The whole world gave a sigh of relief as a multinational team of divers (Thailand, United States, United Kingdom, Australia etc etc (and a Canadian was also in that long line of cave divers passing the children to the surface)) managed the impossible in Thailand. They brought 12 young boys and their coach back to the surface after two and a half weeks of being trapped. So many countries pulled together to make this happen. Where there is a will there is a way and I am thinking about NATO and our commitment as Canadians there. How prepared do we have to be? I do think, as others do as well, that we need to spend more money on ships to help in the North, jets etc for our Air Force and more troops to simply give more bodies on the ground to help in disasters both here and in the areas where we are committed to help. Spending 2% of our gross domestic product (GDP) is not an unreasonable sum given the protection it provides for us both internally from natural disasters and externally for the commitments that we make around the world through our participation in NATO and the United Nations (I wouldn't mind seeing it go to 3 or 4% to be honest). Many have said that for a very long time though it really isn't a new thought.
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