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What we currently consider a formal business suit was almost considered a form of ‘athleisure‘ back when introduced, hence the term ‘lounge suit’. Fashion changes over time. Civilian fashion tends to change faster than military fashion, but it’s all still fashion. As I’ve said before, given the...

That’s an interesting, and slightly more nuanced, point. There are also squadron badges that depict stylized ‘European’ warriors — 414 Squadron’s Black Knight comes to mind. Do we want to erase all aboriginal imagery from our crests, while leaving the European imagery intact? That seems...

The CAF is highly dependant on members self-driving themselves (and their colleagues) everywhere, in their own vehicles, due to the widely dispersed nature of our facilities and garrisons. If we honestly intend to switch to a “I walked to work, now you move me around” model then we’ve got real...

Is there a list of the designated racist squadrons? The first one that comes to mind is 417, which has imagery that is clearly fascist, and even says so in the official heraldic description: “the fasces commemorate the fighting in Italy” Canada has a national heraldry agency that signs off on...

That’s not the greatest example, as CAF compliance with the Official Languages Act hasn’t exactly been fully in the spirit of “obey and support lawful authority” — it‘s been a lot more ad hoc than that.

416 and 441 Tactical Fighter Squadrons were stood down quite recently, in 2006, as the CF-18 fleet reorganized, but I’d put good odds that at least one will be among the first F-35 Squadrons to stood up. 420 and 880 Squadrons were the last to operate the Tracker when they were stood down in...

The MQ-9B will be a real step change in air breathing ISR for Canada — especially as it will operate in conjunction with the 2nd largest P-8 fleet in the world. The RCAF has seven years to work with stakeholders to ensure there’s a robust framework for tasking and cross cueing, as well as...

On the subject of Stingers — what do you want to kill in Canadian airspace that you can’t kill with a Canadian F-35, an American F-22 from Alaska, or in a pinch, an SM-2 off a ship? Stingers aren’t optimized for plinking small UAS, cruise missiles, or Chinese high altitude balloons, and if a VDV...

For an institution that has supposedly been in decline for 20+ years, they still show in the court martial transcripts, so somebody is still using them. On a more serious note, you’re right, it wouldn’t take much of a nudge on the policy side to close messes down entirely. This would of course...

To an extent. The CD (and other early Canadian-specific medals, such as the WWII Canadian Volunteer Service Medal) were indeed created prior to the full establishment of the Canadian honours system, but they were minted by the Royal Canadian Mint and do not appear in the UK’s current list of...

The Australians wear foreign decorations ”immediately after all Australian honours or awards, in the order of date of approval to wear” So presumably the CD was the first of those medals authorized for wear.

If you CFR as a substantive Sergeant (or a Warrant Officer), you will be immediately promoted to Lt upon commissioning. This is spelled out in DAOD 5002-10 Para 4.3.

If you want the best chance to deploy, go to a flying Wing (Trenton or Cold Lake, on your list) — that way when a deployment kicks out the door you stand the best chance of going along. People do deploy out of Winnipeg and Ottawa, but in a higher headquarters there’s a greater chance that your...

Untrue. The first RCAF pilot qualified on the P8 in 2019, on exchange with an RAAF squadron.

The Australian M1A2 project (LAND 907 Phase 2 MBT) is acquiring upgraded tanks from the US through FMS. They are not being manufactured in Australia.

The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea defines a warship thusly: “For the purposes of this Convention, "warship" means a ship belonging to the armed forces of a State bearing the external marks distinguishing such ships of its nationality, under the command of an officer duly commissioned by...

You‘re not supposed to follow manifestly unlawful orders. QR&O 19.015 has a definition — “A manifestly unlawful command or order is one that would appear to a person of ordinary sense and understanding to be clearly illegal” That leaves a lot of grey area for laws requiring deep technical...

As I recall, the tank replacement project still hadn’t selected a model and signed a contract — I believe they had narrowed the options down to M1A1, Leopard 2, Challenger 1 and LeClerc and were in the process of comparative trials when the project was cancelled at the end of the Cold War.

It‘s hard to imagine a 4-time Queen’s Medalist being ignorant of firearms regulations. Arrogance, yes, but ignorance is unlikely. But I agree on the bucket load of money this is going to cost him. If I were him, I’d also be careful about ever going back to the USA — he might be looking at...

There were 3 real organizational eras for the Canadian Airborne Regiment, as I seem to recall. I’m separated from most of my books and source material, but this is what I can piece together from memory. On standup in 1968, there were 1 and 2 Commandos that were indeed each treated as...