February 27, 2003

I'D SAY I'M FADING INTO

I'D SAY I'M FADING INTO THE SCENERY BETTER NOW, BUT, OF COURSE, THERE'S THREE FEET OF SNOW OUTSIDE

Having become unofficially the last Canadian army member to be issued the new combat uniforms, the supply chain finally closed the gap in my case on Tuesday. First impressions: huge improvement over what they replace... better quality fabric, better cut, and camouflaged of course, while still keeping all the features I would have missed. Only major problem I've heard reported so far (other than the ongoing supply limitations, no doubt due in part to stronger restrictions this time on any civilian production or purchase of Canadian disruptive pattern fabric) is that there's been zero recognition thus far for the "new army look" among the Canadian public. As a result, soldiers have actually been ordered to wear red-and-white Canadian flag shoulder flashes in garrison so people know what army they belong to. :-) I also personally find the new camo rank badges hard to make out, sometimes... I'd have thought it would have made more sense to keep the old rank slip-ons we had for office use, and only switch to the camo ones in the field. The old rank badges are just going in the trash anyway, so why not... oh, well, if the generals don't mind the missed salutes in the halls, who am I to complain?

Little known factoid: Never denied but widely believed is that the CADPAT camo pattern (used in different colours by the Marine Corps as Marpat) is actually made up of a whole bunch of superimposed maple leafs.

Posted by BruceR at 12:12 AM

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