Whereas US recruiting methods often appear to be trying to downplay the possibility of an individual being shipped to the war in Iraq, Canada has now come out with ads that go in the opposite direction, basically saying "we're in a fight [Afghanistan], come join us". This video is the two new TV spots, back to back.

The previous batch of Canadian recruiting ads made the military look kinda fun and exciting and avoided showing weaponry at all -- I remember a clip of grinning infantrymen running through mud in slow-mo with no rifles or even battle gear. (That slogan was also "STRONG. PROUD" which I thought sounded like a brother of Strong Bad's.) Apparently with the new ads, recruitment has gone up -- people must not join the military only in order to run through mud.

For decades, Canada has been viewed as "the peaceable kingdom" and Canadians have scarcely understood that they do indeed have a military (woefully underfunded by the feds, but I digress) instead of just a corps of peacekeepers. Anti-military sentiment has also run high at times; people on the street (in recent Montreal history at least) used to be more likely to randomly curse at a soldier in uniform than to say anything positive. As a concrete example, before the last federal election, the Conservatives were thinking it would be wise to arrange quick-response battalions in certain major cities (presumably in case of terrorist attack) and the Liberals jumped on it with an attack ad, warning ominously that the Tories wanted to put "Soldiers with guns. In our cities. In Canada".

That said, the perception is swinging in a positive direction nowadays and that's a good thing. A populace should support its troops.