Unofficial Rules of The Canadian Army Mailing List

Mike O'Leary posted the following "unofficial" rules for the Canadian Army Mailing List. They're so appropriate, it only makes sense to make them a permanent addition to the page.

(n.b. - These instructions are not to be confused with official instructions for the (Unofficial) Canadian Army Home Page Mailing List. They have been neither requested by, and may not be supported by, the majordomo or any other participant in the (Unofficial) Canadian Army Home Page Mailing List. Any attempts to follow these instructions are entirely at your own risk. The (Unofficial) Canadian Army Home Page Mailing List, and for that matter, The Regimental Rogue, accept no responsibility for flames generated by any actions taken in accordance with these instructions.)

    a.     A sense of humour,
    b.     The patience to wait 24 hours before responding to a post that really annoys you,
    c.     A spell-checker,
    d.     A grammar checker,
    e.     A thick skin, and
    f.      A readiness to give as good as you get (but, please, no thinly veiled personal insults unless you actually know the target).

There are a number of regular correspondents on the List and an undisclosed number of lurkers, some of whom brave the gauntlet to wave their colours occasionally. The regulars (not to be confused with the Regular Force although it does include a few of those) are occasionally opinionated and attempt to declare rights of ownership on the List traffic. Bear with them, their rants will trail off and they will settle down to reasoned discussion after a while. We do not know who all the lurkers are. Some may consider themselves important and attempt to create a feedback loop to the authorities. Remember, therefore, it is not what you say, but how you say it that matters. You can count coup against the hierarchy without insulting the peons in authority by name, position or relation of specific incidents.

There are a number of subjects that have been repeatedly whipped on this means, and the unaware FNG could unexpectedly throw him or herself in the minefield. When this happens, prod carefully until you get to a safe position, take cover from the ensuring barrage (for all obstacles are covered by fire), and wait for the shrapnel to stop falling before making your next bound.

The traffic on the List is irregular. Some days there is little or no traffic, others you will be inundated by a swarm of messages that leave you reeling and wondering why you joined. Be patient, learn to cull the traffic by subject line and scan for the messages you want to follow and perhaps participate in. With regard to subject lines, if you change the subject or context of the message, then change the subject line (that way you will catch the attention of folks that discard messages by subject when the subject doesnt interest them).

    a.     introduce thyself,
    b.     tell us of your military experiences (if any), you may find old friends or acquaintances, or someone looking for an opinion from someone of your experience,
    c.     tell us of your interests in the Canadian Army, you may find yourself among friends or even generate the precise discussion you are looking for,
    d.     take up a fire position, watch and shoot.

2. To allow the old guys holding up the ends of the bar a chance to assess you, you may wish to commit yourself now and provide a 25 word synopsis of your opinion of each (any or all) of the following. You may receive responses to some or all, on this List or privately, in varying degrees of politesse:

    a.     Unification,
    b.     Women in the Combat Arms,
    c.     Reserve Restructure,
    d.     Scott Taylor and Esprit de Corps,
    e.     The other prominent Military Analysts in the news of late,
    f.      The current usefulness of military messes,
    g.     Combat Arms Physical Fitness Standards,
    h.     Clothe the Soldier
    i.      The Armys trucks,
    j.      The disbandment of the Canadian Airborne Regiment,
    k.     The annoying arrogance of cavalry officers,
    l.      The unwillingness of the Artillery to admit that infantry mortarmen can conduct indirect fire,
    m.    The confusing differences between infantry battalions, of different or even similar regiment, and
    n.     The medias treatment of the CF.

4. There area few topics which should be considered inappropriate. Basically, if you wouldnt chat about it with your WO, CSM, RSM , Pl/Tp Comd, OC, Adjt or CO, then it may not belong here. (After all, they may be a lurker themselves, and cute net nicknames do not always hide the guilty when only a few people might have the details you think you are sharing in a hypothetical sense.) Some such topics include:

    a.     Your upcoming charge parade, because we only have one side of the story and we are not your Assisting Officer,
    b.     Pending harassment investigations, from either party,
    c.     Your opinions, discussion and questions about the appropriateness of actions of identifiable persons, and
    d.     Politics, especially when they diverge from a Canadian military nexus.

    a.     Specific inquiries will generate specific answers, general questions may be ignored because the answer to a ten word question may theoretically require a book, and were not here waiting to write you a book explaining What is military training like?,
    b.     Dont presume your opinion is 100% correct, similarly dont presume any particular response is either, you can always ask for references when specific data is quoted,
    c.     Dont ask us to write your term paper. Its your diploma or degree. You do the research. We may however, help you to identify good source material or be willing to chat privately as an official source,
    d.     If you have a particular fight to pick, or want to discuss something not in the interests or purposes of the List, take it off the List to a private exchange,
    e.     You joined the List of your own free will, we are all subjected to your posts as you are to everyone elses, so dont complain about the content when it doesnt interest you, and
    f.     When you want to leave the List, RTFI and follow them, do not just spam us until we beg the majordomo to completely restructure the List again just to dump all the extraneous users.

Welcome to the (Unofficial) Canadian Army Home Page Mailing List. The foregoing, of course, has been offered in the normally good-natured spirit of the List. We all hope you enjoy the repartee, which you will find crosses the normally constricting lines of Component (Reg vs. Res), rank (offr vs. NCM), trade and generation (retired vs. serving vs. recruit). Ask questions freely, but brace yourself for the response, which may vary from little (if no one knows or, frankly, cares) to a hell of a lot (when you pique their interest or piss them off). Everyone has an opinion, yours is only one of many, each has been developed based on different information and experiences so dont be surprised if someone has the piece of the puzzle you didnt know you were missing.

The Rules