The Canadian military is looking at options to keep the Afghanistan mission going, but Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor says he doesn't intend to use air force or navy personnel in combat roles.

"As well, there is no intention of extending the time that people are in Afghanistan if they are in active operations," he said Monday in Parliament's question period.

NDP Leader Jack Layton told the government that since the military appears to be stretched in Afghanistan, "won't the prime minister finally acknowledge and admit that it should be changing the direction of the mission rather than arranging hasty photo ops?"

Layton based his questions on the two-day Afghanistan trip by International Co-operation Minister Josee Verner, and media reports that the military was considering extending Afghanistan tours from six months to nine and retraining airmen and sailors for infantry roles.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said the government is constantly looking for ways that the work of Canadian defence, diplomatic and development personnel in Afghanistan can be made more effective.

He said the premise of Layton's first question was wrong, but Gen. Rick Hillier, chief of Canada's defence staff, told the Commons defence committee last Wednesday that the armed forces would look at "re-rolling" those serving outside existing combat units.

There are 2,300 Canadian army personnel currently serving in Afghanistan, who rotate through on six-month stints. The Canadian Forces mission is scheduled to remain until at least February 2009.

However, the army says it can't fulfill that commitment without subjecting some units to a second rotation.

"That rotation should be for a year," argued retired major John Harrison. "And if not, then we do not have enough trained combat soldiers to do what the prime minister has promised."

As one example of the problem, the Royal Canadian Regiment of CFB Petawawa is half-way through its rotation, which ends in February.

However, the unit scheduled to replace the Royal Canadian Regiment is assembled from several different units from across Canada. They are currently training at CFB Gagetown in New Brunswick.

After that, Quebec's Royal 22nd Regiment, also known as the Vandoos, will take over in August 2007.

When Vandoos are finished, second tours for soldiers who've already served in Afghanistan will have to be implemented.

Bercuson said if such "re-rolling" were implemented, sailors would have to learn how to operate LAV III armoured personnel carriers -- and keep them running under awful conditions.

Capt. Richard Langlois, a spokesman with DND, told The Globe that any re-rolling would only happen on a voluntary basis and that sailors and air force members would receive full training before being sent into combat.

However, the preference is they would fill administrative and support positions, he said.

Of the 2,300 soldiers serving in Afghanistan, only 500 are actually engaged in combat.

Meanwhile, there are other reports that casualty figures for Afghanistan are actually higher than the Department of Defence has claimed.

Esprit de Corps military magazine has reported that 231 soldiers have been wounded in the war-torn country, not 211 as officials have said. The magazine reached that figure through access to information laws.

"There's been a downplaying of the numbers of the wounded coming back," said the magazine's editor Scott Taylor. "We've seen a discrepancy in the numbers that Esprit de Corps magazine has compiled and what the Defence Department has."

With a report by CTV's Graham Richardson