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This idea keeps getting kicked around, notable was General Rick Hillier’s directive in January 2006 that we were to start emphasizing fitness. (How did the last 19 years go for our collective fitness? Do we even care enough to keep track?)...

Agreed. We might simply be splitting hairs on the definition of security. The official role of the USAF 425th Munitions Maintenance Squadron dets in Canada was “Custodial and Maintenance functions for US material in Canada” and to my mind custody doesn’t include security. There were no USAF...

At least 5 bases had nuclear weapons storage at the peak of the program — the Voodoo squadrons in Comox, Chatham and Bagotville and the Bomarc missile sites in North Bay and Mont Tremblant. Plus the sites in Germany, and possibly even more that I’ve missed. I own Sean Maloney’s book on the...

It’s also interesting to me that the prohibition on collective bargaining/unions for the CAF is held within QR&O and is not written into the National Defence Act, while the previous prohibition on unions for the RCMP was established in law (the Public Service Labour Relations Act). Policy tends...

The Winchester 30-30 lever action is one of the most popular deer hunting rifles in history — and it is usually found with a 7 round tubular magazine. Cracking down on 30-30’s, pump shotguns and sporterized Lee-Enfields (the “Fudd guns”) just might be a ban too far, politically.

Do we even do CAFSAC anymore? I thought that was completely eliminated a few years ago.

I have a plan for that marchpast. The marchpast for Maritime Forces Arctic (universally to be known as MARCTIC) will be Northwest Passage, by Stan Rogers. It won’t be in the public domain until 2053, but it might take that long to actually establish the formation. As an interim solution, pay...

I note with interest the contrast from when the Canadian Army changed its march past, in 2013, from “Celer Paratus Callidus” to “The Great Little Army”. This was the opposite sort of change from the Navy’s though, exchanging a distinctly Canadian march with a linguistically-neutral Latin name...

That’s a real risk of the RCN exceeding their authority on rank designations — that by the time the new “pirate ranks” make it to cabinet, it’s a cabinet formed by another party that makes the decision not to amend the KR&O — forcing the RCN to backtrack and sheepishly try to explain years of...

It didn’t work in the Sinai. UNEF couldn’t prevent the 1967 war, and the Camp David accords intentionally didn’t even bother with the UN, MFO instead being a bit of a home brew solution that mostly works better than actual UN peacekeeping.

Yep — ‘leaders’ can be very tone deaf sometimes. Especially when they don’t care, but are trying to give the appearance of caring. Like sociopaths or aliens trying to blend into a society. My own personal example was a commander emphasizing how important it was to take time off over the...

Gagetown is a great example — Army units from two different divisions, as well as the Army Doctrine and Training Centre, plus units from tge RCAF and Int Command. Plus of course representatives from various L1s, MPs, Health Services, etc… Not sure what use a division policy is there.

Urban legend is that is the exact reason why the t-shirt contract was changed (at no additional cost) from green to brown, and that a similar change to the long underwear contract was forgotten about because the decision was made in the summertime.

We could use them as ceremonial troops, but you’d probably have to issue deactivated drill purpose rifles, to get around the firearms bans in their probation orders. Are bayonets and swords controlled ITAR items?

I had a slightly elevated situation when I was on RSS. Soldier court-martailled, which resulted in multiple Class A days not just for the accused but also for other members of the unit who were required to be tasked to support the proceedings. In the end, the member in question was not guilty...

There is what is proported to be a draft version of the proposal floating around. Biggest changes I could see were a ban on hair in unnatural colours and that beard callipers are back, with a maximum bulk of facial hair of 2.5cm, slightly longer than the old 2018 BEARDFORGEN limit of 2cm. No...

The province holds all the cards. Municipalities don’t have any status under the constitution — except for what’s delegated to them by the province — so as long as municipalities do what they are supposed to do, like plow the streets, collect the garbage, and do the work that the provinces can’t...

Face piercings are specifically banned by regulation. (See 8.c. at link) https://www.canada.ca/en/services/defence/caf/military-identity-system/dress-manual/chapter-2/section-2.html If that rather low but clear standard isn’t being enforced, then we do indeed have a problem.

So the actual real measurable value of a provincial civil servant is the coffees and lunches they purchase? Interesting. Maybe accurate, but interesting. Recent studies in The Economist mirror the results of the Stanford study — 10% to 20% loss in productivity from WFH. Given the cost of...

I saw some surprises in the document — the return of long range missiles to the army was one. I remember the Long Range Precision Rocket System project (also known as CANSCUD) which seemed well and truly dead, but it’s made a comeback. Airborne Early Warning was another surprise. The cost...