A
small but well trained, motivated and professional fighting
force. The Canadian Forces (or CF for short) is an entity that encompasses the Canadian
Army, Navy and Air
Force; although each element maintains its own structure within the CF, for administrative reasons, the were unified under one command in the 1970s. This made recruitment and budget planning simpler, as quotas and allocations (personnel or financiary) are centrally planned as to allow the CF to better accomplish the overall tasks and missions it handles.
The CF was primarily used as a peacekeeping
force during the Cold
War (the Korean
War being the only event where Canadians participated in full-scale armed conflict during that period), but with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Canadian Forces faced increasingly complex scenarios, which necessitated a review of the overall mission of the CFs. Although Canada remains dedicated to peace and stability in the
world, the Canadian Forces are today participating in active warfighting in Afghanistan, having taken over responsability of the volatile Kandahar province, seat of
power of the Taliban regime, from the US. The CF have been extremely successful on operations, though have taken a number of casualties, mainly from improvised explosive devices, or IEDs.
The last few years have seen the CF resurgent. From the dark times of the early 1990s, when many scandals, massive underfunding and extremely severe shortage of personnel tarnished the Forces' honour and image, to the current level of
popular support for the servicemen and women (if not for the mission in Afghanistan itself) and the moral and financial support of the
government, much has changed. The CF of today is strong, proud and ever dedicated to fulfilling its duty to the nation and its
people.
-There are currently 2000+ members of the Canadian Armed Forces deployed and fighting in Afghanistan.
-Altough the CF doesn't have all the
big toys, the Canadian infantryman is possibly the
best equiped footslogger in the world, even outshining his
American counterpart in personnal equipment.