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Photo by Cplbeaudoin/Wikipedia

MultiCam is a patented brand — made by Crye Precision of New York and until recently the main camouflage for most U.S. army units — and is also used as a generic term for a single-purpose camouflage that theoretically works in all environments.

According to the July 11 briefing note signed by Vance’s senior staff officer, Lt.-Col. Geoffrey Mundy, and special adviser Col. Jamie Speiser-Blanchet and obtained by the National Post, Vance told personnel in Nova Scotia that the arid pattern CADPAT he saw on soldiers arriving in Mali (as part of Canada’s contribution to the United Nations stabilization force there) was so worn it will “likely have to be disposed of.”

Vance, the note said, wants to see the whole Canadian Forces adopt the special forces’ “MultiCam.”

In the meetings he had with groups of soldiers, aircrew and sailors in Nova Scotia, Vance apparently also outlined the Forces’ new policy on cannabis use.

“He explained to leadership the development of this policy had been an exercise in stripping bias,” the note said. “He pointed out that attempting to implement a blanket ban in the face of the new law (legalizing marijuana) would have been self-defeating and harmful…”

While Vance “firmly stated he would not allow legalized cannabis to alter the professionalism” of the Forces, he also said that if permitted under provincial laws, messes on bases potentially could sell cannabis.

Photo by Wikipedia

The plan for the uniforms, the note said, is that while the desert CADPAT — civilians would know it as the uniform Canadian soldiers wore during the 10-year mission to Afghanistan — would be tossed, temperate-climate CADPAT would be kept and issued to new soldiers during basic training. “They would transition to MultiCam” once they become operational.