The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) stand at a precipice. After nine years of broken promises on new equipment and funding, attacks on leadership failures, misuse as a gender and DEI testbed, embarrassment at the inability to provide combat-capable personnel and equipment, and occasional exploitation as props for political shows, the CAF has reached record lows for recruitment, retention and capability. As someone who spent 27 years serving in our armed forces, the decline is impossible to accept.