In September 2001, the Canadian Army produced its first Canadian Army Reading List. In the time passed since its publication, many new books and articles of interest to the Canadian Army have appeared, prompting the need to revisit the list and revise and expand it as necessary. This new and revised Canadian Army Reading List retains most of the original, while adding a considerable amount of new material for soldiers to consider.

The aim of The Canadian Army Reading List is to provide an instructive guide to soldiers to explore suitable literature on any given subject. The list is not exhaustive nor should it be considered the limit of what soldiers should read. Rather, it is a starting point to enhance professional knowledge of those subjects that affect and influence soldiers’ lives and thinking. All members of the Army are encouraged to use the list, read the titles suggested, and debate these subjects at length. This activity not only improves individual soldiers, but it also helps foster a common understanding and shared knowledge that will make the Army as a whole stronger and more prepared to face the challenges ahead.

As the 21st Century unfolds, Canada’s Armed Forces must be ready to operate within an international security arena marked by uncertainty, volatility, and risk in order to meet national security needs and expectations. Increasingly, the likelihood of large force-on-force exchanges will be eclipsed by irregular warfare conducted by highly adaptive, technologically enabled adversaries, media-savvy foes intent less on defeating armed forces than eroding an adversary’s will to fight, rogue states bent on challenging the status quo and transnational criminal organizations ready, willing and able to buy, sell and trade everything from drugs to armaments for their own gain. Furthermore, turmoil will often occur in urban areas, with adversaries taking full advantage of the complex physical, moral and informational environments that large, densely populated cities provide.

As the 21st century unfolds, Canada continues to face an international arena marked by uncertainty, volatility and risk. While many threats have receded, others have grown in importance and still others have arisen in their place. One need only consider the terror bombings of 11 September 2001, and the events that have marked their aftermath, to appreciate the fact that the world remains a highly unstable and dangerous place.

Simply put, the predictability and stability of the Cold War is gone. The threats we now face are far more complex. The proliferation of advanced weaponry (and the apparent willingness of individuals, groups and states to use them), the problems of failed and failing states, as well as the growing reality of information operations, just to name a few, clearly demonstrate the need to remain vigilant and prepared. Notwithstanding rapid progress in many areas of human endeavour—instability, armed conflict and war continue to remain distinct and ever present realities in international life.

It is within this uncertain context that Canada’s Army must continue to operate to meet the nation’s national security needs and expectations. However, this entails an inherent requirement to do so not only in the short-term but also in the long-term. As such, the Army must work towards a fuller understanding of the character of the future security environment, and its implications for armed conflict. Moreover, it must foster doctrine and operational concepts that are clear, relevant and forward-looking. Finally, it must seek capabilities that ensure its effectiveness in the future battlespace.

Future Force: Concepts for Future Army Capabilities addresses those issues. Building upon past work completed by the Directorate of Land Strategic Concepts, it examines the future security environment, and the various geopolitical, military, economic, social and scientific and technological trends at work within it. In addition, it expands and elaborates on the key operational functions (i.e. Command, Sense, Act, Shield and Sustain), to further examine their meaning and linkages. The document concludes with a consideration of what the Army will require to ensure its effectiveness throughout the entire spectrum of conflict in the future battlespace and identifies a myriad of tangible capability requirements likely to be essential for the Army’s success in the future.

But let us not be presumptuous. The aim of Future Force is not to try and sell a specific template or blueprint for the Army for the future. Instead its purpose is to identify a conceptual framework that will assist the Army leadership and staff working on Army of Tomorrow constructs. Its development has been fundamentally independent and is unabashedly a“thought piece” that is designed to encourage introspection and discussion.

In sum, Future Force attempts to provide a portfolio of concepts of future Army capability requirements. As such, we must all strive to consider these ideas with an attitude of openness, tolerance and risk acceptance. We must not reject concepts merely on the basis of our own experiential baggage. However, we must also be discerning and rigorous in our analysis. After all, what is at stake is the very relevance and effectiveness of the nation’s army. In the end, enlightened discussion and the efforts and ideas of the collective whole will ensure that the Army of the future is strategically relevant, knowledge-based, tactically decisive and sustainable.

R.J. Hillier
Lieutenant-General
Chief of the Land Staff
Canadian Army