Canadian Commander Tells His Troops Not to Wear Uniforms in Public-in Canada

This is beyond shameful. In the wake of the murders of two Canadian soldiers by Islamic terrorists, a Canadian commander in the Eastern provinces has sent out a missive telling his troops not to wear their uniforms in public.

Mind you, this is not directed to Canadian troops in Afghanistan or some other country. This is directed to Canadian troops in Canada!

As an American, far be it from me to speak for Canada, but I do consider our neighbors to the north as brothers and brothers in arms. Maybe I should phrase this as part of the demise of the West in the face of Islamic terrorism. Yes, we are fighting it militarily. But we also have to confront it socially on the home front. Instead of telling our troops to shed their uniforms in public on our own soil, we should be telling them to travel in groups and travel with their arms.

When I was an American  soldier stationed in Germany in the 1960s, we were instructed to wear civilian clothes when we left the post. (As military police on duty, we were an exception.) That made sense. The occupation of West Germany had ended in 1955, and it was proper for us to dress in civilian clothing when off-duty and off-post. That was a totally different situation. For a soldier to wear his or her uniform in his or her own country should be a matter of pride, not something to shrink away from due to threats of some element of the population who hate the military or hate the country.

In fact, I remember taking leave while in Germany and spending a few days in Copenhagen. I fondly recall drinking with a whole bunch of Canadian sailors in one of those dives in the Nyhavn port area of the city. Yes, they were wearing their uniforms.



I don't know how the divide between the military and political divide works in Canada, but I would hope that someone would reverse this decision. This sends the wrong message to the other jihadis who are walking around in Canada.