Branch Dress Update: Midnight Blue Cummerbund
Reference:
Canadian Armed Forces Dress Instructions (A-DH-265-000/AG-001) – Annex B – Appendix 2 (page 189/250)
C&E Branch Members:
Consultation with the respective dress committees of each service element and research into the referenced dress manual has identified a uniform issue which must be rectified. The reference clearly indicates that C&E Branch members are to wear a BLUE Cummerbund (now clarified as MIDNIGHT BLUE) for all members of the Communications & Electronics Branch. This yields the greatest impact on Non-Commissioned Members as they wear cummerbunds on all DEU 2 Mess Dress iterations until they attain the rank or CWO (RCCS and RCAF Telecom Wing) or CPO1 (RCN Signals Intelligence Division).
Specifically, the dress manual clearly states in para 3 of page 189 that ‘All members … shall wear cummerbunds of the authorized colour for their branch …’.
Thus, the following change to cummerbunds shall be observed:
- RCCS NCMs up to MWO (and all ranks wearing the DEU 2A – Mess White) shall wear the MIDNIGHT BLUE Cummerbund;
- RCAF Telecom Wing NCMs up to MWO (and all ranks wearing the DEU 2A – Mess White) shall wear the MIDNIGHT BLUE Cummerbund or the RCAF Tartan Cummerbund; and
- RCN Sig Int Division NCMs up to CPO2 (and all ranks wearing the DEU 2A – Mess White) shall wear the MIDNIGHT BLUE Cummerbund. Only the Naval Operations Branch in the RCN may wear BLACK.
For those NCMs who attain the rank of CWO / CPO1, they modify their dress accoutrements to more closely resemble their commissioned officer counterparts (e.g. embellishments and accoutrements added to their dress such as gold braids, etc.). In addition …
- RCCS CWOs wear a BLACK Waistcoat;
- RCAF CWOs wear a WHITE Waistcoat; and
- RCN CPO1s wear a WHITE Waistcoat.
Note that General Officers and Canadian Army Colonels may wear the universal midnight blue (also known as Army Blue) cummerbund or a cummerbund of the distinctive colour of their former branch. This also applies to waistcoats: they may wear the universal midnight blue pattern or the colour of their former Corps / environment.
The Branch CWO – with concurrence by the C&E Branch NCM Advisory Committee (see link at https://cmcen-rcmce.ca/leadership/) – have permitted a 1+ year grace period to convert to the MIDNIGHT BLUE Cummerbund. That is, Branch members have until Friday, 01 October 2021 to update their cummerbund. This will allow members to have all dress requirements in order prior to the commencement of C&E Week 2021 and the Branch / Corps anniversary on the 24th of October.
The Branch Standing Orders (BSO) – both externally on CMCEN and internally (DWAN) on the Branch Adjutant’s SharePoint Site – have been modified to reflect this change and will be re-uploaded soon. Please see chapter 6 (Dress). A CMCEN post will confirm when the latest version of the BSO are available.
Questions or concerns may be brought to the attention of the Branch Chief – CWO Gilles Philibert – for deliberation.