European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 5, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sunday. January 5. 1906 the stars and stripes Page 17 Canadian bagpipe it Parade of a military Bole in to if. We it Germany Welense while Only 17 percent thought the nation spent Loo much. Nearly a third though defense expenditures were about right. The squeeze on the armed forces began in 1964 when the first Steps were proposed to merge the army Navy and air Lorce into a single service to save Money. Everyone ended up wearing the same Green uniform. Separate uniforms Are now being reinstated at a Cost of More than $40 million. After Pierre Trudeau became prime minister in 1968. He ordered further cutbacks. Trudeau wanted to bring Canadian troops Home from Europe until his defense minister threatened to resign. Even so Canada s nato contingent was slashed in half to 5,000 men. The government mothballed an aircraft Carrier that had been overhauled at great expense cancelled a program to build new frigates and bought cheaper f-5 it Flag hers Over More advanced f-4 phantoms. Light armoured cars Ware ordered instead of Lanks with an Eye to civil unrest then brewing in Quebec. In the heyday of . Detente almost nothing was spent to replace worn out hardware. By 197b. The Canadian armed forces had dwindled to 78,000 men from 126,000 15 years earlier. The Liberal government tried to reverse the deterioration before it lost Power last year. Canada a now ordered 138 new f in lighters and is building six frigates. The Mulroney government announced last March thai 1,200 More troops would be sent to reinforce its nato contingent in West Germany and thai another infantry battalion would go to the Aid of Norway in event of War. These measures have not outdated the conclusions of a three year defense policy study that the business Council on National issues made Public a year ago. Despite significant acquisitions of some major replacement equipment. It is fair to say that the Canadian armed forces have clearly been subject to benign neglect and an Inadequacy of resources for almost 20  the study said. As a result they Are incapable of meeting the International military comm meals which Canada has assumed and the Broad Range of Nal Lonal tasks assigned to  in the lean years the Quality of Canadian servicemen has if anything improved. Canadian soldiers grew Ederl at improvisations even Down to elaborate camouflage. Their convoys can travel at night without any lights. And because of Canada s cold climate. The troops train More in Winter warfare than almost any other Ermy. Every Man in every unit in the Canadian army is issued a pair of snowshoes said Brig. Gen. Keith Corbould commander of the Quick reaction Speckel service Force Corbould s Force of 3,200 men is assigned to repel any invasion of Canadian territory. But ii also has one battalion deployed in Cyprus for United nations peacekeeping and another battalion of 850 men is commuted to defend Northern Norway  crisis. There s not a Hettula lot of fat left Corbould said. Tha army a become lop heavy with rank. Majors command infantry companies that captains would run in the . Army. To become a master Corporal equivalent to a Junior sergeant in the . " a can Dut a work War army fakes an average of eight years. But the British tradition of a career spent in one regiment allows for fiercer loyalties. Like their . Counterparts. Canadian commanders Are Happy with the recruits they Are getting. There Are waiting lists at every recruiting station partly because of the High unemployment. They Are a helluva lot Beller than we were As Young so idlers flexible intelligent easy to train Belzile said. But their equipment often helpers them. With us new f-18 hornets arriving Canada s air Force is in Beller shape than the smaller army which will finally get its version of 1he m-16 Rifle at about the time when the . Army starts phasing it out. The Canadian press has celled the Navy a National disgrace and a laughing Stock although it looks Beller than in 1981, when to percent of us ships were Laid up with cracked boilers. The associate minister of defense Harvle Andre agreed that the Navy was in the most deplorable state  As for the Navy s nato Mission of protecting the North Atlantic sea lanes Andre said we can put the required number of ships in the held and some of them Ere Able to prefect  to augment the regular uni i which operate at 60 to 70 percent strength the armed forces rely on the 23.800-Man militia As Canada s reserves Are called. Canadian reservists do not gel paid Lor weekend training and unlike american reservists cannot demand time Olf from their employers. If e Guy does t show up there in t much we could do Selzle said. One of Canada s first priorities has been to cooperate with the United states in modernizing the obsolete North american air Welense system. Canada s $500 Mason task includes supplying two squadrons of f-18 interceptors and 2a Long Range radar stations. The biggest impediment to increasing the Arr Ned forces is Lack of Money. Defense spending consumes Only 9 percent of the Federal budget in Canada compared with 29 percent of the . Budget. But any reallocation in the deficit budget would Lake Money away from the extensive social welfare benefits that canadians expect. Most canadians who pay higher taxes than americans balk at spending More for defense when they see no direct military threat. Andre dodged a question Teboul where the Money could come from. That s the non glamorous part of politics he said. Some Canadian have argued that their country should end its military alliances and become Neutral. The new democratic party which has 30 seals in the House of commons has advocated pulling out of nato. But critics of neutrality have pointed out thai Canada would have of spend More to defend i sell and might have to introduce the draft which was unpopular even in wartime. As the conservatives Tell it a stronger defense posture would give cans a a greater voice in the strategic decisions made by the United Stales. Andre observed that every country had the option of being Neutral Sovereign and armed to the Teeth Ilka Switzerland or be Neul Raf and vulnerable like Finland. Or you can be Sovereign and pull your own weight. Thai s what we want to