I'm calling boosheet
A friend of mine asked the MND why the CF only went halfway in a return from the unified service to distinctive elements. Unsurprisingly, he got a boilerplate reply:
As a former airman, I don't much care about which ranks we use for which service. Flight Lieutenant, Group Captain - these sound more like positions than ranks to my mind, like RSM or XO. And our air force isn't organized that way in many cases anymore, so the only purpose would be nostalgic. There's nothing wrong with tradition, and all things being equal, tradition should be the way you go in ceremonial matters like the naming of ranks. But after forty years, it's not a tradition anymore - not one that anyone currently serving would see as a return to familiarity, that is.
Having said that, the rationale spelled out in the MND's e-mail is crap. If the justification for not reverting to previous air force ranks is to "preserve the benefits of unification," then why the hell does the navy have a separate rank structure right now?
As far as the idea that such a change would only make sense if today's forces were a "mirror" or "identical" to the RCN or RCAF or army, that's ludicrous. Even if we had kept the services separate, today's services would barely resemble those from forty years ago. It's a flimsy excuse.
Sure, it would be cool to see the old RCAF roundel and cap-brass again - that was a proud time for Canadian airmen. But to make that a priority right now, when there are much more urgent problems to address? It doesn't make a pile of sense to expend any energy on such a minor organizational matter. So I don't have a problem with the way things sit now.
But if that's your real rationale, then stop with the BS and just say it straight.
The matter of re-introducing the RCN and RCAF titles has been reviewed on many occasions with the interest and morale of serving members of the Canadian Forces in mind. Although the Canadian Forces has returned to environmentally distinctive uniforms to foster a greater sense of identity among its members, the Government intends to preserve the benefits of unification by retaining the current organization.
The re-introduction of the titles of the former single services amalgamated to form the Canadian Forces would be inappropriate as it would not reflect the true character of the forces. For example, those who now wear the naval uniform only approximate the membership of the RCN. Today's navy includes many wearing air force blue and even army green, and a lot of sailors serve in land and air force units. Similarly, today's air force is not a mirror image of the former RCAF, nor is today's army identical to the former Canadian Army.
As a former airman, I don't much care about which ranks we use for which service. Flight Lieutenant, Group Captain - these sound more like positions than ranks to my mind, like RSM or XO. And our air force isn't organized that way in many cases anymore, so the only purpose would be nostalgic. There's nothing wrong with tradition, and all things being equal, tradition should be the way you go in ceremonial matters like the naming of ranks. But after forty years, it's not a tradition anymore - not one that anyone currently serving would see as a return to familiarity, that is.
Having said that, the rationale spelled out in the MND's e-mail is crap. If the justification for not reverting to previous air force ranks is to "preserve the benefits of unification," then why the hell does the navy have a separate rank structure right now?
As far as the idea that such a change would only make sense if today's forces were a "mirror" or "identical" to the RCN or RCAF or army, that's ludicrous. Even if we had kept the services separate, today's services would barely resemble those from forty years ago. It's a flimsy excuse.
Sure, it would be cool to see the old RCAF roundel and cap-brass again - that was a proud time for Canadian airmen. But to make that a priority right now, when there are much more urgent problems to address? It doesn't make a pile of sense to expend any energy on such a minor organizational matter. So I don't have a problem with the way things sit now.
But if that's your real rationale, then stop with the BS and just say it straight.
posted by Babbling Brooks at 9:27 a.m.
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