sword nothin

can we say lazer guided rocket launcher

never said we should attack anyone

with the state society is in

manditory service would teach discipline and self control

and maybe even slow down the need for instant gratification

like i said in my almost worthless opinion

and if all went there would be enough will to fight that not many of those that did not want to would have to

if it was a must go type everyone has to serve your danm right I would. I would never stand by and watch the country run over by an invading army

karmafury

The main difference is that the swiss...didn't have a major war PER generation.
USA seems to be a nation ADDICTED to war. Why? Qui Prodest?
(who benefits from it?)

The Swiss also traditionally maintained neutrality because of the Alps. That changed with WW2 and paratroops. However!! There are still the AA in the mountains that will take out aircraft attempting to drop troops and those that get through will be landing in a country where majority of males are active service or reserve status and all armed. That doesn't make for a healthy landing.
By maintaining a constant strength in military it has assured that training doesn't lessen and only improves. Add to that modern technology and you have a force to reckon with. The Swiss are among the best trained troops in the world.

Besides, Swiss banks have everyone's cash. Any country that tried it now would face everyone else with cash there. Also not healthy.

I think we should draft Canadians.........

bwahahahahaha, bwahahahahahaha





















































No

And then make them fight to take over Canada and Britain as our 51st and 52nd State.

I am happy with them being our hat

If Canada is our hat, what does that make England???

If you drafted Canadians you'd have a better quality of soldier.

You left the door wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide open for that one Fanta.




I thought you were becoming Canada South? You were supposed to be its first Premier Fanta.

give unto ceaser that which is ceasers

I just figured we could overtake Canada with Canadians. You know, and keep from getting our hands dirty!!

not worth mentioning

But we are taking over down there. That's why we have Generals in staff positions there.

1.... Learn the Canadian National Anthem, in both official languages.
2.... Learn "Alouette"
3.... Discover the joys of eating poutine.
4.... Friday's are red t-shirt Fridays.
5.... Remeber that now you have to decide between the Liberals and the Conservatives. (Not that much different than Dem's and Rep's.) Nobody English speaking ever votes for the Bloc.

well canada does help man the stratigic air command

NO YOU DIDNT!!!

Also on top brass commanding forces in Iraq.

........................

VANCOUVER, Jan 23, 2008(IPS) - Despite the government's official position abstaining from combat in Iraq, Canada has dispatched yet another top general to the command group overseeing day-to-day operations for the U.S.-led occupation and counterinsurgency war.

Brigadier-General Nicolas Matern, a Special Forces officer and former commander of Canada's elite counter-terrorism unit, will serve as deputy to Lt. Gen. Lloyd Austin III, incoming commander of the 170,000-strong Multi National Corps-Iraq beginning in mid-February.

Matern is the third Canadian general to serve in the command group of Operation Iraqi Freedom as part of an exchange programme that places Canadian Forces officers in leadership positions in the U.S. military. His deployment is part of a three-year post with the U.S. Army's 18th Airborne Corps, based out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

Officials at Fort Bragg confirmed that Matern has already been deployed to Iraq, though no official statement has been made by Canadian officials.

Meanwhile, 42 Canadian tanks and armoured personnel carriers left Edmonton last week destined for Fort Bliss, Texas to participate in pre-deployment training exercises with the U.S. Army before a summer rotation in Afghanistan. A Department of National Defence press release characterised the training as "massive", with more than 3,000 Canadian soldiers taking part in Exercise Southern Bear.

Such joint exercises are commonplace throughout all branches of the armed forces and beyond. A report from the U.S. Department of State's counterterrorism office described how "the governments of the United States and Canada collaborated on a broad array of initiatives, exercises, and joint operations that spanned virtually all agencies and every level of government."

During his first visit to Washington as Prime Minister in 2006, Stephen Harper boasted that the North American alliance was the "strongest relationship of any two countries, not just on the planet, but in the history of mankind." As much as 90 percent of Canadian trade is with the U.S., with upwards of two billion dollars a day in goods and services crossing the border.

There are also economic interests in Iraq itself. The April 2007 Iraq Reconstruction Report lists Canada as the fourth largest importer of Iraqi oil. Industry Canada records that total Canadian imports from Iraq have risen from 1.06 billion dollars in 2002 to 1.61 billion dollars in 2006, making Iraq second only to Saudi Arabia as a Middle Eastern source for Canadian imports.

According to Canada's Defence Policy Statement, the increased collaboration with the U.S. military will "not see the Canadian Forces replicate every function of the world's premier militaries," but rather fill niche roles that allow Canada's interventionist capabilities to be relevant and credible.

To this end, Matern's Special Forces background is seen as an asset. "He comes in with a unique set of skills," Col. Bill Buckner of the 18th Airborne told the Ottawa Citizen. "We're the home of the airborne and the special operating forces, so he fits in very nicely to this warrior ethos we have here."

Matern was a commander in the secretive commando unit, Joint Task Force-2, before being promoted to deputy commander of the newly created Canadian Special Operations Forces Command.

Canada's most important foreign policy documents list Iraq, along with Afghanistan, Haiti, Sudan, and Israel-Palestine, as areas of "strategic priority".

Canada was an active participant in the 1991 Gulf War and helped enforce the crippling blockade on Iraq throughout the 1990s, but declined to join the so-called "coalition of the willing" in March of 2003 when the U.S. launched the invasion to overthrow Saddam Hussein without a final U.N. resolution authorising the war.

Nevertheless, Canada's contribution to the mission is notable. In 2003, Canada pledged 300 million dollars in aid and reconstruction in Iraq. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police has helped train more than 30,000 Iraqi security forces in neighbouring Jordan, and has had top level advisors operating within the Iraqi interior ministry. As well, Canadian frigates continue to operate alongside the U.S. aircraft carriers in the Arabian Gulf that are a primary staging platform for bombing raids in Iraq.

Indeed, during the first week of the war in 2003, then-U.S. Ambassador to Canada, Paul Cellucci, said that Canada had provided "more support indirectly to this war in Iraq than most of the 46 countries that are fully supporting our efforts there."

Around the same time that Canada opted out of combat in Iraq, it increased its combat role in Afghanistan, ultimately taking command of the counterinsurgency war in southern Afghanistan.

Unlike the Canadian deployment in Afghanistan, which is subject to relatively significant coverage domestically, Canada's participation in Iraq is handled much more carefully by Canadian officials.

Defence Minister Peter MacKay did not return a call seeking comment and no official statement has accompanied Matern's recent deployment.

Opposition New Democratic Party defense critic Dawn Black expressed reservations about the implications of the special military relationship: "We're concerned about an overemphasis on interoperability with the U.S," she told IPS from her British Columbia office. "It affects whether we have an independent foreign policy and sovereignty as a country."

Though approximately 93 percent of the coalition troops in Iraq are American, the U.S. has long been keen to emphasise the multinational component of a war that former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan described as "illegal".

Major General Peter Devlin, a Canadian Forces officer currently operating as deputy commanding general in Iraq, recently told the Washington Post that the effect of the multinational element is in bringing "greater legitimacy to the effort here in Iraq".

and they love doing it. After their basic training, it is actually called a "Green holiday" They get to dress up in battle dress, yomp around the mountains, skiing, shooting at each other and generally having fun.

They get paid their normal wage, all their daily expenses and then a stipend for attending.

They have the highest gun-to-citizen ratio in the world and the lowest gun crime stats.

They get to take home their automatic rifles and store them in the cupboard and the rounds are stored elsewhere.

Even the women enjoy the "Green Holiday"

Ummmmmm, how about NO!!!