Pre-Cadpat Look
 

Hey guys,

I've got some older Canadian gear (OD's, '82 Webbing, Boots, M1 helmet w/ pre-woodland cover) and was thinking of honing in on a specific time period for my Canadian look. I've been trying to find answers on the net and ASC but it's rather limited when it comes to the Pre-Cadpat days. So here are my questions:

When were the "Robin Hood" caps worn? (Proper name? Patrol cap? Boonie Cap? Watch Cap? Quarpel Cap?) and when were they phased out? What were "Cat's eyes"?

When were the M1 helmets used with the camo covers? The woodland cover style was mid 80's and lasted til the early 90's, right? How about the pre-woodland cover M1's?

The C7 assault rifle was introduced in 1986, right? When did they bring out the C7A2 rifle and was that the first that had an adjustable stock? And when did the OD furniture come along?

Any other info you have would be appreciated too. And were the above mentioned head wear used during deployment? Or did they just wear Tilley Hats, UN headwear, and.. other?

Thanks,
Quincy

I'll help with what I can.

In my unit we called em bush caps or boonie caps.

Cats eyes, well there is an elastic material band that went around the outside of your helmet. when you put it on properly you had 2 small glow in the dark rectangles in the back so your buddies behind you could see them. Those were the Cats eyes. Typically guys got their hands on spare helmet elastics (whatever their proper name is) and would cut off the cats eyes to put some on the back of their boonie caps.

Although I'm sure you'll get good answers on ASC, joining http://army.ca/forums/ will get you even more as it's pretty much all CF guys on there as opposed to ASC.

Helmet bands is what they are called.

the bush hat was phased out for the U.S. wooodland bonnie just before cadpat came in !The woodland boonie was used in bosnia and Africa in the early 90,s . During peace keeping when I was in Cyprus 88,89 we wore the UN ball cap ,helmet and Blue beret!

When I joined in 86 the bush caps (as they were commonly known) were listed on clothing documents as "Field Cap, Quarpel" if that is any help.

The C-7 was in trials in 86. The first units to get them operationally were the ones that went to Iran/Iraq (UNIIMOG) and that wasn't until 88. Some reserve units still had the C-1 in 1989.

I don't know when they changed the helmet covers over to the woodland style. I had one of the earlier Vietnam era covers that was two-tone green on one side (spring and summer) and two-tone brown on the other (fall).

I hope that helps.

If you ever get into Winnipeg with spare time there are Regimental Museums at tow of the Armories. They've got lots of photos, & sometimes even dummies (no not officers) wearing the past uniforms and gear.

http://www.mts.net/~rwpgrif/Museum/MusMain.html

http://www.fortgarryhorse.ca/phpweb/...position=18:18

now I feel like an idiot for forgetting such a simple name. :banghead:

I vol. at a military museum in the Niagara Region they are good places to do reserch !

Thanks Guys. All good info here. I'll have to drop by those museums for a bit of research.

The C7 had the carry-handle upper receiver like its M16A2 couterpart;
C7A1 flat top railed upper receiver(like the M16A3) for the C79 scope;
C7A2 with flat top receiver, all the green furnishing, slither stock and C79A2 (Green as well and other minor mods) and tri-rail TRIAD I mount below the front sight.

The C7A2 was the first C7 to have a slither stock, and was issued with OD furninshing as part of the A2 upgrades. Not sure of the dates, but it's only a few years old (I had one issued to me for my tour in Afghanistan in 07, was issued for build-up training in early 07). Other rotos before mine had it.

More here: http://army.ca/wiki/index.php/C7A2


and plenty more info on the web...time and patience will be needed...unless you call up the people who where in charge of the mid-life upgrades ;)

A few things that were done the quarpel hat;
-Cats eyes sewn into the back, either the whole band, the 2" bit with the cats eyes, or just the cats eyes.
-Remove the ear flap.
-Crush the top of the hat, similar fashion to US Army Rangers and their patrol caps.
-Para cord chinstrap, pass the cord through the vent/eyelets on the top and tie it off.

Other headdress you could see before CADPAT were obviously berets and wool toques, aswell as for UN the blue ball cap and tilly hat. Helmet wise there was the M1 helmet with the woodland cover, or blue paint for the UN. The PASGT was issued for troops in Bosnia in the early 90's (the Gallet replaced it in the late 90's) although I can't remember it they had the blue covers or just blue paint.

Body armour-wise you could see CF pattern vests or the PASGT pattern, all of which opened at the front (the CF pattern came in two stages, the older of which had a seperate plate for the lower back. Overtop that, the webbing or 'jean-jacket' LBV was worn. The LBV was introduced in the early 90's to use with the C7.

Boots were either the good old MkIII's or USGI Jungle Boots.