For the most part I think it could be said that the unification of the Canadian Armed Forces was a failure; it didn't end up saving much money on defence, and because of the massively unpopular changes the strength of the CAF was struck significantly due to so many servicemen quitting.
In my opinion if unification was done properly by changing the upper command structure of the military while not severely effecting the troops on the ground along with some other minor changes could actually increase the military power of Canada.
Some changes I was thinking for a less radical unification include:
- Creating a new public image focusing on peacekeeping, humanitarian missions and air search and rescue following the peace movement to not discourage recruitment
- Allow women into more military occupations to expand the recruiting pool
- Do not make changes that will kill existing heritage and drive a good portion of the existing leadership base to quit
- On that note while retaining heritage organizational structures, make a more progressive operational command structure as per OTL. Also ranks would visually look identicle but would have service specific titles as per OTL
- Instead of adopting the horribly unpopular CF wide green uniforms have uniforms similar to the post 1986 DEUs
- Refocusing from a garrison role in Europe to a NATO expeditionary force role of which standby elements can also be used as a standby UN force
- Not utilizing any nuclear weapons so as to give the military a better public image.
Basically these changes would make the military more attractive to the Canadian population and at the same time not be so radical that it will stay attractive to existing personnel. Therefore there would be more recruits, more public support for overseas operations and defence spending and the armed forces would not loose a good chunk of its leadership and not to mention professionalism. At the same time the power projection role in NATO would expand the independent capabilities of the Canadian military.
All of this could be achieved in my opinion with a POD around 1960.
So before I start are there any questions regarding the idea or suggestions on bringing this about other than killing off Hellyer?