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| Big Rocks (photo by V.A. McMillan) |
Blog Title: Rebut – Alberta's
Military Viability: A Practical Assessment
15 February 2026
Yesterday, a copy of
Alberta's Military Viability: A Practical Assessment (by
Alberta Secession – Why @cnm5000) posted on “X”
was shared with me. I am not on “X” so I do not have a link to
share to the source article. However, I believe a found a copy on Substack (Here). Further, I was asked to review the
article and offer an assessment as well as suggestions for the
creation of an effective military force for an independent Alberta
nation, should that reality come to be.
Challenge accepted.
The article was well
written and with the best intentions. Nation building is complex and
has many interconnected pieces that MUST work together for success to
follow. For the purpose of this assessment and following suggestions
I will be looking only at the “military” piece of this puzzle.
Shall we begin...
First
let me share the points of the article I agree with in principle and
then I will identify the assumptions I noticed, before I offer my
analysis of the defence challenges of Alberta and potential
solutions. The points I agree with, in no particular order:
Alberta's defence
needs will NOT need to duplicate nor replicate the Canadian
Forces
The Swiss Civil
Defence model is a good starting point for developing in Alberta
There is no naval
requirement at this time
Mandatory service is
a worthy starting point for national defence
Building a defence
force for Alberta will need to be tailored to Alberta's needs
Interoperability
with Allies is required for joint success
This list may lack
meaningfulness to readers unfamiliar with the original article. I
suggest tracking down the article and reviewing it. (It is located HERE.)
Next let me share the
points from the article that I assess to be assumptions, and not
necessarily a solid foundation for building a military force upon. As
such, these assumptions need to be verified before acted upon as if
they were facts. These assumptions are:
The separation of
Alberta from Canada will be amicable
Canada will willing
surrender military assets to Alberta
Alberta could be
served realistically with a military force of 2000 Reg Force &
8000 Reserves
Alberta faces no
conventional military threats
Alberta would not
need military assets – fighter aircraft, radar bases, heavy lift
aircraft, vessels
Alberta would have
military partnerships/alliances with Canada & the USA
Mutual defence
agreements would come without costs to sovereignty
Individual soldier
skills at arms & continuous skills development is equal to
effectiveness
No need for heavy
armour divisions in Alberta, or artillery
Matching Canada's
total military capacity would be beyond Alberta to achieve
In my previous blog posts
(1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5) I have explored solving the military needs
of a unified Canada at the program level and at the branch level.
Focusing on only Alberta will be where we go from here.
Threat assessment:
Geographical
considerations.
Alberta
has no ports, so direct naval threats do not exists in the classic
tradition. Could a sub launched ballistic missile or a ship launched
cruise missile reach Alberta from the Pacific, Arctic Ocean, or
Hudson's Bay? Maybe. Similarly, could an aircraft launched from an
aircraft carrier reach Alberta? Maybe. So, while a naval launching
platform may assist a hostile act against Albertan territory, the
threat received would be aerial in nature. However, goods being
transported to market could be directly impacted by naval aggression
while on the high seas.
Land
routes into Alberta. Highways and railways from the west consist of
six highways (#3, #1, #16, #43, #49, & #64), two rail routes, and
numerous industrial roads, especially north of Grande Prairie. There
are two highways from the north, of which only highway #35 makes a
land route deep into Alberta. From the east there are nine highways
(#28, #45, #16, #14, #17, #13, #12, #9, #1), and few secondary roads,
and plenty of agricultural range roads south of highway #16 to the US
Border. From the south there are only five official crossing points
(#41 Wildhorse, #4 Coutts, #62 Del Bonita, #2 Carway, #6 Chief
Mountain), some minor agricultural roads between Wildhorse and
Coutts. In Waterton National park there are a few footpaths/trails
that cross the border and one lake route.
Air
routes into Alberta currently arrive into either Edmonton
International Airport or Calgary International Airport. There are a
plethora of regional airports and even more smaller community or
rural airports and minor airstrips. Plus military air facilities, see
Military Considerations.
The
Rocky Mountains (The Rockies) are a range of mountains that separate
the province of British Columbia from Alberta that run in the south
from the US Border north and slightly west to just north and west of
Grande Prairie. Mount Robson is the highest point of the Canadian
Rockies at 12, 972' / 3954m and is west of Jasper, Alberta just north
of highway #16. The Rockies influence weather to the areas east of
the range. High winds and Chinooks are notable hazards.
Numerous
river systems descend from the mountainous western edge of Alberta.
Bridging these rivers is a defenders advantage and weakness. These
river systems flow east, south, or north, draining into the Arctic
Ocean, Atlantic Ocean via Hudson's Bay, or into the Atlantic Ocean
via the Caribbean Sea. Seasonal flooding of these river systems
present an annual challenge to communities co-located with the
rivers.
The
Prairies are an area of open rolling country that extends from the
base of The Foothills across to Saskatchewan in the east and down
into Montana to the south. This open terrain is tank country, not
unlike the Steppes of Russia. Two dozen Main Battle Tanks is not even
close to enough armour to hold this ground from a motivated
adversary. Similarly, tanks in the open need to be protected by
artillery, aircraft in the skies, and ground troops. This is classic
Cold War defence tactics. If you cannot control the ground, you do
not own it – militarily speaking.
Military Considerations.
Currently,
the Canadian Forces have four Reg Force military establishments in
Alberta. CFB Edmonton, CFB Wainwright, CFB Suffield, and CFB Cold
Lake. This is supplemented by numerous Reserve Force armouries and
“ships” for the Reserve Navy. The current status of the Canadian
Forces is demoralized, under staffed, under funded, under equipped,
and suffering a leadership crisis of monumental proportions. There
are not less than 100 too many General rank officers, compared to the
number of serving Officers and Other Ranks. This imbalance favouring
the most senior officers contributes to instability and retention
issues faced at the pointy end of the spear. When senior officer are
more concerned with career advancement over the welfare of their
troops, and troops fear being stabbed in the back by their superiors,
your force, no matter how well trained, cross-trained, and exercised,
will not be COMBAT READY. Add on the betrayal of a federal government
that has broken so many promises for new equipment and basic tools
for the job, that the troops cannot trust that even their pay cheques
will be deposited on time. Available military equipment includes a
collection of aging aircraft, tanks, armoured personnel carriers,
trucks, and worn-out weapons systems from rifles, pistols, to machine
guns.
Population
Considerations.
Alberta's
population has been changing composition in the last couple of
decades. This is influenced by the available employment opportunities
that have traditionally been available. Alberta has a much younger
population than some other Canadian provinces due to this. So,
Alberta has different challenges than other provinces as it is a
generator of economic wealth. The population has access to
institutions of higher learning and currently access to stable
infrastructure support of learning or earning pursuits. In recent
years, like centres of higher learning across the Western World,
these institutions are showing signs of having been infiltrated and
subverted to methods of cultural indoctrination favoured by Karl Marx
and Vladimir Lenin. These subversions were predicted decades ago by
Yuri Bezmenov, and we are seeing the outcomes today. This is
resulting in a divided population, even in Alberta. The increase in
the followers of Marx/Lenin, socialist, and the current perverted
form of liberalism all combine to undermine the will of Albertans to
be a unified people.
So, how do we defend
Alberta?
This will be a simple
solution with missing components. Governance, legal systems,
enforcement systems, border control systems will go un-addressed, and
focused cooperative industrial outputs not included. Focusing on the
military components, these would be key points to include:
Logistics
Divide
Alberta into Three Geographic Divisions – Northern Div, Central
Div, and Southern Div. Include special operations divisions –
Mountain Warfare Zone Rockies & Open Warfare Zone Prairies.
All
Divisions will require primary, secondary, and tertiary
transportation corridors; air fields; supply depots; bases/camps;
training areas; and armouries. Additionally, the required vehicles,
weapons, ammunition, uniforms, and feeding assets will be required
for all Divisions.
Multi-tiered Staffing Model
for the Alberta Defence Force (ADF) [Top Down]
Minister
of Defence – this role is responsible for providing funding to
the ADF, that is predictable and consistent year after year.
Chief
of Defence Staff (CDS)– the senior ADF member responsible for
providing the financial needs of the ADF to the Minister of Defence.
Branch
Commanders & Operational Theatre Commanders – are
responsible for ensuring the operational needs for their troops will
be met with adequate planning, gear purchasing, and resources needed to achieve their specific missions. The output products from this
level are the formal budgets submitted to the CDS. Branches to include
– Land (Army/Armour/Artillery), Air (Air Force), and Naval
(Marines). Operational to include Domestic Operations, Foreign
Operations, and Special Operations.
For small nations to
defend themselves they MUST operate their defence forces as
integrated and interoperable as possible. This means that no matter
what level of operational duty a member is currently employed in,
they can be advanced to the next higher operational level and perform
their required duties or function, seamlessly. So, the Branch &
Theatre can be broken down into Five levels or tiers: Top Tier
(Special Forces), Tier Two (Regular Forces), Tier Three (Primary
Reserves), Tier Four (Militia), and Tier Five (Home Guard).
Top
Tier – Units to include the most highly trained operators in
their field of study – land warfare, air warfare, naval warfare,
and intelligence/espionage. The total staffing to range from 250 to
2500, combined strength.
Tier
Two. Land – full-time professional soldiers. Army/Infantry,
Armour, Artillery, Combat Engineers, and Battlefield Logistics.
Air
– full-time professional aviators. Air Transport, Combat Air,
Ground Support, and Air operations Support.
Naval
– Lacking the need for a navy, but requiring interoperability with
Allies, the creation of Marine units to function in naval operations
would be recommended. These units would conduct classic Marine
functions – Air Operations from a Naval Platform, Land Operations
from a Naval Platform, Security functions at Naval facilities, and
Underwater Operations – Combat Diver, UDT, Rescue Ops.
Tier
Two will be staffed to a strength of 15,000 Land, 5000 Air, &
2500 Marine.
Tier
Three. Will be Reserve Force personnel trained for the same
taskings as Tier Two, however they will only be required to parade
weekends and one evening a week. This pool of personnel will be
operationally ready to fill vacancies in Tier Two units on short
notice and augment Tier Two units during normal operational
commitments to share operational experience into Tier Three units.
Staffing will include 30,000 Land, 10,000 Air, & 5000 Marine.
Tier
Four. The Militia Regiments will be dispersed to every
community with at least 5000 citizens in population. These Reserve
troops will mainly be trained in taskings common to Land units or
common support roles across all branches of service. Each Militia
Regiment will be staffed by members in a common region. Individual
communities may support from Platoon to Company sized detachments of
the Regiment. Weekly training at the community level, with combined
Regiment training at least twice a year – Winter Ops & Summer
Ops Training Concentrations. Militia will be expected to serve
domestically, however opportunity will be provided to allow Militia
members to compete for positions augmenting Tier Two missions. There
will be a capacity for Militia Regiments to support up to 150,000.
Tier
Five. The Home Guard will be the final layer of the
tiered defence plan. Tier Five members will be expected to defend the
Homeland and not expected to be deployed away from Home. Members will
come from Veterans who previously served, Veterans wounded in action
who do not qualify for service at a higher readiness tier, Loyal
Patriots who are willing but have medical conditions that prevent
service at a higher tier, and those too young or too old to serve in
other tiers. The Home Guard is paid an annual honorarium and will
support their local Militia Regiment. There will be capacity for at
least 500,000 Home Guards.
To make this five tiered
system viable, voluntary, and combat effective, it may be necessary
to interconnect functions, responsibilities, and benefits. This could
include connecting firearms laws to serving in the Alberta Defence
Force, such that serving active members are authorized to own
specific types of firearms. Or civil defence functions like search &
rescue or emergency/disaster management could be included inside the
Alberta Defence Force umbrella. Similarly, a sixth tier could be
added for Border Security Operations.
Specific equipment
suggestions could be made, however that can be debated in a future
post. Suffice to say that to build a unified Alberta Defence Force
you will need:
Strong Leadership
Common
Purpose/Shared Vision for the Future
Mission Focused
Members
The WILL to
Serve
Branch specific
uniforms that are sharp and defining, with high standards of dress &
deportment
Proportional Ranks
for each level of command and Tier
Service based on
HONOUR, COURAGE, & INTEGRITY
Service will be
honoured by the government, no one left behind after service
Honest remuneration
for service – maybe tie politician pay to wages of service members
Provided the tools
to do their jobs & create Alberta industry to support providing
these tools from within the borders of Alberta (no profiteering,
genuine support symbiosis)
This topic requires
further discussion to work out the nuances of each tier and the
interconnectedness with other functions of a sovereign nation.
Suffice to say, a plan in hand would be best recommended for a new
country to have ready. Once a nation is born, things will move
rapidly both inside the borders and with out.
Until next time...provide
feedback and solutions!
Mountainman.
Links of Interest
https://mtnmanblog.blogspot.com/2021/04/future-cf-structure-from-partisan.html
https://mtnmanblog.blogspot.com/2021/06/canada-first-model-land-assets.html
https://mtnmanblog.blogspot.com/2021/07/canada-first-model-for-national-defence.html
https://mtnmanblog.blogspot.com/2021/05/canada-first-model-for-national-defence.html
https://mtnmanblog.blogspot.com/2022/02/canada-first-model-reforming-federal.html
https://mtnmanblog.blogspot.com/2024/08/canada-first-model-canadian-wildfire.html
