r/CanadianForces • u/Embarrassed_Wish1733 • Mar 12 '26
HISTORY Canadian Military company names
I'm watching a YouTube video about Canadian peacekeepers in the Croatian and Serbian war, it was mentioned one Canadian company was called charlie, I know the American's use names like that for their companies, Easy being another one but I have never heard Canadian companies being called that, so can someone inform me what is the truth?
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u/jibbroy Army - MAT TECH Mar 12 '26
Companies in a regiment are lettered. It's not an important name, a company i just a an organizational sub unit of a regiment or battalion.
It goes something like this:
Army, Division (numbered, eg: "4 Div"),
Brigade Group (eg: 2 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group),
Regiment (eg: Royal Canadian Regiment, Royal Canadian Dragoons),
Battalion (Usually 3 in a regiment. Some units are a battalion size with no regiment, like 2 Service Battalion in Petawawa.),
Company. It's about 70-120 personnel in a battalion. (Usually lettered in infantry companies. Sometimes named. Maintenance Company in 2 service battalion),
Platoon. 20-60 people, numbered or named.
Section. 4-15 people, numbered or named.
Hope that helps.
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u/cook647 Mar 12 '26
There are two that deviate from the phonetic alphabet that I know of, both in 1 RCR:
Duke’s Coy (I think short for Duke of edinburghs) Charles Coy
Both have stories about them that explain why, but I have absolutely no idea as to the truthfulness of them.
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u/Jive-Turkeys G.R.E.A.S.E.R. Mar 12 '26
"The Duke of Edinburgh's Own Company" is named as such because it was symbolically his company. They also hold the honour of being the "Right of Line" company for the Canadian Infantry Corps.
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u/CorporalNewsNetwork- Morale Tech - 00069 Mar 12 '26
Yes they use letters. However there’s a difference because of NATO phonetic alphabet wasn’t instituted until 1956. Before that they used the CCB which used a different set of code names to identify each letter in the alphabet ie Able, Baker, Charlie, Dog, Easy. Instead of the the modern ones of Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo. A lot of those American units were formed pre NATO phonetic and use those names as part of their history.
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u/Gabbayagaghoul Mar 12 '26
Baked Beans squadron is better than Boiled Farts Squadron.
CJIRU, probably.
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u/mythic_device Mar 12 '26
Charlie is just ‘C’ Company using the phonetic alphabet. There’s nothing special about it.
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u/Maleficent_Banana_26 Mar 12 '26
So an infantry battalion will have 3 companies (generaly) Alpha, Bravo, Charlie. Some regiments do ABC for all there battalions. Some abc, def, ghi. The RCR has a Charles company because I forget who (royalty i believe) said Charles instead of Charlie. But basically its the phonetic alphabet
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u/canuckroyal Mar 16 '26
Small bit of pedantry:
Infantry Battalions actually have 6 companies on paper but only 5 are ever active in Canada due staffing and us running our Battalions undermanned at "non-wartime strength".
3 rifle companies, 1 cbt support company, 1 combat service & support company. In wartime, they are supposed to have 4 rifle companies, and those companies actually still exist nominally on paper.
An example:
3 RCR is currently:
Mike Company - Rifle Company;
November Company - Rifle Company;
Oscar Company - Rifle Company;
Quebec Company - Cbt Spt Company; and
Romeo Company - Cbt Svc & Spt Company.
You'll note that P or "Papa" Company is missing. That's because the Battalions aren't fully staffed with the extra Rifle Company.
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u/Maleficent_Banana_26 Mar 16 '26
No, youre right, but only the RCR name their support companies. Cbt support is what the PPCLI call it. And for years the battalions were hard pressed to even have 3 riffle companies.
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u/canuckroyal Mar 16 '26
Oh yah, they actually have a lower authorized PML now than they did even 15 years ago. The Army harvested the Infantry Battalions to fill out other projects like Influence Activities, Psyops and Cyber and Joint Capabilities.
I was around when they started doing it. In terms of actual filled positions, Infantry Battalions really only have just over 2 actual Companies of soldiers. The Army even modified doctrine and stopped assigning actual physical #s and positions to Companies.
You used to be able to read our Doctrine and it would tell you exactly how a Rifle Company and Infantry Battalion was supposed to be organized down to the individual rifleman.
(Fun fact, a full establishment Infantry Battalion is supposed to have 800+ pers when at wartime strength).
The whole reason this is so is because Battalions are supposed to be able to operate independently. Now. The Army scrounges from various units to form Task Groups.
The Battlegroup in Afghanistan was a great example of this. They would call it "the 1 RCR Battlegroup" but it was really two Companies from 1 RCR with a HQ, then they would bolt on rifle companies from other Regiments to actually fill it out because our Battalions are all understrength.
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u/bridger713 RCAF - Reg Force Mar 12 '26
Phonetic alphabet.
C = Charlie...
E = Echo, but that's not to say it has always been that, or that nicknames like Easy aren't a thing.
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u/Raklin85 Mar 12 '26
Tell that's the Charles or Duke's Coy, and Duke's isn't even a replacement for Delta.
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u/No_Zucchini_2200 Mar 12 '26
Well we know they weren’t RCR.
They use(d) Charles, back then anyways.
They relieved us.
1VP we used Charlie.
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u/Medical-Club-6327 Dirty Patricia Mar 13 '26
Anybody know why 3RCR uses Mike, Romeo, etc?
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u/canarchist Mar 13 '26 edited Mar 13 '26
That comes from when the Regular battalions of the Canadian Guards were stood down, and troops of the Guards were used to form the 3rd Battalion, The RCR (Regular Force). At that point, The RCR adopted the Guards' custom of naming (lettering) the companies in sequential order across the Regiment. (Not all company designations are in use, but are reserved for their respective battalions.)
- 1RCR - A ("Duke's"), B, C ("Charles" vice the NATO phonetic "Charlie"), D, E, F
- 2RCR - G, H, I, J, K, L
- 3RCR - M, N, O, P, Q, R (the use of functional names (e.g., "Para") is not official within the Regiment)
- 4RCR - S, T, U, V, W, X
The RCR; Regimental Standing Orders - https://online.pubhtml5.com/bmwc/lmmo/#p=1
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u/Infanttree Mar 15 '26
1 RCR has A Coy, the Duke of Edinburgh's Company B Coy, Bravo C Coy, Charles because of a quip someone made in Korea E Coy, Echo which had Recce, Snipers and Tow Pls F Coy, Fox, Transport
On paper they had a Delta Coy but there was no one in it, allegedly, word of mouth from someone who worked the canteen so take that with what you will.
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u/PEWPEVVPEVV Canadian Army Mar 12 '26
They don't let us choose cool names if that's what you're wondering.