Recent content by MacNav63

My understanding was that the rank of Brigadier General existed in the British (and hence our) system until the end of the First World War, with the rank insignia of the crossed sword and baton, which we briefly resurrected when we returned to pips and crowns. In an attempt to reduce the number...

Conversely, the eastbound flights would often arrive in Ottawa full of recruits on their way to Greenwood. Flew from Lahr to Cyprus on vacation a couple of times as well. Those 707s did yeoman's work.

Wasn't a mix of regiments the norm for brigades/brigade groups until the 90s?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. I seem to recall the Priority 5 was also very egalitarian since it was based on time in rather than rank. The RCAF did very well by my Dad over the years, right from the start of his post war career. He spent the summer of 1950 at Longue Pointe in COTC...

I'll give him credit for righting the ship after the Monty years but the real bloodletting didn't start until his successor took over in 2008 with a 100 day plan that shed 2500 managers, starting at the executive level. We spent the summer gathering in my office at the end day every Friday to...

"Meeting the sched" was a routine part of my life growing up. Mum and Dad were always going out to the AMU in Lahr or at Uplands to have a chat with whoever might be coming through. I remember one occasion when Dad was supposed to be flying to Edmonton and ended up on 3 of the 5 707s in the...

Except they did it Dec. 1. That's a miss by their public affairs types.

Peace dividend 2.0. Never forget we'd already taken a huge peace dividend in 1969-70.

Serious question and I may just not remember but have we ever deployed DARt?

I would have to say that I lean pretty heavily toward maintaining the F35 order as is, at minimum. That being said, it's worth noting that not everyone purchasing the F35 is going with it as their sole fighter. Within the G7, the UK, Germany, Italy and Japan all seem to plan on maintaining mixed...

Surely this must set an army.ca record for going off topic in a completely different direction…?

Curious, what were they counting as GOFOs in 1965? Does that include Brigadiers, Commodores and Air Commodores, none of which I believe were considered to General, Flag, Air Officers at the time? Not mind you that I doubt for a minute that the bloat is real, just wondering how much of it can be...

Somehow or other Dad got away with wearing his pre-unification ordnance corps mess kit, complete with pips and crowns, until he retired from the regular force in '87.

I seem to recall that the CA also used to get called out to deal with prison riots, at least at the Kingston Pen in '71. I can well imagine though that after a different event in Quebec in 1990 the CA would want to stay well away from LEO types of aid to the civil power activity. Just rife with...