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Canadian Forces Land Force Command (LFC) is responsible for army operations within the Canadian Armed Forces. LFC maintains bases across Canada and is responsible for the largest component of the Canadian Forces Reserves � the Army Reserve, often referred to as the "militia".
LFC is the descendant of the Canadian Army which was the name of Canada's land forces from 1940 until February 1, 1968. At the time of unification all army units were placed under Force Mobile Command (FMC) with the name being changed to Land Force Command in a 1990s reorganization of the Canadian Forces.
The Canadian Army evolved from the various British garrison forces on the North American continent in the 1800s. Upon Confederation of Canada in 1867, the ground forces in Canada were referred to as the Militia. Eventually, a Permanent Active Militia was designated, being the regular army of Canada (regular in the sense that they were full time professional soldiers) and the Non-Permanent Active Militia (or reserves, part time soldiers who had vocations in the civilian world who trained on evenings, weekends, and for short periods in the summer months).
In 1914, Canadian Expeditionary Force was created in response to the call for soldiers to fight in the First World War. The CEF was a separate entity from the Permanent Active Militia (by now also known as the Permanent Force, or PF) and the NPAM. Regiments and other units of the Militia were not mobilized, but rather transferred personnel to the CEF for overseas employment. The CEF was disbanded after the First World War.
In 1939, the Canadian Active Service Force was mobilized; similar to the CEF, this was a mobilization of prewar PF and NPAM units, who retained their traditional titles. In 1940, the land forces of Canada were retitled. The CASF became the Canadian Army (Overseas), the Permanent Force became the Canadian Army (Active) and the NPAM became the Canadian Army (Reserve). The Canadian Army (Overseas) ceased to exist after the Second World War.
Following unification of the armed forces in the late 1960s, the army was again retitled to become Force Mobile Command, with both a regular and a reserve component. The reserve component readopted the historic title Militia.
In the late 1980s, after reorganisation of the three services into distinct "elements", with the naval and air components returning to uniforms roughly comparable to the former RCN and RCAF, Force Mobile Command became Land Force Command, retaining a slightly-modified version of the unified "CF Green" uniform. Towards the end of the 20th Century, the term "Army" became once again unofficially used to refer to Canada's land forces, both Regular and Reserve.
Canadian army regiments are strongly rooted in the traditions and history of the British Army. Battle honours displayed by these regiments often date back to colonial times. Many regiments originated as Canadian detachments of British parent regiments and as Canadian colonial militia, resulting in a variety of colourful and historically familiar names.
Units of the regular force are divided so that two-thirds are anglophone units and one-third are francophone.
Between 1953 and 1971, the regular Canadian infantry consisted of seven regiments, each of two battalions (except the Royal 22e R�giment, which had three, and the Canadian Airborne Regiment, which was divided into three "commandos"). The three present regular infantry regiments were augmented by two battalions each of the Canadian Guards, the Queen's Own Rifles of Canada and the Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada. After 1971, the QOR and the Black Watch were returned to the militia (with their personnel distributed between the RCR and PPCLI), while the Canadian Guards was disbanded. In the 1990s, the Canadian Airborne Regiment was also disbanded.
See Article Structure of the Canadian Army.
Comparison of ranking structure available at Ranks and insignia of NATO. Not shown are the various appointment badges for specialist positions such as master gunner, drum major, etc. Many ranks are associated with specific appointments; for example a regimental sergeant major is usually a chief warrant officer. The title of master corporal also, technically, refers to an appointment and not a rank.
NATO Code | OF-10 | OF-9 | OF-8 | OF-7 | OF-6 | OF-5 | OF-4 | OF-3 | OF-2 | OF-1 | OF-D- | Student Officer | |
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Canada | No Equivalent | No Equivalent | coming soon | ||||||||||
General | Lieutenant General | Major General | Brigadier General | Colonel | Lieutenant Colonel | Major | Captain | Lieutenant | Second Lieutenant | Officer Cadet | |||
G�n�ral | Lieutenant-g�n�ral | Major-g�n�ral | Brigadier-g�n�ral | Colonel | Lieutenant-colonel | Major | Capitaine | Lieutenant | Sous-lieutenant | Eleve-Officier | |||
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NATO Code | OR-9 | OR-8 | OR-7 | OR-6 | OR-5 | OR-4 | OR-3 | OR-2 | OR-1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Canada | No insignia | No insignia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Command Chief Warrant Officer Adjudant-chef du commandement |
Base Chief Warrant Officer Adjudant-chef base |
Chief Warrant Officer Adjudant-chef |
Master Warrant Officer Adjudant-ma�tre |
Warrant Officer Adjudant |
Sergeant Sergent |
Master Corporal Caporal-chef |
Corporal Caporal |
Trained Private Soldat |
Private Basic | Private (Recruit) Soldat (recrue) |
The Canadian Army has participated in the following campaigns as a combatant:
Published on: 2006-02-21 (25170 reads)
submitted by: Canadaka