Updated Army Service Dress project

[eliminator]

The RCAF changed the colours to pearl gray, and changed the 1-chevron Pte to Avr. Aside from that, no change.

It could have gone back to Pilot Officer, Flying Officer, etc but then those uncomfortable questions of “why am I a P/O if I’m not a Pilot?” and “why don’t Wing Commanders command Wings?” come up.

Another change for the RCAF ranks was the modification of the GO 'cuff rank' on the DEU jacket.

With the changeover to silver, it's worth to noting that the RCAF changed the colour of every flying badge and occupation 'half wing' badge, the colour of every button, the Canada sleeve titles for both officers and NCMs, and even the belt buckle for the pants.

In summary, the RCAF changed the colour of every single badge, rank, and button that touches the DEU jacket.

 

[dimsum]

Or the Greek Army

View attachment 80238

I mean, we have Highland regiments.

 

[FSTO]

I’d imagine more people who wonder why adults are wearing “those little sailor outfits for kids” before they went of Navy = Square Rig.

Seems to be an issue unique to Canada.

 

[FSTO]

If the RCN had wanted to go back in time for "ranks" we would have reintroduced the square knot/fouled anchor/double fouled anchor and cuff buttons for the NCM's.

Never say never. Stuff evolves.

 

[markppcli]

Seems to be an issue unique to Canada.

I don’t know about that. If you had to design a formal uniform for the Navy today would you arrive at square rig ? Probably not. It’s a traditional thing sure I guess, but I don’t know that’s what people associate with sailors.

 

[FSTO]

I don’t know about that. If you had to design a formal uniform for the Navy today would you arrive at square rig ? Probably not. It’s a traditional thing sure I guess, but I don’t know that’s what people associate with sailors.

I would bet my pension that if you showed a Canadian 2 pictures; one of a S3 today and another of an OS in 1966 both on parade, they’d say the 1966 photo was the sailor 9 times out of 10.

 

[markppcli]

I would bet my pension that if you showed a Canadian 2 pictures; one of a S3 today and another of an OS in 1966 both on parade, they’d say the 1966 photo was the sailor 9 times out of 10.

Well that would be a silly test wouldn’t it? With that kind of wording the audience would be fooled into thinking one wasn’t a sailor, and would therefore be tricked into having to decide which is less likely to be a sailor. In that context they would probably assume the guy in the square rig couldn’t possibly be wearing something like that without being forced to, and was thus in the Navy.

 

[FSTO]

Well that would be a silly test wouldn’t it? With that kind of wording the audience would be fooled into thinking one wasn’t a sailor, and would therefore be tricked into having to decide which is less likely to be a sailor. In that context they would probably assume the guy in the square rig couldn’t possibly be wearing something like that without being forced to, and was thus in the Navy.

you’re assuming Canadians are that insightful.

Anyway I’m glad the army is getting out of those gawd awful greens. And that the airforce got rid of the gold and replaced it with Pearl grey.

 

[AKa]

Unfortunately (for me anyway), the Air Force has retained the gold trim on the mess kits. To me, the gold has the double advantage of being both garish and expensive. I would have happily switched to silver/grey.

But I guess a lot of people don't want to put any more money into a seldom-worn expensive piece of kit.

 

[PuckChaser]

Looks fit, well groomed, and dressed in something sensible. Couldn’t possibly be Canadian.

I actually couldn't tell he was a sailor at first because there wasn't 15 patches and flags that say "French Navy".

 

[Blackadder1916]

I actually couldn't tell he was a sailor at first because there wasn't 15 patches and flags that say "French Navy".

Yeah, just two. What slackers.

 

[Furniture]

Yeah, just two. What slackers.

View attachment 80272
View attachment 80273

On a slightly more serious note, I always found the "NASCAR jacket" comments ridiculous WRT the NCD patches. A quick look at pretty much every other military out there clearly shows that we were just catching up to what everybody else is doing.

Just because we didn't have patches when the earth was cooling does not mean we should never have patches.

 

[dapaterson]

We have a uniform designed to have bling that tells your life story.

We have a uniform intended to be functional, protective and utilitarian to permit sailors, soldiers and aviators to do their jobs.

We have confused them, and added unnecessary bling to the functional uniform.

 

[dimsum]

Unfortunately (for me anyway), the Air Force has retained the gold trim on the mess kits. To me, the gold has the double advantage of being both garish and expensive. I would have happily switched to silver/grey.

But I guess a lot of people don't want to put any more money into a seldom-worn expensive piece of kit.

Also, because the RCAF mess kit always had gold trim. The service uniform had the silver/grey trim pre-Unification.

The current RCAF mess kit is very close to the pre-Unification one with the exception of the collar style.

 

[dimsum]

We have a uniform designed to have bling that tells your life story.

We have a uniform intended to be functional, protective and utilitarian to permit sailors, soldiers and aviators to do their jobs.

We have confused them, and added unnecessary bling to the functional uniform.

We looked at the Americans and said “hey, that’s a great idea”.

That being said, they still have far too much bling in all uniform types. We haven’t started putting multiple sets of wings, etc on the chest in CADPAT yet, or have ribbon racks that take up half the chest as a standard thing.

 

[Furniture]

We have a uniform designed to have bling that tells your life story.

We have a uniform intended to be functional, protective and utilitarian to permit sailors, soldiers and aviators to do their jobs.

We have confused them, and added unnecessary bling to the functional uniform.

We wear the functional uniform at almost all times, even when fire, and being seen by the enemy isn't a concern. It only makes sense that we carry some of the bling over to the uniforms that we wear on a regular basis.

I'm completely unconvinced that allowing people to wear a trade badge, wings, unit/division patch, etc., on the CADPAT impedes their ability to be protected by the uniform or do their job. Same goes for NCDs, if the Velcro patch on the shirt is what got you killed, you are the most unlucky person on the planet, and if it wasn't the patch the heat/smoke would have gotten you anyway.

 

[OldSolduer]

Patches imo should tell others what your blood type is as well.

 

[MJP]

Patches imo should tell others what your blood type is as well.

Pretty sure no medical professional is going to trust some patch. They have said many times over the years when this comes up that folks are generally wasting their money buying them patches. They were pretty adamant that they test for blood type every time it is required regardless of what someone is wearing, or tattooed with.

To head off the eventually "what if' cases that folks always like to use to justify their waste of money, they usually say something along lines of in the ultra rare case where they couldn't test you but somehow had refrigerated blood sitting around, they're just going to give you O- anyway.

 

[Oldgateboatdriver]

Patches imo should tell others what your blood type is as well.

Isn't that called a dog tag?

 

[Maxman1]

We wear the functional uniform at almost all times, even when fire, and being seen by the enemy isn't a concern. It only makes sense that we carry some of the bling over to the uniforms that we wear on a regular basis.

Maybe we should wear 3Bs more often.