There are several thousand military personnel here in Ottawa, I think - the various HQ buildings sure appear crowded.
Many dozen (a few hundred?) must be on duty 24/7, even when the HQ is on Sunday routine: some duty officers/NCOs in e.g. the NDOC/NDIC, some MPs, quite a few signalers - some medics, too, I guess. Some just got off duty at 06:00 and, quite rightly, went home to sleep.
Dozens more (a few hundred, too?) are away on course. Some are excused duty, and so on.
A few more hundred were on parade, yesterday - all over the national capital region, not just downtown at the national service. About half, it appeared to me, were reservists. I saw many - maybe more than a couple of hundred - spectating in the crowd of 25,000+/-; a few hundred more were, almost certainly, at other, suburban, services, at schools and so on.
So let me tally up: a few hundred on duty + a couple hundred more just off duty, excused, away, etc + a few hundred on parade + a few hundred spectators = what? a thousand? a couple of thousand? Where were the rest? There are hundreds of Gens, Cols, LCols and Majs (and Navy equivalents) in Ottawa, a few tens had 'official' duties on Friday. Where were the rest of these leaders? How can I ask, "where were all the corporals and privates?" when the 'leaders' took a shopping day?
</rant>