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  1. O

    "Seagull" - ?

    I think there is more to it than random selection. Some seem to have a relationship to the appointment - Sunray, Foxhound, Ironside for example - while others such as Seagull display a hint of British humour.
  2. O

    "Seagull" - ?

    In British voice procedure there were a number of appointment titles to be used to refer to or call someone by line or radio. For example, the commander was Sunray; the chief operations staff officer was Seagull - perhaps because the individual was always either squawking or sh....ng; Holdfast...
  3. O

    The US Presidency 2020

    I hope both Trumps recovery quickly. Can you imagine what the conspiracy theorists will do with this?
  4. O

    October Crisis: 50 years on

    Having said all that, we did do crowd control, and a bit of low intensity and counter-guerilla training, but a lot of it was in a third world context.
  5. O

    October Crisis: 50 years on

    Let me make an observation based on what we knew about internal security back then. This was in the latter years of the Vietnam War and the anti-military feeling that had permeated the US had drifted across the border. While we understood that some sort of event was probably going to happen...
  6. O

    October Crisis: 50 years on

    Let me stick my oar in, as I spent the first years of my commissioned career in the era of the bombings and all the social unrest of the era in Quebec and its spillover into other parts of Canada. I was a student on the one year staff college course at the army staff college at Kingston during...
  7. O

    "It seemed Like a Good Thing to do at the Time" - Your Humorous Stories

    It got sorted out quietly, but the story went viral at hyper-velocity. It was entirely in character for the "bone", who once appeared on parade wearing a civilian fedora instead of his forage hat. I also recall once on brigade exercise, he issued deployment orders to the battery with the centre...
  8. O

    "It seemed Like a Good Thing to do at the Time" - Your Humorous Stories

    And for another glimpse of our BC, whom I mentioned above, in action, during orders parades aka summary trials, the practice in our battery was for the battery runner to perform the duties of the escort. Well, this one morning, there were a number of individuals waiting trial in the hall outside...
  9. O

    "It seemed Like a Good Thing to do at the Time" - Your Humorous Stories

    This is one of those stories that doesn't fall easily into any category, but probably could find a home here. Turn the clock back to June 1958 when I graduated from the RCA Depot in Shilo and was posted to 4 RCHA in Petawawa. My first battery commander was an ex-Permanent Force Major and RMC...
  10. O

    Army and marines

    And now for something completely different, pre-Confederation we had a small number of "naval brigades", including one at Dunnville, ON. During the 1866 Fenian invasion this unit was called out and deployed, first to Port Colborne, and then after embarking the Welland Canal Field Battery in an...
  11. O

    Gunner's whistle

    This would require a modified "Greatcoats On! Greatcoats off!" drill.
  12. O

    "It seemed Like a Good Thing to do at the Time" - Your Humorous Stories

    Besides what it says about a rather casual approach to the CSD back then, this would have made headlines from sea to sea to sea. It was the night of Leliefontein Day (7 November) in 1961 or 1962. Anyway the officers of the Royal Canadian Dragoons had left the dining room of their officers' mess...
  13. O

    The WTF News Files

    Just how does one gracefully put condom cleaner on a resume? And, what qualifications and experience are required for the job?
  14. O

    The Post-pandemic Canadian Armed Forces

    Once upon a time,, when I was a captain, I got glared at by some senior officers for suggesting our procurement system was designed to keep lots of people employed when there was no money to buy anything.
  15. O

    Delta police chief’s wife won’t be charged

    Just imagine how this would have turned out if the roles were reversed.  :dontfeedmods:
  16. O

    Army Reserve Restructuring

    Let me play devil's advocate for a few minutes here. There is no way any Canadian government would commit a major formation drawn mainly from one region of the country to battle. Our force structure, especially our regular infantry regimental structure, combined with geography, and plain old...
  17. O

    Howitzer Downs cruise missile

    The Brits had also worked out a method for engaging V2s with 3.7-in HAA. They required warning of a launch and details of the trajectory to be able to work out the point (area?) of impact and TOT. A regiment or more of HAA would then fire a barrage of rounds at a point along the trajectory timed...
  18. O

    A Canadian Airborne EW Capabiilty? Split from The RCAF's Next Generation Fighter (CF-188 Replacement

    For whatever it is worth, and it is only relevant as an example of senior commanders inserting their oars, the advent of the command and control helicopters carrying "9erTAC" in Vietnam was not necessarily a good thing. It led to senior officers, who could see how operations were unfolding...
  19. O

    The Last of the Monsters with Iron Teeth

    All this sounds familiar, except for the trout fishing. We lived in the immediate Second World War period in and around Ridgeway, Ontario, scene of the Fenian Raid battle. It played a very small part in our lives, perhaps because the Second World War was still very real to us. One thing we did...
  20. O

    Canadians with the RAF and RCAF in the Battle of Britain

    I was still is school when "Reach for the Sky", the field adaptation of Paul Brickhill's biography of Douglas Bader was released. When it finally made its way to the boondocks of Ontario, my father took my brother and me to see it in the theatre in Fort Erie. This, of course, was in the...
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