General (retired) Rick Hillier, the former CDS for the Canadian military had his memoirs released last week in a book entitled, "A Soldier First".
True to its title, and to the standard he set while as the top military man for Canada, he tells it as he sees it, and thankfully he names names, doesn't pull any punches, and otherwise regails the reader about his service career, and very importantly the challenges he had with bureaucracy in Canadian government and elsewhere once he reached more senior ranks.
There are no 'sacred cows' in this book, and he goes after everything from jealous bureaucrats in other ministries, to one politician on the federal scene who he calls "dumb as dirt", to railing at how impotent NATO has become.
I purchased the book on Saturday and just about completed reading the 498 pages. Having served with the Cdn. military in my youth I can only pray that future CDS have the skill and the intestinal fortitude that General Rick Hillier showed as CDS. There was a lot said in this book that has needed to be said for a very long time. |