rcac_011 said:
(by the way excellent drill on Canada day,you guys looked real sharp).
Thank you. It was a good couple of parades, and the afternoon off was well needed.
Now regarding the issue at hand-
This is making it's way around shacks at the moment here at Carleton, and universally the reaction is profound disgust. Had any of us been near the memorial as this was happening rest assured it would have stopped- I would have gladly caught a charge for taking whatever measures necessary to stop it if things came to that, and not all of us were drinking much that night- we certainly would have been in good enough condition to do so.
Neither Ceremonial Guard nor the local units (GGFG & CH of O at Cartier, plus assorted reserve units across town) are in any shape to provide manpower for a full time guard You're looking at at least a section fo troops just for rotating sentry, plus svc/sppt. Don't get me wrong, I'd gladly take shifts, and would do that over Rideau Hall if it came to that, but the money and the troops aren't there.
Let's look at it this way- assume a section,. plus leadership, plus support personnel, and you're looking at maybe a dozen people on daily. Add to that costs for food, transport, etc. etc. ad nauseum, and you're looking at over a half million a year. That's not to say that that isn't worth it; there was a great point earlier about the snowbirds and skyhawks, but it's still an expense to shoulder, plus a burden on local personnel. The same applies to having a permanent police presence.
I suspect that what we will see is an unofficial guard of the tomb a year from now- if I'm in Ottawa I'd gladly hang out there for a few hours on Canada Day evening to watch over it, and some of my buddies would too- some of them are GGFG during the year and will no doubt be back here next summer, so people will be available for a quiet, 'unofficial' sentry. A couple fit young guys (or ladies) in 'ARMY' shirts should suffice, and even in most cases a quiet polite word should do the trick. If anything were to get stupid the police would likely side with the bystanders who received trouble after insisting that people respect the monument by not pissing on it.
Now that that's all dispensed with, if I ever catch this goddamned stain on our country I'll probably pound the piss out of him. I don't consider this to be a commentary on society as a whole, but the fact that no-one stepped up to stop them sickens me. I'm friggin' LIVID about this- 'disgrace' is not a strong enough word for it. Fortunately, the little shit photographs well enough that hopefully the name will be available online within another week or so.
We won't likely see anything official on this - though perhaps a Canada-Day only cenotaph guard may happen - but I'm sure I'm not the only pissed off troop here in Ottawa who would be willing to step up to the plate next year.