Why we need to have the backs of the military.
My oldest son, Robert, a dual U. S.- Canadian citizen, is a junior in an ROTC (Reserves Officers’ Training Corp) program at a U. S. college. That means he’s in his third year of a military training program that will see him graduate as a 2nd lieutenant in the U. S. army. This past weekend, I overheard him telling a colleague of mine how the college experience is going. After he graduates, Robert explained, he’ll be required to serve four years in the U.S. army.
“Where will you end up serving?” my colleague asked.
Robert shrugged. “No idea,” he said.
And he doesn’t. He’ll go where the army wants him to go. Maybe that’ll be North Carolina’s Fort Bragg. Maybe it’ll be Afghanistan or South Korea. He won’t know until late next year. He’s facing an exciting, but uncertain future.
Thinking later about that overheard conversation, I considered the way it reflected what a gamble military service is for the men and women who join the armed forces on either side of the border. The people who bet their lives on military service do it in part because they believe their country will have their backs. Will look out for them. Will invest enough money in the defence budget to stay abreast of military innovations, to ensure that soldiers are properly equipped when they’re deployed to battlefields. The responsibility of country to military members extends to their families, who may struggle when the service member is deployed. Children from military families experience mental-health issues at double the rate of civilian kids. That responsibility extends, too, to the time period after service, when the member transitions from military to civilian life. And in fact, one- third of Canadians who leave the military have trouble with the transition.
Back in 2009, when I founded True Patriot Love, I felt that Canadian society was not adequately prepared to welcome back the military members returning from Afghanistan. Thankfully, the country’s donors have been generous. Organizations like True Patriot Love have been able to help soldiers feel cared for, and recognized, after their service. Since 2009, we have committed $30 million to fund innovative research and help change the lives of more than 30,000 military families.
But I worry about the future. Members of our military speak of the “dark decade” of the ’90s, when budget cuts and widespread public apathy made it seem to the people serving that comparatively few were aware of the sacrifices being made in places like Bosnia, Rwanda or the Mideast.
Having ended the mission in Afghanistan, the danger is that the Canadian public once again forgets that we have men and women risking their lives to safeguard our democracy. The Canadian military wasn’t mentioned much in the most recent federal election.
Meanwhile, the world teeters: Syria, Brexit’s protectionist dominoes, Chinese sabre- rattling. Oil has spurred remarkable prosperity in the Mideast. What happens when the commodity’s importance declines as we all move to more sustainable energy sources?
Canada needs a strong, skilled military to provide us with international influence. The armed forces compete for talent just like any corporation. Our military leaders are doing a good job recruiting. The next challenge becomes talent retention. If that military talent and intellectual capital trickles away in the face of widespread public apathy, Canadian society will face a massive cost to build it up again to a point that we command the same international respect that we do today.
Research shows that service members do better when they feel that their sacrifice is recognized by wider society. I worry about what happens if the visibility of the military declines. While True Patriot Love has enjoyed strong support, there are signs that charitable giving is declining among today’s youth. Do we run the risk of losing good people? Do we run the risk of not being mission ready when the need arises? If you were a shareholder in the Canadian military, would you be confident that your investment was risk-proofed?
I think of my son, who is just at the beginning of his military career. What can I, as a private citizen, do to ensure that he wins the bet he, and others like him, have made by enlisting? Here’s what I can do: I can support organizations, like True Patriot Love, that provide military members, veterans and their families with the programs they require. By doing so, I fulfil my part to ensure that society meets its obligation to those who have made sacrifices for our collective safety. In other words, I help ensure a win for the young men and women betting on military careers.