Canada's missions in Afghanistan ushered in an era of rapid change for the Canadian Forces (CF) and have transformed the country's small military into an effective fighting force capable of global deployment. The question now is: will the government sustain that capability or let it lapse? Prior to 2001, the CF had endured a "decade of darkness", as described by former Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS) General Rick Hillier[.]
Funny enough, that power will likely be directed to their far north. And they'll have old names for their Northern Empire:
On August 16th, the Canadian government reversed a 43 year old decision and restored the “Royal” prefix for the air force and navy. Actually, the decision eliminated the old names (“land forces command”, “air command” and “maritime command”) and brought back the more traditional Canadian Army, Royal Canadian Air Force and Royal Canadian Navy. The army does not get a “royal” prefix because while the air force and navy are historically answerable to the crown, the army answers to parliament.
It seems fitting.
