# Right of the line Company



## Kiwi99 (22 Feb 2007)

Do any of the Inf Battalions in the CF practice the Right Of The Line Company?  For those unsure, it is the Coy that wins most sports, skill at arms competitions, and least amount of people gone to the UMS.  Back in the NZ Army when I served there, it was a big thing and considered a great honour to be in the Coy.  And it also created healthy and vigorous competition.

Maybe it is something that can be incorporated into the Battalions.  Just a thought.  But I am interested in feedback.


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## orange.paint (22 Feb 2007)

I know you asked about Infantry.However just in case you didn't know the RCD pratice this.However the UMS doesn't have anything to do with it.Usually for squadron fitness competitions etc.


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## Kiwi99 (22 Feb 2007)

they say you learn something new everyday, and I did.  Is it something that you find promote morale by having the honour?


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## orange.paint (22 Feb 2007)

More so In the senior leaders.Gives em something to brag about.However with us it use to be:

"In last place HQ sqn,3rd B sqn,2nd A sqn,and first and right of line recce sqn!"

Honestly...it was almost always in that order.A sqn beat recce sqn one year....man what a lot of complaining about how we sent all our useless people to the UMS to lower our overall score etc....that was a morale booster!Just to listen to them complain!

Made our OC and SSM quite happy as well,good guys we had at that time.

But as with everything it's only as fun and challenging as a group of guys make it.When you got a bunch of cpl's saying how lame it is,it rubs off on the keen troopers thus killing the competition.

A sqn won hahahahaha.(We were A sqn)


For ONE whole month:
-you guys have been training for months,and we still almost beat you guys.
-all your fat guys went to the UMS(we were given tickets numbered sqn with lowest overall number,when all added up won)
-your idoits

So yes depending on your group it can be a good bit of fun I guess.

etc....we heard it for a month or so.


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## missionessential (26 Mar 2007)

Kiwi and Ex RCAC,

Officially the Right of Line has nothing to do with sports, skill at arms or trips to the UMS. It refers to the senior rifle company in the Canadian Army. The Royal Canadian Regiment is the senior infantry regiment. A Coy in the 1st Battalion is the senior coy. The Right of Line of Canadian Infantry is HRH Duke of Edinborough's (Duke's) Coy 1RCR.

Hope this clears it up for ya.

ME


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## Journeyman (26 Mar 2007)

missionessential said:
			
		

> *The Right of Line of Canadian Infantry is HRH Duke of Edinborough's (Duke's) Coy 1RCR.*


Which led to some confusion with our allies, who assumed "Duke's" was Canadian for "Delta" = D Coy.

"So where's A Coy?"
"Right there - - Duke's" ***   
"No, you misunderstand, I mean A -- Alpha  -- Coy..."
"No no, _you_ misunderstand; right there....Duke's Coy."  ;D


* (...and the OC _calls_ himself the King of Coralici, but he's not really royalty; that's just Pat"   > )


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## George Wallace (26 Mar 2007)

missionessential

You have missed the whole nuance of the question.  The question was about a Regimental/Battalion award.  Kiwi99 and Ex_RCAC_011 are talking about internal Unit competitions which have nothing to do with the order of precedence in the Army.  

Hope this clears it up for you.

GW


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## Fishbone Jones (26 Mar 2007)

George Wallace said:
			
		

> missionessential
> 
> You have missed the whole nuance of the question.  The question was about a Regimental/Battalion award.  Kiwi99 and Ex_RCAC_011 are talking about internal Unit competitions which have nothing to do with *the order of precedence in the Army.*
> 
> ...



Which puts the Armoured right of line to the Infantry  ;D


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## Rifleman62 (26 Mar 2007)

I believe you are speaking of the order of precedence for a combined or massed parade e.g. Brigade Parade. This is set out in the CF manual. Basically for the purpose of parading it is Armoured, Artillery, Engineers, Sigs, Inf, Log, Med, and Military Police – the units that you would see in a Bde.  Other factors on a Bde parade would be RCHA takes precedence over Armoured, but air defence is an RCA unit so, after Armoured. If two Inf Regt in the same Bde, the senior Regt first. The Svc Bn has both Log and EME so they parade together, with EME leading as it has precedence before Log. If for some odd reason the Gentleman Cadets of RMC where present, they have precedence, right of line before all Bde units.

Right of the line in the 18/19th century was sometimes awarded for outstanding combat prowess. A place of honour when the formation next paraded.

Also there were soldiers who were called the Forlorn Hope. They volunteered to be first into the breach to get it cleared for the main attack. They were promised a bounty if successful (and lived). Sometimes wore a white arm band for identification. Special Forces of the day, with no special training. Usually tough, brutal men, who gave no quarter. Some desperate for plunder for personal reasons. Some drunks.

When I joined the Army, we had the Stickman. The best turned out soldier on the AM Pl parade, was named the stickman, and became the right marker for the day. There was stiff competion for this honour. This eventually evolved to course senior, and stickman phrase was dropped (too bad). IMO, we should go back to Stickman as a form of incentive, especially on BMQ, etc, but not daily, AM, Pl inspections for trained soldiers.

I am sure there are tons of Army history buffs out there to correct me if I am wrong.


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## Kiwi99 (26 Mar 2007)

I  could care less as to which Coy is the senior Coy in the forces, or what regiment is seniuor.  Makes little difference in the grand scheme of things.  When i speak of the right of the line Coy, it is purely within a infantry Battalion.  It is an honour awarded to the best Coy, and as such they are first to pass the podiom on the march past, and have the privielage of being the escort to the colour on other parades.

With ref to the senior Coyy in the CF, it is a title only, and unless it has a bunch of 200 year old privates, is just like all the other rifle Coys out there.


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## Fishbone Jones (26 Mar 2007)

No need to get your knickers in a knot.  It was just a little thread jack. No harm, no foul. It supplied some info maybe some didn't know. That's what we do here. Don't let it ruin your day. You can have it back now. ;D


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## Michael OLeary (26 Mar 2007)

I wonder, if each infantry batalion had a battlion parade weekly, or even monthly, just to let this "right of the line" award be exercised, how many threads would we see here complaining about the waste of time and energy and employment of "useless" ceremonial drill?


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## 3rd Herd (26 Mar 2007)

And in the grand scheme of things there are many of us who will remember the "Sports Coy" whose sole purpose it was to practice various sports. Some personal spent their entire time in as members of this coy. The Bn. hockey team was 1st Plt, the Bn. football(British version) team was 2nd Plt, the small arms teams was 3rd Plt............. It seemed the Bn. sports days confirmed who had the best coy as it was based on more infantry type events such as stretcher carry, timed marches, etc than the bragging rights between regiments over who had the better hockey team.


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## orange.paint (26 Mar 2007)

Michael O'Leary said:
			
		

> I wonder, if each infantry batalion had a battlion parade weekly, or even monthly, just to let this "right of the line" award be exercised, how many threads would we see here complaining about the waste of time and energy and employment of "useless" ceremonial drill?



It's not ran like that for us.Usually for the remainder of that year all normal parades would find the winning squadron on the right of line.
I believe your taking it a bit out of context.We didn't have parades every week to show who was right of line.It was friendly competition with a small award of being right of line for all parades to follow.

Your taking the fun out of it Michael....maybe that's why the Infantry don't do it? ;D


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## Michael OLeary (26 Mar 2007)

EX_RCAC_011 said:
			
		

> Your taking the fun out of it Michael....maybe that's why the Infantry don't do it? ;D



No, I'm trying to inject some common sense.  The simplistic interpretation of this concept seems to expect that soldiers will take pride in this and always strive towards it.  But, and this is the big *but*, if it becomes an institutionalized expectation, then all sorts of things happen.  Someone develops rules and codifies scoring for fairness.  Then someone develops a reporting system.  Someone at the unit, likely the RSM or a DSM/Sergeant Major based on COs direction, creates checklists to ensure even scoring and collection of data for the CO/RSM to choose the "winner."  Then everything gets tracked, scored and equally participated in.  Bureaucracy triumphs and everybody starts to hate it as a nefarious plan by some “bloated and inefficient staff” to create a nefarious plan to designate the duty company that gets stuck with all parades.  And then, when that company is on a required training event and gets replaced on parade a few times, the whole reason for doing it is lost and everyone wonders why the hell we're still scoring inspections for the DSM to run a spreadsheet for the RSM and CO.  And then people start comparing it to the Warrior program, well-intentioned but crushed by the weight of its own control system.

A single unit doing it on its own is one thing, a proposal that every unit do it creates a system that starts to have its own momentum.


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## orange.paint (26 Mar 2007)

Woah Mike!
We just play hockey or do a ten km run.Then we shower and eat sausages and sauercraut etc.

win hockey= stand on the right of line for the next scheduled parade.

We keep it simple. ;D

Myself and kiwi are talking about inter regimental.


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## Michael OLeary (26 Mar 2007)

EX_RCAC_011 said:
			
		

> Woah Mike!
> We just play hockey or do a ten km run.Then we shower and eat sausages and sauercraut etc.
> 
> win hockey= stand on the right of line for the next scheduled parade.
> ...



Wouldn't it be wonderful if things were really so simple as you wish to imagine them.


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## orange.paint (26 Mar 2007)

Well last time I competed in one it was a ten KM run.
As members came to the finish line they were given tickets (the kind you find at carnivals) with 001 being the first up to 400 or so.
The member then took his ticket to the sqn nominal roll table and the broken person running the table put the number beside him name.

The sqn with the lowest overall number (meaning they had the people finish quickest OVERALL) won the right on line.

If it's so difficult as you say how come the Dragoons pull it off once or twice a year without lawyers etc?


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## Michael OLeary (26 Mar 2007)

EX_RCAC_011 said:
			
		

> If it's so difficult as you say how come the Dragoons pull it off once or twice a year without lawyers etc?



I'm not saying it's difficult as long as it stays within a unit, as that unit's initiative and kept as simple as becoming duty company just because you run fast.  I am saying that a proposal that every unit should do it has the danger of becoming an institutionalized requirement which would defeat its own purpose.


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## orange.paint (26 Mar 2007)

Agreed as well.It would take the fun out of it all.Keeping it simple(and at unit level) eliminates the strict "enforced morale" and still gives guys a little bragging rights.


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## George Wallace (26 Mar 2007)

This topic has now made enough circles, we can now advertise for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.

Topic Locked with the normal caveats.


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