The Canadian Commando Course

[Sphinx 4/73]

Having had the chance to do RM Commando course along with Para and a little diddy known as the 4/73 try out this defines the meat and potatoes solider with the nice bloody steak that drinks gas and spits fire.  Good to hear if Canada starts doing all these things that they governement says they will.  Ahhh..nothing commando course beastings.... :'(


Cheers Sphinx

 

[3rd Horseman]

Too bad we cant have the input of the few cdns who were in the rhodesian light infantry or selous scouts on here to what they did on "thier" commando course!

  You may want to ask around the Cdn Army for Commandos we have our fair share since we regularly sent Platoons on serials of the French Commando crse while CFE was still around. Many have their French Commado badges tucked away due the direction that they could not wear them once outside of CFE. From my understanding of the training system for that crse CFE was the only place you could get it. I dont think its relavent anymore unfortunatley due to the JTFs new role.

 

[Jungle]

Many have their French Commado badges tucked away due the direction that they could not wear them once outside of CFE. From my understanding of the training system for that crse CFE was the only place you could get it.

Not exactly true; 1 Cdo sent troops to France for Cdo trg once and to French Guyana for jungle trg regularly throughout the late 80s / early 90s.

 

[spantickle]

I have both French Army Basic Para Course and French Commando Course, Received the coveted "Badge #7" at Kiel in 1985. they have been in a wall frame since I left Germany. Got to like the Military Policies

 

[commando gunner]

I have both French Army Basic Para Course and French Commando Course, Received the coveted "Badge #7" at Kiel in 1985. they have been in a wall frame since I left Germany. Got to like the Military Policies

Here is a Brit view from arrse on the course. 

http://www.arrse.co.uk/cpgn2/Forums/viewtopic/t=23153.htm 

 

[daftandbarmy]

Good concept, but for what purpose?  I did the Cdo Course in the UK as well as P Coy (Pre-Para Selection). Both those courses are for selection to be part of larger amphibious and airborne brigades with more or less conventional war roles. And I can't remember much about being trained to use a special dagger or (God forbid) a flamethrower. What larger units would the graduates from these courses be part of in Canada?

Canada already seems to have a couple of pretty good 'commando type' courses that meet specific CF needs viz: CSOR and the Pathfinder Course. Of course there's also JTF2.  We therefore seem to have some pretty good stuff going on right here at home. The general proposition of the original article has already been achieved by the CF. Hurrah.

The only improvement I think we could make is to try and put more people through these kinds of courses and make it a basic standard, as opposed to something 'special'. If you talk to any WW2 veterans you will find that alot of stuff we consider 'special' training these days was SOP for the combat arms, and especially the infantry, back then. Slim, for example, was fond of saying that any unit in the 14th Army could perform as well or better than a 'special' unit. This would be a good goal for us: to build and maintain a small, but extremely high quality, army.

 

[old fart]

Here is a Brit view from arrse on the course.   

http://www.arrse.co.uk/cpgn2/Forums/viewtopic/t=23153.htm 

The link did not work for me, but in my Brit days it was popular to send whole troops/platoons on the basic course, a week long or so.  Usually completed during a SUE.  Mainly confidence training, some rope work and the piece de resistance, stand in a manhole or lay down as an MBT rolled over your head. 

Oh and lots of cheap French wine...that being said SUEs with the French were not that popular back in those days, their bases were shit, and the food just as bad.  Now things were not that great for us...but better than what the French had in the 70s-80s while it was still a conscript army.

I recognise that they also offer other advanced Inf courses and have schools to train their SF.

Merry Christmas one and all...

 

[geo]

Old fart, if you 1st go in to arrse.co.uk 1st, the link does work........... just a pain to get there.

 

[pipesnake]

Isn't this called "Battleschool"? We did 80% of that anyway when I did it in 89.

 

[ArmyRick]

Old school Battle school, maybe.

 

[daftandbarmy]

Not sure if these courses equate to battle school, but the outline of two British Courses is described in the links below. Again, these specifically designed to select and prepare candidates for operations with - respectively -  the Parachute Regiment and the Royal Marines, and their respective brigades.

Pre-Parachute Selection
http://www.army.mod.uk/para/pegasus_p_company.htm

RM Commando Course (see 'Training' in this article)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Marines

 

[pipesnake]

Old school Battle school, maybe.

What is Battleschool something lesser these days?

 

[geo]

Battleschools are constantly in a state of change... responding to the demands and expectations of the CF.  At present, there are plenty of lessons learned in Afghanistan that have been & will be integrated into the training of our troops.

 

[spottyjohn]

My grandfathger was a commando in WW2 and they say it skips a generation.
All be fucked if you will use me though.

 

[spottyjohn]

I wanted to apologize for my comment.

I do respect those that keep us safe. I know that withought the armed forces we wouldn't live in a great nation like we have.
Because of the police and the armed forces we live in a free and peaceful nation. My grandfather was a comando in WW2 and he
did an important job. We all know that Hitler had to be stopped.When I was younger I was in the reserves.

I did apply to be in the USA army a few years ago but they said that I had to get a green card.
I applied to the Canadian forces and they called me several times but I had trouble getting my
Core Documents together. The biggest challenge was my birth certificate.

In the end my wife "found" my birth certificate.
She is a pacifist mennonite and know doubt wanted to make sure I didn't join.
So I do security gaurd work.

Anyway I do not disrespect what you people do.
In fact sometimes I pray for you people and wish I could be with you all.

I wish you all the best.

 

[daftandbarmy]

???

“Never retreat. Never explain. Get it done and let them howl.”

Benjamin Jowett, 1819-1893

"No F-ing Prisoners!"

LCol Hew Pike, 3 PARA, 1982

 

[Greymatters]

If you talk to any WW2 veterans you will find that alot of stuff we consider 'special' training these days was SOP for the combat arms, and especially the infantry, back then. Slim, for example, was fond of saying that any unit in the 14th Army could perform as well or better than a 'special' unit. This would be a good goal for us: to build and maintain a small, but extremely high quality, army.

A lot of this stuff is the same type of thinking we used to discuss back in late 1980's when I first got in.  However at the time the power that be did not believe we needed that kind of training.  Its only nowadays that higher-ups are realizing that we really need this kind of training and are starting to support it. 

 

[3rd Herd]

A lot of this stuff is the same type of thinking we used to discuss back in late 1980's when I first got in.  However at the time the power that be did not believe we needed that kind of training.  Its only nowadays that higher-ups are realizing that we really need this kind of training and are starting to support it.   

No, they are the ones twenty years ago advocating this kind of training BUT didn't have the rank and now do.

 

[commando gunner]

My grandfathger was a commando in WW2 and they say it skips a generation.
All be ****ed if you will use me though.

What skips- an inability to spell?

 

[Greymatters]

No, they are the ones twenty years ago advocating this kind of training BUT didn't have the rank and now do. 

Hmmm, yes, that would be more accurate.