New Books

By Wolf Riedel, OMM, CD, QC

... Another way of putting this is that no planning is being done for a major war.

This is shortsighted in the extreme. A military that thinks in terms of turning itself into a great host in a crisis is very different from one that is small, thinks small, and plans for very little.

The Canadian Forces needs a plan.[1]

Introduction

For those of you who are wondering as to why there hasn't been a post from me for several years, this is the reason. One major new book and a full revision of an existing one.

With A Few Guns

Back in 2006 the Royal Canadian Artillery Association resolved to start documenting the service of its gunners in Afghanistan. They retained a retired Lieutenant-Colonel by the name of Brian Reid to be the author. Brian started work, and over the years started to gather research, but for various reasons, the project languished until 2020 when retired Brigadier-General Ernie Beno revived it. Captain/Master Gunner (retired) Kevin Smith became the chief researcher and I was brought on to help Brian out. So was Mark Zuhlke, one of Canada's premier military historians. Unfortunately Brian was suffering from ill health and between Mark and I we resolved that I would write the first volume of the book (2002-2006) while he would do the second volume (except for some chapters I'd already written for 2007 and respecting artillery transformation over the years) and take the story to the end of Canada's commitment to that conflict.

Volume 1 came out on St Barbara's Day on December 4th, 2023 and has done well in soft cover sales and is now available on Kindle. Regrettably, Brian passed just before its debut. Volume 2 is targeted for probably a May 2025 publication. A French version of Volume 1 is currently in the works.

Unsustainable at Any Price

My several years of work on With A Few Guns as well as numerous sessions on the forums of Army.ca has had me do a major rethink of my approach to the restructuring of the Canadian Army to make it a more credible and sustainable entity. Those new approaches are all contained in the 2nd edition of Unsustainable.

If anything, the events in Ukraine emphasize just how important a proper defence structure is for Canada. The current state of the Canadian Forces in general and of the Canadian Army in particular makes it clear that the current course cannot be continued. Things must change and quickly. 

In the almost thirty years since the Special Commission's report and its revisitation almost 20 years ago, virtually nothing has been done. Granatstein and Belzile's words that "the Canadian Forces needs a plan" have been roundly ignored by both the government and the Canadian Forces' leadership. More than ever, a plan is needed. More than ever, a plan needs to be implemented.

Mark Winters

I haven't forgotten about Mark. Another book is on the way and should be out later this years.

[1]       J.L. Granatstein and LGen (retd) Charles Belzile, The Special Commission on Restructuring the Reserves, 1995: Ten Years Later Centre for Military and Strategic Studies, Calgary, 2005  p. 12 https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/cdfai/pages/41/attachments/original/1413661138/Restructuring_The_Reserves_-_English.pdf?1413661138