I can't resist, Mr. Chair. Mr. Hawn and I would remember the time of recruiting back in the late sixties and early seventies, when the recruiting campaign was a young officer in a nice green uniform getting off a 707 with a briefcase in his hand. It was the sort of the image of the young executive, which is anathema to someone in the combat side of the profession. We've come a long way in that regard.
I have been very concerned for quite some time that the nature of the recruiting advertisement and the effectiveness of the recruiting campaign was not where I thought it should be. This is in part because we have been reluctant nationally to call a spade a spade in terms of what a soldier, sailor, airman, or airwoman is there to do. It goes in line with the myth of peacekeeping, that we're somehow imbued with some sort of special qualities that allow us to do things that others can't. The reality is that it's a harsh world out there, and the military is there to be able to deal with those harsh realities. If one strategic lesson has been learned out of this, it is that what we've allowed to slide over a couple of decades is the ability to do some of the tough stuff.
So in some respects I think it's a positive turn. It's honesty in advertising, and I think it will appeal to certain segments of the population, certainly; whether all segments is another matter. But it will take some time.
The piece of it that I'm a bit concerned about is the accentuation of terrorism as the threat and tying it to recruiting. I believe that terrorism and all of those issues from a broad political perspective need to be addressed, and the Canadian people need to engage in those issues. But it's not the only reason, and it should not be the dominant reason that people join the military. It's just one of many potential missions that the Canadian Forces will have to undertake.
I don't know if I've answered the question.