Senior Leadership and the Canadian Military

It was announced yesterday that General Ray Henault, CDS, is taking over a key NATO position (National Post or on the DND site). I have previously written about General Henault here and here.

Now, not being involved in the high levels of military leadership, I do not know the General personally. I have never met him or spoke to anyone who has. I am sure he is a nice guy, loves babies and puppies, excetera. Unfortunately, I can only judge him by his actions as CDS, and those have been less than impressive.

My military career began in the late Mulroney years. From that time until the present (and likely further into the future) I am sure future Canadian military historians will refer to as the "dark ages in Canadian Military history". Throughout this period there has been a serious decline in the size of the force, the quality of equipment, and a general failure to adapt to changes in the way war is fought. This is a direct result of Liberal government cutbacks to military spending.

Military officers are supposed to be above politics, but let's face the truth. At a certain level, definitely at the rank General Henault holds, it is all political. In my estimation, the rank of politician comes much sooner in the Canadian military, as we lack any large fighting formations. The last real leadership rank in the CF is Lieutenant Colonel, the rank at which one commands a Battalion or Battle Group. No viable fighting force exists above this level, so further ranks above it are really about politics, not warefare (a Battalion is about 800 men, a Battle Group is usually based on a Battalion with the attachment of other arms (ie. tanks and artillery), and will be slightly larger).

My point being is that General Henault is a politician, and has been for some time. I am not sure when he was promoted past the rank of LCol, but it is probably safe to say it was later than 10 years ago. Therefore, I think it is fair to say he has been a politician as least the last third of his career.

I say this to make the point that General Henault is a military politician and he should be judged as Chief of the Defence Staff as a politician, not a military officer. If I judge his as a military officer, I cannot hold him accountable for the state of funding in the military, as that is a political decision. However, since he has no fighting troops to command at his level, his job is all about politics. Therefore, he has failed miserably as the CDS.

To be fair, it is not all his fault. There were people before him who failed as well. However, he was in charge for the last three years and has done nothing that I can see to change the downward slide of the CF. In fact, here is my comment on something General Henault wrote in a letter to the editor of the National Post recently.

General Henault has done nothing to solve the problems in the Canadian Military.

Why would anyone think he can solve NATO's problems?