Posted on 01/30/2007 6:40:42 PM PST by NorthOf45
Hillier: The soldier's soldier
Chief of defence staff is arguably one of the toughest jobs within the federal government. And two years into it, Gen. Rick Hillier has become a force to be reckoned with in the capital. But how well is he succeeding in his mission to transform the military? asks Richard Foot.
By Richard Foot
The Ottawa Citizen
January 28, 2007
When Gen. Rick Hillier strode onto the national stage two years ago this month, Canadians had never witnessed a military boss quite like him -- crude in his assessment of the country's enemies, cunning in his courtship of the federal government's political masters and uncompromising in his mission to remake the Canadian Forces into an instrument of pride and influence in the world.
Since his appointment as chief of defence staff in 2005, Gen. Hillier has fearlessly promoted his vision and faced down anyone who dared challenge it.
Consider how he handled Liberal Senator Peter Stollery last fall, when the angry senator demanded of Gen. Hillier at a parliamentary hearing, why the military wasn't contributing a peacekeeping force to help the beleaguered masses of war-torn Congo.
"I will be back in Kinshasa on Sunday," said Mr. Stollery. "I am sure the question will be asked of me, 'What can Canada do to stop one of the great tragedies that is unfolding in Africa?' ... What kind of response will I be able to give these people on Sunday on behalf of the Canadian Armed Forces?"
"I do not believe you give a response on behalf of the Canadian Armed Forces," Gen. Hillier told him. "That is my job."
But what impact is he having on the country after 24 tumultuous months in command?
"I think he is doing an outstanding job," says Conservative Senator Hugh Segal, chairman of the Senate's foreign affairs committee. "He is the best combination I have seen of a soldier's soldier -- the men and women in uniform identify strongly with him -- and of a proponent to the public and Parliament of the military's mission and responsibilities."
Gen. Hillier has a higher public profile than any defence chief since the 1950s. Like former generals Lewis MacKenzie and Romeo Dallaire, he has achieved the rare status of celebrity-soldier, thanks to his passionate salesmanship of the war in Afghanistan, and his down-to-earth Newfoundland charm and wit.
His greatest success so far, say many observers, has been raising the profile of Canada's military, and instilling national pride -- among both soldiers and civilians -- in an institution that has suffered decades of disinterest and disrepute.
"He's been very proactive in going out and schooling the Canadian people about what the military is doing for them, and I think it's working," says Dan Middlemiss, a political scientist and military analyst at Dalhousie University. "Canadians look a little more favourably on the military now, and most people accept the need for higher defence funding."
Mr. Segal also says Gen. Hillier has helped dispel what he calls the myth of Canadian peacekeeping -- "the notion that the only purpose of our military is for non-combat missions in support of a tepid, mild-mannered foreign policy. Instead, he has made the case for how on occasion we have to engage the world on a more robust level."
But Gen. Hillier's outspoken advocacy has also made some people, even friends of the military, uncomfortable.
"It's fair to say that for almost a year he was the only person who was articulating the case for the mission to Kandahar, and I think he was out of line," says Liberal Senator Colin Kenny, chairman of the Senate defence and security committee.
Mr. Kenny realizes Gen. Hillier may have been selling the Afghan mission with then-prime minister Paul Martin's blessing, but he says it was wrong for the country's top general to be publicly pushing that mission -- or any policy idea -- on Canadians.
Terry Copp, a military historian at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, says he worried during Gen. Hillier's first year in command that the general was getting ahead of government policy in some of his public statements. However, he notes that in recent months he appears to have reined himself in -- or been ordered to bite his tongue.
As a key proponent and architect of Canada's first war-fighting operation in half a century, Gen. Hillier will share in whatever credit or blame arises out of the mission.
"By my measurements -- establishing bases, operating in the field, and defeating at every turn their opponents -- Kandahar has been a starring point for Gen. Hillier and his officers," says Douglas Bland, a political scientist at Queen's University, and author of the book Chiefs of Defence.
"They've gone into the field and done something quite spectacular."
Less successful, says Mr. Bland, have been Canadian efforts to help develop Afghanistan's economy, rebuild its infrastructure and strengthen its government. But Mr. Bland says responsibility for those failings rests with the Canadian International Development Agency and the Department of Foreign Affairs, agencies Gen. Hillier has no control over.
On the other hand, it's clear that Gen. Hillier's prescription of a single, battalion-sized battle group -- less than 1,000 soldiers -- just isn't big enough for the task at hand in Kandahar province. Efforts to fix the problem by requesting more help from NATO allies have largely come up empty.
Last year, Gen. Hillier said the only way Canada itself could provide more troops was to cull them from the air force and navy, sending sailors and airmen to Kandahar as convoy truck drivers and logistics personnel -- an unpopular suggestion that was quickly mooted by the government.
Whatever the problems arising out of Afghanistan, Gen. Hillier's most difficult challenge remains his mission to transform, modernize and rebuild the Forces for the 21st century.
So far he has reshaped the very tribal structure of the army, navy and air force into a series of integrated new geographic commands, including one for overseas operations and another for domestic operations.
Some observers say the change has made the military more efficient, cohesive and focused on its core missions. Others call it little more than bureaucratic desk-shuffling. Real transformation, they say, will come when the military is properly rebuilt with the hardware, base infrastructure, and manpower befitting a G-8 nation.
To date, many of Gen. Hillier's pet projects appear to be stuck on the drawing board. For example, the Standing Contingency Task Force -- a quick-reaction unit capable of rapid deployment anywhere in the world -- and its main mode of transport, what Gen. Hillier is fond of calling a "Big Honking Ship," remains little more than a conception.
Mr. Kenny, the defence and security chair, says Gen. Hillier will be hard-pressed to re-equip the Forces with even a fraction of what they need in the coming decades. The money just won't be forthcoming, in spite of the $17 billion in new purchases announced by the Conservatives last year, he said.
Mr. Kenny says the Defence Department is requesting $27 billion to $37 billion in total annual funding by the year 2025. He says the government is most likely to agree to the lowball figure, which, with inflation factored in, won't allow the military to grow and modernize and certainly won't fulfil Gen. Hillier's dreams of transformation.
"For Hillier to be successful, he needs the support of government, and I have the strong sense that the amount of money involved means the government isn't going to step up and deliver," says Mr. Kenny.
Mr. Bland agrees that a lack of money may stand in the way of Gen. Hillier's big plans, but he insists the general and the senior staff he has around him represent the most capable professional leaders Canada's military has had in decades.
"What you're seeing in Hillier and his principle subordinate officers is a band of brothers, a group of officers raised in the post-Cold War world, who all served in Bosnia and were promoted for their ability to work in difficult positions in the field, and who matured in conditions most other officers didn't experience," says Mr. Bland.
"They're able to bring to the table, in front of the prime minister and cabinet, and senior bureaucrats around town, a degree of credibility that nobody else can match.
"Hillier has many challenges, but he's the right guy in the right position at the right time."
Canadian Military Ping
I wish him good luck. His annual budget will be about 5% of what the US spends on defense.
Spoken like the true Newfie from Campbellton, Notre Dame Bay, Newfoundland. And believe me, having been there and knowing the community, much more lip from Stollery could easily have resulted in Hillier turning him into a floor mop, on the spot.
Hillier is a rare duck , a genuine, swieller with the determination characteristic of his fine people at home.
I genuinely like and admire him, as do many thousands of his soldiers.
Please send me a FReepmail to get on or off this Canada ping list.
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General Hillier is a real gem!
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