Rites of passage and group bonding in the Canadian Airborne

Armed Forces and Society

Volumn 25, Issue 3, 1999, Pages 429-457

  Winslow, Donna ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA   (Canada)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0033445575     PISSN: 0095327X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/0095327X9902500305     Document Type: Article

References (49)

1. E. Aronson, and Mills, J. "The Effect of Severity of Initiation on Liking For a Group," Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 59 (1959): 177-181.
2. Canadian soldier quoted in Harrison, D., and L. Laliberté, No Life Like It: Military Wives in Canada (Toronto: James Lorimer, 1994). 28.
3. See G. Aran, "Parachuting," American Journal of Sociology 80 (1974): 124-152; W.C. Cockerham, "Selective Socialization: Airborne Training as Status Passage," Journal of Political and Military Sociology 1 (1973): 215-229.
4. See G. Aran, "Parachuting," American Journal of Sociology 80 (1974): 124-152; W.C. Cockerham, "Selective Socialization: Airborne Training as Status Passage," Journal of Political and Military Sociology 1 (1973): 215-229.
5. W. Arkin and L.R. Dobrofsky, "Military Socialization and Masculinity," Journal of Social Issues 34 (1978): 163.
6. See Donna Winslow, "The Canadian Airborne in Somalia: A Socio-Cultural Inquiry." Study prepared for the Commission of Inquiry into the Deployment of Canadian Forces to Somalia. Ottawa: Public Works and Government Services, 1977.
7. I have chosen not to identify any officers since the initiation rites concerned only non-commissioned members, that is, corporals being initiated by master corporals who had gone through the initiation rite the previous year. The few officers who were present at the beginning of the initiation rites could be easily identified if we were to refer to them as "officer."
8. Canada's paratrooping history actually began in 1942, with the formation of the First Canadian Parachute Battalion, which became part of the British Sixth Airborne Division and fought with it in Northwest Europe during WWII. At the same time a joint Canadian-U.S. unit, the First Special Service Force, or Devil's Brigade, was formed. This unit fought mainly in Italy and Southern France. Disbanded in 1944, the paratroopers from the First Canadian Special Service Battalion became reinforcements for the First Canadian Parachute Battalion, which, in turn, was disbanded at the end of the war. Paratrooping was revived in the Canadian Forces (CF) in 1949 with the formation of the Mobile Strike Force. It consisted of battalions from three Canadian Army Regiments: The Royal Canadian Regiment (RCR), Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI), and the Royal 22e Régiment (R22eR) (Van Doos) plus support elements. This brigade was tasked with Canadian defense, particularly in the north. In 1958, the Mobile Strike Force was drastically reduced, but 10 years later, in 1968, it was revitalized and the Canadian Airborne Regiment (CAR) was born.
9. Col. P.G. Kenward, "The Way We Were: Canadian Airborne Regiment 1968-1995," mimeograph at Petawawa, Ontario, 1995, 1.
10. Ibid., 2
11. General Boyle, meeting with Judge Advocate General, Ottawa, 20 April 1995. Note that at the time General Boyle gave this presentation, he was a member of the General Staff. He subsequently went on to be the Chief of the Defense Staff.
12. When it was deployed to Somalia the unit had to be augmented with additional personnel (such as medics and engineers), so it became the Canadian Airborne Battle Group. The Commanding Officer of the Battle Group was the Commanding Officer of the Airborne Regiment.
13. The decision to disband the Canadian Airborne Regiment was taken on 23 January 1995, more than 19 months after the return of the troops from Somalia. The decision to disband followed the showing on television of two videos, one depicting a commando unit hazing ritual and the other filmed during the regiment's tour of duty in Somalia. In his press release, the Minister of Defense wrote: "[T]he incidents in Somalia last fall, which were subsequently investigated by the Chief of Defense Staff, and in combination with these two videos, demand action. I recognize that many changes in personnel and procedures in the Airborne have been made over the past year and that the people now serving are by and large dedicated professionals, however, I believe the problems of the regiment are systemic." Speaking notes for the Honorable David Collenette, P.C., MP, Minister of National Defence, Press Conference, 23 January 1995, 10-11.
14. J. S. Ott, The Organizational Culture Perspective (Chicago: Dorsey Press, 1995), 27.
15. L. Parmar, Society, Culture and Military System (Jaipur: Rawat Publications, 1994), 152.
16. The role of alcohol in other Airborne units has been described by Ambrose, S. E., Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne: From Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992), 19.
17. L.H. Ingraham, Boys in the Barracks. Observations on American Military Life (Philadelphia: Institute for the Study of Human Issues, 1985), 91.
18. Ibid., 1985, 113.
19. C.W. Hewson, Mobile Command Study: A Report on Disciplinary Infractions and Antisocial Behavior Within FMC with Particular Reference to the Special Service Force and the Canadian Airborne Regiment (Hewson Report)" Ottawa: Department of National Defense, September 1985. Annex H, 20.
20. See Ingraham, "Boys in the Barracks," 119.
21. United States War Department (1909). "Hazing at the United States Military Academy: Letter From the Secretary of War, Transmitting a Response to the Inquiry of the House in Relation to Hazing at the United States Military Academy" Washington, D.C.: G.P.O., 1909), 63.
22. E. Aronson and J. Mills, "The Effect of Severity of Initiation on Liking For a Group," Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 59 (1959): 157-158).
23. Perhaps the best example of how difficult it can be for those in authority to get to the bottom of what goes on in hazing is the case of Douglas MacArthur. When he was a "plebe" at West Point at the turn of the century, MacArthur found himself in a hazing controversy and was commanded to testify at a congressional court of inquiry following the death of a cadet in a hazing incident. MacArthur "steadfastly refused to name the upperclassmen who had hazed him, yet he tried to appease the select committee by giving them the names of several men who had already quit West Point for one reason or another." See H. Nuwer, Broken Pledges: The Deadly Rite of Hazing (Atlanta, GA: Longstreet Press, 1990) for details.
24. F.E. Jones, "The Socialisation of the Infantry Recruit," in Canadian Society: Sociological Perspectives, ed. B.R. Blishen et al. (Toronto: Macmillan of Canada, 1968), 167.
25. Annual hazing at the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Arts et des Metiers, a mechanical engineering school in Bordeaux, is called "Bizutage." It was conceived to establish a lifelong "esprit de corps" among students (students are forced to dunk their heads in dirty toilets, handle animal entrails and excrement, and strip and perform sexual acts). Second year students carry out the victimizing or are victims once again if they refuse. While school administrators argue that hazing is not mandatory, students say peer pressure and fear of retaliation make it an unavoidable rite of passage Marilyn August, Montreal Gazette, 12 December 1993.
26. H. Nuwer, Broken Pledges: The Deadly Rite of Hazing (Atlanta, GA: Longstreet Press, 1990), 201-202.
27. This tradition was also practiced by German paratroopers, who recognized different levels: bronze wings, novice; silver, advanced; gold, expert. The highlight of the German wings ceremony was "blood wings" - the sergeant major pinning the wings through the soldier's tunic into flesh. See Peter Worthington and Kyle Brown, Scapegoat. How the Army Betrayed Kyle Brown (Toronto: Seal Books, 1997), 51.
28. See A. W. McCoy, "Same Banana: Hazing and Honor at the Philippine Military Academy," The Journal of Asian Studies 54 (1995): 689-726; United States General Nuwer Broken Pledges Accounting Office, "DOD Service Academies: More Changes Needed to Eliminate Hazing." Report to Congressional Requesters, Washington, D.C.: The General Accounting Office.
29. Testimony of Colonel Holmes to the Commission of Inquiry into the Activities of the Canadian Airborne Battlegroup in Somalia, Vol. 4, 632-633.
30. Mircea Eliade, Rites and Symbols of Initiation: The Mysteries of Birth and Rebirth New York: Harper Torchbooks, 1965), 76.
31. Nuwer Broken Pledges, 116.
32. Roger M. Keesing, "Introduction," in Rituals of Manhood. Male Initiation in Papua New Guinea., ed. Gilbert Herdt (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1982), 8.
33. Arnold Van Gennep, Rites of Passage (Paris: E. Nourry, 1909).
34. R. Lopez-Reyes, Power and Immortality: Essays on Strategy, War Psychology, and War Control (New York: Exposition Press, 1971), 189.
35. Victor Turner, (1974) Dramas, Fields and Metaphors: Symbolic Action in Human Society (New York: Cornell University Press, 1974), 14.
36. Fadwa El Guindi, Religion in Culture (Dubuque, IA: WMC Brown Co., (1977), 40.
37. Testimony of Corporal Christopher Robin to the Commission of Inquiry into the Activities of the Canadian Airborne Battlegroup in Somalia," Volume 6.
38. P. Worthington, and K. Brown, Scapegoat, 56.
39. J. Alves, "Transgressions and Transformations: Initiation Rites Among Urban Portuguese Boys," American Anthropologist 95 (1993): 897.
40. R. R. Grinker and J.W. Spiegel, Men Under Stress Philadelphia: Blakiston, 1945), 123.
41. Corporal Prunelle, Testimony to the Commission of Inquiry into the Activities of the Canadian Airborne Battle Group in Somalia, Transcripts Vol. 35, 6822-6823.
42. M.S. Peck, People of the Lie: The Hope for Healing Human Evil (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1983), 219.
43. T.E. Ricks, "Separation Anxiety: 'New' Marines Illustrate Growing Gap Between Military and Society," The Wall Street Journal, 27 July 1995, A1, A4, 4.
44. Ambrose, Band of Brothers, 20.
45. See A. W. McCoy, "Same Banana: Hazing and Honor at the Philippine Military Academy," The Journal of Asian Studies 54 (1995): 695.
46. Edward Shils and Morris Janowitz, "Cohesion and Disintegration in the Wehrmacht in World War II," Public Opinion Quarterly 12 (1948): 280-315.
47. M. Janowitz, "Sociology and the Military Establishment (Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications, 1974), 9.
48. See Lt. Col. K.W.J. Wenek, "Behavioural and Psychological Dimensions of Recent Peacekeeping Missions," Forum: Journal of the Conference of Defence Associations Institute 8 (December 1993): 20.
49. Testimony of Corporal Robin to the Commission of Inquiry into the Activities of the Canadian Airborne Battlegroup in Somalia. Transcripts, Vol. 6, 1075.