An aggressive new Canadian Forces ad campaign was launched Wednesday, drawing a tough response from some Canadian Muslims and an opposition MP who described the spots as war mongering.

The ads are designed to trigger new interest in the military and boost recruitment numbers, said CTV's Graham Richardson.

"They're a long way from 'There's No Life Like It'," Richardson told CTV Newsnet, referring to a long-running Canadian Forces recruitment slogan.

The first of two 90-second ads features stark music and grainy images of what appear to be actual combat operations, with soldiers carrying guns, raiding homes, kicking in doors and rescuing a hostage.

Then the words "Fight Fear, Fight Distress, and Fight Chaos" appear on the screen, closing with the slogan "Fight with the Canadian Forces."

The second begins with similar music, and features scenes of a helicopter rescue, burning forests and operations in a flood zone, before the same message flashes across the screen.

Early versions of the ads reportedly contained the words "Fight Terror," which were removed after the commercials were pre-screened for audience reaction.

The final versions of the ads were set to be released in Atlantic Canada on Wednesday in movie theatres and on TV, in the region where the military hopes to see the biggest spike in recruitment numbers.

The economically-challenged area already provides a disproportionate percentage of the military's numbers, and the ads are intended to demonstrate the Canadian Forces can offer an exciting, rewarding career.

"It is certainly an aggressive push for more soldiers, a move that the forces desperately need to make. They want to grow the forces significantly, and that is challenging at any time, and they're finding it challenging now," Richardson said.

Commodore Roger MacIsaac, the military's head of recruiting, said the $3 million campaign provides an accurate depiction of life in the navy, army or air force.

"All of the focus groups that we went through prior to putting the video together said, `Tell your story. Show people what it is you do,''' MacIsaac told The Canadian Press on Tuesday, after showing the ads to 14 new recruits in a Halifax movie theatre.

But the ads have drawn opposition from some groups. The Canadian Islamic Congress requested to view the ads prior to their release, and was granted the opportunity, Richardson said.

The group objected to the use of the word "fight," and scenes, apparently from Afghanistan, that showed doors being kicked in.

NDP Defence Critic Dawn Black called the ads war-mongering and said they were a heavy-handed approach to drawing new soldiers.

"They do need recruits, but I'm not sure Rambo ads are the way we want to portray military service," Black was reported as saying. "I think there's a lot more to the Canadian military than fight, fight, fight and war, war, war."

However, Richardson pointed out, the ads don't tone down the danger involved in military service -- an important element when Canadian soldiers are being killed regularly in Afghanistan.

"Canadian Forces can't be faulted for hiding what this is all about," Richardson said. "You know, if they went soft people would say, 'Wait a second here, there are lots of soldiers dying.' Again, guns are clearly drawn and it is not necessarily a nice picture."

The Canadian military has set aside a $15.5-million promotional budget, for the task of recruiting an additional 13,000 people for the regular forces and 10,000 reservists within the next 10 years.

This year's target is 6,400 recruits -- an increase of 1,400 over last year.

MacIsaac told CP he is confident the ambitious goal will be met.

"Applications are up and we're processing those but we do have some shortfalls, such as doctors and nurses and some of the tech trades with which we have to compete with the rest of Canada.''

The military also intends to streamline its hiring process by October by easing physical fitness requirements for entrance.

MacIsaac said the military will take on some of the responsibility for improving physical fitness once the recruits have been brought into the fold.

With a report from CTV's Roger Smith and files from The Canadian Press