VAdm(ret’d) N.D.Brodeur

825 Royal Wood Place

Victoria, B.C. V8Y 3C2

13 September 2011

Cdr (ret’d) M. F. Morres

President, Naval Officers Association

of Vancouver Island

P.O. Box 5221

Victoria, B.C. V8R 6N4

Dear Mike;

I have given a great deal of thought to the path proposed by our National President, Ken Summers, arising from this years’ meeting of the NOAC Board of Directors. I also have carefully considered the points you have raised in your message in the September issue of Lead & Line.

The proposal to change the name of our national body to Naval Association of Canada and to expand membership reflects today’s realities and today’s needs. As anyone who has read my writings or attended my talks knows, I am acutely mindful of Canada’s naval history and have great respect for our naval predecessors, colleagues and successors. However, those who did not have the misfortune to spend many years in NDHQ will not have learned one hard lessons I learned as DMRS, DGMDO, CMDO and DCDS in Ottawa – namely that our Navy will never get new ships, new submarines and new shipborne helicopters without strong united public support. The corollary is that those in Government who oppose naval spending will take every opportunity offered by fragmentation or disagreement within the serving or retired “naval ranks” to kill those programmes.

We do not have today the strong united naval support community I enjoyed in the 1970s and 1980s. We have a hodge-podge of naval- minded Associations all of which are suffering declining membership and are stubbornly blocking inter-communication and common purpose. Onagawa fund-raising, for example, required me to take Canada-wide individual approaches to: the Naval Officers Associations, the Navy League, the UNTD Association, the Venture Association, the Submariners Association and the Canadian Naval Air Group, (in addition to RUSI, CDAI and the RR/RMC Ex-Cadet Associations).

Mention of the RR/RMC Ex-Cadet Club brings to mind the day-sail in HMCS REGINA last Friday for the RR/RMC Reunion members and RRU faculty and students. I eavesdropped as one Royal Roads term mate (a past-VP of a major Canadian oil company) and his wife, were extensively briefed by a proud, articulate and obviously highly educated and very knowledgeable Leading Seaman. That was an individual Q&A scene I saw repeated throughout the ship that day - a day when some 220 Royal Roads reunion visitors were embarked. Every visitor to whom I spoke expressed amazement at the qualifications, communication skills, knowledge, enthusiasm and pride of every crew member they met – and this in a ship which has only recently returned to sea following a major dockyard work period! In similar vein, Naval Reservists I have met in the MCDVs by and large have academic qualifications and worldly experience above those of many naval officers in days gone by. The “Lower Deck” is “Lower” no more! Many managers, operators and engineers in marine industries are similarly highly qualified and experienced in naval matters.

There is a huge potential body of “Friends of the Navy” out there; and we had better find ways to work together and make common cause for the good of the RCN we profess to cherish. If we fail to do so, and the RCN withers, then we cannot look to blame the Government or the Naval Leadership – we must look in our mirrors!

I strongly support the name change to Naval Association of Canada, I encourage exploratory work to expand NOAVI membership, and I advocate the integration of like-minded organizations into the larger Naval Association. I would also emphasize that we are promoting “Integration” not “Unification”!

Nigel Brodeur