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Kalev I. Sepp
The Ottawa Citizen
As a retired U.S. Army Special Forces lieutenant-colonel, I was flattered to read David Warren‘s praise of American arms. However, the article infers that America‘s allies do not measure up to U.S. military standards.
In fact, the soldiers and officers of the Canadian Land Forces I trained with are, man-for-man and unit-for-unit, fully the equal of their American counterparts, and often better.
I learned early in my career that the Canadians are easily our peers at soldiering. The three Canadians who successfully completed the U.S. Ranger course with me (while 55 per cent of my fellow Americans did not) were considered the toughest and most reliable soldiers in the class. When I went on exchange to the Canadian parachute school (then at Edmonton), the instruction was more advanced and thorough than the American equivalent at Fort Benning, Georgia. And the Canadian air crews who flew us to our drop zones in jarring "combat profile" (low-level, high-speed) flights were superb.
I later served in Alaska, where I saw U.S. units improve their arctic warfare expertise by emulating Canadian tactics and equipment.
Beyond the trenches, the intellectual strength of the Canadian officer corps and defence community is also highly regarded. I‘ve served with American officers who studied strategy as fellows at Queen‘s University, and others who attended and enthusiastically praise the staff college at Kingston.
When I read military history at Harvard, the most engaging and knowledgeable professor in the field there was a Canadian who took his PhD at Toronto (and who also lectured at West Point Academy). At the U.S. Army‘s annual strategic war games, the Canadian officers were often the most innovative and insightful of all the staff. In particular, their research and analyses anticipated the spread of global terrorism and the need for increased continental security years ago.
That the Canadian military operates on a different scale than the Americans does not take away from the thoroughgoing competence and unsurpassed quality of its people. Smaller often allows for better in key skills, the meagre Canadian defence budget notwithstanding.
From my perspective as a combat veteran, I would unhesitatingly go into combat beside Canadian troops, and under the command of Canadian officers. They stand in the first rank of the world‘s soldiers, and I believe all my American colleagues who have served alongside the men and women of the Canadian Forces feel the same way.
Kalev I. Sepp,
Cambridge, Massachusetts
The Ottawa Citizen
As a retired U.S. Army Special Forces lieutenant-colonel, I was flattered to read David Warren‘s praise of American arms. However, the article infers that America‘s allies do not measure up to U.S. military standards.
In fact, the soldiers and officers of the Canadian Land Forces I trained with are, man-for-man and unit-for-unit, fully the equal of their American counterparts, and often better.
I learned early in my career that the Canadians are easily our peers at soldiering. The three Canadians who successfully completed the U.S. Ranger course with me (while 55 per cent of my fellow Americans did not) were considered the toughest and most reliable soldiers in the class. When I went on exchange to the Canadian parachute school (then at Edmonton), the instruction was more advanced and thorough than the American equivalent at Fort Benning, Georgia. And the Canadian air crews who flew us to our drop zones in jarring "combat profile" (low-level, high-speed) flights were superb.
I later served in Alaska, where I saw U.S. units improve their arctic warfare expertise by emulating Canadian tactics and equipment.
Beyond the trenches, the intellectual strength of the Canadian officer corps and defence community is also highly regarded. I‘ve served with American officers who studied strategy as fellows at Queen‘s University, and others who attended and enthusiastically praise the staff college at Kingston.
When I read military history at Harvard, the most engaging and knowledgeable professor in the field there was a Canadian who took his PhD at Toronto (and who also lectured at West Point Academy). At the U.S. Army‘s annual strategic war games, the Canadian officers were often the most innovative and insightful of all the staff. In particular, their research and analyses anticipated the spread of global terrorism and the need for increased continental security years ago.
That the Canadian military operates on a different scale than the Americans does not take away from the thoroughgoing competence and unsurpassed quality of its people. Smaller often allows for better in key skills, the meagre Canadian defence budget notwithstanding.
From my perspective as a combat veteran, I would unhesitatingly go into combat beside Canadian troops, and under the command of Canadian officers. They stand in the first rank of the world‘s soldiers, and I believe all my American colleagues who have served alongside the men and women of the Canadian Forces feel the same way.
Kalev I. Sepp,
Cambridge, Massachusetts
