I'll just say to you, Mr. Chair and ladies and gentlemen—I don't want to boast, but I'm very proud of our men and women—that you have one of the finest forces in the world. You do because the men and women of the Canadian Forces have rotated through one of the most difficult and austere environments in the world, into an area where the culture in some cases is very primitive, where your men and women have proven to be among the best trained in the world. Part of it happens even before someone puts on a uniform, because of our Canadian culture. The fact is that we come from a multicultural mosaic, we come from a country of immigrants, we come from a country where culture is respected, we come from a country with a high educational standard, and your men and women in uniform are well educated, and we're very patient.
I remember one battalion commander told me, “Sir, your soldiers are just plain smart”. When we take those individuals, when we take ordinary Canadians, and we put them through the rigour of the training that we do, they become extraordinary leaders, whether those leaders be young infantrymen or whether they be these generals. But as I said to a platoon out in Shilo just recently, “Whether you have just finished this basic training course as infantrymen, or even if you just finished your three-year hitch as a basic soldier, you have no choice but to be a leader, because we have provided the structure for you”.
We have just raised our game over the past few years because of this Afghanistan experience. I just think right now—again, I'm going into my 35th year—that I have never been part of this organization at a time when the proficiency and capability from privates on up has been at this incredibly elevated level. We were raised in the Cold War, when we thought we were doing the right things, but we did not have that experience of combat. Those young privates, those corporals, those lieutenants, and those captains are the future of the Canadian Forces, and their experience is immense.
Each and every day, at this moment, you have men and women who are going out the front gate courageous and so confident in their ability and in their equipment. Right from the helmets on their heads, to their boots, to their flak jackets, to the vehicles they are driving, they are confident in achieving their mission. Their eyes are trained and their instincts are incredibly highly refined, so they know what right looks like. Also, they have the discipline. They have the discipline that's rooted in Canadian law, in international law, in the law of armed conflict, in the Geneva Conventions. They carry it on a soldier card, they've gone through rigorous training, and they know what right looks like. Those are the men and women who are out there today.
What we're hearing from our allies—and I don't want to pat ourselves on the back, but it's from our allies—is that we have among the best soldiers, sailors, airmen and women, and special forces in the world. It will only get better, because in 30 years' time those lieutenants who have earned their spurs in Afghanistan will be sitting right here. We are products of the Cold War and Bosnia and Kosovo, and those young corporals and young lieutenants have much vaster experience from the current involvement.