Page 107 - RSDG Year of 2021 CREST

more, our cherished effects verbs and enabling actions are here merged into ‘Mission Task Verbs’ which has muddled my cognition on more than one occasion. Is there a benefit to the Canadian preference for ‘quick and dirty’? Perhaps. This humble callsign prefers it deep and wordy.
Some time spent in the field this autumn provided an excellent opportunity to get eyes onto Canadian sol- diering ability and where our two modes might differ. As truly armoured soldiers, the RCD are excellent at mounted manoeuvre, with genuine passion found at all levels for their suite of vehicles and their upkeep. They are also, as one might imagine, great in the cold. In fact, a by-now traditional field pastime for my new fellows is to ask the Exchange Officer if he is yet cold – following this up immediately, regardless of response, with a barely suppressed snort of laughter and a ‘just wait’. But all things held, our Canadian friends are an effective bunch, if somewhat quicker to get the burg- ers - and camp-chairs - out than we perhaps might be used to back home; with the exception, perhaps, of our own Lt Lambert.
Another thing that got the cold sweat a’trickling dur- ing my first week in Canada was the following realisa- tion: Where are all the ally blokes? The answer? RCD has the unfortunate privilege of sharing its base with the Canadian Special Operations Regiment (CSOR), a Tier 2 Special Forces unit that operates similarly to the UK’s Special Forces Support Group. Bearded to a man, its operators cut about camp and spark notions among the young and gifted Canadian regulars; which in turn effects a long, slow pull of unit-grown leadership abil- ity away from regimental strength and toward CSOR – resulting in the aforementioned deficit of ally.
What is interesting from a SCOTS DG perspective is that the RCD are currently experiencing the birth pains of its transition from medium reconnaissance (on the
Coyote and LAV VI platforms; both turreted, wheeled AFVs) to the newer ‘Cavalry’ concept – a dynamic not unlike our regiment’s own evolution from heavy armour to Light Cavalry (2015 – current). The problem, however, is that the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps (RCAC), which directed this change, didn’t then follow it up with any clear concept as to how Canadian cavalry should look. In broad strokes, the concept will seek to effect the mobile DISRUPT in the space between the traditional roles of mounted reconnaissance and heavy armour; the so-called ‘cavalry gap’. I know this because I spent much of my fall – that’s autumn here - locked in a Lactation Room (yes, one of those) with a fellow Canadian Officer, bashing our heads against the concept in order to shape our part of the regimental submission to the RCAC’s doctrine wonks, based in Gagetown, New Brunswick. As expected, the process raised more questions than answers, but it felt good to add some international perspective to an issue that continues to vex the RCD and RCAC more broadly.
Of course, cultural immersion is the secondary goal of any exchange posting, and the Canadians – this time in line with the stereotype - have been extraor- dinarily accommodating. Wild camping in Algonquin Provincial Park fills most weekends here during the summer months, but the winter sees an altogether dif- ferent side emerge among my mild-mannered hosts. What I refer to is, of course, ice hockey. Hockey is God here. The tumultuous blur of speed, frothing-at- the-mouth aggression and precision-kill movement is truly electrifying to watch, and has this Exchange Officer eyeing-up his next addiction, even if they cur- rently only let me operate the bench-door (intrinsic to the whole endeavour, I’m repeatedly told). I’ve watched troopers, meek as field-mice off the ice, explode through a phalanx of rabid SNCOs - a mess of cold-sharpened skate-blades and sticks wielded like pole-axes – and gracefully slip the puck to the net. The ice here is truly the greatest leveller.
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