Recce41 said:
So an Engineer, that deals with Heavy Equipment does not get safety boots or gerbers? Now thats the system. Only in the Army. If the Navy and Airforce can issue them, we can. I have also found Gagetown rules are not the same as the rest of Canada. You cannot order Danners, just those Cocarrans. I had to get those to replace my danners, I cannot even wear them in the field. They have no insole. But the rest of Canada gets Danners? Even the res. get them.
Well the scales are the same for the AF and the Navy. Basic scales. That's not the system once again, it's the trades and the ECSs (Enviornmental Chiefs of Staff), address it and it will get fixed. Perhaps the Army (or the trade) should address it then? I've been holding my breath for two years waiting already. Scales of entitlement are based on many many things, such as location, trade, trade level qualification, etc etc. Like it or not Gagetown is considered a Training Base, therefore even our entitlements within the Army itself are different, as I am sure you have already experienced with the CTS ICE and our current lack of entitlement to it.
Boots are a local contract, not national therefore there are not any national specs they meet when purchased downtown (for those of you with appropriate medical documentation that allow you to wear civilian boots in uniform). The only standard is that it must be black, appropriate for wear in uniform and resemble an issued, clothing stocked boot.
The lack of standard LPO footwear is currently being addressed by the Army Dress Committee because they are tired of watching each base purchased whatever kind of LPO footwear. Boots that you are allowed to wear on this Base may not necessarily be approved for wear on other Bases and vice versa. Ultimately, the Base CWO decides what purchased civilian footwear is acceptable for wear by the soldiers on his Base. We have a couple styles that we used to purchase here that the troops loved, but were canned after the CDS' visit last year when he sent back word to Gagetown that we were no longer to purchase those particular styles. One big one is the mesh-sided boots the troops liked to buy...no more unless the chit specifically states that they require a "mesh-sided boot for medical reasons" as the Dress Regs point out that mesh sided boots are only authorized for wear out of country (those being desert boots) and for certified medical reasons.
The dress Regs are applicable to all CF Units, unfortunately many bases do not comply with them therefore the lack of a standard across the CF. Even personnel themselves choose to dress how they feel appropraite. IE buy themselves some kind of footwear, cadpat accoutrements and napsacks of the civilian type, gloves etc and wear it around in uniform. Unless the leadership within the Bases that allow that to continue happening does something about it, there will never be a standard of dress.
PS...we purchase other styles of boot than corcorans here at Gagetown I might add, including Danners. It depends upon what your chit states. And best of all, you get what you have tried on and chosen. We give you the paperwork, you go to Mark's or Pro-Am, try on boots, choose which ones you want, they fill in the model, size and price, you bring me back the paperwork and I buy them (If they're black, resemble an issued boot etc). So if someone chooses a style with no insoles in them etc there's not much I can do about that. You are certainly NOT restrcited to picking the corcoran. I highly recommend that if you are finding the corcorans unsuitable, you come over to D9 (get a new chit from physio if it's been more than 2 years) with your chit and we will send you back downtown to try on other boots as yours are obviously not suitable if you can't wear them in the field. I guarantee this will not be a problem. We are not monsters.
It has been my experience that the Res F tend to purchase and issue kit well outside the guidelines. They are not within my CoC, so there is not much I can do about that either. We do our best, but hey scales change daily, like I said and we have upwards of 50 different scales of entitlement we deal with daily.....no one will ever memorize them all.
Edited to add:
In my two years here, I, and my CoC, have received many many many e-mails and letters from across Canada and Units on this Base, from Officers and men alike, Air, Navy, and Army, advisiing that they believed we provided outstanding service to them and that we were the best and most professional Clothing Stores they had ever had the pleasure of dealing with. So from my experience, I'll back up my troops here at Clothing Stores any day. I have them all printed off and they are kept in our O Gp room on 2 whirl board files. that is how my troops manage to maintain their morale at the front counter despite some of the situations they are faced with on a daily basis. I could not ask for a better crew. I am very proud of them and the work they do!!
