Canadian Army reactivates elite Assault Pioneers unit

[brihard]

We actually had an Engineering officer unload on a newer Private about how we're destroying their trade and we're just a bunch of wannabes.

What the heck led to this particular your officer throwing his teddy in the corner in such a manner?

 

[CountDC]

What the heck led to this particular your officer throwing his teddy in the corner in such a manner?

Reserve Engineer says it all.  They don't play nice with each other, why expect them to do it with others.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

To bad, I always thought highly of the Combat Engineers trade and their professionalism. To be worried about some guys with basically shovels, picks and some explosives shows a lack of self comfort. There is never enough Combat Engineers as it is, the pioneers can help bridge that gap a bit (pun intended). 

 

[BDTyre]

What the heck led to this particular your officer throwing his teddy in the corner in such a manner?

The private he was in the vehicle with made the "mistake" of mentioning what regiment he belongs to...

 

[OldSolduer]

To bad, I always thought highly of the Combat Engineers trade and their professionalism. To be worried about some guys with basically shovels, picks and some explosives shows a lack of self comfort. There is never enough Combat Engineers as it is, the pioneers can help bridge that gap a bit (pun intended).

That's exactly the point. The bridging thing was very.....punny.

 

[daftandbarmy]

It makes me sad that beards are no longer unique to Assault Pioneers.

But back when they were the only ones with beards, some of the ones I encountered had rather large, gnarly beards. Well groomed? Well I guess they were combed but some of those guys had Stonewall Jackson style beards (which was cool to me, it made them even more unique).

Tangent on....

The Assault Pioneers (Army) and Assault Engineers (same thing, but with the Royal Marines) I worked with in the UK never wore beards. Maybe some did, but not with the units I served with.

I've never seen a beard on an Assault Pioneer except in Canada, and parade pictures of the FFL. Just sayin'...

Tangent off....

 

[MedCorps]

Interesting article on beards in the UK Forces here:

https://www.forces.net/news/meet-pioneer-sergeant-one-few-army-ranks-allowed-beard-parade

MC

 

[OldSolduer]

Tangent on....

The Assault Pioneers (Army) and Assault Engineers (same thing, but with the Royal Marines) I worked with in the UK never wore beards. Maybe some did, but not with the units I served with.

I've never seen a beard on an Assault Pioneer except in Canada, and parade pictures of the FFL. Just sayin'...

Tangent off....

I will continue with this tangent.

Our Pioneers in the Royal Winnipeg Rifles were a ceremonial section of soldiers who would clear the parade ground after the skirmishers cleared it of enemy. Please note that all were in period uniforms of the late 1800s. The Pioneers had beards. It seems everyone wants to be a Pioneer now.

 

[McG]

Tangent on....

The Assault Pioneers (Army) and Assault Engineers (same thing, but with the Royal Marines) I worked with in the UK never wore beards. Maybe some did, but not with the units I served with.

I've never seen a beard on an Assault Pioneer except in Canada, and parade pictures of the FFL. Just sayin'...

Tangent off....

Apparently bearded pioneers were a French Army tradition that the British may have adopted after Waterloo.
So, maybe it was a fad in history for the British Army but also the only thing ever known in the Canadian Army.

 

[LittleBlackDevil]

Tangent on....

The Assault Pioneers (Army) and Assault Engineers (same thing, but with the Royal Marines) I worked with in the UK never wore beards. Maybe some did, but not with the units I served with.

I've never seen a beard on an Assault Pioneer except in Canada, and parade pictures of the FFL. Just sayin'...

Tangent off....

So I guess the story I was told about why Assault Pioneers wear beards is probably a myth then?

I was told that due to the nitroglycerin sweating on dynamite they'd handle back in the day, and seeping into their hands, Pioneers tended to have problems with shaking hands. They therefore tended to cut themselves shaving. There was a parade reviewed by Queen Victoria and she noted all the Assault Pioneers were cut up. When she learned why, she gave them a dispensation in perpetuity from shaving.

So ... myth/legend? Or true story?

 

[BDTyre]

With the Aussies, it's the Pioneer Sergeant who has the beard. I've heard the same holds true for the Brits.

When an Aussie Pioneer Sergeant is moved out of the Pioneer platoon, there is a battalion parade and the CO shaves off the Sergeant's beard in front of the entire battalion.