A Soldier First: Bullets, Bureaucrats and the Politics of War

by Rick Hillier

Overview

In the summer of 2008, General Rick Hillier retired as Chief of the Defence staff of the Canadian Forces. You could almost hear the sigh of relief in Ottawa as Canada’s most popular, and most controversial, military leader since the Second World War left a role in which he’d been as frank, unpredictable and resolutely apolitical as any of his predecessors.

Born and raised in Newfoundland, Hillier joined the military as a young man and quickly climbed the ranks. He played a significant role in such domestic challenges as the ice storm that paralyzed much of eastern Ontario and Quebec in 1998, and quickly became a player on the international scene, commanding an American corps in Texas and a multinational NATO task force in Bosnia-Herzegovina. But it was his role as General Rick Hillier, Canada’s Chief of the Defence staff, that defined him as a Canadian icon.

In Afghanistan, Canada faced its first combat losses since the Korean War, with every casualty becoming front page news. A country formerly ambivalent, or even angry, about its role in the conflict suddenly became gripped by the drama unfolding not only in a war zone halfway around the world but in unfriendly conference rooms in Ottawa. There, as everywhere, Hillier pulled no punches, demanding more funding, more troops and more appreciation for the women and men fighting a war on foreign soil. This hard-hitting, honest account of Hillier’s role—told in his own words—will be one of the most important books published in Canada this decade.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781554688463
Publisher:	HarperCollins Canada
Publication date:	06/01/2010
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	544
File size:	8 MB

About the Author

General Rick Hillier, born in Newfoundland and Labrador, enlisted in the Canadian Forces in 1973 through the Regular Officer Training Plan program. He graduated from Memorial University in 1975 with a B.Sc. degree. In May 2003 Hillier was appointed Commander of the Army, and in October 2003 he was selected as the Commander of the NATO-led International security Assistance Force (IsAF) in Kabul, Afghanistan. General Hillier was promoted to Chief of the Defence staff in February 2005 and stepped down in the summer of 2008.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Prologue: Breakfast with the PM 1

1 Newfoundland Days 15

2 Basic Training 33

3 Between a Rock and a Hard Place 39

4 Tanks, but No Tanks 51

5 Striking It Rich in Fort Knox 67

6 Germany 87

7 Decade of Darkness 107

8 Bosnia 133

9 A Flood of Affection 165

10 Thawing the Ice 183

11 Fort Hood, Texas 205

12 Back to Bosnia 223

13 Friendly Fire 241

14 Four Stars 261

15 Kabul 283

16 Chief of the Defence Staff 319

17 First Year on the Job 341

18 Recruiting the Nation 363

19 Defensive Manoeuvres 387

20 Making Canada Small 411

21 Highway of Heroes 429

22 Final Days 457

23 Time to Go 479

Postscript 499

Index 511