Letter to the Editor

Reference: Francis Clermont, The Art of Being a Soldier Diplomat ~ From an Implicit Role to an Explicit Function, Canadian Military Journal, Volume 15, Number 2, Spring 2015.

I would like to commend the author for his contribution to a much-needed discussion. To further such, I would like to offer the following two observations. First, when highlighting the initiative of a soldier to learn Pashto on his own, the author states that the “professional development [PD] and training system did not provide him with all the tools he needed in order for him to fully perform his tasks.” I would suggest that the PD and training system provided what was asked for; it is for the operators to identify what is needed, and, in this context, it is the senior leaders who did not (early on) emphasize the language requirement. This is even supported in the article by the example from the lessons learned report of the Second Battalion of the Royal Vingt-deuxième Regiment Battle Group (2 R22eR BG), where operational counter-insurgency (COIN) requirements are identified, including linguistic training.

My second observation is that the recommendations offered by the author, which I personally support, require one primary resource – money. Without a reprioritization or balancing of funding for capability development (equipment and human), or a significant injection of funding from government, I fear that the necessary education of the NCM Corps simply will not happen.

Respectfully,

Peter Ball
Lieutenant-Commander
VENTURE, The Naval Officer Training Centre