Distinguish transitory forces from permanent forces?

Answer 1

Canada's professional standing army-confusingly named Permanent Active Militia until 1940, when it became the Canadian Army (Regular)-as well as its full-time navy and air force. The first regular army units date from 1871, when two artillery batteries were formed to man the guns in the fortresses at Quebec and Kingston and to provide training to the Non Permanent (part-time) Active Militia. Cavalry and infantry units were added in 1883, and other corps and branches (Engineers, Medical, Signals, Service Corps, etc.) from 1903, but the number of regulars remained very small (3,000, all ranks, in 1914) because Canada was content to rely on its volunteer part-time citizen soldiers and the British armed forces for defence. A full-time Royal Canadian Navy was created on 4May 1910, and a permanent Royal Canadian Air Force on 1April 1924, but, because there was no obvious direct threat to Canadian security and defence spending could be kept low, they too were small. Providing only a fraction of the million men and women who served during the Second World War (the permanent navy numbered 1,585 in 1939, the army 4,200, and the air force 2,200), Canada's regular sailors, soldiers, and airmen were nevertheless fully engaged in the fighting, and, because of their superior training and experience, regular officers dominated the wartime staff and high command structure of all three services.

The regular forces remained relatively small after the Second World War (40,000, all ranks), but after fighting broke out in Korea, and with the full flowering of the Cold War, in the 1950s they were vastly expanded to provide front-line defence and deterrence against the Soviet Union in Europe and North America. By 1962 the full-time RCN (21,500 strong) manned 50 modern warships, the Canadian Army (Regular) comprised 52,000, all ranks, and the RCAF (53,000) maintained 19 modern jet-fighter squadrons along with transport and maritime patrol units. Regular sailors, soldiers, and airmen also contributed to United Nations peacekeeping operations around the world, making it a Canadian specialty.

The separate navy, army, and air force disappeared when the Canadian Armed Forces were unified in 1968. Difficult economic times and a changing international situation have seen a continuous diminution of Canadian Forces regular force strength. By 2001 the permanent force establishment had shrunk to fewer than 60,000, all ranks, and peacekeeping (and other overseas) commitments were such that the regulars could no longer fulfill such tasks without the assistance of reservists.