Speaking of Rolling Back Clocks

[dewline]

The practice, as ever, is not confined to comic book publishers.

Seems the HarperGov has it in mind to some extent for the Canadian Forces as well in terms of the naming of their component commands:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2011/08/16/royal-army-navy.html

I have to admit that I'm lukewarm to monarchism in principle at best. And I grew up knowing not much of the pre-1968 history of the Forces before I got my interest in military history primed by other causes. So I'm not thrilled with the restoration of the "Royal" tag to the air force and navy. "Air Command", "Land Forces Command" and "Maritime Command" might not sound exciting, but they're what I grew up with as a civilian.

Comments

[radargrrl.livejournal.com]

I just went back and re-read the article. Hellyer comes across as someone with an axe to grind. He seems to think that this is going to incur all sorts of extra costs, from uniforms to new headquarters. All that's being done here is the renaming of AirCom and MarCom to that of their former organizations. Beyond that, nothing changes, nothing's being taken apart, nothing's being restructured. Except for the changing of signeage and letterheads, something the military and the government does all the time, there should be little extra cost in this.

I also took a look at Hellyer's bio. It seems he didn't make flight school, and spent his entire military career during the war as an artillery private. In other words, he's someone with an axe to grind against the air force, (and it most certainly was the RCAF who lost the most with unification) and favours the army. He did make a huge point with amalgamating the common things that needed amalgamating, but why he did this in such a way that he completely shattered esprit-de-corps and morale within all elements of the Canadian military is beyond me. It shows a complete lack of understanding of the value of esprit-de-corps from someone who really should have known better. There was no reason for him to strip the RCAF and RCN of their hard earned identities.

As you know, I'm hardly a fan of Harper, and I would question his motives for making these name changes, but I'm pleased that it happened nonetheless. He's not going to be around for ever, and Hellyer doesn't matter anymore.

Per Ardua Ad Astra

[dewline.livejournal.com]

I suspect that Hellyer smells "thin edge of the wedge" here. It starts with the stationery letterhead redesigns and rolls downhill from there.

I can't speak to the motives you accuse him of having, though.