What's in a name? Apparently quite a lot.
Some are happy and some are not so happy with Canada's Defence Minister Peter MacKay's recent announcement the country's military personnel will now go by new names. The Navy, now called Maritime Command, will henceforth be the Royal Canadian Navy. The army, now known as Land Force Command, will be called the Canadian Army and the Airforce, now dubbed Air Command, will be officially called the Royal Canadian Airforce.
I don't know if I've been living under a rock, but as far as I was concerned it always was the Royal Canadian Airforce.
Years back, in 1968, the titles did contain the word "royal" but the defence minister of the day removed the word in an effort to make each branch more distinctive. "It was impossible to have any of the two branches coordinate their efforts in an operation and senior officials spent the bulk of their time trying to protect their turf rather than working for the common good," recalls Paul Hellyer, the former defence minister. It was what was best then and it remains what's best now as far as he's concerned. Hellyer says the current decision to re-dub each military branch will again open the door to turf wars and in the end will cost the country more than it's worth. Bringing up stationary and the like, he says, "...the cosmetics of this change would cost millions."
MacKay says the new names reflect a tribute to history and that he is correcting a "historical mistake."
"After all, it was under these names that the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army and Royal Canadian Air Force brought Canadians great honor... they fought and died in conflicts from the fields of Europe, the beaches of Normandy, the battle of Britain and the battle of Kapyong and now in the dusty fields of Afghanistan," points out MacKay.
This is all very true. But did the name make the difference? Because the troops trudging into Afghanistan did not have the word "Royal" prefixing their titles does it make their missions any less significant? I think not. I'm not employed with the military and I can't speak for them, but I just find it hard to believe the people deployed to protect our country would take a time out to bicker over their titles. And the word Royal included or not, we have a history and brave individuals to be proud of - wouldn't our dollars be better spent ensuring these people are duly rewarded rather than on something so trivial?
