Recruits No More: RMR Badging Ceremony Held on the Range

Soldiers being welcomed into the Regiment
Left to Right: HonCol Colin Robinson badging a soldier, LCol John Shone promoting a soldier to the rank of trained Private, and CWO Stephan Leroux congratulating the same for passing her course and joining our ranks. Photo credit: Sergeant Joseph David.

Westmount, Quebec – 30 August 2021: In a light rain that gave the near perfect conditions for a gentle version of “RMR weather”, The Royal Montreal Regiment held a traditional ceremony on the Farnham rifle range where 16 new RMR soldiers were officially badged into the Regiment and promoted to the rank of Private. The Honorary Colonel, Lieutenant-Colonel (ret’d) Colin Robinson, gave a brief history of the regimental cap badge and then individually replaced each soldier’s generic ‘cornflake’ (Canadian Armed Forces cap badge) with the RMR’s cap badge, telling each soldier “Welcome to the family, we are proud of you. Just remember to never dishonour this badge, for I assure you  that it will never dishonour you”.

The Commanding Officer (CO), Lieutenant-Colonel John Shone, accompanied by the Regimental Sergeant-Major, Chief Warrant Officer Stephan Leroux, subsequently promoted each Recruit to the rank of Private thus completing the journey of each person from civilian to trained Infantry soldier. The blank rank badges were replaced with the one hook of a trained Private.

Once the badging and promotions were complete, the CO gave orders for the newly badged soldiers to march from Depot Company (the recruit company) to join the ranks of ‘Bravo’ Company, the RMR’s operational rifle platoon. A casual observer could be forgiven for thinking  that the backs were a bit straighter and the arms swung a bit higher on the soldiers who now proudly wore their regiment’s cap badge for the very first time.

Honi Soit Qui Mal Y Pense.

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