Should the mission of our Canadian Armed Forces be as auxiliaries to the US army as they seem to be now, or should they be an organization that is dedicated to the enhancement of cultural and economic values for our own country? The recent Environics poll in Afghanistan appears to reveal that the local population doesn't even realize that there are Canadian troops on the ground there. They think the foreign soldiers are either American or German (a country that doesn't have any soldiers there).

Has it not occurred to anyone in the decision-making loop in Ottawa that having adventures in far-off lands should not be part of the CAF mission except when the country is under extreme duress or must come to the aid of allies. Neither of these conditions are in place at the moment. We originally went to Afghanistan to share the workload with the Americans in rooting out Osama bin Laden. When the Americans abandoned that search to invade Iraq so that they could control the oil fields there, the Canadians were left like 'monkeys in the middle' of local insurgencies. This role is a waste of valiant, courageous and skillful troops who are stuck in a political morass that has no end and where there will be no winning outcome.

What about the patrol work that needs to be done on our ocean coasts, north, east & west? What about monitoring the Great Lakes? What about collaborating with our Coast Guard to protect our fisheries and so on. What about establishing a presence in the north to ratify our sovereignty there? Why aren't there coordinated programs linking the reserves with the active forces to ensure that there can be swift and helpful responses to domestic disaster situations?

Don't Canadians care about the real mission of our CAF or are we all satisfied that our leaders take direction from Washington?