Sam Hughes

 Time As a Solider

 Sam Hughes enlisted in 1866, and was assigned to the 45th West Durham Battalion of Infantry. Once he was assigned to this unit, he and the other troops were sent to fight in the Fenian Raids between the mid 1870's to the mid 1880's. Afterwards, he resigned from the military in order to become a teacher. But in 1892, when he voted into Parliament, to wanted to persuade the 7th Prime Minister, Wilfred Laurier, to send troops. When he succeeded , he too went. He left shortly, saying that the British Military was undisciplined. So much so, that the letters he wrote were published in South Africa and Canada. 

 Time as the Minister of Militia

When elected the Minister of Militia of Canada, and around the time of when WWI broke out, he ordered for training camp to be built, in the city of Valcartier in the province of Quebec. The camp was opened on August 7th, 1914. The training camp was disaster. Organization was dreadful. Training was rushed. And some troops had to sleep in tents without greatcoats. The equipment he gave to the troops, were cheap and unreliable, which wasn't good when you're in trenches, taking enemy fire. It was so bad that the spending decisions we no longer given to Hughes and was instead given to War Purchasing Commission (WPC). In 1916, Sam Hughes handed in a resignation for his job as Minister of Militia. Ironically it was also around the time the Ross Rifle was thrown away from being the standard Canadian rifle, and was instead replaced by Britain's standard rifle, The Lee-Enfield.