As a statement of personal belief, I believe that the Canadian Forces are among the best trained militaries in the world. I think they're ideally suited for not only counter-insurgency operations but many others. But let me try to put some meat on those bones.
I think it's important that I define, at least from my perspective, what counter-insurgency is. The basic premise of counter-insurgency is where you have either a part of the population or an insurgent organization inside a nation-state or region that is trying to foment unrest and basically disrupt the government and ultimately take over. Straight combat, straight fighting, isn't what you need. What you need to do is to remove that insurgency force, but fundamentally ensure that in so doing you win and maintain, for want of a better term, the hearts and minds of the people of the nation. You have to get the populace on your side. If they're not there to begin with, you have to earn that, and there are a variety of dynamics: political, development, reconstruction, a whole range of issues. The military force may not even be in control. It's a political issue and the military force is in support. That doesn't mean that security is not important. If the insurgent is creating violence, is causing you to fight, then you have to get rid of it. Your challenge is to as quickly as possible get back to that balance of winning the hearts and minds, and if you fail there, no amount of fighting is going to solve the problem.
I don't know if you want me to go further, but you raised the issue of tanks and pilots. I don't know whether that's--