Originally posted by Brihard:
[qb] I‘ve got several perspectives to share on this particualr issue...
First, a backgrounder. I‘m a warrant officer in the PWOR cadet corps here in Kingston. I‘m serving out my final year here. (this is my third). I was inducted into the Reserves late in february (Yes, this IS allowed- CATO 10-13 in effect states you can be both at once) and just finished by basic training on weekends and march break. I‘m doing SQ and BIQ in the summer.
Now, speaking from my first experience, as a cadet, Combats are great for field use. I can‘t count the number of cadets I‘ve berated for wearing jeans on exercises, etc. Combats are made for the field. they‘re everywhere, and I encourage people to pick up a set of OD at a surplus store for field use, with boots to go with ‘em.
At my unit, on exercises, people wearing combats will generally still wear rank, though the Cadet dress rank- Gold rank on black; not OD green combat rank. I‘ve seena few people jury-rig combat rank with a ‘cadets‘ tag oon the bottom. I have no problem with that either,a nd have not seen anyone that does. As long as you identify yourself as a cadet. We also wear our headdress on exercise, though often people will wear a bush cap of some kind instead of the beret.
In terms of other Combat equipment, a few cadets have surplus pattern 82 webbing that they‘ve bought and use in the field. I‘ve found it useful- the amg pouches can be used for thigs like a cmamera, botle of hand sanitizer (great stuff for the field, Purell), small munchies, etc, and of course the canteen is a must.
As long as this stuff is legally acquired, I don‘t care if my cadets use it.
That having been said, I‘ve never had one show up in CADPAT. If one did, and it were frontenac crap, I‘d laugh at them and let ‘em wear it. Now, soemone more senior might make them change into something else, but if they wanna act ‘the kewl‘ for all their corporal buddies, that‘s good for them. They‘ll learn.
Switch to perspective two.
My stepmother is a captain in Logistics up in Ottawa. For several years her job was overseeing the issue of CADPAT to field units. She had to entertain endless BS requests from unit COs who wanted their entire unit to be outfitted because they had their own personal set. My stepmom had to tell a couple generals where to get off once or twice- politely, of course. My brother is in a cadet unit up there in Ottawa. They‘ve had a few isntances where cadets showed up in issued CADPAT. One has a parent in the military. Now, Stepmom brought borther to an ex, saw this, and flipped out compeltely. I never heard the end of the story, but apparently she intended to have him charged. Not sure if she ever got around to it.
We have soldiers all over the world doing their duty. At this point, they‘ve all been rpetty mcuh outfitted. It‘s at the point now where (as of about a month ago) fresh entries into the infantry reserves are getting issued CADPAT. I got sworn in back in Feb, and have been told I draw mine as of June 1st. So the reserves are getting it.
That having been said, since there ARE still sworn, serving personnel yet to receive theirs, Cadets should not be wearing, suing, or acquiring real CADPAT. Also, please don‘t get me started on CIC officers who have CADPAT- It intensely pisses me off that some of them have had it over a year. But that‘s another issue. Until suffiecient CADPAT is in the system that everyone in the plan to get some has it, and it‘s being sold off through crown surplus, cadets should NOT be wearing it. It is a COMBAT uniform, made for combat situations. It should gof irst to anyone who ahs even a remote chance of having to defend themselves. Then after that it should go to the CF desk jockeys, the Chairborne commandos who still somehow get to it earlier than most of the rest of us. Cadets who want to play cam and concealment should NOT be anywhere on the priority list. They can wait and get it at the surplus places just liek they ahd to wait for any other cool stuff they‘ve drooled at whenever some reservist should walk the floor of the armoury during some cadet activity.
Now my final perspective, me as a reservist.
I got sworn in back in feb. I was at clothing stores that same day, thinking ‘Aw, cool, I get all this neat stuff!‘ Anyway, the novelty wore off the first time I had to stuff it all in a hut. The last residual bit of awe at my posession of a gas mask choked to death when I ahd to take it off in the gas hut. Kit is kit. It‘s functional.
Now, whether some fourteen year old cadet things it looks cool, and has rambo fantasies of him wearing Canadian ‘Mark 8-X ultimate kewlness Digi-Cam XL‘ on a cadet exercise is completely beside the point. The army issues (ideally) us kit that we need to use to do our job. No more, no less. Cadets don‘t need CADPAT to do what they do any better. ****, they parade in full dress uniform most of the time, except a few units that let cadets buy OD and wear it every other night or so.
Compared to reserves stuff, cadet field exercises are a joke. Since cadets are NOT permited to learn combat tactics, there‘s no need for them to use combat clothing that reduce visibility. Now I realize this conflicts with what I said about the OD green, and webbing, etc, but that is useful simply fo the field CONDITIONS- They need the pockets and the carrying capacity to keep exercise stuff with them, and ****, few thigns are as comfy in the field as combats. There‘s enough of each flooding surplus that nobody loses if they want to buy it.
I‘m sure I‘v eocvered just about every aspect of this- the POV of the cadets, thsoe actually authorized for cadpat, adn the poor dumb officers who have to sort the mess out. Now eventually, five to ten years from now when CADPAT is everywhere, it may be prevalent in the surplus palces, and it won‘t really be a novel thing in cadets anymore because suddenyl anyone can go to Surplus and buy some. But so long as it‘s still in short supply, and sworn troops are still waiting for it, cadets SHOULD NOT be wearing any of the real stuff. Every CADPAT iten on a cadet could be on a soldier. [/qb]
