Correct abbreviation? - British & Commonwealth Military Badge Forum

Bill A · #1 03-12-13, 05:35 PM

The abbreviation LCol is found on DND resources. Is this now the correct abbreviation for Lieutenant Colonel?

Phillip Herring · #2 03-12-13, 05:54 PM

It is what I always remember seeing/using during my time in.

Phil

Bill A · #3 03-12-13, 06:07 PM

Ok. So Lt.Col. is long gone?

2747andy · #4 03-12-13, 06:23 PM

Bill,
Lt Col is still used in the UK, no full stops/periods however!

Andy

Bill A · #5 03-12-13, 06:25 PM

Hm. Is this an "Americanization" of Canadian terms? Or, maybe this was one of those font things that newspapers went through. Shorter spellings of words = savings.

servicepub · #6 03-12-13, 07:42 PM

It's an alignment with US practice. Typically Canadian is that our abbreviations tend to be a cross of Brit/US.

2747andy · #7 03-12-13, 08:11 PM

Don't the Americans use LTC?

Andy

soldier1 · #8 04-12-13, 12:22 AM

There are two abbreviations for Lieutenant Colonel in the CAF.

LCol- English

Lcol- francais.

Andy; US use LTC.

Lt Col was used pre 1968 in Canada. Although I knew quite a few officers who used it post unification and refused to change despite unification.

Abbreviations were always used in the Canadian and British Armies in Operational Staff Procedures (OSP).

OSP were and still are, as far as I'm aware, the language of messages (msgs)/Operational and Administrative Orders (OP O/ADM O ) and the like to transmit info 'in the field'.

Michael Dorosh · #9 13-01-14, 08:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by servicepub

It's an alignment with US practice. Typically Canadian is that our abbreviations tend to be a cross of Brit/US.

Excellent reply above by "soldier1". It's interesting that anytime something "not British" crops up people automatically assume it is "American". Sometimes, things really are genuinely "Canadian."

When a bunch of us were in the UK in 1990 I recall one of our Master Corporals trying to explain his appointment to a British warrant officer and practically apologizing for such an "American rank". Which was odd, since the U.S. armed forces never had such a thing.

I've always thought the U.S. practice of ALL CAPS when abbreviating ranks is a bit jarring also. MGEN rather than MGen or LTC rather than LCol. There really is a distinctive "Canadian" way of doing things, if one takes the time to look for it.