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Those guys march like they’re on Charge Parade.I don't know.
Every once in a while you really need to get out there and impress the locals with the fact that you exist as their saviours.
Informing the Army’s Future Structure
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OldSolduer
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Our Rifles Regiments march at 140 per minute. Just like these guys.
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Always being a nerd for precision
, I timed them at 150 paces. It's those short 12" paces that lets them do that....aaand that got me timing their slow march and double past.
The slow march, which incorporates a demi goose-step is done at 60 paces per minute.
Incidentally, the song they are singing "El Novio de la Muerte (Bridegroom of Death)" is the unofficial hymn and regimental slow march of the Spanish Legion but is sung by almost all Spanish units during ceremonies honoring fallen warriors.
The double past, which involves a fairly high raised knee, is done at 90 paces per minute which is significantly lower than their normal pace. By the way, I think adding a drum corps to a bugle corps really ups the quality of a light regiment's musical repertoire.
They're actually an interesting unit with a lot of traditions and regimental spirit - and by the way they have women in their ranks - they're hard to identify because everyone wears the same uniform (but since they size their ranks tallest to shortest, they're usually towards the rear of a column.)
I'm a great fan of the regimental system. It needs preserving while getting rid of the excesses and stupidity. IMHO the way to break the regimental mafia system is not by getting rid of it in favour of some generic numbered or regional title, but to preserve the rich history that we already have by getting rid of the "power blocks" of regiments. Again, IMHO, we need only one battalion of each of RCR, PPCLI and R22eR. We need more full-timers in 30/70 battalions of QOR, and RWpgR and RHLI and RdeMais and RNBR, yes and even CScotR (shudder - just joking about the CScotR - there aren't enough of them to make up the 70% needed for a 30/70 battalion). Give each regiment just one battalion and power blocks disintegrate in favour of loose coalitions which are tolerable.
Let the infighting commence.
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Van Doo - it's not just a regiment, it's a collective IQ.
daftandbarmy
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Always being a nerd for precision
...aaand that got me timing their slow march and double past.
The slow march, which incorporates a demi goose-step is done at 60 paces per minute.
Incidentally, the song they are singing "El Novio de la Muerte (Bridegroom of Death)" is the unofficial hymn and regimental slow march of the Spanish Legion but is sung by almost all Spanish units during ceremonies honoring fallen warriors.
The double past, which involves a fairly high raised knee, is done at 90 paces per minute which is significantly lower than their normal pace. By the way, I think adding a drum corps to a bugle corps really ups the quality of a light regiment's musical repertoire.
They're actually an interesting unit with a lot of traditions and regimental spirit - and by the way they have women in their ranks - they're hard to identify because everyone wears the same uniform (but since they size their ranks tallest to shortest, they're usually towards the rear of a column.)
I'm a great fan of the regimental system. It needs preserving while getting rid of the excesses and stupidity. IMHO the way to break the regimental mafia system is not by getting rid of it in favour of some generic numbered or regional title, but to preserve the rich history that we already have by getting rid of the "power blocks" of regiments. Again, IMHO, we need only one battalion of each of RCR, PPCLI and R22eR. We need more full-timers in 30/70 battalions of QOR, and RWpgR and RHLI and RdeMais and RNBR, yes and even CScotR (shudder - just joking about the CScotR - there aren't enough of them to make up the 70% needed for a 30/70 battalion). Give each regiment just one battalion and power blocks disintegrate in favour of loose coalitions which are tolerable.
Let the infighting commence.
I know a guy who joined the SFL - from the UK.
He deserted from the Canary Islands... in a rowboat. He didn't have much good to say about them, and he was Scottish
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So ... Roman Catholic or Presbyterian Scottish? I think it makes a big difference.I know a guy who joined the SFL - from the UK.
He deserted from the Canary Islands... in a rowboat. He didn't have much good to say about them, and he was Scottish
daftandbarmy
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So ... Roman Catholic or Presbyterian Scottish? I think it makes a big difference.
Well, I'd place him as a 'mercenary' Scot... so pretty much agnostic
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He must have preferred the slower Highlander pace!I know a guy who joined the SFL - from the UK.
He deserted from the Canary Islands... in a rowboat. He didn't have much good to say about them, and he was Scottish
daftandbarmy
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He must have preferred the slower Highlander pace!
He was already a trained soldier, through the British Army, when he joined. He had amusing anecdotes about their basic training which included 'Singing, starving and regular beatings'. I understand the training has been much improved since then.
He used to sing their infamous, cheerful, marching song: 'Long Live Death', in Spanish with a strong Scottish brogue (if that's even possible).
We kind of adopted it as the unofficial sound track of our platoon which, given the failure rate at the time, seemed apt
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It's actually "Death's Bridegroom". There's a lovely little sped-up dancehall version at the start of this vintage video - probably Franco vintage. Not to mention further marching and singing with shirts open even further.He was already a trained soldier, through the British Army, when he joined. He had amusing anecdotes about their basic training which included 'Singing, starving and regular beatings'. I understand the training has been much improved since then.
He used to sing their infamous, cheerful, marching song: 'Long Live Death', in Spanish with a strong Scottish brogue (if that's even possible).
We kind of adopted it as the unofficial sound track of our platoon which, given the failure rate at the time, seemed apt
KevinB
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Russian Invasion of Ukraine Revolutionizes NATO Military Strategy (Published 2023)
Shocked by Russian atrocities, NATO is becoming the war-fighting alliance it was during the Cold War, committed to defending “every inch” of its territory from Day 1.
Key points of this:
What does NATO need from the contributing Partners.
Note the rebuke to the Uk (stop with the Light stuff, we need heavy assets on the flank), Denmark (stop wasting time with submarines), and Canada (hello, freeloading buggers time to ante up)
daftandbarmy
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Russian Invasion of Ukraine Revolutionizes NATO Military Strategy (Published 2023)
Shocked by Russian atrocities, NATO is becoming the war-fighting alliance it was during the Cold War, committed to defending “every inch” of its territory from Day 1.www.nytimes.com
Key points of this:
What does NATO need from the contributing Partners.
Note the rebuke to the Uk (stop with the Light stuff, we need heavy assets on the flank), Denmark (stop wasting time with submarines), and Canada (hello, freeloading buggers time to ante up)
"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened." Winston Churchill
Rearming the British Army
The defence secretary has repeatedly made clear that the war in Ukraine does not demand a fundamental reassessment of the Integrated Review, which accurately identified Russia as the most acute security threat to the UK and prioritised Europe as the primary theatre for deterrence, even as there is a need to compete with China further afield. While the theory behind much of the Integrated Review may hold, however, the translation of theory into practice is being impacted by the war in Ukraine.
The Defence Command Paper accepted risk in the short term in exchange for modernisation over the course of the decade, with Boxer and Ajax beginning to enter service from 2023, the mobile fires platform, and Challenger 3 by 2027. In practice, formations would start fielding these capabilities by the end of the decade. At the same time, the force was to take funding marked up for the Multi Role Vehicle-Protected (MRVP) programme and inject it into delivering the next generation of combat systems, with significant experimentation and trials to be conducted early in the 2020s to enable clear bets to be placed in 2025.
Rearming the British Army
The UK is right to arm Ukraine but must replenish its stocks if it is to avoid disarming itself.
rusi.org
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It's actually "Death's Bridegroom". There's a lovely little sped-up dancehall version at the start of this vintage video - probably Franco vintage. Not to mention further marching and singing with shirts open even further.
Judging from the lack of a decent bass line I would suggest their pants are bit too tight.
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The Aussie Future has changed again....
Aussies plan massive armored cuts; review charts shift to power projection
The planned purchase of Infantry Fighting Vehicles (IFVs) will be cut from 450 to 129, a blow to competitors Hanwha and Rheinmetall.
By COLIN CLARKon April 21, 2023 at 3:54 PM
Hanwha Redback and Reinmetall Lynx (Sgt. Jake Sims for Australian Defense Ministry)
CHICAGO — Australia will slash its planned purchase of Infantry Fighting Vehicles (IFVs) from 450 to 129 as part of a broader strategic shift outlined in a highly-anticipated policy document that seems to move away from homeland defense towards power projection, with a keen eye on the major strategic challenge in the region: China.
The IFV cut is the most eye-catching, if hardly sole, procurement change to come out of the Defense Strategic Review, according to a preview viewed by Breaking Defense. An unclassified version of the document, prepared by Stephen Smith, former Labor defense minister, and Angus Houston, former chief of the defense force, will be released in Australia on Monday, their time.
The IFVs will replace the ancient M113s that Australia operates. The new tracked vehicles, designed to carry six combat equipped soldiers, are armed with 30mm cannons, remote-controlled machine guns and antitank missile launchers. The cuts, a much greater reduction in the Land 400 program than expected, leaves South Korea’s Hanwha (seen by many as the likely victor) and Germany’s Rheinmetall to juggle the fallout.
Hanwha in particular may feel some shock, as it has already invested in a plant in Geelong, Victoria to build the K9 tracked howitzer, which Australia purchased for $1 billion AUD in December 2021. But the ABC reported early this morning US time that a planned second regiment of self-propelled howitzers would not happen.
Among the other acquisition changes:
• LAND 8710 Phases 1-2 – Army Landing Craft should be accelerated and expanded.
• LAND 8113 Phases 2-4 – Long-Range Fires (HiMARS) should be accelerated and expanded.
• LAND 4100 Phase 2 – Land-Based Maritime Strike should be accelerated and expanded.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has hinted that changes were coming for several months. In November, Albanese that Australia would look to prioritize missiles, missile defense capabilities and drones, including armed drones. He appeared to ridicule the basic tenet of the army’s argument that armor will be needed to defend the Australia landmass, known generically as the “northern strategy” since the assumption was that no one could possibly move many forces to attack the island continent’s soft underbelly.
“Are we going to be involved in a land war in central Queensland? Is that likely? Well, no,” Albanese said.
Of course, all strategy documents are also political documents, and this review appears no different. In information shared with reporters, the government places blame on the previous regime of former Prime Minister Scott Morrison for declaring it would spend money for which it had not budgeted. As of August 2022, the defense budget was over-programed by 24 percent for acquisitions, according to information obtained by Breaking Defense. All in all, the previous government announced $42 billion in spending over the decade to 2032-33 without allocating money for it, per the Albanese team.
That included at least $8 billion in new cyber spending for the Australian Signals Directorate. Dubbed Project REDSPICE for Resilience, Effects, Defence, Space, Intelligence, Cyber, and Enablers, the Australian government said in March last year that it was the “largest ever investment” in the capabilities of the ASD, the Aussie version of the National Security Agency.
The Morrison government also committed to $32.2 billion for its Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordnance Enterprise and $1.9 billion for the AUKUS Pillar 2.
The statement from the government said they won’t know the full cost of the Defense Strategic Review’s recommendations until the Department of Defense has analyzed the capability recommendations and figured out how much they will cost.
But hard choices will have to be made. The government said some projects should be immediately delayed, reduced or canceled.
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I've been looking at the latest US Army proposed Divisional structures again and I think that a modified version of the Light Division 2030 could work for Canada.
("Canadianizations" noted in RED)
("Canadianizations" noted in RED)
- Each of the three Brigades would have 1 x Reg Force Light Battalion and 2 x 30/70 Light Battalions (Reg Force HQ and 1 x Reg Force Company)
- In addition each Brigade would have a 4th Reg Force LAV Battalion allowing a Brigade to get "heavier", provide Mechanized Battle Groups for deployments and provide Mechanized forces for our NATO commitments
- The MPF Battalion would substitute the MPF platform for a LAV-based DFS vehicle (LAV with 105mm MPF turret or maybe 120mm Centauro II turret?)
- Divisional Cavalry Squadron would be a mix of MBTs (if we expand our fleet) and LAVs/TAPVs
- Divisional Artillery Regiments would mirror US Field Artillery Battalions with 1 x 155mm M777 Battery (Reg Force) and 2 x 105mm Batteries (Reserve). Like the Infantry Brigades each Artillery Regiment would add a 4th SP 155mm Battery (Reg Force) to deploy when the LAV Battalions are employed.
- Canadian-led Multinational Brigade would become the 3rd maneuver Brigade in NATO Multinational Division North and consist of the existing eFP Latvia Battle Group, a fly-over LAV Battalion and a fly-over Tank Regiment.
- Missing enablers such as ATGMs, SHORAD, etc. that will have to be acquired regardless of the force structure we adopt.
- A DFS platform to fulfill the MPF role (could be the MPF platform or a LAV-based platform for fleet commonality)
- Additional tanks for the Divisional Cavalry Regiment beyond the 80 required for the fly-over Tank Regiment (60 prepositioned and 20 training) or the Cavalry Regiment will use DFS/ATGM LAVs instead.
- 3 x Batteries of a SP 155mm Howitzer (plus spares).
- 6 x Batteries of replacement 105mm Howitzers (plus spares)
- AD Batteries for 4th AD Regiment RCA
markppcli
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Essentially one usable war fighting division is troubling. That that without close support to its two Bdes. 1 Division looks like a mess.
