Canadian Forces Converged Rainsuit Guide
As part of the Clothe The Soldier program the Canadian Forces have been issued the relatively new Converged CADPAT Rainsuit (CCR) manufactured from a Waterproof, Moisture Vapour Permeable (WMVP) membrane with static dissipative properties. The latter property is particularly important when working around POL and aircraft.
Consisting of a jacket and trousers, the interesting thing about the CCR is the “converged” element of the name. Utilizing the Air Force rainsuit as a baseline, CTS integrated design elements for ground combat forces in order to produce a joint garment.
Tags: Canada, Clothe The Soldier
It’s garbage. I’ve used both the Woodland and Desert versions, and neither are very waterproof or breathable. Instead of going to proper goretex, they used some knock-off version, and the rain suit is only acceptable because the version before it was basically a green garbage bag. Yet another waste of money that wasn’t properly trialed before purchase. ( I know the pers who did the trial and even they said it wasn’t a correct trial) Hence why Canada’s SF doesn’t use them, but instead uses other garments with almost the same fit and pockets, but in real goretex.
I agree 100% with you. It also doesn’t pack very well and takes up too much space in whatever you try to put it in. It seems like it was designed for garrison use, like most of the crap that they issue to us – oh wait – its the evolution of the Air Force designed rain gear!
I don’t understand why the CF doesn’t go to industry for help – I’m pretty sure Arc’teryx would love to be the official supplier to the Canadian Forces…
They tried that with the rucksack, BUT the CF said that anything they designed would be the intellectual property of DND and could never be used in a “Bill Ostrom” rucksack. He’s a nice guy who makes civilian canoeing packs- but not good military equipment. Even Gen Leslie said that the rucksack was a mistake.
Here’s what I meant-
They tried that with the rucksack, BUT the CF said that anything they designed would be the intellectual property of DND and could never be used in a civilian pattern, so Arcteryx told them no. Instead we have a “Bill Ostrom†rucksack. He’s a nice guy who makes civilian canoeing packs- but not good military equipment. Even Gen Leslie said that the rucksack was a mistake.
I have to disagree with the above opinions regarding the serviceability of this raingear. Having used it for the last three years in garrison, on field exercises and on deployment (TF 3-08, Kandahar) I’ve been extremely pleased with it. I don’t know a single person in my Regiment who has elected to purchase a goretex “stealth suit” since this was introduced.
The only complaint I have is the length of time it took to get this into production and distributed to the troops. As per usual for Clothe the Soldier (CTS), they seem to take an inordinate amount of time fielding anything. Case in point being the new Temperate Combat Boots. Those have been in development hell for over ten years! Maybe Soldier Systems should do a story on that … As a serving CF member I would be VERY interested in reading a story on that (if it included an interview with someone @ CTS), and it would scoop our propaganda organ “The Maple Leaf”….
Agree that the new ruck sucks donkey balls; I run a new production MOLLE 1964 pattern jump ruck instead.
– Instead of chest pockets we have pull-out reflective tabs for flightline visibility. That’s the problem with having a “converged” clothing system.
– The jacket and pants don’t pack very well.
It’s ok (barely) but definitely a step forward from the old rubberized rain gear and ICE Gore-tex jacket.
Obviously this doesn’t compare to a stealth suit jacket- those are INNER garments designed to be warn under a combat shirt. Even if they are worn on the outside- they don’t have pockets and are not in a camouflage pattern.
The packability of the rainsuit doesn’t concern me all that much, it is just made of a poor material. I have spent time working with US soldiers and wearing the old 3 colour “BDU” pattern ECWCS goretex jacket, as well as MEC and Arcteryx gear all of them are actual functional and waterproof. Guess why- if you look under the liner it is actually made of GORE-TEX not fake copy fabric.
I think a lot of the comments about the rainsuit being made of a knockoff material instead of proper gore-tex actually have some truth to them. I think the newest models (with velcro-covered, slanted arm pockets) are made of actual gore-tex but not the older models (like the one on the picture, with vertical pockets ‘sans’ velcro). I might be off but I know for a fact that the materials FEEL different.
Who cares. There are like 5 guys in the Canadian army. And the other 4 are out counting beavers or moose!
A hilarious and very original joke stefan.
No, the newest version of the jacket is not gore-tex, it’s the same crap as the old jacket, I’ve used 4 different versions and they are all garbage compared to most of the other stuff out there.