No more rifles on drill/grad parade?

[Colin Parkinson]

We were practising for our ACR and one of the Cadets asks "Is the King coming?" LOL he looked very sad when he found out, no the King is not coming.

 

[SeaKingTacco]

We were practising for our ACR and one of the Cadets asks "Is the King coming?" LOL he looked very sad when he found out, no the King is not coming.

Did you invite him?

He can hardily come to review the ACR if you don’t invite him.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

Did you invite him?

He can hardily come to review the ACR if you don’t invite him.

Tis true, I make sure to send an invite next year. Figured he might be a tad busy this year, give him time to settle in.....

 

[SeaKingTacco]

Tis true, I make sure to send an invite next year. Figured he might be a tad busy this year, give him time to settle in.....

Truth. He is new to the job. Let him settle in s bit before you hit him with a Navy League ACR..

 

[daftandbarmy]

We were practising for our ACR and one of the Cadets asks "Is the King coming?" LOL he looked very sad when he found out, no the King is not coming.

You must have a crown lying around somewhere

 

[markppcli]

I had a laugh at the no sling thing. I'm trying to envision climbing a jumping ladder or doing any sort of work at sea without a sling.

I'm thankful I had my sling otherwise the King would probably need a couple of new rifles since I would have definitely lost one in the Gulf of Oman without a sling.

They are also pretty handy when transitioning to pistol because of a stoppage

Rifle without a sling is like a pistol without a holster

 

[Colin Parkinson]

Rifle without a sling is like a pistol without a holster

Just tuck it into your belt gangster style.......

 

[OldSolduer]

Just tuck it into your belt gangster style.......

And shoot your d@ck off.

 

[daftandbarmy]

Rifle without a sling is like a pistol without a holster

I recall a soldier in training, who thought it was a good idea to put a sling on his rifle, being invited to carry it around over his head for the rest of the day by a NCO who was a veteran of various tough campaigns spanning various continents and time frames.

Lesson learned, by everyone, about an important regimental tradition related to battle readiness.

Amazingly, rifle butts were in shoulders all the time after that.

 

[markppcli]

I recall a soldier in training, who thought it was a good idea to put a sling on his rifle, being invited to carry it around over his head for the rest of the day by a NCO who was a veteran of various tough campaigns spanning various continents and time frames.

Lesson learned, by everyone, about an important regimental tradition related to battle readiness.

Amazingly, rifle butts were in shoulders all the time after that.

You know it’s not 1987 any more, you can have a sling and still shoulder your weapon.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

I suspect the slings caught on the bush in Rhodesia.

 

[daftandbarmy]

You know it’s not 1987 any more, you can have a sling and still shoulder your weapon.

You fill your boots soldier ... the Parachute Regiment and SAS will carry, on as per SOP, regardless

Having said that I have seen slings attached occasionally, usually on support weapons like the GPMG and on rifles for those who operate support weapons like the 81mm etc. In Northern Ireland, in the cities, a sling was attached to the rear swivel and around the soldiers' wrist so the local Pond Life couldn't grab the rifle away during a dust up of some kind.

 

[markppcli]

You fill your boots soldier ... the Parachute Regiment and SAS will carry, on as per SOP, regardless

Having said that I have seen slings attached occasionally, usually on support weapons like the GPMG and on rifles for those who operate support weapons like the 81mm etc. In Northern Ireland, in the cities, a sling was attached to the rear swivel and around the soldiers' wrist so the local Pond Life couldn't grab the rifle away during a dust up of some kind.

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Here’s an example from a bit more recent champ. Note the sling. What you did in Northern Ireland, is not the way things are done now.

 

[daftandbarmy]

Here’s an example from a bit more recent champ. Note the sling. What you did in Northern Ireland, is not the way things are done now.

Thank Goodness... it was a crappy, field expedient option at best

 

[Infanteer]

You fill your boots soldier ... the Parachute Regiment and SAS will carry, on as per SOP, regardless

I'm not sure that's the case. There are numerous pictures on the google of guys from both those units...with rifle slings.

 

[daftandbarmy]

It looks like some grad parades, Bold Eagle I presume, still have rifles - and look pretty sharp too

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[FJAG]

In Northern Ireland, in the cities, a sling was attached to the rear swivel and around the soldiers' wrist so the local Pond Life couldn't grab the rifle away during a dust up of some kind.

We did that for the Olympics in Montreal in '76 for our quick reaction battery because ... the other training officer for the regiment was our Brit exchange officer posted to us right after a tour in Northern Ireland.

 

[daftandbarmy]

We did that for the Olympics in Montreal in '76 for our quick reaction battery because ... the other training officer for the regiment was our Brit exchange officer posted to us right after a tour in Northern Ireland.

It's really not a bad idea. Just a real PITA if you need to cover around corners using your other shoulder

 

[CBH99]

I believe we're now getting into tautological arguments here. Sure, some folks are in the habit of referring to basically everything we do in a coordinated fashion as "drill". And yes, if we use that categorization, then the first drill that's done is on the parade square.

But you don't need to start with that, and you don't need to focus on it, and you don't need to keep doing it. If you want to teach people how to handle a weapon, you don't need to teach them to march around in formation first. You can just teach them weapon handling drills such as your TOETs, etc. Just because we do start with parade drill doesn't mean that we need to, nor does it mean that it's helpful. Jumping straight into the useful stuff will also do the trick. No one ever needs to know how to do a present arms in combat.

We can still categorize drill into "stuff that's actually applicable to combat" and "stuff that is ceremonial". And I thus far have still never heard a valid argument for why skipping the ceremonial stuff and going straight to the practical stuff would somehow make the prcoess worse.

Just because we've been doing something the same way forever is not a valid argument for continuing to do so. You need to actually demonstrate the value of the things we're spending time on.

Hard to argue with anything written above...

I think what it boils down to is a peacetime army vs a wartime army (although we still learned basic marching drill on BMW back in the day, did less of it once we got to our units)


Canada is currently a peacetime army, technically. Yes we have a forward element deployed to Latvia, and we are busy with new vehicles & weapons coming online soon, plus figuring out how to function when people are leaving in droves


Ukraine is a true wartime army, that truly doesn't have time to learn marching drill. They don't expect that 'maybe I'll deploy one day' - they know that as soon as they get back, they're going straight to the fight. So skiooint marching drills in favour of weapons drills, small unit tactics, etc is logical



I agree that as an institution, it wouldn't hurt for us to lay off of the marching drill a bit. Still teach it on BMW, still hold the odd parade for certain events.

Members need to look sharp & professional, and one of the ways we do that is with marching drill...but I agree, with the plethora of issues currently facing us, focusing on marching drill is doing us a disservice

 

[Fishbone Jones]

The point is probably moot anyway. Sooner or later trudeau will give away all our small arms too.