, have always depended on the Government and Canadian people to give them the
tools to do their job. They are probably the only Canadians other than police, firemen
and rescue workers who have "Unlimited Liability". That means they risk death
willingly to do their jobs.
In the last 50 years of operations, about 34 operational military missions abroad were
undertaken up to 1989. From 1990 till 2002, our troops have been sent abroad on 79
missions! Yet, their numbers over those years have dropped from a high of 120,000
regulars to just over 50,000. In the Reserves, strength has dropped to less than 18,000
from 50,000. We send volunteers from the Reserves, many of them in their teens, to serve
with the Regular Forces in places like Kosovo and Bosnia. In some cases, regular units
are up to 40% Reservist, because we cannot afford regulars. With good training and
leadership, these part-time citizen soldiers do well. They share the risk willingly.
The price for our participation in peace-keeping and combat has been high. Over 350
were killed in Korea, but it is little known that a further 111 have died in so-called
"peace-keeping" missions. It is the highest casualty rate of any country in the
world bar none!
And how does our government repay them? Our Sea King helicopters could be 60 years
old when they are replaced! Within 18 months, half our army vehicles will be broken, with
no parts to repair them and few mechanics to do the work. Our air force in the Kosovo
campaign had to beg for bombs from the US because we had run out. And, the ammunition
stocks of bombs for our fighter planes have never been replaced to this day! We have to
beg our allies to transport us to operational theatres abroad, and we did that to get to
Afghanistan. If they refuse, we have to hire civilian air liners and ships to transport
our personnel.
In Afghanistan, we borrowed vehicles from our allies to transport our troops. When we
returned military equipment from Germany after leaving the defence of Europe to our
allies, one-quarter of our army's operational vehicles were on one Russian ship. When
the company went bankrupt, this equipment and some of our soldiers were hostage on the
ship till someone paid. Our navy finally seized the ship at sea and forced it into port,
pirate style. The litany goes on, and it is pathetic.
Corrie Adolph, a Calgary housewife, has a teen son in the Militia soldiering
part-time. His comments on the situation galvanized her to quit her job, organize a group
called Civilians for Military Preparedness (CMP), and criss-cross this country at her own
expense asking folks like us to support her. I asked her lunch in the Somerset Army Mess
in Ottawa last week. She is a fine lady with a mission, and she is getting things done
while many sit around and complain ineffectually.
Corrie has the defence critics of the Alliance, Progressive Conservatives, Bloc
Quebecois and New Democratic Party supporting her. She has the support of the Chair of
the Commons Defence Committee, Liberal David Pratt MP supporting this initiative. Our
Defence Minister even went public on Friday, stating that the existing situation cannot
continue. In short, Corrie has mobilized folks in every political party to support her in
this mission. This is not a political thing, this is an all-party and Canadian mission.
What is Corrie's Mission? She wants us to assist in sending a petition, signed by
100,000 Canadian citizens demanding that Parliament debate this issue, do its duty and
support our Armed Forces.
The Petition is attached. Print it out. Get signatures from every Canadian you can
reach. Help Corrie, but even more importantly, do something for our men and women of the
Canadian Armed Forces.
Every signature counts. Fill the pages and fax them or mail them. We have until Nov
30th to get 100,000 signatures. If you only have one name, fax or mail it anyway.
Thus far, I have contacted hundreds of people to support this petition. The Zone
Command of the Royal Canadian Legion is passing it to every Legion in the Ottawa area. Ask
your local Lions Club and other service clubs to distribute it. I am passing it to friends
in the Atlantic provinces. You can help by spreading the word to your friends and
colleagues to assist, as well as have them sign personally. Remembrance Day will be a
great chance to get signatures, and the days leading up to it.
We need to put everything into this. As a member of the best peacetime armed forces
that Canada ever had, I served 40 years regular and reserve, and it is heartbreaking to
see what cynicism and apathy has done to this fine army and its people.
If we continue on the path of defence apathy exhibited in the past decade, we will
have confirmed what our defence policy is rapidly becoming. Our only policies will be
"Pray for Peace" and "Let the Americans defend us". Then, some of our
citizens will even have the colossal nerve to complain about the Americans risking their
soldiers and American taxpayers paying for our defence. Our nation is at risk.
We can do better!
Gary Del Villano
Chair
National Capital Region Chapter
The Royal Canadian Dragoons