A whole lot of announcing by senior federal Conservatives will be going on tomorrow; this appears to be the reason:
Royal to return to Canadian Forces
Remember there never was a Royal Canadian (or British) Army. As for the observatory…other suggestion for resurrecting previous names?
Update via Milnet.ca:
CANFORGEN 147/11 VCDS 021/11 151502Z AUG 11
RESTORING THE HISTORIC NAMES OF THE ROYAL CANADIAN NAVY, THE CANADIAN ARMY AND THE ROYAL CANADIAN AIR FORCE.
UNCLASSIFIED
THE CDS IS PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE THAT THE GOVERNMENT IS RESTORING THE HISTORIC NAMES OF THE ROYAL CANADIAN NAVY (RCN), THE CANADIAN ARMY (CA), AND THE ROYAL CANADIAN AIR FORCE (RCAF)
THE INITIATIVE TO RESTORE THE HISTORIC NAMES OF CANADA’S THREE FORMER SERVICES IS AIMED AT RESTORING AN IMPORTANT AND RECOGNIZABLE PART OF CANADA S MILITARY HERITAGE. THESE WERE THE SERVICES THAT FOUGHT AND EMERGED VICTORIOUS FROM THE SECOND WORLD WAR AND KOREA AND CONTRIBUTED TO THE DEFENCE OF EUROPE AND NORTH AMERICA FROM THE EARLY DAYS OF THE COLD WAR. THESE WERE ALSO THE SERVICES THAT PAVED THE WAY IN TERMS OF INTERNATIONAL PEACEKEEPING MISSIONS
THE CHANGE WILL BE IMPLEMENTED BY RENAMING THE THREE ENVIRONMENTAL COMMANDS. MARITIME COMMAND WILL BE NAMED THE ROYAL CANADIAN NAVY LAND FORCE COMMAND WILL BE NAMED THE CANADIAN ARMY AND AIR COMMAND WILL BE NAMED THE ROYAL CANADIAN AIR FORCE. IN THIS WAY WE WILL REGAIN AN IMPORTANT PART OF OUR COLLECTIVE HERITAGE WITHIN A UNIFIED EFFECTIVE CANADIAN FORCES COMMAND STRUCTURE..
I agree: Let’s get rid of another vestige of Trudeaudopia – Canada Day – and restore it to its proper name: Dominion Day.
Posted by: mitchel44 at August 15, 2011 6:04 PM
I know this will come as a shock to you, but the CF has all it’s documents and forms held electronicly now. Yeah, I know, who’d a thunk it. The only thing that will need to change is for some techno type to go in and change a few words on a few PDF files.
“Bring back the Dominion Observatory too/Update: RCN, RCAF Redux Confirmed”
— and while we’re at it stop the superficial conservative symbolism and bring back substantive moves to peel back the leviathan state strangling the life out of our freedom and personal wealth.
It is very appropriate that the old names are returned. The English element of this nation was laid out almost all at once with one hundred thousand loyal American conservatives driven out of the rebellious colonies in 1783. Their arrival dwarfed the existing English population and their hybrid politics of loyalty and egalitarianism was the birth of the Canadian heart and soul. They fought and came to Canada under the flag of Union ,the Union Jack without Irelands red saltires. I fly one in my yard. Bravo Mr. Harper!
I am happy that this has happened, but I am curious to see how it effects the culture of the armed forces. As someone who has 20 years of military service as both an officer and an OR, I think unification was a good idea, especially for a force as small as Canada’s (less than 1/2 the size of the USMC). That being said the bus driver uniforms were horrible, and the DEU’s weren’t much better. I was in Admin company of a service battalion for a while and we had lots of “purple trades”, so while we were an army unit, while on parade we had lots of guys wearing air force and navy uniforms because they were randomly assigned uniforms when they were enlisted and could be employed in any environment. I had “sailors” under my command who had never been to sea, never seen a ship. Guys from my branch (old RCEME, now EME), serve on air and navy bases because all vehicle techs are EME and all the EME branch is army. I could go on and on with the pros and cons of unification, but I don’t want to bore everyone.
There were a few good things from integration. The Army and Navy lost their air forces, and the aviation side of things was much improved, especially for the Army.
Much more professional pilots and maintenance, and better capabilities.
With a revived RCAF, then Flight Sergeants, Wingcos, Air Marhals, et al.?
Mark
Ottawa
Bravo PM Harper! Oh happy day!
@ Joe 7:05, I have no problem with Elizabeth the Second being on my scroll either and it says Canadian Army. It was signed by GG Roland Michener and Minister of National Defense Cadieux in April 1968.
Bless those presently serving in all the branches.
Non Nobis Sed Patriae
Experten, yes it does bear repeating. Bring back Dominion Day also.
AtlanticJim said “Now about national service? Not only no, but HELL NO!” Agreed, at least in the armed services! The services should be paid well and voluntary. Find another way to instill some discipline in a restless yout.
Bravo to the Conservative Government! I was one of the 6000 or so that signed that petition to “restore the honour”. I also wrote multiple letters to various Senators, and the Minister of Defense Peter MacKay. Good for them! Romeo De Lairre (or however you spell it) must be having another mental breakdown over this historical restoration. I remember when Romeo Derriere was having a hissy fit over the inclusion of Canada’s original flag, the Red Ensign flying over the restored Vimy Ridge memorial. The Red Ensign that Canadian troops raised over the battle fields of Vimy can be viewed at the Imperial war museum. A great day for Canada’s history! The Trudeaupian cultists who love the distortions and denials of Canada’s English speaking history and traditions are having a very bad day. I’m so pleased! God bless all those who served in the RCN, RCAF, and the Canadian Army for you’re sacrifice and honour.
It is good to see a return to a tradition that those of us who serve today do not remember, but know because we know from whence we came.
Will this mean much in real terms? Probably not, but it is a turn that may foreshadow a permenant change in attitudes toward the military.
What really matters is secure predictable funding. Will we see stories in the National Post complaining about a long overdue mess hall in Bordon costing 77 million? We have heard “support the troops,” now the combat mission is over we will see what it really means.
Bring back the Watch, heh heh heh…
This is first rate! I loathed the generic liberal change over – this makes up for it. PMSH doing some conservative stuff for a change!
Next is to seriously whittle down the CBC.
This is very good news and it shows what a masterful politician Harper is. It’s true that there are a lot of hot button issues that we would like to have taken care of. But, while people are arguing over the Human Rights Commissions, etc, Harper & Co are quietly going about changing the culture.
With a change in the culture, all the rest will sort itself out with the least amount of contention.
Peace, Order and Good Government: that’s what Harper is about.
Bravo to Harper, McKay and the rest of the conservative caucus. It is good to see that this change is strongly supported in the poll that Max had linked earlier. Lots of interesting things are happening in the country that are suggesting that the people want to get back to the things that made us great as a nation. The new Winnipeg Jets logo which pays homage the RCAF has been overwhelmingly popular right across the country. I expect a number of other good things to happen in Canada over the next few months starting with the abolition of the gun registry and hopefully all of Bill C68.
Canadians have finally awakened to the severity of the damage that the Trudeau & Chretien eras had caused to Canada and they are eager to reverse these travesties.
“With a change in the culture, all the rest will sort itself out with the least amount of contention.” Mikhail @ 10:51pm
Let’s hope so!
This is great news and a great honour.
So Canadian forces will sound like the home guard when stationed in the U.K. Good for you. “The Barbarians Inside Britain’s Gates” don’t stand a chance.
However, will you be willing to rescue the Falklands alone? It has not escaped notice the U.K. has tossed their hat to the EU at every opportunity for decades now. The militant anti-Americanism really is beginning to stick in the old Tea Party crawl.
And from our predictable outrage department, the following excerpt from the Toronto Star’s story is reproduced under the Fair Dealing provision of the Copyright Act:
Hellyer, reached by the Star Monday night, said his decision to unite the army, air force and navy under a single command was “absolutely essential” at the time to save money by avoiding duplication and to ensure cooperation between branches of the military.
He was not pleased by the news that the old names were returning.
“This has got to be the dumbest thing that the (Conservative) majority government has done in its race to the past,” Hellyer said. “They’re supposed to be saving money. Even the cosmetics of this change would cost millions.”
As a for member of the RCN/CAF I would like to put my 2 cents in.
First off I served from 63 to 77, I didn’t survive Trudeau’s riegn of terror.
I would prefer to drop the Royal and just call it the Canadian Navy. My uniform had Canada on the sholders, no mention of royal.
You’ve probably gessed that I’m a republican.
I would also like to point out that it was not Trudeau (may an elephant piss on his grave) but pearson who started the destruction of the Canadian military, as well as the destruction of Canada. Trudeau simply drove it home.
In 65 when the liberal flag of eastern Canada was unvaled I feld good because it was our own. At that time I was an easterner. I did not like the fact that there was no blue in it.
I like most of the military (I think) was still in the detest Deffinbaker mode and was blind to the crap the Liberals were putting out.
This is a nice feel good step but I fear it is to little to late.
CANADA 1867 to 2004 RIP
Apparently SOME members of the CAF are very much upset by this return to the “Royal”.
Wonder which group that’d be.
Posted by: dmorris at August 15, 2011 3:51 PM
NDHQ commissioned ranks?
This must have taken some very deep thinking and long meetings to come up with. I’m thinking about deck chairs on the Titanic. Perhaps we should direct some of this energy into getting our goverment spending under control.
Posted by: Steve at August 16, 2011 9:33 AM
Aye, but a bit of ‘feel good’ helps.
And I know I’m being silly, but we can always hope that this might help rile the pseudo-separatists to the point that they hold another referendum…a successful one.
And that would help the federal government get spending under control!
So much was done to appease Quebec, we hid/bastardized our history by getting rid of signs of our history with Great Britain and the Monarchy.
The Liberals changed the Flag, dumped Dominion Day for Canada Day,the RCMP became CMP, the Army, Navy and Air Force became Canadian Forces, TO WHAT END? Quebec Separatists still formed and even became Official Opposition at one point. So much for sucking up to the spoiled brat in the family and giving in to blackmail.
If anyone thinks the Separatists are dead they better take a look at make up of the Quebec wing of the NPD/NDP.
Separatists or reluctant Federalists do not make a strong country.
Why all the hate for “Canada Day”? It’s a day to celebrate Canada. How could anyone have a problem with that?
sorry skippy, we already have the uniforms…no thanks to truedough or his clone crouton…one of the moments in my life where I felt taller and prouder than the day before was the first time I left the house for work in my new Airforce blue uniform, after tossing the green one into the garbage bin instead of the laundry hamper. That was in the mid-80’s, post truedough and pre-crouton…this is another step towards undoing the damage the liebrals caused to our military..a small one, and many more are needed, but it’s a very symbolic one to anyone who’s ever served…if you haven’t, then you can never understand what it means and that’s a pity…I served 20 years waiting for this day and now after almost 20 more it finally arrived…late is better than never..
Per Ardua Ad Astra…and liebrals thy name is Ardua.
“the RCMP became CMP”
I don’t think so.
Indeed, it’s interesting that no government ever saw fit to rename the RCMP as something like “Canadian Federal Police”.
As a Canadian Army officer, I always quietly envied the RCMP retention of the “crown-and-pip” rank system.
One thing I will say is this: there’s good potential for a bit of confusion with this move.*
The RCN, Canadian Army and RCAF were distinct services. There is still only one service today in Canada: the CF.
Now we have environmental commands masquerading as services.
Is a cook on a frigate who wears air force DEUs a member of the RCN or the RCAF?
Is an MP in navy DEUs at CFB Petawawa a member of the Canadian Army or the RCN?
* Though I heartily approve!
that’s been going on for years with absolutely no difficulty whatsoever…virtually all of the ‘support trades’ I knew wore their uniforms proudly..sometimes they’d be the sole airman on an Army base and occasionally the only Navy member in an Airforce Squadron…in all cases they did the same job they’d have done anywhere else and nobody ever discriminated against anyone based on what uniform they wore because every single one of them said ‘Canada’ on the shoulder…maybe it’s time to bring the support trades back to their services anyway…the duplication of services wouldn’t be any worse than it is now…you still need the various sections on different bases…just give people a chance to select their branch, knowing they’ll rotate through bases in that branch only…it might even make for more efficiency…cooks have to learn different skills between boats and field units…the Army doesn’t order the same widgets the Airforce does and so on and so on….
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I would gladly welcome the return of the original Dominion Observatory name. (My parked car is in that 1966 aerial shot!) Not that I have anything against Dr. Hogg; she was a gracious, good lady.
Did they change the name of Dominion Day?
Few will know that that building once housed beautiful grandfather clocks, hooked into the time service — as did many government buildings. Sadly, many of them were gathered up, and hauled off to the garbage-dump.
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What Navy needs is another thousand men to bring it up to it’s pitiful full strength of 4100 seagoing men . It needs new destroyers, new AORs the frigates need a better refit then the Felex programme. It needs arctic patrol ships and amphibious vessels. it needs real submarines that actually can do their job the list goes on and on.
What is is getting the victory of symbolism over substance.What it is getting is shiny new buttons,new shoulder flashes and stationery. And it will come out of an already over stressed naval budget .