It's a question that I'm sure a lot of people in this capital are wrestling with.
My first point is that it starts from the top. There is a requirement at the very top of the national leadership to explain to the public. I hate the term “grassroots”, but I'm delighted with that grassroots movement along the Highway of Heroes. And it didn't mean much to us until other countries started doing documentaries on it and telling us how well we were doing it, and now the U.S. is copying, and the U.K. in some ways. Those were publicly generated responses, which are just great. It ignores the mission and focuses on the troops, which is great.
But as to how we do it, as a guy who spends some time with the media, I think if it leads, it leads. My greatest concern in Afghanistan is that when a soldier is killed, he dies in a field, he dies again at the ramp ceremony, he dies again at Trenton, he dies on the Highway of Heroes, and he dies when he's interred, and the only time we're permitted to see the leadership of the Canadian Forces is at those Stations of the Cross. Therefore, the public associates our leadership with death, and I think that's unfortunate.
I haven't answered your question, but I really think what's needed is a little more openness. You and I both know the best ambassadors for the media from the military are corporals and sergeants and young lieutenants and captains, and you don't hear from them a lot.