Canadian Rangers and the new rifle

In response to this report from the Ottawa Citizen:
Canadian Rangers to carry Winchesters after 60 years of bearing Enfield rifles

Amended to add: This article has been removed by the Ottawa Citizen. The article mentioned that the Federal procurement system had decided on a Winchester rifle for the Canadian Rangers.

It is my understanding that Defence Research and Development Canada did not submit the 'Human Factors Requirements Validation' report until the fall of 2010. I seriously doubt there has even been a request for proposals advertized yet. So, in short, I'd dissregard the Winchester reference. The officer was likely talking about the Winchester 94's the PCMR were issued during WW2 (or that the new calibre will be .308 Winchester) and the reporter got it wrong as the media often does.

Having been an active participant of one of the design requirements consultation meetings and reading the report there really isn't a stock sporting rifle out there that will meet the needs without some modification.

I'm hoping for a purpose built milspec rifle that contain a few modern sporting features NOT a sporting rifle adapted for milspec requirements.

Having said that, the only commercial action I could see being cost effective and possibly adopted would be the Remington Model 700 as it would meet most of the design criteria (with the exception of the 2-stage trigger and the ten round detachable magazine). Oops there I go hypothesyzing again

After numerous conversations with various people it has dawned on me that most folks don't entirely understand what Rangers are. That's OK - I get this a lot, and I'm only happy to talk about this stuff (obviously).

To boil things down... Basically Rangers are there for Domestic Operations in suport of the Military and for JTF Commander's situational awareness. Eyes and ears in remote and rural Canada my friends If you go the the CF Ranger National Website and read the Mission and Tasks statements of the Canadian Ranger you might get a better feel for what they do.

Sure, a Ranger could conceivably be attached to an infantry section to scout out and locate some evil nasty undesireables on Canadian soil. Could that section come under fire? I suppose so... But do Rangers need a platform specialized for combat purposes? Nope, the guys and gals in CADPAT (aka the 'Green Wieners' - a little Ranger slang for you) are there for that. When in uniform we literally glow in the dark. When not in uniform we're your average Joe - This is our camoflage - and there are a lot of us now. An extensive intelligence network.

When on FTX or deployments we're mainly 'overt' not 'covert' - in other words, in most situations we want to be seen and highly visible. The red sweaters can be a bit of a pain - especially on the 'Wet' coast where the cotton turns into a large sponge. They're not very field expedient by any stretch of the imagination but there is no sence complaining about it, you're issued what you're issued and you soldier on to the best of your ability. We have no 'Number One' uniform. The red sweater is it.

Rangers aren't combat soldiers but they're not civilians either - it can be confusing (even for us sometimes). You could call Rangers a Military hybrid if you will (for lack of better verbage).

Rangers salute officers, obey the chain of command, utilize NATO orders format, are bound by military law, they can be court martialled and judged by military tribunal. Rangers are members of the Canadian Armed Forces, carry CF identification and are the only branch of the CF that I know of that takes their CF issue weapon and ammunition home with them for storage (with maybe a few exceptions). With all of this in mind, again, we're not combat soldiers although many of us have extensive backgrounds as former combat soldiers, sailors and airforce personel. In other words most of us know when it's time to duck.

No need to guess what the new weapon platform will be, or even what it should be. When it's time they will let us know. Until then, keep your enfields clean and your ammo dry.

RC