From Ukraine with urgency: How the lessons of conflict are shaping the Army agenda

To Lieutenant-General Jocelyn (Joe) Paul, Russia’s war in Ukraine has upheld many of the precepts guiding the Canadian Army. It has affirmed the importance of land forces and the simple fact that while navies, air forces and space assets are vital to success, only armies can hold ground. It has confirmed the tenets of the Army’s operating concept of Adaptive Dispersed Operations (ADO), of networked combat teams aggregating and disaggregating as required over the battlespace. It has reinforced the lines of effort in the Canadian Army Modernization Strategy (CAMS). And it has raised digital transformation to an imperative.

The conflict has also generated urgency to address gaps in the Army’s capabilities, in air defence, counter UAS, and long-range precision fires, among others. And its existence has placed added pressure on an organization wrestling with recruitment challenges and personnel shortages – estimate at about 10,000 across the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) – as it prepares for an expanded role in NATO: In addition to continuing to lead an enhanced Forward Presence (eFP) Battle Group in Latvia, Canada has committed to working with Latvia and NATO partners to surge a combat capable brigade – an augmented Forward Presence (aFP) Brigade.

While all of that would be more than enough to grab any new commander’s attention, when Paul assumed command of the Army in June, he did something unusual. Rather that issue a commander’s philosophy or guidance, or conduct a tour of Army bases and headquarters, joining soldiers on training exercises, he spent the first three months in Ottawa listening. After the past year as Deputy Commander of the Allied Joint Forces Command in Naples, and the previous two years in positions away from the Army, he knew there was a lot to absorb and relearn.