Remembrance Day: National holiday?/"Veterans' Day"? (merged)
- Thread starter meni0n
- Start date
Colin Parkinson
Army.ca Myth
- Reaction score
- 11,930
- Points
- 1,160
Once we found out my daughter was Colour guard Commander, we went down to the Cenotaph on Sunday with someone who had done it before and spent a good hour working out how she was going to do it and practising it.
Any ceremony like Remembrance Day requires some practice and working people through the evolutions. If you want to look good, you need to put some time in. Otherwise you increase the chance of failure significantly and with a much bigger than usual audience.
- Reaction score
- 6,685
- Points
- 1,140
100%
I have lived the no practice experience in front of TV cameras... It's not a lot of fun.
Colin Parkinson
Army.ca Myth
- Reaction score
- 11,930
- Points
- 1,160
The reality of life in the CAF is that drill will always be a thing and trying to look decent when doing it in front of the public is a thing. Very few people will get what your day job is or how good you are at it. So when we do drill in the public, it's pretty much the only gauge they have.
lenaitch
Army.ca Veteran
- Reaction score
- 3,725
- Points
- 1,160
Welcome to probably ever police funeral.
- Reaction score
- 6,080
- Points
- 1,160
Having a good day?
Let me ruin that for you.
Let me ruin that for you.
- Reaction score
- 6,685
- Points
- 1,140
Yeah, but for most of us or day job takes up all of our time.
This is why I think we should have dedicated ceremonial guards for this sort of public tasking. Trying to make a weather forecaster, gun plumber, or even a toilet plumber, a drill expert is wasting their primary skill.
I love occasionally marching up and down the square, but even I recognize that my time is better spend in front of a computer than on the parade square.
Maxman1
Army.ca Veteran
- Reaction score
- 1,553
- Points
- 1,160
- Reaction score
- 6,685
- Points
- 1,140
Except, as a member currently posted to Ottawa I can assure you there are still plenty of taskings outside of the Ceremonial Guard's window/taskings.
Let's take Remembrance Day as a prime example. They have two guards made up of four divisions each for the national ceremony. Exactly one of those divisions is from the GGFG, kinda two if you count the GGFG band who aren't part of the two guards.
Colin Parkinson
Army.ca Myth
- Reaction score
- 11,930
- Points
- 1,160
The good thing is at some point you were all taught drill, so it does not take long to refresh it and you don't have to be great at it, you just won't suck if you get some practice. (using you to mean anyone in that position)
OldSolduer
Army.ca Relic
- Reaction score
- 15,552
- Points
- 1,260
She should be roundly denounced for such ….stupidity.
- Reaction score
- 6,685
- Points
- 1,140
That goes back to that fact that we are understaffed, and better used doing our actual jobs.
Ottawa is a big place, it's not like we can all just gather in front of our building and practice. We have units and pers all over the city, so even a 1 hour parade practice will kill at least half a day to get people to a location, then back to their actual lines. There is also a cost involved now, because parking and transit aren't free. So we'd be asking people to pay to go to their office, then pay to go to practice, then pay to go back to their office... Morale is already not great, adding extra cost and hassle is not going to improve it.
CountDC
Army.ca Veteran
- Reaction score
- 449
- Points
- 960
Wow that is a nice expansion. When I was in Ottawa there wasn't any ceremonial guard. A number of us pushed that there should at least be one for the cemetery and they approved it my last year there. Of course, they also assigned me to it and to be truthful my skill at slow march has always been very lacking. Luckily there was only one ceremony I had to do and the attendees were in front of us so didn't see my drunken stagger of a slow march. Hopefully they practice more now than we did. Ours was a few hours prior to the ceremony.
- Reaction score
- 27,526
- Points
- 1,090
The Ceremonial Guard has been around since 1959... When were you last in Ottawa , anyways?
en.wikipedia.org
Ceremonial Guard (Canada) - Wikipedia
- Reaction score
- 6,685
- Points
- 1,140
Brian Lilley had a pretty terrible take on that video. Cadets essentially have nothing else to do apart from drill, of course they care about it. When I was an army cadet I spent a summer marching up and down the square in Argonaut for fun doing Army Cadet Leader Instructor Drill and Ceremonial. Back then I could actually do proper pace stick drill...
Agreed. I’m critical of drill. But I also know how these Remembrance Day parades get cobbled together at the last minute with little to no practice with drums echoing off walls and buildings etc etc.
Blackadder1916
Army.ca Fixture
- Reaction score
- 2,765
- Points
- 1,160
Not great sound quality and it's been way over a half century since I was a side drummer, but even with a highland pace it didn't sound like the drums were in time with the pipes (or more properly, the other way round). Good luck trying to keep cadence with that.
lenaitch
Army.ca Veteran
- Reaction score
- 3,725
- Points
- 1,160
Ya, really lousy acoustic. It's hard to follow the tangle of feet but it doesn't look like anyone is marching to the music. If there's an actual pace going on it looks closer to standard quick time. Highland pace is fairly easy if you can hear the bass and just go with the beat. Even most non-marchers can settle in but it often takes time and real estate; doing lap in an arena of hall isn't likely to do it; the wheels will keep screwing them up. Then again, some are simply irredeemable.
Blackadder1916
Army.ca Fixture
- Reaction score
- 2,765
- Points
- 1,160
From another angle. It doesn't get any better.
Similar threads
