Canadian Army New Ranks-Again!
 

CANFORGEN 053/16 COMD CA 006/16 311830Z MAR 16
EVOLUTION OF CA OFFICER RANKS
UNCLASSIFIED

CONTEXT. BUILDING ON THE MOMENTUM OF THE NEW ARMY RANKS, THE CA NEXT EVOLUTION WILL SEE A TRANSITION TO THE USE OF MAPLE LEAFS RECOGNIZING OUR CANADIAN IDENTITY WHILE STILL RESPECTING OUR MILITARY HERITAGE. THIS CURRENT CANFORGEN WILL FOCUS ON CHANGES TO THE GO RANKS AND THE INCLUSION OF THE VIMY STAR FOR OCDT TO COLONELS, WHICH WILL SEE A MODIFICATION TO THE PIPS CURRENTLY WORN.

SCHEME OF MANOEUVRE. THIS PROJECT WILL BE DIVIDED IN 3 PHASES:

2.A. PHASE 1. BRAID RESTORATION ON DEU TUNIC AND RANK PROTOTYPE DISTRIBUTION FOR THE FIVE MOST SENIOR OFFICERS WEARING THE CA UNIFORM.

2.B. PHASE 2. MASS PRODUCTION AND ISSUE OF GO RANKS TO ALL GO.

2.C. PHASE 3. PRODUCTION AND ISSUE OF THE VIMY STAR.

PHASE 1 :

3.A. DETAILS. PHASE 1 WILL INCLUDE THE GOLD BRAID RESTORATION ON THE CA GO DEU TUNIC AS WELL AS THE APPROVAL OF THE RANK INSIGNIA. THERE ARE SUFFICIENT QUANTITIES OF GOLD BRAID CURRENTLY IN STOCK TO ALLOW ONE DEU TUNIC PER GO TO BE COMPLETED IN PHASE 1. AS OF NOW, GO CAN BRING ONE TUNIC TO THEIR LOCAL BASE CLOTHING STORES FOR TAILORING. GO TUNICS WILL BE CONSIDERED AS PRIORITY ACROSS THE CAF CLOTHING STORES. GO NOT NEAR A SUPPORT BASE (I.E. OUTCAN OR DEPLOYED PERS) AS WELL AS GO WITH NON-PERMISSIVE SCHEDULES OPERATING IN THE NCR WILL BE ALLOWED TO USE LOCAL ECONOMY AND CLAIM THE RELATED AMOUNT VIA CF-52. METAL RANK PROTOTYPES AND NEW RANK SLIP-ONS FOR CADPAT AND SERVICE DRESS WILL BE DISTRIBUTED DIRECTLY IN PERSON TO THE FIVE MOST SENIOR OFFICERS WEARING THE CA UNIFORM AS SOON AS AVAILABLE.

3.B. IMPLEMENTATION. FOR SYNCHRONIZATION PURPOSES, THE WEARING OF THE TUNIC WITH THE RESTORED BRAID FOR ALL GO IS EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY. THE WEARING OF THE RANK PROTOTYPES FOR THE FIVE MOST SENIOR OFFICER WEARING THE CA UNIFORM WILL BE EFFECTIVE UPON RECEIPT OF THE METAL RANK AND SLIP-ONS.

PHASE 2. PHASE 2 WILL INCLUDE ACTIVITIES SUCH AS THE PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION OF RANKS TO THE REMAINING GO. THIS DISTRIBUTION WILL OCCUR IN THE SUMMER TO EARLY-FALL 2016.

PHASE 3. PHASE 3 WILL INCLUDE THE PHASED-IN ISSUE OF THE VIMY STAR FOR SERVICE DRESS UNIFORMS FOR OCDT TO COLONELS IN ORDER TO RECOGNIZE THE CENTENNIAL OF THE BATTLE OF VIMY RIDGE.

So, with all the new rank badges just coming into wear, the whole scheme is too be changed yet again?
(I was tempted to think this was an April Fool's joke, but it has been discussed in other venues.)

The joke is on us, more money going down the drain after they only just changed the system. Bloody Ludacris.

I just read about this in the local rag. It's supposedly because it's causing confusion in the ranks and elsewhere. What a load of b******s! What is there to be confused about?

You wait, in another year or so, the RCN will lose it's executive curl and the RCAF will revert to gold rings on the sleeve as well. I was told by a serving member that the reason the RCAF didn't revert to its old rank titles, like squadron leader, was because the Americans got confused. Does that mean they're confused with British title too? No offence to our American members, but really!

I hope DND will reimburse all those serving officers who had to have their rings removed and pips and crowns sewn on, now to have it all put back again. I guess that means there'll be a lot of redundant pips and crwons doing the rounds of the militaria shows.

David

Sorry if I'm being dense, but what is a Vimy Star? Maple leaf I can understand unaided:)

Eddie

New Ranks
 

Call it what you want, but all this change in 'bling' is political branding of the military. The Liberals did it in the late 1960s when unification transformed the uniforms and rank to something very generic and 'less British'. Nearly a half-century latter the Conservatives did their best to change it all back and now the Liberals are putting their touch on it. Anyone care to wager how long it will be until the Liberals repaint the PM's Airbus to get rid of the new look it took on during the Conservative reign?

Who needs major equipment purchases or even adequate medical care for the military when we keep messing with essentially meaningless trivial details like 'Vimy Stars' and RCAF Officer's braid?

As for loads of it turning up at shows, don't hold your breath; as most military personnel either toss the old insignia in the trash or keep a tin of it squirreled away in the basement only to flog it at a garage sale the next time they move.

David, the braid only affects General Officers from what it seems to say in the order. And they have always, since Unification, worn a combo of sleeve braid and shoulder strap insignia. This is a perfectly sensible order. Note that other militaries also use sleeve braid in combination with shoulder strap insignia (notably the US).

Personally, I think the idea of replacing one rank star style (Order of the Bath) for a Canadianized version makes perfect sense too.

And, I like the notion of having all the other officers change to "Vimy stars" (which are probably going to be indistinguishable from the Order of the Bath stars at anything greater than a couple of feet anyway) in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of Vimy.

I don't see anything here not to like.

Michael, The "Vimy star" (a term I had not heard until yesterday) appears to simply be a stylized maple leaf. Is it to be a central device on a rank star, or is it to be the leaf alone?
(Honestly, who invents this stuff? Vimy star????)

This is the first I'm hearing the term, too, but my impression from conversations at FB was that the three bishop's hats in the Order of the Bath based star would be replaced by a maple leaf?

Either way, even if the "star" becomes just a maple leaf, this is consistent with other organizations in the country (Ontario EMS wears maple leaf and stars in the same sequences as Army officers, and Alberta EMS is soon adopting the same system of leaves and crowns).

I'm fine with it.

Remains to be seen what the new Vimy star is exactly.
Several police forces use a maple leaf rank symbol, iirc the OPP?

The VIMY star, according to the briefing from DHH this morning, is a pip with the center 3 crowns replaced with a maple leaf, the motto replaced by " WE STAND ON GUARD" in Latin and VIMY. It will only affect metal pips and not DEU or Cadpat slip-ons.

I would like to get some Cadpat pants that do look like lingerie, I have been waiting a year! There is nothing in stock. I finally got some boots ISSUED last year from supply they are a size too small but at least I didn't have to BUY them like for the last 10 years. This is crap. A big waste of money, why couldn't they have just left the GOs in the maple leaves that they already had???
And why the hell would the Army need to be consistent with other organizations? I'm already tired of cops and firefighters wearing military style uniforms when they have NEVER been military (other than RCMP) Tell them to stop wearing a red sash! Infantry Sgts only.

Tail Wagging the Dog
 

Let's see; for the Army alone there are four styles of CADPAT TW Shirts and three styles of CADPAT Trousers in use. This compounds things as there are now two complete sets of rank, Hi-Vis slip-on for the older shirts and in Velcro patches for the latest version, plus small Canada flags for the old shirts and large flags for the new one.

On top of this there is a complete range of Hi-Vis unit identifiers for the slip-ons, but only CANADA for the Velcro rank patches.

I have no idea what the situation is like for CADPAT AR, but the last I heard the old Officer CF ranks were going to be maintained for this uniform and they would not be manufactured in Hi-Vis. Somehow I doubt this insignia has not been also been changed, but I cannot confirm it.

All of the Army Officers got new DEU Jackets (I wish I knew the cost per jacket) because of the rank change and then since the supply system could not handle the volume of alterations and sewing, they were allotted money to go out and have the work done on the commercial market (again I am not sure how much per person). Now the senior Officers get their jackets modified again to add the braid that was removed less than a year ago and to compound things a new design of star (pip) is being introduced.

Previous to this a new set of Division, Corps and Army coloured insignia was introduced for wear in the DEU uniform and apparently now on CADPAT TW - all for any Army that is smaller than a division.

Remember these insignia changes only relate to the Army.

As I said before, who needs major equipment purchases, medical care for injured soldiers or adequate training budgets when numerous insignia changes justified under historical awareness and anniversaries seems to be the priority.

For collectors... this is a "golden era". I can just see the listings 20 years from now. RARE interim rank stars, 2015-16. Seldom seen and only worn for a few months. $1500.00 per star.

Listing - More Like
 

RARE interim rank stars, 2015-2016. Seldom seen and only worn for a few months by an Airborne qualified Captain at the D-Day Anniversary in Normandy. Being sold by a reputable dealer for $1500.00 per star.