Just yesterday we published this item reconsidering our item of earlier this week criticizing the Army's new re-adoption of the officers uniform for World War Two, to be issued to all ranks:
Lex Anteinternet: But wait, Captain Crabby, maybe you've missed the ...: Signal Corps lieutenant, World War Two. On Monday, I ran this item criticizing, I guess, the Army's adoption of a new Army Green U...Something I didn't note is that the U.S. Army isn't the only Army that's taken this path recently. . . the Canadian military has, on a very limited basis, as well.
Canadian soldiers of the Canadian Special Operations Forces marching past sailors and airmen of the Canadian Navy and the Royal Canadian Air Force. This Canadian Army photo is about the only one available to illustrate the new service uniform of the unit which is distinctly different from the Canadian Army's in cut and color. It's odd to realize the extent to which an American uniform is adopted here by a military that really doesn't like to be confused with American services as everything about the uniform except for the beret and the insignia recalls an American World War Two item. It's also interesting to note the extent to which World War Two uniform items have been either retained or brought back into use by various armies. . . indeed nearly every army that fought in World War Two.
Yes indeed.
This uniform was adopted solely by the Canadian Special Operations Forces and if it appears to strongly recall The American officers uniform of the World War Two era, it is supposed to. Indeed, other than the khaki beret, it looks a lot like the Army Service Uniform for the American airborne.
The reason for this is that Canadian armed forces are making an effort to provide for a distinctive uniform for the Canadian Special Operations Forces command, which otherwise would have worn the dress uniform of the Canadian Army. Having a special dress uniform for a single unit would be a really odd thing in the American Army but not in the Canadian Army in general which is, after all, an heir to the British tradition, and the troops of the Special Operations Forces aren't actually in the Canadian Army, as odd as that may seem.
In the British Army individual unit uniforms are extremely common and at one time were in fact the rule. I'm not an expert by any means on British uniforms but I can relate that they followed a somewhat similar path to that of American uniforms in that the British Service Uniform was at one time its field uniform except that the British wisely never phased it out as a dress uniform and it simply kept on in use in a somewhat modified form as the No. 2 Dress uniform. It's a sharp looking uniform and its sort of what the U.S. Army is basically trying to get back to. Be that as it may, where the U.S. Army and the British Army really depart is that the U.S. Army has never liked distinctive uniforms for individual units for their dress uniform and the British have always done that.
The Canadian Army was naturally heavily influenced in every fashion by the British Army and that has reflected in its uniform heritage. It adopted British Service Dress early in the 20th Century when the British did but it's also traditionally had a lot of individual unit dress uniforms. When the Canadian military was technically unified (which even some Canadians either don't realize or refuse to actually acknowledge) the Canadian Army somewhat followed the path of the American Army, however, and adopted a new Service Uniform of very dark green. At that time the Canadians were attempting to really break away from their British heritage for some reason in all things. That made it plain that Canadians weren't British, but it also meant that the new uniform wasn't as good looking as the old one had been. Indeed, at first glance its really difficult to tell the Canadian Service Uniform from an older shade of the Army Green Uniform, which gives rise to a common complaint in the Canadian Army that they look like the American Army, at any one point, of about twenty years prior.
The Canadian Special Operations Branch is technically a separate branch of the armed forces in the Canadian system which reflects the unified nature of the Canadian Armed Forces. This is truly odd compared to other militiaries but it is not wholly illogical. It prevents Canada from having what the United States, and to a lesser extent the United Kingdom, have in the existence of a multiplicity of special forces. Canada only has one such unit but its technically not in the Army, Navy or Air Force and those in it have transferred into it from any branch of the Canadian military. Given that, the thought was that it could have its own uniform that expressed its own heritage.
What that heritage is, of course, was a bit problematic. During World War Two Canada fielded its own airborne troops at the battalion level but it didn't field its own Special Air Service or Special Boat Service. At that time, if a Canadian wanted to serve in that capacity he could transfer to the British units. A special unit was created during the war which included Canadians and Americans jointly, that being the First Special Service Force, however, and that unit was equipped and uniformed by the American Army. Contrary to what is generally supposed, while that unit saw action in Italy, it was disbanded during the war with its members mostly going to the airborne units of their respective nations, showing the level to which airborne units were regarded as elite at the time.
At any rate, while Canada has occasionally had special forces units since World War Two, its chosen the 1st SSF as its origin point. When the Special Operations Branch was formed in 2006 it wore Canadian Army dress uniforms at first but recently, as it is its own branch, it's won the right to have its own distinctive dress uniform. As it wishes to recall the 1st SSF in its heritage, it adopted a variant of the dress uniform worn by the officers of that unit, including Corcoran jump boots, as its dress uniform, although the insignia are distinctly Canadian. The headgear adopted is the tan beret which was also adopted by the Rangers of the U.S. Army but Canadians, in a practice that otherwise unintentionally recalls the practice adopted by post war European mercenaries, wear the badges of their former units that they transferred in from.
So what's this say, if anything, about the Pink & Green uniform?
Well, people like the way it looks. And it also seems that for a lot of nations, ours included, World War Two, while it may have been a giant bloodbath, is looked back upon somewhat fondly.
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