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Okay......<puts on hockey helmet and shoulder pads>....I'll throw in my two cents. This has nothing to do with the appropriate scales of issue, or what any HQ says about who should be wearing what. My response to the whole debate is strictly emotional.
I am the son of an RCAF airman, a former Air Cadet, and ex Air CIL (CIC). I am also a former Infantryman and Sig w/ the PRes (fifteen years). So I have several points of view regarding this issue.
What I want to say is this...<Closes eyes tight, and tenses for the dog-pile>....why in h*** are all the CIC Air types so damn keen to wear CADPAT? Back in the proverbial "day" it was a matter of pride for Air types (whether, Reg F, Res F, CIC or Cdt) to distance themselves as much as possible from anything remotely Army. This was particularly true in the dark era just after Unification when all Blue jobs were supposed to look like Gravel Crunchers. We went to great lengths to do anything we could to maintain some semblance of Air Force identity. Wearing combats, unless one was actually "in the field" was simply NOT ON.
If CIC officers are indeed in a field environment, then by all means they should be wearing CADPAT; no argument. What I'm reading here is that a number of Air CIC are upset that they can't wear it as a Garrison Dress. Of course, referring to an AIR FORCE uniform as Garrison Dress is--IMHO--an oxymoron.
Notwithstanding Scales of Issue--and thank heavens for the likes of ArmyVern who can tender the official word on such things--I fail to understand why CIC would even WANT to wear an army combat uniform for anything other than being down and dirty in the mud. If you are at your Air Cadet unit, there is no reason for CADPAT or any other "field" style uniform. There is nothing--NOTHING--going on at squadron parade nights that requires combat clothing. In those days--before I joined the PRes--the LAST thing I wanted was to look like a Pongo.
Now here I am 30 years later, and grateful for the opportunity I had as an army type to don the old olive drab Combats, (I was out long before the advent of CADPAT), but I cannot understand the desire of CIC Air Officers to wear what is without a doubt an "army" uniform. Aside from the fact that CADPAT looks "way cool", and praying that their motive is NOT just so they can look like a bunch of lean-mean-killing-machines, I am at a loss to understand the angst.
I am the son of an RCAF airman, a former Air Cadet, and ex Air CIL (CIC). I am also a former Infantryman and Sig w/ the PRes (fifteen years). So I have several points of view regarding this issue.
What I want to say is this...<Closes eyes tight, and tenses for the dog-pile>....why in h*** are all the CIC Air types so damn keen to wear CADPAT? Back in the proverbial "day" it was a matter of pride for Air types (whether, Reg F, Res F, CIC or Cdt) to distance themselves as much as possible from anything remotely Army. This was particularly true in the dark era just after Unification when all Blue jobs were supposed to look like Gravel Crunchers. We went to great lengths to do anything we could to maintain some semblance of Air Force identity. Wearing combats, unless one was actually "in the field" was simply NOT ON.
If CIC officers are indeed in a field environment, then by all means they should be wearing CADPAT; no argument. What I'm reading here is that a number of Air CIC are upset that they can't wear it as a Garrison Dress. Of course, referring to an AIR FORCE uniform as Garrison Dress is--IMHO--an oxymoron.
Notwithstanding Scales of Issue--and thank heavens for the likes of ArmyVern who can tender the official word on such things--I fail to understand why CIC would even WANT to wear an army combat uniform for anything other than being down and dirty in the mud. If you are at your Air Cadet unit, there is no reason for CADPAT or any other "field" style uniform. There is nothing--NOTHING--going on at squadron parade nights that requires combat clothing. In those days--before I joined the PRes--the LAST thing I wanted was to look like a Pongo.
Now here I am 30 years later, and grateful for the opportunity I had as an army type to don the old olive drab Combats, (I was out long before the advent of CADPAT), but I cannot understand the desire of CIC Air Officers to wear what is without a doubt an "army" uniform. Aside from the fact that CADPAT looks "way cool", and praying that their motive is NOT just so they can look like a bunch of lean-mean-killing-machines, I am at a loss to understand the angst.
They don't mind that. Don't mix it up with their AF or an Army counterparts though. Sometimes they don't like that...
