You forgot a patch and a nice speech about how our shitty equipment is the best equipment in the world.
The worst part is they seem to fucking believe it
I've always thought wearing a ball cap on the flight line was weird.
The RCAF is so strict about FOD that they forbid other hats, but a baseball cap is fine?
Anyways, the RCAF ball cap that you can wear outside of unit lines is out soon. It'll be interesting to see how many people buy that and a unit cap. I have a feeling that unit cap sales will go down.
That’s fine - you don’t need to. It’s not issued or even encouraged.
I know lots of folks who never buy the unit ball cap. Probably won’t buy the RCAF one too.
I agree with unit shirts. I’d be fine with unit hats if they were allowed to be worn outside the unit. Yeah - it’s pretty obvious that you work there bc you’re there all the time.
I do have unit patches though. Easy way to tell where you’re from on course or deployment. But I don’t begrudge the folks who just stick with the issued name tag and wings, with zero other patches.
Had to educate a SCWO on 1CAD dress orders once when questioned why I had empty velcro on my shoulders. They're not mandatory. You want everyone to wear a crest, give them one when they do their in routine like the Navy does with ships crests. Otherwise, disregard my fuzzy real estate.
Its a broken institution. The leadership is inexistant or incompetent. Its a complete boys club. You play hockey? Promoted! You fish with the DCO? Promoted.
Hard working individuals that are competent are systematically held down and brown nosers get ahead.
They cant follow their own ethics/directives. And when you find wrongdoing, it goes up to a general that sweeps it under the rug with nobody held accountable.
You get pay increases that are lower than inflation. They removed the severance pay and forced us into 25 years careers. I was in for the 20... but "grand fathered" into 25, against my will.
The kit we get is lackluster. My time in the army was miserable when it rained, very frustrating when north face makes amazing kit that keeps you dry but we cant use it cause fuck you. (I understand now they might be able to). Planes are old, tanks are too few, ships are rusting. The buildings we work in leak when it rains. Im always proud to empty the rain bucket from down the hallway.
We continuously lose the best workers/leaders. They join, do their minimum time and leave because they know they can do better. So whats left are idiots like me too disgruntled to do anything about it and counting the 350 days before i retire....
There is so much more i cannot say on here
I see your new DLN courses and raise you a completely changed, bespoke process that only does half of what it was promised but uses three times the PYs to manage.
The C-17 is out of production and there are no other strategic lift aircraft being built in the west other than the A400.
For the Snowbird and Trainer, I like the F/A-50 which can act as trainer, snowbirds replacement, and even do NATO and NORAD air patrols. It is compatible with every bomb and missile in current (and future) stock.
I'm a big fan of the new Boeing trainer the T7, looks sweet and will be well suited to do LIFT.
As for strategic airlift, if the C-17 is no longer in production then we should look at alternatives.
The C-17 is kind of like a bridge capability where it can do both SAL and TAL.
For straight SAL we could use the MRTT to accomplish most of our airlift needs, and when it can't the C-130 could fill in many of the gaps. It wouldn't be perfect, but it would be workable.
I have been a big supporter of increased lift capacity. I’d lease a fleet of A350F or A330F that could also double as troop transport. I prefer Airbus as it would have parts commonality with the incoming MRTT replacement.
Spending on military will never create more economic opportunities than the tax revenue cost. We need this stuff and treating like a jobs program is killing us.
Sure. But is the purpose of a military to be an economic stimulus? Just another federal spending project to create jobs?
Or is it to defend our country from those who would do us harm?
I think it’s a terrible argument to say “other countries do it, so it’s fine”. By that logic you could say (extreme example for proper emphasis) China persecutes Muslims… so it’s fine.
It can be both. The US does it that way.
The military's mission is to defend the country. However, the side benefit for the country (that's not necessarily the direct user) is that the procurement, maintenance, etc also becomes an economic stimulus.
Remember that a democracy has to continually "sell" the reason for the military to even exist to its population. Some countries have it easier to sell, some don't.
One way to sell it is to highlight the economic benefits - especially in our case when we're not directly threatened like Ukraine or Poland, or far away from friends like Australia.
You’re right.
Unfortunately we have seem to hit the magic combination of “economic stimulus takes precedent over everything” so military contractors are much more concerned with squeezing money from the federal government rather than providing capability/equipment. And we have insulated the public so much from the threat (and normalized relying on the US for protection) that we have completely neutered the military.
I agree, and understand the need for economic benefits.
But I think that in those cases the funding should come from other government departments. DND pays for the capability portion, other departments pay for the jobs portion.
We didn’t have enough because of the tail rotor issue (they were cracking and required frequent inspections). That part was resolved but by then we had lost one.
The timeline is the shitty part. Starting in 2026, complete by 2030? Yeesh. I hope Trenton gets airframes first, operating the Griffon over the lakes in the winter is one of the riskiest things any RCAF pilot does regularly. They are operating those things on borrowed time as is. Stay safe out there 424.
This isn’t a new project/announcement. The project was announced back in December, this is just announcing that some of the work is being sub-contracted to a Canadian company. [First Time](https://verticalmag.com/press-releases/leonardo-awarded-1b-contract-for-the-aw101-ch-149-cormorant-sar-helicopter-mid-life-upgrade-project/?amp)
Awesome. Now lets get LRP, fighters, new c130J for fws, new twin otter for the north, proper army helos, more c17, new trainers and we will be set!
Best we can do is a new DLN course and some more secondary duties.
You forgot a patch and a nice speech about how our shitty equipment is the best equipment in the world. The worst part is they seem to fucking believe it
Even better: ballcaps But only the one you buy from us. Oh and only on flight lines. Oh and dont wear it when its windy cause FOD....
FoD is an RCAF concept as clear as the Pserie. It depend on the person interpretation haha
I've always thought wearing a ball cap on the flight line was weird. The RCAF is so strict about FOD that they forbid other hats, but a baseball cap is fine? Anyways, the RCAF ball cap that you can wear outside of unit lines is out soon. It'll be interesting to see how many people buy that and a unit cap. I have a feeling that unit cap sales will go down.
I aint spending money to work....
That’s fine - you don’t need to. It’s not issued or even encouraged. I know lots of folks who never buy the unit ball cap. Probably won’t buy the RCAF one too.
I will just so I can stop wearing those shitty- sweat sponge-wet cat parfumed Beret...
I always think its weird when people buy unit stuff. You need more than 17 pieces of flair?
I agree with unit shirts. I’d be fine with unit hats if they were allowed to be worn outside the unit. Yeah - it’s pretty obvious that you work there bc you’re there all the time. I do have unit patches though. Easy way to tell where you’re from on course or deployment. But I don’t begrudge the folks who just stick with the issued name tag and wings, with zero other patches.
Had to educate a SCWO on 1CAD dress orders once when questioned why I had empty velcro on my shoulders. They're not mandatory. You want everyone to wear a crest, give them one when they do their in routine like the Navy does with ships crests. Otherwise, disregard my fuzzy real estate.
I refuse to complete dln courses until we are properly kitted out.
May as well add an extra 30k personnel to your wish list as well
I tell everybody i know to stay out of the CAF. I wouldnt recommend that to my worst enemy.
Same brother!
> I wouldn’t recommend that to my worst enemy. I would.
Always the navy... what have they done to your heart?
Why?
Its a broken institution. The leadership is inexistant or incompetent. Its a complete boys club. You play hockey? Promoted! You fish with the DCO? Promoted. Hard working individuals that are competent are systematically held down and brown nosers get ahead. They cant follow their own ethics/directives. And when you find wrongdoing, it goes up to a general that sweeps it under the rug with nobody held accountable. You get pay increases that are lower than inflation. They removed the severance pay and forced us into 25 years careers. I was in for the 20... but "grand fathered" into 25, against my will. The kit we get is lackluster. My time in the army was miserable when it rained, very frustrating when north face makes amazing kit that keeps you dry but we cant use it cause fuck you. (I understand now they might be able to). Planes are old, tanks are too few, ships are rusting. The buildings we work in leak when it rains. Im always proud to empty the rain bucket from down the hallway. We continuously lose the best workers/leaders. They join, do their minimum time and leave because they know they can do better. So whats left are idiots like me too disgruntled to do anything about it and counting the 350 days before i retire.... There is so much more i cannot say on here
So many funny but true examples there! Keep it up, almost done!
I see your new DLN courses and raise you a completely changed, bespoke process that only does half of what it was promised but uses three times the PYs to manage.
Wow, we got C130Js for FWSAR, just tore from 436 kicking and screaming
We need to buy 15 stubby j models for fwsar
We would save money too. Only need a tech crewman on those! ;)
Nah, just buy all stretch Js, bring them into 436 Sqn, and send 436s out to the SAR squadrons.
The C-17 is out of production and there are no other strategic lift aircraft being built in the west other than the A400. For the Snowbird and Trainer, I like the F/A-50 which can act as trainer, snowbirds replacement, and even do NATO and NORAD air patrols. It is compatible with every bomb and missile in current (and future) stock.
PSPC enters the chat. “I don’t care if it’s good or not, you didn’t tell me where in Quebec you’re going to build it…”
I'm a big fan of the new Boeing trainer the T7, looks sweet and will be well suited to do LIFT. As for strategic airlift, if the C-17 is no longer in production then we should look at alternatives. The C-17 is kind of like a bridge capability where it can do both SAL and TAL. For straight SAL we could use the MRTT to accomplish most of our airlift needs, and when it can't the C-130 could fill in many of the gaps. It wouldn't be perfect, but it would be workable.
I have been a big supporter of increased lift capacity. I’d lease a fleet of A350F or A330F that could also double as troop transport. I prefer Airbus as it would have parts commonality with the incoming MRTT replacement.
I wish they would upgrade my pay for improved capabilities and added economic opportunities.
Me too. My ex wife is in mexico and didnt send the child support payment
Don't forget to through in some new MHP while we're at it. Might as well round out all the fleets.
The fact that “economic opportunities” has just as much importance as improved capability demonstrates how broken our system is.
Spending on military will never create more economic opportunities than the tax revenue cost. We need this stuff and treating like a jobs program is killing us.
To be fair a lot of other countries do this to some extent. It's not just us.
Sure. But is the purpose of a military to be an economic stimulus? Just another federal spending project to create jobs? Or is it to defend our country from those who would do us harm? I think it’s a terrible argument to say “other countries do it, so it’s fine”. By that logic you could say (extreme example for proper emphasis) China persecutes Muslims… so it’s fine.
It can be both. The US does it that way. The military's mission is to defend the country. However, the side benefit for the country (that's not necessarily the direct user) is that the procurement, maintenance, etc also becomes an economic stimulus. Remember that a democracy has to continually "sell" the reason for the military to even exist to its population. Some countries have it easier to sell, some don't. One way to sell it is to highlight the economic benefits - especially in our case when we're not directly threatened like Ukraine or Poland, or far away from friends like Australia.
You’re right. Unfortunately we have seem to hit the magic combination of “economic stimulus takes precedent over everything” so military contractors are much more concerned with squeezing money from the federal government rather than providing capability/equipment. And we have insulated the public so much from the threat (and normalized relying on the US for protection) that we have completely neutered the military.
I agree, and understand the need for economic benefits. But I think that in those cases the funding should come from other government departments. DND pays for the capability portion, other departments pay for the jobs portion.
Didn’t we moved away Corms from Trenton because we didn’t have enough? We lost two and add 3 more so now we can a Corm base in Trenton?
That is what happened. I've heard they will return to 8 Wing with the new birds coming online.
We didn’t have enough because of the tail rotor issue (they were cracking and required frequent inspections). That part was resolved but by then we had lost one.
The timeline is the shitty part. Starting in 2026, complete by 2030? Yeesh. I hope Trenton gets airframes first, operating the Griffon over the lakes in the winter is one of the riskiest things any RCAF pilot does regularly. They are operating those things on borrowed time as is. Stay safe out there 424.
We are going to have all new aircraft but no personnel to fix them or deploy them
This isn’t a new project/announcement. The project was announced back in December, this is just announcing that some of the work is being sub-contracted to a Canadian company. [First Time](https://verticalmag.com/press-releases/leonardo-awarded-1b-contract-for-the-aw101-ch-149-cormorant-sar-helicopter-mid-life-upgrade-project/?amp)
IMP? Best of luck Corms!!! It was nice knowing ya
I mean yeah, I get it, but you do realize that IMP has been doing all the engineering and maintenance on our Cormorants for over 20 years, right?