Military Graduation Parade

[Jon Skagfeld]

Of primary interest to Canadian MLUers, and perhaps of secondary interest to all others...

Yesterday I attended a Graduation Parade at Land Force Central Area Training Centre (LFCA TC Meaford).

A demo sky dive drop of members of the Skyhawks, who did stand up landings on a concrete parade square, prefaced the ceremony.

Led by the combined bands of 32 Brigade, 550 graduates of seven different military courses marched on in 3 company formations.


When is the last time any of us have seen 550 soldiers, kitted in combat uniform, tactical vests and kevlar helmets adorned with scrim?

After due ceremony and handing out of certificates etc, the reviewing officer, BGen Greg Young, Commander, LFCA, made a speech.

In this speech he stated that of the 550 soldiers on parade, 240 would be required to augment overseas CF taskings. He also stated that, (and this is said before the parents and relatives of the soldiers), that they would most probably find themselves in harms way.

He further stated that all CF rotations would, nay, must be composed of at least 20% Reserves.

I spoke with the General in Centurion Mess later, having a beer (he and I are old friends from Mech Inf days).

He said that whilst the overseas experience would be invaluable for the individual soldier, collectively the experiences could be spread out back at LHQ. However, on the other hand, depending on Reserves to flesh out the Regulars points out a serious deficiency in the manning of the Regular Force. (It costs far less to deploy a Reservist than a Regular). Also, Canada has no job security program in place for returning servicemen, so the target for these deployments is obviously the unemployed or the student who can take a sabbatical.

Of particular note, during the ceremony, special attention was given to the many WWII veterans in attendance.

The Base Commander asked the veterans to remain seated whilst all other were asked to stand. A special salute to the veterans was incorporated in the "Advance in Review Order".

Altogether, a most impressive ceremony. It got my legs twitching, wanting to go left, right, left.