Should the CME be renamed Royal Canadian Engineers ?

[Veterans son]

Hello everyone

Do you tbink that the CME should be renamed the RCE?
As always, your opinions, comments and feedback are
appreciated!

 

[Canuck_25]

I do

 

[Infanteer]

Why?

 

[McG]

Sure, but we have more important issues that need attention before this.  Manpower, equipment, capabilities, etc

 

[SprCForr]

This issue would divert so little effort from the main areas. It is important to have our link with history and those who were before. It is nothing more than some paperwork to change some paper, new shoulder titles and slip-ons. Leaving the cap badge the way it is is fine with me. (Starsky and Hutch imitation..) Do it! Do it!

 

[Kat Stevens]

100% in agreement, Jeff, but as I said in another post, politically, it aint gonna happen.  The tendency in these multi-cultural times is distance ourselves from our British roots.  And, speaking as a Brit, this picks my hole to no end....

Quo Fas Et Gloria Ducunt

Kat

 

[Infanteer]

I think you guys could call yourselves the Northern Axe-Choppers and you'd do fine.  As McG said, "Manpower, equipment, capabilities, etc..."

 

[Lance Wiebe]

It does kinda frost me that the changes were done in the first place.  Not just to the Engineers, but to the Service Battalions as well.  It would be like renaming the PPCLI ot the CI, and the RCR and RCD to the CR and CD.

 

[Infanteer]

Again, would it really matter in the long run Lance.  We could name the PPCLI the "7th Regiment" and I'm sure they'd do fine.

 

[Veterans son]

Again, would it really matter in the long run Lance.   We could name the PPCLI the "7th Regiment" and I'm sure they'd do fine.

Good point, Infanteer.
From a regimental history point of view though, wouldn't the PPCLI(or any other regiment for that matter) generally disagree with
changing the name of their regiment ?
I am a civilian with no CF experience but I would think that in order to retain the link to a regiment's past, keeping the
name would be most helpful.

I believe that the 100th anniversary of the CME was last year.
In my opinion, that would have been a great opportunity to reinstate the
old and long-standing name of the Engineers, which is the Royal Canadian Engineers.

After all, many served in both World Wars and Korea under the RCE!

 

[Infanteer]

Well, it's almost universally understood that in professional fighting forces, small-group dynamics rule the day - a guy will fight for the 10-20 buddies around him before anything else; regiment, country, a cause, etc, etc.

Just because the name was changed doesn't mean that the Engineers are "different" or that they've lost touch with their lineage.  If you ask me, something like this means alot of energy spent for little real gain in the long run.

 

[SprCForr]

How much energy do you think would really need to be expended? It would draw from the main effort not one iota. There are more than enough willing Sappers (serving as well as retired and some pretty powerful ones at that) that would be more than willing to take on the challenge while ensuring their assigned tasks do not suffer. I'm sure the key players in the CMEA would accept the task in a heartbeat.

It is accurate to say there will be no gain. We are not saying give us more, we are just asking for what was.

I'll ask the guys here at WATC what they think about renaming the PPCLI to 1 Regiment...I think I'll need my helmet back...maybe a flak jacket too...a fire trench with OHP would be nice...could I get my rifle back too? ...please? lol

 

[onecat]

I would have say NO.   Canada is well past its British roots.   Why not something that is Canadian.   Like the Canadian Engineers.   There is no need for any more Royal this or Royal that in our Military.   I'm a ex- Brit, and it bugs me to no end that we can't over this Royal thing.   I'll be happy when we take the Queen off our money, but that's a different topic.

 

[SprCForr]

No, why? You don't like the Queen? Fine, one day we may become a republic, so what? But it is still our history and we trace it directly back. That something Canadian you were talking? How about Royal CanadianEngineers. Looks Canadian to me. Royal this royal that, like it or not it's still a huge part of who we are.

P.S. I vote for pretty girls on our money  ;D

 

[Infanteer]

I'll ask the guys here at WATC what they think about renaming the PPCLI to 1 Regiment...I think I'll need my helmet back...maybe a flak jacket too...a fire trench with OHP would be nice...could I get my rifle back too? ...please? lol

Sure, feelings will be hurt, but in the long run, would it really matter?  Take an amalgamated regiment like the British Highlanders.  Was it the end of the world when the different highland units were amalgamated into one regiment?

As well, I think this would be far from just a simple name-swap.  Like any change, it would require boards, money, time, energy, infighting, turf-battles - stuff we can't afford to mess around with when there are more pressing issues to deal with.

 

[onecat]

To putting Royal on something now, is taking away from the Canadianness of the unit.  We might have a Queen as our head of state, but Canada is not monarchy, and to have every unit have a Royal title the way it use too be is; is living in our colonial past.  Units that have the title now should keep it, but there is really no good reason to spend the time and money to switch back to something that is out of our colonial past.  Canada is a Multi-cultural nation now, and fewer and fewer Canadian identify with our British past.

 

[Lance Wiebe]

I wonder how much time, money and energy was wasted when the RCEME were renamed to LEME, then, with the dust from that barely settled, changed again to EME?

In the end, was it worth it?

 

[SprCForr]

I agree that there would end up being boards and infighting, etc. That is just the way it is, which is too bad. If there was the collective will within the CME branch to keep it simple and straight forward it would have been done by now.

Multicultural we may be but it seems to me that the people coming here want to be associated with something that was patterned after the British model. Otherwise wouldn't they end up in the states? Or stay where they are? What is the attraction, to say, Brits, to immigrate here? The immigrant experience for my family was too far in the past. My grandparents never knew the history either. Enlightenment is required.

This may require a different thread.

 

[Kat Stevens]

There are no more fiercely patriotic or nationally aware people as those of Australia and New Zealand.  Both are openly hostile to anything British, more so of anything Royal, and yet, they still proudly wear a hatbadge that says "Royal Australian Engineers" and "Royal New Zealand Engineers".  I think the restoration would signifying the undoing of an insult that was not earned.....just my thoughts.

PS Jeff, I'm an immigrant from England, and my parents came here BECAUSE of the link to the mother land, not in spite of it

Chimo, Kat

 

[ArmyRick]

Don't like our royal canadian roots?
1. OK, get rid of the EME cap badge because it is almost identical to the british REME badge.
2. Ditch the crown off all the cap badges
3. Find new colonels-in-chief for our corps and regiments (maybe Carolyn Parrish is interested)
4. Change Ontario and manitoba provincial flags because they openly display the union jack
5. When you left the house, did you tell your dad his last name sucked and change your name?

Also as the other guys said, dropping royal or changing the name detracts from the real issues plaging our army..