# Why do they code everytihng with the letter "c"??



## matt22 (11 Mar 2005)

OK, question. I was setting up a trip flare the other night on an enemy force ex, and i noticed that it was called a C4 trip flare. Dont we have explosives called c4? oh yeah and a gas mask called a c-4 gas mask?
WHY DO THEY DO THIS!?!?!?!


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## Sh0rtbUs (11 Mar 2005)

not really sure, but I've noticed the "C4" thing as well.


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## chrisf (11 Mar 2005)

C for Canadian?

And yes, there are a variety of things with the same letter number combination. So? If you want a gas mask, you ask for a gas mask. You don't say "Can I have a C-4?".


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## Fishbone Jones (11 Mar 2005)

Just a wild guess :, but in most cases, it probably stands for Canadian.


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## Michael Dorosh (11 Mar 2005)

C stands for Canada, duh.

The US gave everything an "M" number (presumably M means "Model") throughout the 20th century.  M-1 helmet, M-1 tank, M-1 rifle, etc.  The nomenclature is to distinguish successive models or types, shorter to write 

M4A4 Medium tank

than 

General Sherman tank , Horizontal Volute Spring Suspension, Diesel powered, 75mm main armament

We simply replaced the M for C to distinguish Canadian from American stuff.  Happened IIRC in the late 1950s.


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## Fishbone Jones (11 Mar 2005)

Michael,

Wouldn't the "M" stand for Mark? (or maybe 'Merican'  )


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## Michael Dorosh (11 Mar 2005)

recceguy said:
			
		

> Michael,
> 
> Wouldn't the "M" stand for Mark?



No.  that is a British designation.

It usually refers to either a model name, or a Number of a Model.

Ie Helmet, steel, Mark III or Short Magazine, Lee Enfield, Number 1 Mark III

Most books on US equipment use "M" and "Model" interchangably so in US service it means "Model" - ie Colt Model 1911A1.


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## Michael Dorosh (11 Mar 2005)

Does bring to mind, however, the cartoon of two cavemen.  One of my humanities professors related this one day in class (and was totally off topic, too - I still don't know why he brought it up.  He had been in the Sherwood Foresters, I found out).

Caveman One, talking to Caveman Two who has a club with a metal spike through it. 

"Ah, I see you have the Mark II."


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## Freddy Chef (11 Mar 2005)

C4 = Composition 4 plastic explosives


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## matt22 (11 Mar 2005)

wow, i would have never guessed that the letter c could ever stand for canada or canadian. you guys are damn hilarious. seriously if you have nothing better to do than critisize people who ask honest questions go back to cadets.


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## Fishbone Jones (11 Mar 2005)

oakley said:
			
		

> wow, i would have never guessed that the letter c could ever stand for canada or canadian. you guys are damn hilarious. seriously if you have nothing better to do than critisize people who ask honest questions go back to cadets.




Better back off there buckwheat. YOU asked the question, all we did was answer it. If that's not what you wanted to know, maybe YOU should ask the cadets how to phrase a question properly, because you can't. I doubt we all misread what you were asking.


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## Michael Dorosh (12 Mar 2005)

oakley said:
			
		

> wow, i would have never guessed that the letter c could ever stand for canada or canadian. you guys are damn hilarious. seriously if you have nothing better to do than critisize people who ask honest questions go back to cadets.



What part of my answer didn't you understand?


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## Jarnhamar (12 Mar 2005)

> wow, i would have never guessed that the letter c could ever stand for canada or canadian. you guys are damn hilarious. seriously if you have nothing better to do than critisize people who ask honest questions go back to cadets.



What are you putting down the cadets?
Seems to me like many of them have made a far better impression in their time ont his forum than you have.
Maybe you should go back to the cadets and have them teach you what they know


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## matt22 (12 Mar 2005)

hahahah oh god, not another glorified cadet. i am seriously sitting here laughing at how poorly you defend the "greatness" of cadets. they are a waste of time, nothing more than a glorified scout. ****** ****** *****



Modified by Slim for verbal abuse and not following the conduct guidlines.
You don't need to put down another member, or class of members of this site. Next time you'll go on warning!


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## goodform (12 Mar 2005)

oakley, in defence of both cadets and the people who responded...

I know a lot of reservists (not sure about regular members) who like cadets as they generally make better recruits. I was a cadet and am still with them as an officer until the end of summer. I have heard many good things come from people about the organization.
Secondly, I've read a few of your posts, and you should show some respect to those who are trying to answer YOUR questions instead of showing the attitude you currently have been.

Just a thought


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## Burrows (12 Mar 2005)

oakley said:
			
		

> hahahah oh god, not another glorified cadet. i am seriously sitting here laughing at how poorly you defend the "greatness" of cadets. they are a waste of time, nothing more than a glorified scout. ****** ****** *****
> Modified by Slim for verbal abuse and not following the conduct guidlines.
> You don't need to put down another member, or class of members of this site. Next time you'll go on warning!



Yeah...Thanks for knocking the cadets...:  Shows great maturity.  If you failed to notice the fact that all the people who have responded in this thread other than myself are actual members of the CF then Im telling you now.  I do not appreciate the way you have knocked cadets in the least...   and calling the Directing Staff a bunch of cadets is not the way to make a good first impression.


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## Jarnhamar (12 Mar 2005)

> i am seriously sitting here laughing at how poorly you defend the "greatness" of cadets. they are a waste of time, nothing more than a glorified scout. ****** ****** *****



Reserve soldier with one year in huh?

I would have assumed with a year under your belt you would have understood the benefits in molding young cadets into future reservists and full time soldiers. Teaching them and prompting them to better themselves and continue their involvement with the military. 
They are the next generation of soldiers after all.

While I have never been in cadets I think you will be surprised at the amount of very well respected and experienced soldiers on this forum who came from the "glorified cub scouts".

You can learn a hell of a lot on this board and make some seriously amazing connections that will help you with your military career. You really should settle down, it'll be hard to reap the benefits of this forum if your banned.


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## matt22 (13 Mar 2005)

Wow, I am definitly embarassed by this. I just walked in on my roomate typing a message in this forum and I am appalled at what he has written in this discussion topic over the past few days. I hope that I have no offended anyone with what he has said, and I want everyone to know that I do not hold the cadets in any way in a bad standing in my mind, so i am very sorry about this.


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## Infanteer (13 Mar 2005)

Where have we heard this before?

Well, I took down the nice message your "roommate" left for us.  Perhaps you should logout when you're done and time should tell if your "roommate" is the wanker he seems to be or not....


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## Kunu (13 Mar 2005)

This is a bit of a tangent, but I've noticed that quite a few things in this country are referred to by "C-codes".   In addition to the aforementioned military hardware, we also use C for:

 - TV Stations
 - Radio Stations
 - Civil Aircraft Registration Marks
 - Airport Designators 

I'm sure there are more, this is just off the top of my head.   I guess you could call this a unique Canadian thing, as I don't know of any other nation using the same letter for so many codes.


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## Jarnhamar (13 Mar 2005)

> Where have we heard this before?


 ;D
If I had a shinny dollar for everytime someone has had their evil room mate leave naughty messages in their name...


Glad you got a hold of your roomate oakley before he dug your good name too deep a hole. Newer troops often find out, sometimes the hard way, the Canadian Army is a lot smaller than they think and indiscretion on line can lead to hot water in real life.
Cheers


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## Posthumane (13 Mar 2005)

The thing with airport codes and civ aircraft registration are assigned by region / type. Therefore it makes sense that canadian airports and airplane registrations start with a C, to distinguish them from those registered in other regions (US or otherwise).


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## Burrows (13 Mar 2005)

oakley said:
			
		

> Wow, I am definitly embarassed by this. I just walked in on my roomate typing a message in this forum and I am appalled at what he has written in this discussion topic over the past few days. I hope that I have no offended anyone with what he has said, and I want everyone to know that I do not hold the cadets in any way in a bad standing in my mind, so i am very sorry about this.



*adds another tick to the tally*


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## Fishbone Jones (13 Mar 2005)

Quote from oakley:

" I hope that* I* have no offended anyone with what *he* has said"

Bit of a Freudian slip?   Kinda like:

 "Please excuse Johnny from school today" 
   signed 
   Johnny's Dad

Sorry, I'm not buying it. Intelligent people use passwords and lockout when away from their computer.

But there's always the chance to redeem yourself oakley. Fly right and stay in your lanes. Oh, and change your passwords.


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## oyaguy (13 Mar 2005)

This has nothing to with the forum, but, Mr. Recceguy, I love your signature. Almost always applicable, anywhere, anytime.


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## Eowyn (13 Mar 2005)

Posthumane said:
			
		

> The thing with airport codes and civ aircraft registration are assigned by region / type. Therefore it makes sense that canadian airports and airplane registrations start with a C, to distinguish them from those registered in other regions (US or otherwise).



Uhmm... most Canadian city airport codes start with Y, not C.

YYC - Calgary
YYZ - Toronto
YUL - Montreal
YOW - Ottawa
YVR - Vancouver
YHZ - Halifax


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## condor888000 (13 Mar 2005)

That's shortform, it's actually CYOW for Ottawa, CYYC for Calgary, CYUL for Montreal, etc....


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## Inch (13 Mar 2005)

Eowyn said:
			
		

> Uhmm... most Canadian city airport codes start with Y, not C.
> 
> YYC - Calgary
> YYZ - Toronto
> ...



Actually, airports are listed as four letter identifiers starting with a "C" in Canada. NavAids like VORs and some NDBs are listed as three letter identifiers, most NDBs are one or two letter identifiers. Calgary airport is CYYC, Calgary VOR is YYC, and Calgary NDB is YC.


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## bobtiji (13 Mar 2005)

i think the c stands for canada .


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## KevinB (14 Mar 2005)

Actually it is "C"  and for CANADA

"c" just does not quite have the same form as "C"


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## Danjanou (14 Mar 2005)

oakley said:
			
		

> Wow, I am definitly embarassed by this. I just walked in on my roomate typing a message in this forum and I am appalled at what he has written in this discussion topic over the past few days. I hope that I have no offended anyone with what he has said, and I want everyone to know that I do not hold the cadets in any way in a bad standing in my mind, so i am very sorry about this.



_Yes 99 it's the old "my roomate/little brother/evil space aliens from Planet Zoran snuck into my room and logged on to my computer to start flame wars on army.ca while I wasn't looking trick."_

Don Adams as Agent 86 Maxwell Smart.


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## AmmoTech90 (14 Mar 2005)

C- Canada
L- United Kingdom
F- Australia
M- United States

It's not always universal, for example the US Navy still uses Mk for some items.   Maybe the Royal Navy does as well.

Maybe, just maybe, it's an ABCA agreement thing...

Oh, Israel also uses M, as in Cart 105mm Tank M111 APFSDS-T.   I'm sure there are other countries that use similiar equipment designations.


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## bobtiji (14 Mar 2005)

what that about?


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## BKells (14 Mar 2005)

oakley, previously "Matt22", is a pte(b) in an Ottawa area reserve Infantry unit. (He is not a Cameron Highlander. I'll leave it at that) He's been in the forces less then a year. He once (one month ago) claimed to be a reg force MCpl in his profile and sent me PMs calling me a "dumbass private".

Pay no heed to him.


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## Fishbone Jones (14 Mar 2005)

Is that what you call being "OUTED!!!"    Thanks Kells.  We've had our eye on him. Nice getting our suspicions confirmed from outside sources.


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## Island Ryhno (14 Mar 2005)

I am an evil space alien from Zoran and I am here to say that somebody else's roomate is writing this  :dontpanic: Greetings Earthlings.


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## KevinB (15 Mar 2005)

I see Gustav Gone For Good is setting another sterling example  ;D


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## Eowyn (15 Mar 2005)

Thanks Inch and Condor for the clarification.  The information I have was from the travel industry on civie side.


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## Burrows (15 Mar 2005)

Hi...this is the highly intelligent dog of Burrows from the Directing staff.  I have recently been in conference with the house keeper who logged onto a CIC officers account while watching his house and the Evil Space aliens who took over Island Rhynos computer.  All your flame wars will belong to us.  All your posts r belong to me.


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## Sgt.Fitzpatrick (15 Mar 2005)

C stands for Canada.
P.S. Mk stands for Mark not M.
 :threat:


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## Infanteer (16 Mar 2005)

...and this is done like dinner.

Goodnight folks.


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