Uniforms of The Canadian Forces - Operational Dress

Operational Dress

Until the early 1960s, the Army Battle Dress uniform was worn both on parades and in combat. It was common to maintain traditional regimental distinctions, even in the thick of battle. A notable exception to this was the Highland regiments, who were ordered to cease wearing their kilts in 1939 in favour of more generic service dress, the kilt being deemed "unsuitable for modern war".

By the time of the Korean War, more comfortable combat clothing was being designed, notably "Bush Dress", in dark green cotton and bearing a resemblance to the Khaki Drill uniform of the Second World War. Lightweight Service Dress known as "T-Dubs" were issued for parades in the summer months.

In the early 1960s, Battle Dress was replaced for field wear by the combat uniform, often referred to merely as "combats". It was issued as a standard order of dress for the pre-Unification Army, and later Regular Force "army" personnel in field units of Force Mobile Command and for personnel in field units or detachments in Canadian Forces Communication Command, as well as for personnel in other organizations as required for employment in a land combat environment. Combat uniforms were not issued to Reservists until 1972, although they were permitted to wear it if they purchased it themselves (usually at war surplus stores).

The combat uniform consisted of a long-sleeve olive-drab (OD) shirt, with two voluminous cargo pockets at the hip and two slanted pockets (designed for the 20-round FNC1 rifle magazine) at the breast, and drawstrings at the waist and hem; OD trousers, with regular pockets at the front and back and a large cargo patch pocket on each thigh, drawstrings at the cuff, and buttons on the belt loops for the attachment of optional suspenders; an OD V-neck undershirt; and black combat boots, with trouser cuffs bloused over. The beret was often worn, but could be replaced by a soft OD field hat or the American M1 steel helmet as the tactical situation dictated (while the Canadian combat uniform was universally olive green, American style cloth helmet covers with two types of camouflage pattern were issued; the woodland pattern worn in Vietnam and an autumn pattern). At the time of adoption, the OD colour was a standard among NATO forces; however, as other NATO forces adopted camouflage uniforms (for example, the British DPM (Disruptive Pattern Material) uniforms, or the Americans their woodland camouflage BDUs (Battle Dress Uniforms)), the Canadian Forces quickly became one of the only first world militaries not to adopt camouflage garments.

Officers displayed their rank on slip-ons on the epaulets of the shirt or jacket; NCMs wore small OD versions of their rank insignia stitched in the centre of the upper sleeve, although for a period in the 1980s these were stitched onto slip-ons, ostensibly to save wear-and-tear on the uniforms, but also providing the ability to remove rank for security purposes. The national identifier consisted of a "CANADA" flash stitched on the upper shoulder just below the sleeve seam, and unit or trade identifiers were worn on slip-ons on the shirt's epaulets; however, personnel belonging to Canadian Forces Europe and other overseas missions wore full-colour Canadian flag patches on the upper sleeve. In the 1990s, the "CANADA" flash was replaced with a subdued olive-drab Canadian flag, worn on the upper left sleeve below the epaulet. Interestingly, these flag badges showed up in full-colour red-and-white when illuminated by a blue light.

Lightweight coats, rain suits, parkas, and other tactical clothing (in OD) were issued to deal with different weather conditions. For winter conditions, personnel were issued white mukluks, mitts, and balaclavas, as well as white camouflage covers for their parkas, trousers, helmets, and rucksacks.

In the late 1980s, the CF experimented with an alternative combat shirt designed by an Air Command officer. The Mark III Combat Shirt had flat breast pockets and lacked the hip cargo pockets and drawstrings. It was designed to be tucked in to the trousers like a regular shirt if desired, or worn untucked like the older style shirt. It proved rather unpopular from an operational standpoint due to its lack of storage capacity, and was considered to look sloppier than the older style; few were issued after initial stocks were depleted but the Mark III was worn alongside the earlier marks by some individuals until the adoption of CADPAT throughout the Army. Today they remain in small numbers in the Cadet program and are issued at summer training facilities to junior cadets for survival exercises.