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It’s not really the brigade that’s the problem (although in my opinion Petawawa’s infrastructure was never really upgraded enough when 1RCR moved from London). The bigger issue is that Special Operations units train a lot. Petawawa might not currently have enough manoeuvre and range space to...

Not nuclear, the Meaford proposal is pumped-storage hydroelectric. https://sustainablebiz.ca/meaford-pumped-hydro-project-key-to-tc-energys-transition

That really depends on the base. Some bases are regarded by the local powers that be to be more valuable used for other things, or are even considered a nuisance. The closure of St Hubert was robustly supported by local Montreal-area politicians, as it was felt that the redevelopment would be of...

From a philosophy of ‘the army cares about what it inspects’ — the Canadian Army doesn’t really care that much about the physical fitness of their reservists — what they really care about is their dental fitness, because troops DAG red on their fangs faster than you can say saltwater taffy. So...

The primary argument for retention of the wounded in non-deployable positions kind of falls apart when the Canadian public service still knows how to hire while the CAF has, as an institution, forgotten how to recruit. And one of the historically healthiest MOSIDs in the CAF (Infantry Soldier)...

Also anecdotal — I heard the urban legend of a Regular Force Captain posted to the GTA on RSS who openly lived in his office in the armoury for the duration of the posting. That’s certainly a creative way to beat the cost of living crisis.

Yeah, but the Indian Navy have retired their Sea Harriers and now operate Mig-29 in the Russian/Chinese style STOBAR configuration. They no longer have a need for a jump jet carrier. If they do decide to base the successor to the Vikrant-Class carriers on the QE-Class, they’ll want to build it...

On the subject of HMS Prince of Wales being potentially up for sale, not to disparage the always reliable folks at the Daily Mail, but who the hell would want to buy it? There isn’t much overlap between countries that are interested in jump jets, don’t already build their own carriers, and have...

Class C is normally service on an operation — there are sometimes reasons that a scheduled vacation doesn’t actually happen during an operation — from a ship being diverted to conduct an unforecasted task, to the airhead being closed all the way to the member becoming a casualty. Does the...

They tried that with CEOTP — and it failed, because almost no one was actually finishing a degree. The joke we CEOTPs had was “I promised to work on my degree, and the military promised me the time to do it — and we were both lieing”. The op tempo for junior officers just doesn’t lend itself to...

The only sailor that had a full term as CDS, Admiral Falls, wore pilot wings and got his start in the RCAF. For whatever reason, the RCN has historically struggled to force generate candidates for the hugest position. There have been quite a few VCDS that came from the senior service, though.

CRA extension and transfer to the public service pension plan were the two possibilities I was thinking of.

That’s not accurate at all. A member joining at age 46 and retiring at CRA at age 60 would be able to collect a pension (28% or so) starting at age 60. There are other possibilities, but transfer value isn’t one of them, you can’t take a transfer value if you’re over age 50...

As I recall, the ones I met had been Sergeants and Staff Sergeants in the British Army, and were enrolled in the Canadian Forces as Sergeants. But be aware that I’m talking about a small sample size — I think I’ve personally known 4 people that fell in this category. As to French, it’s more...

I’ve met a handful of people that went through the old process. It’s a small sample size, but they were universally former British Army SNCOs and WOs who had been released at 22 years service, back when the UK was giving the boot to ORs at that point if they hadn’t been selected for late entry...

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.