Mr. Chairman, I'll just lead off and then the vice-chief will pick up on it.
This is a long-term business, and the capabilities of which Canadians are so proud, which we see on display in Afghanistan and in Haiti--and less on display during the Olympics, but they were there in the background during the Olympics--are not capabilities that were bought at Canadian Tire or Wal-Mart last week.
You don't grow a long-term military capability in equipment, personnel, command and control, and all that needs to come together at the moment to deliver the results and express the values of which Canadians are so proud, in a short-term way.
So the long-term planning horizon for us, like other departments of defence or militaries, is really absolutely vital. That's because we're making investments now that are going to shape the future of the Canadian Forces, and what Canadians can expect the forces to do for the next 10, 15, or 20 years. Today we're the beneficiaries of the decisions that were made 10 or 20 years ago--or in some cases 30 or 40 years ago, unfortunately--in terms of some of the equipment and the capabilities we're using today.
The vice-chief can elaborate.