All matters Canadian / Canada

[031-Bacon,RG]

The United States Marine Corps has become very selective in who is retained in the O300 MOS infantry field in the past couple of years. During this whole conflict the Marines never had a problem attracting tip of the spear types. Neither has the Regular US Army had a problem filling the ranks of their Infantry and Airborne Divisions.

I suspect your Forces see that in Regiments like the Princess Patricia, and some of the Scots connected Regts.

Since I was in, during the '80s, the Canadian Forces have gone from a "unified" service back towards a more discrete Army, Air Force, and Navy. In the forty-year interregnum the CF has been the red-headed stepchild of Canadian federal policy, kept alive with the bare minumum of support. Coincidentally, for much of this time we have been ruled by the Liberal party.

Integration was supposed to create efficiencies, common purpose, and other such nonsense, but the real reason was to diminish the cost of maintaining a standing force in an era of nuclear weapons - especially when our cousins, the Americans whom our Liberals love to malign with such passion - were NATO-bound to defend us. We leaned on America and leaned hard; our Canadian Forces had little ability to project force.

Fast forward to the current era of SmallWar, and the attendant need for the ability to put boots where our political mouths are (oh, how I love the English language). Suddenly, CF members have purpose, the support of the general population (less in Quebec, of course), modern tools to do the job, and the prospects of a career spent serving in a meaningful way.

In short, the CF is reinventing itself to be a completely different Army than the "Force" I was in, and yes, I'm both happy and p-o'd (that I missed my chance).

What the CF becomes, however, is still up for grabs. Canada has possibly the best opportunity of any Western nation to create a modern, SmallWar specialist military - since we really have only the cadre of a military, amost all of whom will find themselves involved in some manner with our Afghanistan commitment, this graduation exercise will shape the future of the CF as it is shaping the lives of serving members. If we choose carefully how to re-grow our military we will have a CF to be as proud of as we were once of our Royal Canadian Army, Air Force, and Navy.

If we do it right, we could end up with an integrated, capable CF that looks very much like the US Marines.

[RJ]

031 - Back in the late 50's I was part of an exercise with the Princess Pats.

Did your intergration eleminate the history and traditions of those proud old regiments. I was shocked when the Brits started combining the old Scots Regiments, but they did retain there kilts and hyphenated the combined units titles.

Canada could do much worse than building the new foreces on the Marine Corps pattern. Look deep and copy the Navy Medical Service and Chaplin's seconded to the Marine Divisions to provide comfort and solace.

The US Navy Corpsmen who serve with the Marines are held in awe by the Marines and those sailors who have not served in the Fleet Marine Forces.

Rifleman - The south did fairly well with the 1:3 ratio. They did a fair amount of recruiting Irish from the "Ald Sod" and fielded Irish Brigades of their own. Savannah GA was a large port of entry for the Irish and today boasts the second largest St. Patricks Day Parade in the world. And New Orleans, drew many Irish immigrents from a section of the City called Algeirs situated across "The Irish Channel" for City of New Orleans Regiments. I had a great, great uncle who wore a Fez and Pantaloons for the City of New Orleans and a great, great grandfather who was with the 88th NY Infantry Vol. Regt. ("The Devils Own") from lower Manhattan and Brooklyn, NY of the Irish Brigade formed by the State of New York. A lot of that Regiments first soldiers were veterans of and Irish Light Infantry Regiment of the British Army The 88th Connaught Rangers. Rifleman - It is all in the gene pool. Good Stock, as a gentleman from Atlanta, GA said, once upon a time.

I've heard of an Irish Brigade Regiment from Georgia who's knickname was "The Jaspers". It might be time for someone to write a history of the Irish contribution to the Southern side of the War between the States.

[031-Bacon,RG]

RJ - Integration didn't end the regimental system; the three regular army regiments are the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infanftry, The Royal Canadian Regiment, and the Royal 22nd Regiment (Van-Doos).

[jmm99]

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Leroyal22regiment.jpg

and lest we not forget the spiritual ancestor of the Van Doos - CFM-Canada.

Bonsoir, mon amis

Michel

Although, it is said that, once, the Van Doos lost their goat - if so, a classic in Canadian special operations.

[031-Bacon,RG]

JMM,

There's also an old nasty rumour about an RCR weapon retrieved by the Pats, but I can't remember the whole story....

[jmm99]

is don't lift "precious relics" from the HQs of another unit lest they "get your goat" (or the equivalent) - thereby leading to a "prisoner swap".

Not a "goat rumor", according to the officer who planned and executed the operation, with no harm done except a couple of dazed subaltern "goat tenders" (the "Second Battle on the Plains of Abraham"). Classified as a helicopterborne training exercise by the "black helicopter folks". The incident cannot be found in the Van Doos historical page dealing with the many incarnations of Bâtisse (now on goat X).

La Citadelle, the regimental museum and mess impressed me; but then there were family ties to its prior incarnation as Château de St. Louis, including one ancestor executed for homicide near La redoute du Cap Diamants; and another "tué par les Iroquois" near the main entrance as one goes down the hill into the Basse Ville.

The regular Canadian regiments manage to cram a lot of history and tradition into three units.

Regards

Mike

[davidbfpo]

A Canadian think tank review popped into my email box just and apologies for bein serious it may be of interest:http://www.cdfai.org/PDF/The%20Canad...ar%20Later.pdf

From the summary:

An objective examination of progress in the other three pillars of the CFDS – personnel, readiness and infrastructure – indicates some movement towards achieving a balanced military capability, even though the actual measurement of success is challenging.