Dr. Ann Griffiths, 13 July 2021
An interesting (and somewhat puzzling) article was published in early 2021 in Australia’s defence forum The Forge. The article was written by Darin MacDonald and was entitled “JPME With a Purpose: Breaking Through the Mythology” The author is a former RCN member who is now a member of the RAN. In the article he laments the sorry state of the RCN in general, but focuses in particular the lack of think tanks, institutions and publications that focus on the navy, and the lack of in-depth courses providing junior officers with naval history. Well, we at Canadian Naval Review protest! And we are not the only people who protested. First Brian Bertosa published a post here on Broadsides (27 April 2021), and then he wrote an excellent rebuttal of the article, also published in The Forge (“A Response to JPME With a Purpose”) Bertosa goes through MacDonald’s article systematically and counters his points in a clear and concise, calm and rational manner. Well done. We can only hope that the Australians read it.
