History of The Canadian Army - Unification

Unification

The Army was integrated with the Royal Canadian Navy and the Royal Canadian Air Force on February 1, 1968 under the policy of Unification. The newly formed Canadian Forces was the first combined command military force in the modern world. The Army became known as Force Mobile Command (FMC). Helicopter operations, briefly instituted under Army purview in the early 1960s, transferred to Air Command.

Most of the pre-unification corps that had been created in the early 20th century were disbanded; they were merged with counterparts in the Navy and Air Force to form the personnel branches of the CF. The move toward unification, as well as other budget and cost-cutting moves during the 1980s and 1990s were vehemently opposed by many and is sometimes regarded as a fault in the Canadian Forces. The majority of veterans and those serving at the time objected to this initiative; with many, including senior officers, leaving the military altogether. On 16 August 2012, the Canadian Government restored the names of the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army and Royal Canadian Air Force to the existing maritime, land and air commands; although the unified command and structure of the CF remains.

• Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps and Royal Canadian Dental Corps—became the Canadian Forces Medical Service and Canadian Forces Dental Service respectively; in the 1990s, both the CFMS and CFDS would combine together administratively as the Canadian Forces Health Services (though both still wear their individual branch insignia)
• Royal Canadian Corps of Signals—became the Communications and Electronics Branch
• Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps amalgamated with supply and transport services of Royal Canadian Army Service Corps—became the Logistics Branch
• Royal Canadian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers—became Land Ordnance Engineering, then Electrical and Mechanical Engineering Branch
• Clerical trades of Royal Canadian Army Service Corps, Royal Canadian Army Pay Corps, and Royal Canadian Postal Corps—became the Administration Branch (later merged with the Logistics Branch)
• Canadian Provost Corps and Canadian Intelligence Corps—became the Security Branch