Re: [Service] Ranks and Designations

On Thu, 16 Jan 2003, Adrian Johnson wrote:

> Hi folks,
> 
> >The point of all this is that the same job doesn't even go by the
same
> >name or number (identification) in all the services of the USA. 
> >Corpsman/Medic/Med Tech for example.  How does it work in the other
> >military force?  Is a German Air Force Medic called the same title as
a
> >German Army Medic?  As a German Navy Medic?	How about the UK?
Canada? 
> >Australia?  Anyone else?
> 
> Well, here's to throwing monkey wrenches into a nice "simple"
system...
> 
> In the CF, there are certain trades that are specific to one branch of
the
> service, but used in all three.  Firefighters, for example.  Anything
to do
> with aviation, is another.  The Canadian military went through (is
still
> going through) a gut-wrenching process way back in the late '60's and
early
> '70's of trying to rationalize itself and organize itself as a single
> service, without the infighting and redundancy that goes on in armed
forces
> that have distinct services (ie the US, Britain, etc).  In effect,
they got
> rid of the Canadian Army, the RCN (navy), and the RCAF (airforce), and
all
> became the "Canadian Forces".  Originally, the idea was supposed to be
> something akin to the US Marine Corps - where everyone is first a
Marine,
> but all are supposed to be trained to work together relatively
harmoniously
> - certainly more so than, for example, the airforce was trained to
work
> with the army.  One effect of this was the elimination of service
uniforms
> - so everyone wore the same bottle green.... 
> 
> It failed utterly in most cases, and led to many other countries
looking at
> us oddly.  We still don't actually have a *separate* army or navy or
> airforce - they're the Land Force Component, or something like that...

>
Army - "Mobile Command" or "Land Forces Command"
Navy - "Maritime Command"
Air Force - "Air Command"
 
> The airforce gained control of all things flying.  So, all pilots,
> technicians, and other flight-related personnel stationed on Navy
ships are
> *all* members of the airforce.  All figherfighters are from a single
> service branch (and I think it is army, but I'm not sure), so on a
ship you
> have naval members (running the ship) though you might have army
medics
> assigned, you will have airforce members operating the helicopters,
you'll
> have army figherfighters as part of the air detachment, etc...
> 
> I've seen news footage of army combat units deployed in the former
> Yugoslavia where the media-affairs person condicting an interview is a
navy
> officer wearing combat fagitues.  
> 
> I suppose it sort of makes sense... if you have one school training
all the
> "x" and those "x" people are used for all service branches, it reduces
> redundancy.
>

Not entirely true. Yes, the Air Force now does all the flying, from
helicopters on Navy ships to CF-18s.

General trades get fuzzier. The trades are the same across all service
branches.
Army, navy and Air Force medics for example all go the same training
courses and have the same designation. When you join up as a medic in
the
Reserves, i believe that thye are all Army units. Regular Force medics
can
be from any branch. The CF decides which branch you will belong to (and
hence what uniform you will wear) based on service needs.

Stuff like public affairs is done by all officer trades. The Paffo
section
at the CF headquarters in Edmonton was headed by an infantry major when
I
was working there. For a time, an officer from my (Reserve) Armoured
Squadron took a tasking there. This was probably because the Edmonton
garrison is almost entirely Army. I would assume that in Halifax, which
has a large naval presence, would have more naval officers working in
Public affairs. Overseas stuff can be done by any branch. The public
affairs officer with the PPCLI battalion that went to Afghanistan was
Navy, I believe.

I think it was done to reduce administration. After all, why have
three different pay systems that do the same thing? However, the
execution
left alot to be desired and gave morale a huge kick to to family jewels.

 
> Didn't in any way stop the inter-service rivalries or competitiveness,
> however...
> 
What fun would that be?

Sean Dzafovic