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Recent content by Old Sweat

  1. O

    Updated Army Service Dress project

    Ike and I were NCMs in E Tp, M Bty, 4 RCHA. We both later went OCP, Ike as inf, while I continëd to serve the guns. My late wife tells the story of over-hearing some young infantry recounting being enemy force on an exercise, As the final assault was coming in, Ike formed company square and his...
  2. O

    C3 Howitzer Replacement

    I was in the first recruit squad in the RCA Depot that was not issued Lee-Enfields. Oh yes, and had a fuzzy water bottle.
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    C3 Howitzer Replacement

    Very early in our nuclear age, based on the licence plates and the dress of the troops in bush dress and US pattern helmets. The latter dates the shot to no earlier than mid-1960 when we switched helmets, while combat was not issued until circa-1964.
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    Late Cold War Canadian Army

    I started mine on a dare when I was the BC with 3 RCR back in 1973, and have had it ever since.
  5. O

    Late Cold War Canadian Army

    This is dated to the mid-sixties, so it may be too early for your needs, but. . . As a lieutenant, I served on the 4 CIBG ops staff from roughly mid-1965 to early 1967. Among my responsibilities were new equipment introduction, operational equipment readiness (with priority to the nuclear...
  6. O

    Informing the Army’s Future Structure

    Here we went again!! Anybody old enough to remember total force where we tried to create a force made up of regulars and reserves that would be combat ready in 30 days from the order to mobilize. Don't get me going on it, but we did aim, or so we said, to make it fly during so many reserve...
  7. O

    Lets get real, Canada and talk defence.

    There is more to it than that. In the late 50s we had signed on to nuclear roles in Europe - with 1 Air Division adopting strike/reconnaissance and 1 SSM Battery RCA as a land nuclear delivery unit - and at home with RCAF Air Defence Command. We trained and converted our forces, but well into...
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    C3 Howitzer Replacement

    Another burst of ancient deja vu; we went through something similar in the seventies, and not very efficiently. There was a perception that new entries did not need archaic army stuff like small arms, fieldcraft, and combat first aid. The length of the basic recruit course was pared back to...
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    C3 Howitzer Replacement

    FJAG, you are correct, but accumulation of leave came a bit later down the pike.
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    C3 Howitzer Replacement

    I would hesitate to cite Hong Kong without a lot of detailed research. Closer to home, our individual training system poise-unification was badly screwed up. At one stage small arms were not issued or taught, and with a viable internal security threat, the "land element" was tasked to protect...
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    C3 Howitzer Replacement

    I can't say that I am up to date on the current methodology and the rest of training new soldiers in what we used to call "primary combat functions" or PCFs. However, I graduated from the RCA Depot on 21 June 1958 trained as a basic gun number on the C1. That fall I attended a 12 week basic...
  12. O

    Military concerned by Canada's absence from American-British-Australian security pact

    Hmmm, General Baril (I met him on basic para and we stayed buds) said he chopped them as too British. Their decisions seemed interchangeable. I don't think Bill Leach was prone to make waves.
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    C3 Howitzer Replacement

    I would like to offer a few comments. First, the Basic Load is an estimate of usage in static periods, and not of rounds to be fired in active operations. There was, in the Second World War, a pool of ammunition that was expended in active operations such as Totalize and Tractable. A long while...
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    An Army of Never-Ending Strength: Reinforcing the Canadians in NW Europe 44-45

    This is an interesting, and intriguing, subject. We did experience a shortage of infantry reinforcements, however a study by the Canadian Army Historical Section, available on line, determined it was because of a miscalculation by British authorities of the percentage by corps. Based on...
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    C3 Howitzer Replacement

    Surely you jest! Nearly two decades ago we decided to reduce our fire power was the way to prepare for whatever was coming down the pike. Since then, we quite rightly worked on an integrated fire support establishment, albeit one without a meaningful amount of surface-to-surface and absolutely...
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