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.
