[SKUNKY]

You know how passionate Hawkeye can get sometimes,Cardo......but he's a damn fine surgeon. (and he's got some nice cars)

[Cardinal]

Originally Posted by mustangdriver

Didn't mean to break a rule Cardo, my apologies. Just a very touchy subject after my experience.

Given your experience, your feelings are understandable..

[mustangdriver]

I can take umbrage, I can take the cake, I can take the A-train. I can take two and call me in the morning, but I cannot take this sitting down
-Hawkeye One of my favorite quotes.

[Alph]

No matter what our Coalition forces do or how we tried to train them we still deal with guys that wake up in the morning knowing their misguided purpose is to go blow themselves up??? I could go on and on about these facts,but it isn't becuse I think this debate is fun it's because I'm tired of congress and their @#%$ peeing match over course of action. Shoot there is a photo of the vice president shaking hand with Sadam is that photo shopped or REAL? ALPH

[SKUNKY]

I do know of this photo of Saddam and Donald Rumsfeld shaking hands in 1983, when Rummy was over in Iraq selling Amway products and weapons of mass destruction...

[Canucklehead]

Back on topic (Canadian military), 90 years ago today the Canadian Corps. fought and won a decisive battle at Vimy Ridge.
From the Wikipedia:
On April 2, 1917, the Canadian Corps initiated the largest artillery barrage in history up to that point. They shelled the German trenches for a week, using over one million shells. The German artillery pieces were hidden behind the ridge, but by observing the sound and light from their firing, the Canadians were able to locate and destroy about 83% of the German guns. The Canadians also made many night trench raids during this week, although General Arthur Currie thought this was a stupid risk and a waste of men. The German troops called this period the "Week of Suffering". The attack was so loud, the sound of guns could be heard plainly in southern England, some one hundred miles from the front.




At dawn on Monday, April 9, the 27,000-man Canadian Corps attacked. The first wave of about 15,000 Canadian troops attacked positions defended by roughly 5,000 Germans, followed by the second wave of 12,000 Canadians to meet 3,000 German reserves. Nearly 100,000 men in total were to take and hold the ridge. The first wave advanced behind a creeping barrage, known specifically for the battle as the Vimy Glide. This tactic had been used earlier by the British at the Battle of the Somme, but there it had outpaced the soldiers. The Canadians perfected the technique. The troops walked across no man's land, just behind a continuous line of shells (an improvement over previous battles, in which both sides had often shelled their own troops). On the experience of advancing under heavy machine gun fire from the rear, Corporal Gus Sivertz of the 2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles said,

We were dancing a macabre dance as our nerves just vibrated to the thousands of shells and machine gun bullets... whizzing over. I felt that if I had put my finger up, I should have touched a ceiling of sound.

Several new and untested methods of counter-battery fire were also used successfully at the start of the battle. This disabled a large portion of the German artillery and protected the advancing infantry. The Canadians also used a new technique, indirect fire with machine guns, which pinned German troops down in their trenches and provided cover for their own troops.
After less than two hours, three of the four Canadian divisions had taken their objectives; the 4th Division, however, was held up by machine gun nests on the highest point of the ridge, known as Hill 145. The 87th Battalion suffered 50% casualties. The 85th Nova Scotia Highlanders, who had been intended to function in a supply and construction role, were sent in as reinforcements and the hill was captured by the end of the day.
It is said that upon learning of the victory, a French soldier exclaimed, "C'est impossible!." ("It's impossible!"), and upon learning it was the Canadians who had won it, replied "Ah! les Canadiens! C'est possible!." ("Oh, The Canadians! It's Possible!.").

The Battle of Vimy Ridge, by Canadian war artist Richard Jack

Today, April 9, 2007, the 90th anniversary of this event was marked with a re-dedication of the Vimy Ridge memorial in France by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. Canadian Prime Minister Steven Harper and French Prime Minister Dominque de Villepin were also in attendance, as well as close to 15,000 others.

Vimy Ridge Canadian War Memorial, Vimy, France

From the Wikipedia:
The Canadian National Vimy Memorial is one of Canada's most important overseas war memorials to those Canadians who gave their lives in the First World War. It was constructed as the national memorial for Canada's 60,000 war dead and is located in France, on the site of the Battle of Vimy Ridge. The memorial stands atop Hill 145, near the towns of Vimy and Givenchy-en-Gohelle, in the Pas-de-Calaisdépartement of northern France. France deemed the area surrounding the monument, about 1 km², to be Canadian territory in 1922, as an expression of gratitude to the Canadian people for their sacrifice during the war and for capturing Vimy Ridge in April 1917. The entrance to the park bears the sign "the free gift in perpetuity of the French nation to the people of Canada."

[mustangdriver]

Wierd stuff, I am going to go and take a nap.

[Merritec]

Guys

I am glad this thread has gained so much interest, and I know an article like this is preaching to the history buff choir, but I had to post it in a moment of pride for the history of the Canadian Amed Forces.

I had this article for a few weeks debateing whether to post it or not, but am glad I did.

There were 2 comments that caused me to post the article. 2 years ago I worked in Detroit for a 1 year contract and one of my fellow workers found out I collected WWII planes and his comment was:

"Too bad there weren't any Canadians in WWII or you could collect their planes, guess you will have to settle for US planes. Well we won the war anyways."
There were many months of re-educating to do with this one.

The 2nd comment from a different co-worker who was listening to our many re-education conversations was "Too bad Canada doesn't have a military any more so you wouldn't have to rely on the US for protection."
Again many education conversaions were needed.

The saddest part of these 2 comments, was that they were made from highly educated well paid professionals, but I know they don't represent all Americans.

I know sometimes the Candian military is considered a joke to the rest of the world because it is not large, we don't have battleships or aircraft carriers, (though we did have 3 at one time) and can't field an army of hundreds of thousands, but we can still feel pride in our military accomplishes of both past and present.

[mustangdriver]

As you should

[Cardinal]

Originally Posted by mustangdriver

As you should

Weren't you taking a nap ... ?