New Operational Service Medal Announced

[danchapps]

Well, excuse me for thinking domestic operations might warrant a little more than an impersonal thank you by means of a CANFORGEN. And if you look back a page prior to my first post on the subject you will notice I was NOT the one that brought this up, however it was Haggis that did, all I did however was elaborate on the subject in support of it. So, from the sounds of what you all are saying, is that NOTHING done in Canada is worth a medal, so feel free to return your SSM's from Alert and the Flight 111 missions if you are so against it.

I for one do not feel the need to sit here and argue my point, or dogpile on someone that has a different opinion than myself. So with that said, I'm the hell out of here, I have better things to do with my time.

 

[vonGarvin]

I for one do not feel the need to sit here and argue my point, or dogpile on someone that has a different opinion than myself. So with that said, I'm the hell out of here, I have better things to do with my time.

I'm not trying to dogpile you, and I appreciate that you have a different opinion.  My post was only about our contribution to Germany, because our forces did more than just reside there, and that was my only point.

 

[armyvern]

Well, excuse me for thinking domestic operations might warrant a little more than an impersonal thank you by means of a CANFORGEN. And if you look back a page prior to my first post on the subject you will notice I was NOT the one that brought this up, however it was Haggis that did, all I did however was elaborate on the subject in support of it. So, from the sounds of what you all are saying, is that NOTHING done in Canada is worth a medal, so feel free to return your SSM's from Alert and the Flight 111 missions if you are so against it.

I for one do not feel the need to sit here and argue my point, or dogpile on someone that has a different opinion than myself. So with that said, I'm the hell out of here, I have better things to do with my time.

Relax your horomone; no one said that you brought it up.

My comment was to your "add one more". My point was that the CF does, and has done, this stuff since it's inception.

The Canadian Armed Forces was established via an Act of Parliament to defend and to act in the Defence of Canada and Her interests respecting her sovereignty and stability. We are EXPECTED to do that as part of our daily routine within Her borders. It is, quite simply, a job "requirement".

When we move OUTSIDE of her borders at Her request to protect her interests abroad ... we move into a different territory that IS recognized with medals and other assorted bling - exactly because that occurs outside Her Sovereign borders.

You may not like that fact, but I don't need a medal for putting my damn boots on every day and assisting my community when they need it in times of emergency. That's my job. It is, and has always been, a written expectation of personnel serving in the CF since the inception, by lawful Act, of the Canadian Armed Forces.

Dogpile!!?? TWO people made comments regarding your post. I commented as to your "add one more" and Techno called you on your CFE BS. That does not a dogpile make. You've just done it again with your last line of this post regarding the Alert and Swiss Air.  :  You made an ill-advised, and obviously uneducated comment regarding CF members who served with NATO in CFE; you got called on it. Much more occured there than beer & bratwurst as you'd infer. I was there as a school kid - doing drills of loading onto flights for evac should the nukes start; if you are inferring that those of us who actually lived in, and participated in that Cold War era, had NO worries and got fat, drunk, and happy when there was ZERO chance of shit hitting the fan ... I've got news for you: You'd be 100% wrong.

 

[vonGarvin]

I was there as a school kid - doing drills of loading onto flights for evac should the nukes start;

[slight tangent]
I was there in 82-83 as an exchange student.  They never included me in those drills. I guess that "hope" was a method for them, and I never really thought "what if?" until I heard about Able Archer 83.

[/slight tangent]

 

[armyvern]

[slight tangent]
I was there in 82-83 as an exchange student.  They never included me in those drills. I guess that "hope" was a method for them, and I never really thought "what if?" until I heard about Able Archer 83.

[/slight tangent]

"My father is: 426 011 9XX, MCpl RC Wightman, FMSU" ... I remember the memorized chant to this day ...  :-X

For us, it was harkening to the Cuban Missile Crisis - Bay of Pigs. Funny, I guess our younger Canadians don't learn about that shit in their history classes anymore; many, apparently thinking that all was copacetic.

 

[PuckChaser]

The Domestic Operations Service Medal - OP Cadence is hereby established for domestic operations in the face of conditions of hardship and deprivation of morale.

The medal, which is green in colour, consists of a circular medallion, engraved with two spiral patterns overlapped in the fashion of a packaged pair of mosquito coils, with an inscription reading 'FML' in large letters filling the obverse, and on the reverse an inscription of the soldier/s rank, name and service number at the time of the operation, and a tally of the quantity of mosquito repellent consumed (in millilitres).

The medal shall be awarded for seven days or greater service with any of the elements of the various task forces established under the structure of said operation. A green bar shall be awarded for each instance on which the soldier was observed to have cried, or pledged never again to deploy on a DOMOP.

I retract my previous statement, I'd wear that medal. For the bars though, I'd go on another DOMOP, just not one run by LFCA. The amount of times I've heard "Treat this as a real operation" where most highers conducted it as a weekend exercise blew my mind.

 

[mariomike]

Well, excuse me for thinking domestic operations might warrant a little more than an impersonal thank you by means of a CANFORGEN.

How about a gold watch and a handshake after 25 years of it?

 

[daftandbarmy]

I'm not saying I was in all of those domestic ops. I'm saying that it would be nice for those that were in those domestic ops to have some recognition. And no, I do not have a CD, I've only been in 3 years. However, considering some have received the NATO medal while residing in Germany in the 80's, one might think it would be fair to have something for work in Canada. The SSM is awarded for going to Alert, I understand why, you are away from your family for a 6 month tour. But when an Op has a CANFORGEN sent out stating that Ottawa is proud, and has designated it a special duty operation, well, shouldn't there be a little something, other than words on a screen? That's all I'm saying.

I've seen guys who have plaques or framed certificates on their walls to recognize their contributions to various big exercises etc. Maybe a nice thank you letter from the senior commander and a plaque would be a good idea. The letter you can use in a personal bio package (for potential employers etc), and the plaque can grace your 'love me' wall.

Badges? We don't need no steekin' badges for Dom Ops.

 

[dogger1936]

I've seen guys who have plaques or framed certificates on their walls to recognize their contributions to various big exercises etc. Maybe a nice thank you letter from the senior commander and a plaque would be a good idea. The letter you can use in a personal bio package (for potential employers etc), and the plaque can grace your 'love me' wall.

Badges? We don't need no steekin' badges for Dom Ops.

Im running out of cardboard boxes for those things

 

[Danjanou]

Im running out of cardboard boxes for those things

I switched to plastic bins, someday I may want to move them out of the basement  and set up my "I love me wall." 8)

Gee as another poor sod who has a Schnaps & Schnitzel Medal, nice for someone to explain to me what it was I was doing over there three decades ago. While I do know it dosen't rank up there with storming Juno Beach or a patrol in the Panjwai, it was a bit of an eye opener when you first arrived. Snowball's, RAF wanted posters in the towns, armed guards on the main gate versus a snoozing Commisionaire, and the sudden realization that there were 50+ Category A Soviet Bloc Divisions who really didn't like you sitting on the other side of a barbed wire fence. Crap no wonder we drank heavily every night.

Bud you want medals, I here the LOF is recruiting.

BTW Techno, we had no intention of evacing you, we needed some urchin who spoke the language to help us E&E to Switzerland. 8)

Edit- to correct typos :-[

 

[George Wallace]

Im running out of cardboard boxes for those things

You aren't the only one.  Not enough wall space for all of them.

 

[Blackadder1916]

How about a gold watch and a handshake after 25 years of it?

Other way round, got a handshake and they asked for the green plastic watch back.

 

[brihard]

Well, excuse me for thinking domestic operations might warrant a little more than an impersonal thank you by means of a CANFORGEN. And if you look back a page prior to my first post on the subject you will notice I was NOT the one that brought this up, however it was Haggis that did, all I did however was elaborate on the subject in support of it. So, from the sounds of what you all are saying, is that NOTHING done in Canada is worth a medal, so feel free to return your SSM's from Alert and the Flight 111 missions if you are so against it.

I for one do not feel the need to sit here and argue my point, or dogpile on someone that has a different opinion than myself. So with that said, I'm the hell out of here, I have better things to do with my time.

You're excused. If your feelings are hurt, I think there's a form for that now.

When you're done with the melodramatic 'poor pity me' act, maybe you can simply accept that sometimes you will hold an opinion that several others will disagree with, and that disagreement will be stated, articulated, and defended by those of us holding those contrary views. It's not an attack on you as a person, it's not an attack on your point of view, it's simply demonstrating that we think otherwise and why we do so.

Your reductio ad absurdum in suggesting we hold the view that nothing done in Canada is recognizable is nonsense, and patently false in light of the approbation you'll frequently see us give when Bravery Medals, Stars of Courage, and similar decorations are handed out. If you think two of us daring to contradict you is a 'dogpile', you're sorely mistaken. You'll know when you get dogpiled here.

 

[mariomike]

A short speech about domestic medals:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S97mCU6-21Y

 

[daftandbarmy]

You'll know when you get dogpiled here.

You're telling me... just try and suggest something sensible around here like 'bring back that dapper Garrison Dress jacket' and they're on you like the priest on the fat kid on the Smartie  :

 

[Arctic Acorn]

Gee as another poor sod who has a Schnaps & Schnitzel Medal, nice for someone to explain to me what it was I was doing over there three decades ago. While I do know it dosen't rank up there with storming Juno Beach or a patrol in the Panjwai, it wa s abit of an eye opener when you first arrived. Snowball's, RAF wanted piosters in the towns, armed guards on the main gate versus an snoozing Commisionaire, and the sudden realization that there were 50+ Category A Soviet Bloc who really didn't like you sitting on the other side of a barbed wire fence. Crap no wonder we drank heavily every night.

Someone on here once made a comment about this I remember well (Vern...)...you serve when you can serve, in the conditions at the time.

We don't get to pick the geopolitical situation, or what conflicts that the government chooses to send the CF to. The main thing is to stand and be counted when we're needed. Some may argue that certain deployments are somehow worth more than others. IMHO I think that's crap. Every era had it's 'Big Show', wether it was a World War, Korea, Cyprus, Germany, Bosnia, Afghanistan, etc. They all involved some element of hardship and danger (or the threat thereof). The main thing is that you signed up and went. Its easy to look back and say one was more difficult than another, but that's a narrative fallacy and doesn't do justice to those who went.

For the DOMOP debate, I personally don't think we really need a medal for something like that, however there is precedent for such...the Germans issue medals for domestic operations as an example.  Playing devils advocate here, who does it really hurt? Comparisons to the US almost always get tossed out whenever a new medal gets issued, but I don't think a DOMOP medal would somehow dilute the importance of existing awards. It certainly wouldn't make me view my own medals any differently...I know what I did to earn them. Some of the arguments here make me recall a similar debate over the GCS, with some taking exception to issuing it to folks who never left KAF versus folks who spent their entire deployment outside the wire.

It would be an interesting poll to see who is for and against a DOMOP medal and compare the results to who has an international deployment versus who doesn't.

 

[dapaterson]

You're telling me... just try and suggest something sensible around here like 'bring back that dapper Garrison Dress jacket' and they're on you like the priest on the fat kid on the Smartie  :

Garrison Dress?  Pshaw.  Bring back the bus driver outfit that preceded it.  And the Ascot!

 

[Danjanou]

Ok hands up, who still has at last one ascot hidden in the bottom of their sock drawer?  8)

 

[tango22a]

Danjanou:

Not only do I have one, .....I HAVE TWO!!! (Which at the time we had to purchase from the Kit Shop)


Cheers,

tango22a

 

[mariomike]

...the Germans issue medals for domestic operations as an example.

Is this the medal you are referring to?:
"German Armed Forces Flood Service Medal":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Armed_Forces_Flood_Service_Medal

"List of military decorations: Germany":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_military_decorations#Germany_.28Federal_Republic.29