To be or not to be Royal...that is the question.

[FSTO]

I've been reading this thread with a little interest.

For the past few years when a course at Sea Div graduated we would form the class up in the Drill Shed, their name would be called and they would come fwd to recieve their certificate. Pretty lame. There was a fear here that soon they would be given the certificate in class.

Soooo, with the initiative coming from the PO1 rank and above (all of them who joined well after the unification wars) the graduating class (one has already gone through this) did a full parade with rifles, cutlass (Top Student as parade Cdr), gaiters, etc. Very sharp and looking like a Navy should. Also the Drill Shed P1 got the Naval saluting guns back from the cadets, refurbished them, has the QL5 trained to shoot them and we'll be firing them during Battle of Atlantic and when required at the Base. After some arm twisting and bitching from a few folks, parade appointments will carry swords during Divisions. We also have the gun carriage refitted to allow us perform the funeral cortage when required.
All these initiatives are bringing some pride back in the ratings, and at Sea Div at least we have one of the lowest rates of charges and disciplinary problems at the school.
So as you can see, traditions are making a comeback albeit rather slowly.

As for lack of jointness prior to unification. When we had the Sea Fury's and Banshees of the RCN Fleet Air Arm, every year the squadrons would go to Rivers Manitoba and carry out close air support training with the Army at Shilo (mainly because the RCAF was to busy with its head stuck in the clouds to worry about the ground pounders (FSTO personnal opinion)).

 

[Gino]

I would not be still in if the service never meany anything to me Gino so spare us the holier then thou atitiude.

I'm thinking we should give this a rest before one of us posts something they will regret.

 

[Ex-Dragoon]

FSTO any word when they will start bring those traditions back out here?

 

[Cloud Cover]

I wonder if they'll bring back the Stadacona train. [double time, all the time].

 

[FSTO]

FSTO any word when they will start bring those traditions back out here?

I do not know. All that it took out here was for the Sea Div Cdr and Sea Div CPO to support the initiative.
What started the change was a Bosn grad parade that went bad and the Fleet Buffers got together with the Sea Div CPO and they said that a screw up like that should never happen again.

 

[Ex-Dragoon]

Hopefully I will get out there sometime again to witness that.

 

[Neill McKay]

Pride is always worth something, that was never my point, my point is we could be proud of our Navy whether or not there was a Royal attached to the title or not.

Fair enough, but the Royal is one of the bricks in the wall.  Lose too many bricks and it's all over.  We've lost a bunch since the '60s.

 

[Ex-Dragoon]

Fair enough, but the Royal is one of the bricks in the wall.  Lose too many bricks and it's all over.  We've lost a bunch since the '60s.

Which means its up to us to start our own traditions or modify what we have to get people interetsed. FSTO showed a prime example.

 

[Neill McKay]

Which means its up to us to start our own traditions or modify what we have to get people interetsed. FSTO showed a prime example.

It takes many decades for bricks to cure.

 

[Ex-Dragoon]

It takes many decades for bricks to cure.

Have to start some place and I think it would be worth it.

 

[Neill McKay]

Have to start some place and I think it would be worth it.

But we already started hundreds of years ago, and have a lot of good bricks already.  We should use those instead of breaking them at every chance and then trying to make new ones.

 

[Navy_Blue]

I mentioned this in Ex's post.  There is a deffinate appeal to the "Royal Canadian Navy."  The name "Canadian Navy" lacks something.  In WWII when our navy helped make history it was "Royal."  I think as our centennial approaches in 2010 it should be something that could be looked into to mark 100 yrs.  The word Royal doesn't just connect us to a Queen or King it connects us to a naval tradition which started all our naval traditions.  This is not the most pressing issue in this outfit tho.  There will be a bugget set aside to celebrate in 2010 to mark the occasion what better time to try for a name change.

 

[Ex-Dragoon]

Good point N_B but I think most people should be proud with or without the Royal attached.

Just a point to ponder though, after Unification when the RCN ceased to be our ships are still considered HMC Ships despite the fact we are no longer the RCN....

 

[RangerRay]

I would like to see the following:

Royal Canadian Navy
Royal Canadian Air Force
Canadian Army

All that would be required is changing the command names.  I'm not talking about going back to pre-unification days.

And bring back the old rank names for the same services while maintaining the current integrated structure.
(Elliot's Curls for the RCN, Airmen and Air Marshals for the RCAF, pips and Crowns for the Army)

Retain the current level of integration.

I would like to see a khaki DEU for the Army rather than the current Green Hornet one.  It doesn't look very different from our American cousins.

 

[axeman]

its not green hornet  its PISTOL green but ive never seen a green pistol unless you count that poser downtown,,,
kloshe nanitch ranger

 

[Kat Stevens]

RIFLE green, from the green jackets of the Rifle Regiments.  As for cost, think of all the money being spent to convert to those nifty five digit MOC codes....Talk about money wasted.

 

[Neill McKay]

Good point N_B but I think most people should be proud with or without the Royal attached.

Just a point to ponder though, after Unification when the RCN ceased to be our ships are still considered HMC Ships despite the fact we are no longer the RCN....

It was a change in name, that's all.  Canada didn't cease to be a constitutional monarchy because of an organizational change in the armed forces.

 

[RangerRay]

its not green hornet  its PISTOL green but ive never seen a green pistol unless you count that poser downtown,,,
kloshe nanitch ranger

  ;D

I prefer to call it Green Hornet...

RIFLE green, from the green jackets of the Rifle Regiments.

Well, my suggestion is that RIFLE regiments keep the RIFLE green for ceremonial tunics, as opposed to scarlet. 

 

[rifleman]

Rifle regiments already wear green for ceremonial purposes

 

[Sailing Instructor]

The only pure nominal change that could occur (if I am correct in my knowledge of the status of the CF) now is the Queen granting the prefix 'royal' to the CF.  I understand the legal status of MARCOM, &c. as not separate organisations, whereas the CF is separate enough (from, say, DND) to be granted this prefix.  To deduce, from the common use of 'Canadian Navy,' that there is such a corporation legally, is to commit a linguistic error.  Therefore, all those who wish for the titles of RCN & RCAF to be granted are asking for far more than for some clerk to scribble in 'Royal' somewhere.

Traditions brought in for purely tradition's sake will, I think, never stick.  Changing the navy's legal status from MARCOM (& that's not all of what most people would call 'the navy' either, some personnel fall under other COMs) to RCN would go over as well as someone inventing their own catchphrase.