Canadian Armys "Interm Pistol Program"

[OkayShooter]

The sentiment is 100% on.

Using a pic of two specific and identifiable females vs a pic of faceless grunts isn't. A pic of the Timmies line up would have done just as well.

I remember requesting a bunch of lumber to reinforce defensive positions and reinforce roofs... I got denied because it wasn't available. When I got back to KAF five months into my tour I got to gaze out at the magnificent new ball hockey arena made with beautiful, gorgeous, strong new timbers. Trump himself couldn't have built walls that nice.

I also remember having an HLs worth of desks dropped off courtesy of NTM-A, despite not having requested them nor having the physical room for them. They sat outside until the winter rains where they rotted in place.

You know there was almost fights in Tim Hortons? When we were not running roads. We were on gate guard.. YaY pat down people in man jams, and come out with black sleeves. We used to do platoon run of coffee.. Just us holding a box, with a list and money. It just got to the point were we would show up and leave.. Because some of the hostilities from these people that never left the base was un real.

Heck I had A MP, grab me and throw me back in a RHD truck, and un clipped her firearm. Because apparently doing like 25kph. Being taken to were my RG was. I hatted the insanity of the base. Gagetown mentality.

 

[DT741]

Thats why we went to Green Beans whenever we did runs in KAF: to avoid the fews idiots that ruined life for everyone.

They wanted us to change our hybrid shirts to regular shirts as soon as we stepped out of those LAVs/RGs even if it was an hour touch&go.

We were happy to see people, and most people were happy to see us but there was some that just had foam at their mouth thinking about us showing up and how they would jack us up for dumb ####.


I remember one time at Canada House (a picture is worth a thousand words)
I just got there and said "I'll take all the Skoal you have please". Yoi should have heard the comments in the line. Most were answered the same way they were spoken.


For reference, I'm 5'9. And in all honesty, we loved that "hide your children and wives, lock up your doors" feeling that came with us landing in KAF or any big FOB and just emptying racks of RedBull or Skoal at the PX.

 

[GuiltySpark]

You know there was almost fights in Tim Hortons? When we were not running roads. We were on gate guard.. YaY pat down people in man jams, and come out with black sleeves. We used to do platoon run of coffee.. Just us holding a box, with a list and money. It just got to the point were we would show up and leave.. Because some of the hostilities from these people that never left the base was un real.

Heck I had A MP, grab me and throw me back in a RHD truck, and un clipped her firearm. Because apparently doing like 25kph. Being taken to were my RG was. I hatted the insanity of the base. Gagetown mentality.

What tour were you force protection with?

 

[Cameron SS]

Naturally Canada had to get the RG with the smallest engine. It had no get up and go. Super top heavy. Then with the many mods, it effected the electrical. I had one that as soon as you went blackout mode, it would cause issues with the transmission and you'll lose 2 gears. And only way to solve that was shut down, and restart... But that also effected the weapon system.

So there I was tearing the contaminated (with diesel) water bin off the side of the RAV (We called it the Reserve Armoured Vehicle because it was mostly the units heavy with reservists that had them in 08), and this 2 leafer comes out of no where and asks what we think of HIS RG. My chariot for the last 3 months and he calls it his just csuse he had a hand in buying them.

Me: how I like MY RG?
General: yeah. Happy with it?
Me: looks around for the rsm. Nothing seen. Just the Gen and some Major nobody. Sir, do you evel know what this thing is called?
Gen. RG 31.
Me. Yeah do you know what that stands for?
Gen. Ahhh no actually.
Me. REALLY GUTLESS.
Gen. Right. So whats the 31 for wiseguy?
Me. Thats how Gutless it is on a scale of 1 to 10.
Major walks away choking down a laugh.
General. Good one. As you were.

My speedo/odometer died and I made the mistake of asking the FOB maintainers to fix it. They spent three months trying to chase ghosts in the wires trying to figure out where the short was. Ended up replacing every subcomponent from the Tcase to the dash and rewiring it from scratch twice. Nothing. I told them to give up 10 minutes in but it was one of those riddles they couldnt give up on.

There were more than 20 mods to the RG fleet that effected electrical and they were all done adhoc and differently depending on who did it. Depot, KAF, FOB who knows everyone had their own way of doing the mod and not a single vehicle actually got them all. By the time they retired them each one was basically unique in its electrical layout.

 

[Cameron SS]

You know there was almost fights in Tim Hortons? When we were not running roads. We were on gate guard.. YaY pat down people in man jams, and come out with black sleeves. We used to do platoon run of coffee.. Just us holding a box, with a list and money. It just got to the point were we would show up and leave.. Because some of the hostilities from these people that never left the base was un real.

Heck I had A MP, grab me and throw me back in a RHD truck, and un clipped her firearm. Because apparently doing like 25kph. Being taken to were my RG was. I hatted the insanity of the base. Gagetown mentality.

Boardwalk was always a heat score. We called KAF 'emerald city' for more than a few reasons. Too many sgt majors with no troops who would get squirrelly every now and then and need to grab a pace stick and go on a tear jacking people up all over for BS. Didnt mind heading in but hated staying longer than a day or so.

Way too many people in that place wouldnt even be able to find the front gate if their life depended on it. And Many more who didnt k ow it was another 3k to the actual front gate.

 

[OkayShooter]

What tour were you force protection with?

1-07 but I arrived there in Dec. I remember being in Jeff shop in Petawawa visiting Pops, before I deployed.. And one guy took a 762 to the arm at Op Medusa. Came back to Canada, to get fixed up. I was shocked to see him back in theater When I arrived..

Boardwalk was always a heat score. We called KAF 'emerald city' for more than a few reasons. Too many sgt majors with no troops who would get squirrelly every now and then and need to grab a pace stick and go on a tear jacking people up all over for BS. Didnt mind heading in but hated staying longer than a day or so.

Way too many people in that place wouldnt even be able to find the front gate if their life depended on it. And Many more who didnt k ow it was another 3k to the actual front gate.

Yeah why I hatted it. I enjoyed the roads and the scenery.

So there I was tearing the contaminated (with diesel) water bin off the side of the RAV (We called it the Reserve Armoured Vehicle because it was mostly the units heavy with reservists that had them in 08), and this 2 leafer comes out of no where and asks what we think of HIS RG. My chariot for the last 3 months and he calls it his just csuse he had a hand in buying them.

Me: how I like MY RG?
General: yeah. Happy with it?
Me: looks around for the rsm. Nothing seen. Just the Gen and some Major nobody. Sir, do you evel know what this thing is called?
Gen. RG 31.
Me. Yeah do you know what that stands for?
Gen. Ahhh no actually.
Me. REALLY GUTLESS.
Gen. Right. So whats the 31 for wiseguy?
Me. Thats how Gutless it is on a scale of 1 to 10.
Major walks away choking down a laugh.
General. Good one. As you were.

My speedo/odometer died and I made the mistake of asking the FOB maintainers to fix it. They spent three months trying to chase ghosts in the wires trying to figure out where the short was. Ended up replacing every subcomponent from the Tcase to the dash and rewiring it from scratch twice. Nothing. I told them to give up 10 minutes in but it was one of those riddles they couldnt give up on.

There were more than 20 mods to the RG fleet that effected electrical and they were all done adhoc and differently depending on who did it. Depot, KAF, FOB who knows everyone had their own way of doing the mod and not a single vehicle actually got them all. By the time they retired them each one was basically unique in its electrical layout.

They are really gutless when only got 2 speeds. We would come out of PBW, and that's when the issues would start.

Yeah we had no spares. So I did everything I could to sweet talk the mechanics to get mine fixed first. Something my father told me. Be nice to the mechanics, And they will be nice to you.

 

[flashman2]

Well right away how do you want to say safest. No one has the stats for a true comparison for # of casualties/ km driven. Leopards were probably fairly safe. AHSVS also pretty safe.

Bisons were coffins on wheels. In 2006 Gwagons would have been a bad go but in 2009 they would have been the safest vehicles around cause they werent allowed outside of KAF. So what do you call safe?

Safest as in after a hit. Of course, if you don't get hit, it's gonna be... pretty safe. Asking how many casualties/km doesn't really answer the right question. You could be in a vehicle that for some reason was used heavily yet rarely got blown up but was a death trap when it did; that vehicle would be very unsafe.

Neither does counting vehicles that never get exposed to threat. What matters is how the vehicle protects it's crew.

But you pretty much got it; bison was by far the worst and HL/AHSVS the safest. With the trucks a lot of it was hitting where the cargo was and the crew weren't.

 

[flashman2]

Bob Girourd was the best RSM a soldier could ever ask for. Full stop. His personal views were that he couldnt give a flying F what kit soldiers wore. His attitude was that if writing your blood type on every piece of kit you own makes you more likely to take the trench when I tell you to take that trench, then fill yer boots. Omer never bothered with blood types so it got a pass. But he had a hard on for kit and Girourd knew it would make him unpopular but At the same time he supported his CO. I could say lots about Omer Lavoie that isnt flattering so let me just say I am not his biggest fan.

The blood type thing I never got... you don't get typed products in the field, and NO ONE at a Role 3 is going to administer blood product based on what's written on your boot when it's life threatening to get it wrong, and you can be typed in a few minutes. They won't even go off your dog tags. Anyway...

Omer can be polarizing for sure, but no one would accuse him of being unprofessional, or lacking dedication or self respect. Him standing up to Fraser was the strongest display of character I've seen in an officer... he knew the order to go was wrong, he knew it was unnecessary, and I was absolutely convinced he was going to be fired over it. I'm still sort of surprised he wasn't - I suspect that it was put to him plainly that he would be if he didn't execute, and the impact that would have from the national level on down. But when it came down to it, he was about to sacrifice his career to prevent a call he felt would endanger his soldiers unnecessarily. That's not for nothing, you know? Unfortunately I'm not sure many or most senior officers would do the same thing.

And let me clear. I didnt say you were unprofessional for wearing a tac vest. Good troops also follow orders. I Just shake my head at anyone who thinks its good enough or doesnt purchase something better when authorized to do so.

I agree. But that's a long way from "IN my opinion anyone who doesn't completely reject the tac vest as a dangerous piece of anti-kit lacks the self respect and dedication to excellence to call themselves a professional soldier." I was reading the "completely" as precluding use of any type... I'm not sure how you can completely reject it but still use it - that seems like a partial rejection to me. But I get what you're saying now.

And as for quality of the TV after teaching on 4 recruit courses I would suggest that not even 50 of the brand new vests survive that course with zippers and main buckles intact. Maybe the first ones were made of unobtanium but the ones rolling off the line now wouldnt pass Walmart QA checks.

Weird. I haven't seen the current made ones. I got mine right when they first came out - what was that? 03? 04? 05? But I really don't ever recall ever seeing any broken components, including all through PDT for 3-06, and a few summers worth of instructing in Gagetown.

 

[flashman2]

Me: how I like MY RG?
General: yeah. Happy with it?
Me: looks around for the rsm. Nothing seen. Just the Gen and some Major nobody. Sir, do you evel know what this thing is called?
Gen. RG 31.
Me. Yeah do you know what that stands for?
Gen. Ahhh no actually.
Me. REALLY GUTLESS.
Gen. Right. So whats the 31 for wiseguy?
Me. Thats how Gutless it is on a scale of 1 to 10.
Major walks away choking down a laugh.
General. Good one. As you were.

Ha!

Sounds about right though. *MY* RG. Jesus. Sometimes I think there's a mandatory anti social personality course you have to take to get your first leaf.

Anyone else have that guy at Mirage get on before you deplaned and yell "welcome to the war, gentlemen!" ?
Let alone a negative response, there simply wasn't any response to it. It was the proverbial wet fart. Sometimes o imagine him practicing it in the mirror until he got it juuuuuuussssst right. Still cracks me up all this time later. What a ####in' tool.

 

[Cameron SS]

1-07 but I arrived there in Dec. I remember being in Jeff shop in Petawawa visiting Pops, before I deployed.. And one guy took a 762 to the arm at Op Medusa. Came back to Canada, to get fixed up. I was shocked to see him back in theater When I arrived..



Yeah why I hatted it. I enjoyed the roads and the scenery.



They are really gutless when only got 2 speeds. We would come out of PBW, and that's when the issues would start.

Yeah we had no spares. So I did everything I could to sweet talk the mechanics to get mine fixed first. Something my father told me. Be nice to the mechanics, And they will be nice to you.

PBW was my home for almost 5 months

 

[Cameron SS]

Ha!

Sounds about right though. *MY* RG. Jesus. Sometimes I think there's a mandatory anti social personality course you have to take to get your first leaf.

Anyone else have that guy at Mirage get on before you deplaned and yell "welcome to the war, gentlemen!" ?
Let alone a negative response, there simply wasn't any response to it. It was the proverbial wet fart. Sometimes o imagine him practicing it in the mirror until he got it juuuuuuussssst right. Still cracks me up all this time later. What a ####in' tool.

Welcome to the war. Thats the guy that pissed himself when he asked for our two mags and we handed him a claymore.

 

[OkayShooter]

Personally I rather had a G wagon, than a RG... But I was only driving.

 

[ryan]

Thats why we went to Green Beans whenever we did runs in KAF: to avoid the fews idiots that ruined life for everyone.

They wanted us to change our hybrid shirts to regular shirts as soon as we stepped out of those LAVs/RGs even if it was an hour touch&go.

We were happy to see people, and most people were happy to see us but there was some that just had foam at their mouth thinking about us showing up and how they would jack us up for dumb ####.


I remember one time at Canada House (a picture is worth a thousand words)
I just got there and said "I'll take all the Skoal you have please". Yoi should have heard the comments in the line. Most were answered the same way they were spoken.


For reference, I'm 5'9. And in all honesty, we loved that "hide your children and wives, lock up your doors" feeling that came with us landing in KAF or any big FOB and just emptying racks of RedBull or Skoal at the PX.

I must have too much time on my hands. 100 cans would be a few bucks if you paid todays store prices.

 

[tharkhold]

Well I finally got my x5 mag plate and grip weight (and also a spare x5 grip lol).

This pistol feels soo much better:

Now to start thinking of cerakoting it CAF dark green ala danish p320 version and submit this as a replacement model for us.. haha

Next in the list are X vtac sights and an actual x-carry slide (this one will be hard).

 

[SLANTO]

Allocations and procurements are the bain of my existence. I naturally try to apply logic to it all but it merely ends up giving me a headache. There is a mentality of one size fits none with kit and such along with “Canadianizing” proven platforms.
As for any new pistol it should be an off the shelf type purchase and it should be bought in numbers to replace everything. Anyone that uses one for high speed activities will likely get what they want anyways. Most individuals I work with couldn’t effectively employ whatever is put into their hands. More time and resources are put into GBA+ and recruiting those who don’t give a flying #### about this outfit anyways.

 

[drew425]

Allocations and procurements are the bain of my existence. I naturally try to apply logic to it all but it merely ends up giving me a headache. There is a mentality of one size fits none with kit and such along with “Canadianizing” proven platforms.
As for any new pistol it should be an off the shelf type purchase and it should be bought in numbers to replace everything. Anyone that uses one for high speed activities will likely get what they want anyways. Most individuals I work with couldn’t effectively employ whatever is put into their hands. More time and resources are put into GBA+ and recruiting those who don’t give a flying #### about this outfit anyways.

GBA+ only? Operation Honour too.

 

[ilike22s]

Let's hope it's not going to be some locally designed and produced abortion. A little over 100 years ago Canadian soldiers were dying in the trenches clutching jammed Ross rifles unfit for combat.
All because of misplaced "national pride" and political favouritism.

Great hunting and target rifle though.

 

[hifiwasabi]

As someone with no military experience or background, it's fascinating to watch the constant slow motion train wreck that is Canadian procurement. I don't know why they don't just order half a million Glocks and throw them out when the mags empty out.

 

[Moe]

As someone with no military experience or background, it's fascinating to watch the constant slow motion train wreck that is Canadian procurement. I don't know why they don't just order half a million Glocks and throw them out when the mags empty out.

Glock would be a good choice. In fact a lot of NATO members use it. We won't be seeing any of that happening though as the gun is not made here.

Cheers
Moe

 

[Grain]

They'll "Canadianize" it and make it cost 10 times as much and we'll end up with a Canadian made Hipoint.

I spit my coffee out, well said.