Canadian Army Research Articles

Reliability of FORCE COMBAT™: A Canadian army fitness objective

ObjectivesThe Canadian Army fitness objective is FORCE COMBAT™. This consists of a 5km march (35kg) between 50–60min, and the annual FORCE physical employment standard as a circuit without the usual 5min rest intervals (FORCE circuit) in full fighting order (25kg). The objective of this research was to determine the number of practice attempts required to establish reliability of FORCE COMBAT™. Additionally, this study aims to identify the minimal detectable change once reliability is established. DesignThe study used a within participant design. Methods33 Canadian Army members were divided into two groups. Group 1 performed four maximum effort attempts of FORCE COMBAT™ completely. Group 2 performed only the FORCE circuit component, not the loaded march. On the fifth trial, the tasks of the groups were switched. Variability within and between trials of the FORCE circuit of FORCE COMBAT™ were analysed based on six statistical factors of reliability. ResultsFour statistical factors indicated that one maximal effort practice attempt of FORCE COMBAT™ is required, as reflected in the variability of performance between trials 1 and 2. The minimum detectable change, highlighting inherent measurement error of the test was 89.18s with 95% confidence. ConclusionsResults suggest that Canadian Army members should complete one FORCE COMBAT™ in completion at maximal effort, before formal assessment. Further, members performing within 89s of the recommended completion time, on FORCE COMBAT™ should be offered a re-attempt (in its entirety).

A qualitative analysis of factors affecting Canadian army reservists wellbeing

A qualitative analysis of factors affecting Canadian army reservists wellbeing

Stephen William Valentine Coppinger

Stephen William Valentine Coppinger (“Steve”) was born in Vancouver, Canada. His father served in the Canadian Army as a gynaecologist and obstetrician, and Steve spent part of his childhood at...

Zombie Army: The Canadian Army and Conscription in the Second World War by Daniel Byers

<i>Zombie Army: The Canadian Army and Conscription in the Second World War</i> by Daniel Byers

Strangers in Arms: Combat Motivation in the Canadian Army, 1943–1945 by Robert Engen

<i>Strangers in Arms: Combat Motivation in the Canadian Army, 1943–1945</i> by Robert Engen

Sister Soldiers of the Great War: The Nurses of the Canadian Army Medical Corps by Cynthia Toman

<i>Sister Soldiers of the Great War: The Nurses of the Canadian Army Medical Corps</i> by Cynthia Toman

“Soldiers first”: Preparing the Canadian Army for twenty-first century peace operations

The Canadian Army has historically adopted a paradigm of preparing for peace operations by training and educating both soldiers and leaders to be capable of general-purpose combat. This paradigm of “soldiers first” has not been without its flaws, particularly when the security environment, the operational mandate, and mission preparation became unaligned. Consequently, as we move forward into the peace activities of the twenty-first century, where Canadian soldiers will be committed to operations in complex regions like Africa and the Middle East, it will be necessary to identify and institutionalize the lessons of the past in order to ensure that the model of “soldiers first” can be adapted to the varied challenges of the contemporary and future security environment through a holistic application of specialized training, leader education, and institutional support.

Massacre of Canadian Army Medical Corps personnel after the sinking of HMHS Llandovery Castle and the evolution of modern war crime jurisprudence.

Events after the sinking of the hospital ship Llandovery Castle on June 27, 1918, by the German submarine U-86 outraged Canadians. Survivors aboard a single life raft gave evidence that many of the 234 souls lost had made it to lifeboats but were rammed and shot by the submarine. Many of those who died were nurses. Three German officers were charged with war crimes after the war. The submarine's captain evaded capture. The remaining two officers' defence that they were following the captain's orders failed and they were convicted. This ruling was used as a precedent to dismiss similar claims at the war crime trials after the Second World War. It is also the basis of the order given to members of modern militaries, including the Canadian Armed Forces, that it is illegal to carry out an illegal order.

Medical response to the declaration of the First World War: The case of Edwin Seaborn.

At the turn of the 20th century, Dr Edwin Seaborn was starting his surgical and academic career at Western University in Ontario. When war was declared in 1914, Seaborn prevailed upon the university's president to offer the Canadian government a fully staffed hospital for deployment overseas. Initially declined by the War Office in Ottawa, the university's offer was later accepted after mounting casualties stretched the capacity of the Canadian Army Medical Corps, and Seaborn was granted command of the new No. 10 Canadian Stationary Hospital. From 1916 to 1919, Seaborn's medical, surgical, and administrative practices transformed the humble No. 10 Stationary Hospital into a General Hospital that was indispensable to the war effort and raised the standard for military medical practice. Upon the unit's return to London, Ontario, Seaborn's dedication was transferred to his extensive work as an author, historian, academic, and beloved physician. During the centennial of the First World War, this paper explores the impact of an academic medical unit by looking at the career of its Commanding Officer: a man who made an invaluable contribution to the Canadian war effort and set a precedent for exceptional medical care at home and at war.

Book Review: Strangers in Arms: Combat Motivation in the Canadian Army, 1943–1945. By Robert Engen

Book Review: <i>Strangers in Arms: Combat Motivation in the Canadian Army, 1943–1945</i>. By Robert Engen

The Canadian Army Medical Corps affair of 1916 and Surgeon General Guy Carleton Jones.

The rapid expansion of military medical service in the First World War, successfully completed under the direction of Surgeon General Guy Carleton Jones, remains an extraordinary achievement in Canada's history. In 1916, a conflict of personalities threatened confidence in the service. Eventually Prime Minister Sir Robert Borden's intervention restored the status quo, but the affair eclipsed Jones's outstanding career.

Antecedents and outcomes of unit cohesion and affective commitment to the Army

ABSTRACTGroup cohesion and affective commitment have shown to have critical relevance to military organizations in particular. The relationship between cohesion and affective commitment is established, and the two constructs share a number of common organizational antecedents and employee outcomes. The authors explored the relationship between cohesion and affective commitment in a model that incorporates antecedents (effectiveness of immediate leadership and procedural justice) and consequences (organizational citizenship behaviors [OCBs] and turnover intentions) common to both. Respondents (N = 714, 102 women, 612 men) were Canadian Army personnel. The models suggest that cohesion partially mediates the relationships between (a) perceptions of immediate leadership and affective commitment to the Army and (b) perceptions of unit procedural justice and affective commitment to the Army. Furthermore, affective commitment to the Army partially mediates the relationship between unit cohesion and turnover intentions but fully mediates the relationship between unit cohesion and OCBs. This model helps explain some common variance between unit cohesion and organizational affective commitment.

Idéalistes, pragmatiques et les autres: Profil des volontaires du Régiment de la Chaudière, 1939-1945

Quebec’s response to the Second World War is often reduced to its weak voluntary enlistment and its massive rejection of conscription. However, studying the service records of volunteers in the Regiment de la Chaudiere killed during the conflict leads us to revisit this perception. Analyzing the characteristics of the volunteers shows that unemployment and conscription were not the only factors that led Francophones to enlist in the Canadian Army. As was the case for Anglophones from across Canada, environmental, event-related and economic factors played a role in motivating French Canadians from Quebec to volunteer.

Sister Soldiers of the Great War: The Nurses of the Canadian Army Medical Corps

Sister Soldiers of the Great War: The Nurses of the Canadian Army Medical Corps

A fitness assessment for the Canadian Army – FORCE combat

Purpose: The physiological demands imposed by the Canadian Armed Forces tri-service Physical Employment Standard, the FORCE evaluation, do not represent certain Canadian Army (CA) occupations, particularly operations in urban and combat environments. Physiological demands of a CA urban operations simulation support this. The physiological demands of FORCE will depend on the efficiency of the individual, and at the minimum standard pace range from 18 to 25 mL kg−1 min−1 for 9 min compared to Urban Operations measured at 25–32 mL kg−1 min−1 for a 5-min scenario. Potential fitness assessments for the CA were investigated and the demands of the FORCE evaluation performed as a circuit with a 25 kg load (fighting order) elicit metabolic demands similar to those experienced during the urban operations scenario. This loaded circuit is designed to follow an approach march of 5 km loaded with 35 kg (battle order), configured as fighting load (25 kg) with a 10 kg small pack.

Sister Soldiers of the Great War: The Nurses of the Canadian Army Medical Corps par Cynthia Toman

<i>Sister Soldiers of the Great War: The Nurses of the Canadian Army Medical Corps</i> par Cynthia Toman

Zombie Army: The Canadian Army and Conscription in the Second World War by Daniel Byers

<i>Zombie Army: The Canadian Army and Conscription in the Second World War</i> by Daniel Byers

The University of Toronto's lasting contribution to war surgery: how Maj. L. Bruce Robertson fundamentally transformed thinking toward blood transfusion during the First World War.

During the Great War, Canadian military surgeons produced some of the greatest innovations to improve survival on the battlefield. Arguably, the most important was bringing blood transfusion practice close to the edge of the battlefield to resuscitate the many casualties dying of hemorrhagic shock. Dr. L. Bruce Robertson of the Canadian Army Medical Corps was the pioneering surgeon from the University of Toronto who was able to demonstrate the benefit of blood transfusions near the front line and counter the belief that saline was the resuscitation fluid of choice in military medicine. Robertson would go on to survive the Great War, but would be taken early in life by influenza. Despite his life and career being cut short, Robertson's work is still carried on today by many military medical organizations who strive to bring blood to the wounded in austere and dangerous settings. This article has an Appendix, available at canjsurg.ca.

Review: Sister Soldiers of the Great War: The Nurses of the Canadian Army Medical Corps by Cynthia Toman

Review: Sister Soldiers of the Great War: The Nurses of the Canadian Army Medical Corps by Cynthia Toman

Cy Peck, VC, the Prince Rupert Company, and the Great War

The Northern Review 44 (2017): 347–354 On 24 April 1915 Major Cyrus Wesley Peck and his 225-strong contingent of men from Prince Rupert, British Columbia crossed the English Channel bound for No Man’s Land. The day was also notable for being Peck’s forty-fourth birthday. Peck, the owner of a real estate and insurance firm, had been instrumental in raising the Prince Rupert company in November 1914—managing to keep the unit together as it went through training in Canada and later England. Upon reaching the front lines the company reinforced the badly depleted ranks of the 16th Battalion (Canadian Scottish), which had been shredded two days earlier in the Canadian army’s baptism of fire at Kitchener’s Wood. Peck was made a company commander and the Prince Rupert troops were distributed throughout the battalion. This meant the story of Prince Rupert’s contribution to the Great War essentially mirrored that of the renowned Canadian Scottish battalion. On 3 November 1916 command of the battalion went to Peck. On 2 September 1918 Peck’s gallant leadership of the battalion in winning the pivotal Drocourt-Queant Line battle earned him a Victoria Cross and the Canadian Scottish one of their most treasured Battle Honours. This article is part of a special collection of papers originally presented at a conference on “The North and the First World War,” held May 2016 in Whitehorse, Yukon. https://doi.org/10.22584/nr44.2017.015