From the man who wrote, amongst other things, Who Killed Canadian History and Who Killed the Canadian Military?, a piece that I think is bang (as it were) on.
Canada restores historical features of the Canadian Army
The changes include the re-introduction of divisional nomenclature and patches for the current Land Force Areas; traditional rank insignia for officers; corps shoulder titles from the restoration of Royal titles to a number of Canadian Army corps in April 2013; and the Canadian Army’s secondary badge. Further, the Minister of National Defence announced the intention to restore the historical Army rank names for non-commissioned members.
“The restoration of these features is a significant step in the restoration of the Canadian Army’s traditions,” said Lieutenant-General Peter Devlin, Commander of the Canadian Army. “Symbols and traditions establish links to soldiers’ heritage, and are important. It is very significant that our non-commissioned members have the prospect of being able to bear the same ranks as their forbearers, and our officers will proudly wear the same insignia worn by Canadians who fought in the First and Second World Wars and Korea.”
These restorations are the next step in the phased approach that began in August 2011, when the historical name of the Canadian Army was restored. Stemming from this initial restoration, and in line with historical lineage, the Canadian Army’s secondary badge will be reinstated, and the Land Force Areas will be renamed under division names, with division patches introduced accordingly.
“It is an announcement that is not substantive,” [Liberal defence critic John McKay] said from Toronto on Monday. “And I am not unmindful they would love to expunge anything Liberal out of Canadian history.”
Via James, who writes – “Oh well, it seems only fair. After all, Trudeau and his successors expunged anything Military out of Canadian history.”
h/t Damian
Reader Tips
16 Million views in 12 Days: The Secret State – Fight Or Flight.
The soldiers in the video are active duty combat troops.
Via Michael Yon. Your tips in the comments.
Say It Isn’t So, Joe!
Family members of Navy SEAL Team VI and special forces soldiers on Wednesday filed a lawsuit in federal court in Washington, D.C., with regard to the deaths of their sons, whose helicopter was blown from the sky by Taliban jihadists on Aug. 6, 2011 in Afghanistan. […]
The plaintiffs claim that certain disclosures of classified information by Vice President Biden and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta regarding SEAL Team VI’s responsibility for conducting a secret mission that ended the life of arch-terrorist Osama Bin Laden, placed “targets on the backs” of the servicemen and their families.
Bragging about the killing of Bin Laden resulted in the Taliban retaliated by blasting the helicopter out of the sky and killing all on board, according to the plaintiffs.
Survivorship Bias
People walking by the apartment at the time had no idea that four stories above them some of the most important work in applied mathematics was tilting the scales of a global conflict as secret agents of the United States armed forces, arithmetical soldiers, engaged in statistical combat. Nor could people today know as they open umbrellas and twist heels on cigarettes, that nearby, in an apartment overlooking Morningside Heights, one of those soldiers once effortlessly prevented the United States military from doing something incredibly stupid, something that could have changed the flags now flying in capitals around the world had he not caught it, something you do every day.
A great read. h/t Adrian
D-Day Remembered
69 years ago today, Canadians and other Allied forces invaded France in what was the start of a long march to Berlin to crush Hitler and his Nazi regime. More here.
I Miss W
Related – Rolling Thunder Roars Into Washington
Heartfelt Thanks to Our American Brothers & Sisters in the Military
Canadians Win Bronze At Special Ops Competition
The elite Canadian Special Operations Regiment kicked some butt at the fifth annual Warrior Competition held in Jordan last month. The Canadians placed third after two teams from China.
The event is held every year at the King Abdullah II Special Operations Training Centre.
The impressive desert site boasts full-sized buildings, passenger planes and gas stations for situational drills including hostage taking and terrorist attacks.
Special ops soldiers and police use the spot to sharpen their skills to become the best of the best.
How America Lost Its Four Great Generals
…it is hard to imagine the Civil War having been won without Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan–or World War II without Marshall, Eisenhower, Patton, Bradley, Arnold, LeMay, Nimitz, Halsey, and all the other senior generals and admirals.
Likewise it is hard to imagine the War on Terror having been waged without four-star commanders such as David Petraeus, Stanley McChrystal, John Allen, and James Mattis.
Honey, I Finished The Internet
The Solution To The West’s Falling Birthrate
Compel women to serve in the military;
…each year, somewhere between 10 and 17 percent of servicewomen become pregnant. In certain locales, the figure is even higher. Former senator James Webb noted that when he was secretary of the Navy in 1988, 51 percent of single Air Force and 48 percent of single Navy women stationed in Iceland were pregnant.
h/t Joe B
The World Is Being Run By Crazy People
A United States minesweeper ship that crashed into a coral reef due to inaccurate Navy maps will have to be cut into small pieces and removed in order to prevent harming the ocean’s ecosystem, according to the Navy and other reports.
The $277 million USS Guardian, a Naval warship that clears waterways of mines, crashed into a coral reef near the Philippines earlier this month.
The Navy will disassemble it piece by piece in order to avoid damaging the reef rather than tow the multi-million dollar ship off of the reef and perform necessary repairs.
h/t Adrian
War On Women
It would certainly appear — with Leon Panetta lifting (most) restrictions for women in combat — that the legal rationale for excluding women from registering for the draft is gone.
And just in the Nork of time!
Honey, I Finished The Internet
To play the game of Broom-i-loo, you must first know the rules. First: get the ball in the goal. Second: there are no rules. (h/t Peter)
In The Mail
|
My Share Of The Task – General Stanley McChrystal In early March 2010, General Stanley McChrystal, the commanding officer of all U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan, walked with President Hamid Karzai through a small rural bazaar. As Afghan townspeople crowded around them, a Taliban rocket loudly thudded into the ground some distance away. Karzai looked to McChrystal, who shrugged. The two leaders continued greeting the townspeople and listening to their views. |
|
Honolulu after Pearl Harbor
A reporter’s account of the attack on Pearl Harbor is published for the first time.
Via OTB
Lest We Forget
“Overlooked, even in the place where he was born.”
Rob Probert does not have a definitive answer to the question: why? Why has it taken almost a century for Carleton Place, a sleepy small town not far from the nation’s capital, full of red brick Victorian homes and red maple trees, to celebrate the memory of Captain Roy Brown, a First World War ace, a fly-boy, a hockey player and a handsome Canuck who fought an air-duel to the death with Manfred (Red Baron) von Richthofen.
Yes, that Red Baron, the one and only Red Baron, the German with the red tri-plane, aristocratic roots and reputation for blasting the good guys out of the sky until our guy from Carleton Place got the better of him — before being mostly forgotten in the dustbins of the nation’s collective history.
Read it all.
h/t Maz2
Painting The Target
“We still own the night, but not for long. It is contested.“