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Firstly I want to commend Lieutenant-Colonel Eleanor Taylor for stepping up and telling the truth of her experiences in the Armed Forces.

Secondly I'm saddened that she had to leave, which given her career, obviously had to be a very difficult decision, but as she says at this point she had no choice. This is unequivocally a choice that no women (or man for that matter) who ever they work for or are engaged with should ever have to make.

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Hello Bob,

Thanks for commenting on such an important subject. Would just like to post a reaction to it from an informed and anonymous friend;

This guy has glommed onto the same hype everyone else has.

First point, I do not know Taylor. Those that do, speak highly of her and she certainly has a good track record. We only had 3 infantry companies at a time in Afghanistan so that puts her at the top of the class. Her words are strong and said with conviction, so she should be heard and what she says should be considered.

My problem - as usual - is the portrayal of this from the media. First, the oft quoted 'one of Canada’s most senior women officers' - not! She is a Senior Officer - yes. The definition of Senior Officer is Majors and Lieutenant Colonels. Colonels and above are 'General' or 'Flag' Officers. I don't have the figures but my guess is that there are several hundred female LCols, and at least several dozen Colonels and by my rough count, pushing 15 or 20 carrying General rank (of ~70). So in a military that is smaller than the Royal Bank (didn't know that) - that is a lot. It is a niggly point like calling an armored car a tank or a piloted but not crewed air vehicle a drone - but it is sloppy and typical of the poorly researched tripe we read everyday.

The second problem I have is that dissenting voices are not being reported, they are being shunned. LCol Sarah Heer, who I know personally and reasonably well, is currently commanding 2 RCHA in Petawawa but is the Mission Commander in Ukraine, said that women were 'tired of being generalized as victims' and a few other bits. Here is an article by the CBC (I shudder to quote them) but has this been echoed - no - instead she got pounded on Social Media as not knowing what she's talking about and being part of the problem. No - I think she is part of the solution but doesn't fit with the hype. There are probably many others.

Taylor may be right, I don't know. My problem is that the last time something like this hit the military - Somalia - it caused what is referred to as 'The Decade of Darkness'. An era where at every turn axes were being ground, budgets cut and the whole thing was terminated only when it was rising to the point where the Government would have been indicted.

The military is not a social experiment. It is an insurance policy and only a reflection of society as a whole. We are not all recruited from caves or born in another era - we are Canadians. Anyway that is my $0.02 CAD

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