[serious] Canadian Airfield Ground Defense

[bc1871]

An interesting article on the subject of, Canada's lack of a well developed force protection policy, as it relates to the CAF.

http://wps.cfc.forces.gc.ca/papers/c...obocarlsen.doc.

[Zevico]

Allow me to pre-empt by saying: the defence policy of many liberal democratic states is to rely on America for its defence against some of its perceived threats, depending on how serious those threats may be. Checking the expansionism of the PRC, a state that would much rather invade people than engage in internal reforms so as to survive, is an example.

[SpencerH]

Nothing changes.

I was part of a group that tested the security of a CAF airbase during a "base defense" exercise in the late 1970's. We had no failures in coordinated attacks including destroying the control tower, the weapons dump, and aircraft on the tarmac. One team ambushed an MP patrol as they drove around the base (IIRC they pushed a boat that they 'acquired' from somewhere onto the road and when the MP's stopped to check for 'foul play', as police are likely to do, they took em). There may also have been 1 or 2 other tasks (that I dont recall).

It was pathetic! The excuse was that an infantry battalion would actually defend the airbase if it was real.

[Asher]

If Canada still had the Red Ensign we wouldn't need a defense force.

[BeBMan]

Red Ensign???

[Asher]

Nothing changes.

I was part of a group that tested the security of a CAF airbase during a "base defense" exercise in the late 1970's. We had no failures in coordinated attacks including destroying the control tower, the weapons dump, and aircraft on the tarmac. One team ambushed an MP patrol as they drove around the base (IIRC they pushed a boat that they 'acquired' from somewhere onto the road and when the MP's stopped to check for 'foul play', as police are likely to do, they took em). There may also have been 1 or 2 other tasks (that I dont recall).

It was pathetic! The excuse was that an infantry battalion would actually defend the airbase if it was real.

Simple fact is Canada is too big and too vast and too underpopulated to have any kind of reasonable defensive force to repel a serious invasion. It would be immensely stupid to waste money to even attempt it.

It's far better to use the defense forces of others if we need it, which is what Canada is doing.

[Asher]

Red Ensign???

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Ensign

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redshirt_%28character%29

[BeBMan]

Ahhh ok

[Asher]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Ensign

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redshirt_%28character%29

Awesome connection! The above two links + the d-day threads = JAMES DOOHAN / MONTGOMERY SCOTT. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Doohan

The actor was in the Canadian Army and was wounded in the D-day invasion!

At the outbreak of the Second World War, Doohan, aged 19, joined the Royal Canadian Artillery, and was eventually commissioned as a lieutenant in the 13th Field Regiment, part of the divisional artillery of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division. Doohan went to the United Kingdom in 1940 for what became years of training. His first combat assignment was the invasion of Normandy at Juno Beach on D-Day. Shooting two snipers along the way, Doohan led his unit to higher ground through a field of anti-tank mines and took defensive positions for the night. Crossing between command posts at 11:30 that night, Doohan took six rounds from a Bren gun fired by a nervous sentry:[4] four in his leg, one in the chest, and one through his right middle finger. The bullet to his chest was halted by the silver cigarette case he carried, and his wounded right middle finger was amputated, which he would conceal during his career as an actor. However, despite his efforts, the injured hand can be seen in the Star Trek episodes "Trouble with Tribbles", "Tomorrow is Yesterday" and "Catspaw", as well as in The Search for Spock when giving parts from the USS Excelsior to Doctor McCoy

Despite his injuries, Doohan remained in the military, trained as a pilot and flew an artillery observation plane. He flew Taylorcraft Auster Mark V aircraft for 666 (AOP) Squadron, RCAF, as a Royal Canadian Artillery officer in a flying role in support of #1 Canadian AGRA (Army Groups Royal Artillery). All three Canadian (AOP) RCAF Squadrons were manned by Artillery Officer-pilots and accompanied by enlisted RCA and RCAF personnel serving as observers.[5][6]

Though he was never actually a member of the Royal Canadian Air Force, he was once labeled the "craziest pilot in the Canadian Air Forces." One of the many legendary stories of his flying years tells of Doohan slaloming a plane — variously cited as a Hurricane or a jet trainer — between mountainside telegraph poles to prove it could be done, which earned him a serious reprimand. (The actual feat was performed in a Mark IV Auster on the Salisbury Plain north of RAF Andover, in the late spring of 1945).

[BeBMan]

So Nazis were also star trek haters

[SpencerH]

Simple fact is Canada is too big and too vast and too underpopulated to have any kind of reasonable defensive force to repel a serious invasion. It would be immensely stupid to waste money to even attempt it.

It's far better to use the defense forces of others if we need it, which is what Canada is doing.

No one here is discussing an invasion of Canuckia.

[Asher]

So Nazis were also star trek haters

Not just the Nazis, all of Germany (which was all Nazi anyway!)

[Asher]

No one here is discussing an invasion of Canuckia.

Now that we've got that settled,why don't we disband the military?

[Patroklos]

Canada is at peace and has no plausible conventional ground threat to its forces at home. The idea that places like Canada or the US or UK or similar should have every defense installation hardened against coordinated conventional attack IN PEACETIME is ridiculous, a complete waste of resources.

[Asher]

Canada is at peace and has no plausible conventional ground threat to its forces at home. The idea that places like Canada or the US or UK or similar should have every defense installation hardened against coordinated conventional attack IN PEACETIME is ridiculous, a complete waste of resources.

Yep

Let's use this thread to talk about Scotty