• "Thousands of young officers have marched off its [RMC's] parade square and gone on to great achievements in politics, business and most importantly, on the battlefield"

• "A well-aged dankness in the Stone Frigate, the oldest dormitory at Kingston's Royal Military College, is reputed to be ideally suited to the cultivation of spiders, the common cold and a strong character. Residents of the 180-year-old former naval warehouse, which is separated from the other dorms by Parade Square, have long seen the ability to endure their barracks' inhospitable clime as a mark of fortitude."^[2]

• [RMC is] "one of the best of its class in the world . . . And the Americans themselves, I understand, say better than at West Point." In 1893 Clarke commented that RMC graduates were better than those from the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich.^[3]

• "You will be called upon to take your place in modern Canada and in the modern world.... You will also be called upon to lead...and a leader must stand for something. You must not only be aware of who you are. You must also be defined by what you do."

• "The role of the officer in modern war can only be properly discharged if they have education and standing in the community comparable to that of any of the other professions as well as high qualities of character and physique." In 1947, Claxton reopened RMC as a 3-service cadet college offering a 4-year academic program.

• "[T]his is an exercise in Nation Building: In the way that water transforms into ice by building around a single crystal, perhaps the new Canada could do worse than to build around the experiences and values of the new RMC."..."We educate those who pass through this place Royal Military College of Canada exactly so that they will fully understand and be a part of the culture they are called upon to defend."^[4]

• "I am confident that The RMC Battalion of Gentlemen Cadets, which will be re-born after this war is over will typify in the future all the best College tradition we have known in the past"

• the "spirit" of the Royal Military College of Canada's graduates, "no less than their military attainments, exercised a potent influence in fashioning a force which, in fighting efficiency, has never been excelled."

• Suggested, in 1816, the establishment of a Canadian military college in Trois-Rivières to unify the population, "to begin to work upon young minds of different... parties and persuasions" so "old prejudices would vanish not only among the students, but even among their relations, and a common interest would ensue"

• suggested, in an 1874 report to Governor-General Frederick Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 1st Marquess of Dufferin and Ava, the establishment of three permanent officer training schools (Halifax, Nova Scotia Quebec, Quebec Saint John, New Brunswick) to serve all arms "the great contribution West Point had made could be duplicated in Canada by a similar institution in which officers of all arms would be trained together".

• "A degree from the Royal Military College is a living testament to the value of service and dedication."

• "RMC has a proud history of excellence and is fundamental in training future leaders of the Canadian Forces,"

• "Overall, the training that I was involved in since graduating from RMC prepared me very well for my tour in Afghanistan. I found myself constantly relying on the basic principles of leadership. Leading by example was by far the most important aspect."

• "...the Royal Military College where the Veterans of the future are being schooled in our military history and are being prepared to make history themselves." 17 October 2005^[6]

• "The professionalism of the Canadian Forces is, in large part, founded on learning and knowledge. The Canadian Defence Academy, the Military and Staff Colleges and the Royal Military College of Canada, all play a critical role in creating and ensuring knowledge in the defence community."^[7]

• "[At] the Royal Military College where a bulk of our new officers start their career, start their education, we have 200 spots open for August [2007]. We have 1,500 people who have applied and completed the application process to go to those 200 spots. That is a 7½ to one ratio and we get the opportunity to select the very best from it. As a result, our quality of applicants and the quality of the recruits, the level of fitness and the imagination and the success in completing the courses has skyrocketed in a way that we couldn't even dream about before." 2007 Speech at the National Managers' Forum^[8]

• "...RMC never taught me how to lead a platoon attack or conduct a Shurah with local Afghan elders, but it has taught me three vital ideas that all officers should adhere to. Truth means leading soldiers from the front and being honest to them at all times. Duty means being there at the front when the bullets start flying because the private soldier that I have just told to assault an enemy position needs to know that I am committed to achieving the mission with him. Valour means taking the difficult orders and making them my own, in spite of the fear of the unknown or the chances that we are taking." Veritas article July 2007, p38^[9]

• "[Canada's Royal Military College of Canada at] Kingston, ..., is pure British imperial. ... Watching cadets parade there, I saw them perform a drill movement I knew only from sepia Victorian photographs – it has long been abolished in Britain – while I listened to a running stream of criticism from a sergeant in bottleglass-brilliant boots of their minor imperfections in marching. He hated, he told me after the parade, the adoption by Canada's army of the naval salute – 'the wave, I call it' – he hated the universal green uniform, he hated the use of common ranks – 'How can the captain of a ship be a colonel?' – he hated the disappearance of polished brass – the metal of his pacestick glittered with burnishing – he hated rubber soles, non-iron shirts, nylon uniforms and being mistaken by civilians for an airman. Kipling and he would have got on like a house on fire: 'Ship me somewheres east of Suez, where ... a man can raise a thirst' were almost the next words I expected to hear at the crescendo of his relentless tirade. Spiritually he belonged with the Royal Canadians who had gone to fight the Boers for Queen Victoria; his cadets were unlikely to be allowed to forget that her great-great-granddaughter was Queen of Canada or that he had learnt his drill at the depot of her Foot Guards.' -^[10]

• "...I have a manservant .. Quite a nobby place it is, in fact .. My windows look right out across the bay, and are just near the water's edge; there is a good deal of shipping at present in the port; and the river looks very pretty.’ letter while on an Artilleryman course^[11]

• Letter to Governor-General Dufferin, in 1878 "This belief led me to propose the establishment of a Military College modelled on existing similar institutions in England and the United States, with the expectation that when the first batch of Graduates were leaving the College. Means would be found to employ the Graduates in the Canadian Military Service"

• "I have always remembered with pride that I was a graduate of the RMC. What I learned there carried me through many dangers and difficulties and I wish to record here my gratitude to all who taught me and with whom I served at the RMC, Canada."

• "The Royal Military College is a higher education institution that plays an essential role for the Canadian Forces and for our country ... Throughout the ranks, the leadership of the Canadian Forces is smart, flexible and adaptive. And a good deal of the credit for this should go to the Royal Military College ... This is a vital national institution. Here, today, much of tomorrow's military leadership is being forged ... RMC will continue to provide the professional development that the CF needs to successfully face the challenges that surely lay ahead."^[12]

• "RMC, which is only nine years younger than Confederation, has been a powerful factor in the growth and security of the country"

• "there are very few institutions of a similar character equal to it [Royal Military College of Canada at Kingston] in Europe and none that are better."

• The motto of the Royal Military College is (as you well know), "Truth, Duty, Valour". Your admission to the ranks of this institution, whether it occurred this year or two decades ago, as cadets or as staff, presupposes that you are already possessed of these qualities. That having been said, there is always room for improvement, and the college's role in this regard is to inculcate in its cadets a sense of integrity, responsibility, self-discipline, teamwork, and leadership.^[14]

• "We have a lot to be proud of and the graduates are making a tremendous contribution to Canadian society. We need to tell this story again and again. We need to make sure the graduates who have reached levels of prestige are recognized."
• "RMC makes engineers literate and artsmen numerate."^[15]

• "RMC is one of the best military colleges in the world, and it takes motivation and discipline to succeed here."

• "I’m very proud of these young men and women. They put in months of rigorous training on top of an already demanding schedule, and today, their dedication, fitness and teamwork paid off"

• "The supreme test of a military college is the success of its graduates in war ... There were some who believed that the stronger academic program must inevitably have weakened the old military spirit and efficiency. But the success of the graduates who went directly to Korea quickly disabused them."

• 1872 petition recommended the military college for Kingston "remarkable healthfulness...not without historical fame in the annals of the country which would render it the more proper site for a military college"

• "Like its counterparts Sandhurst in the U.K, West Point in the U.S. and l'École militaire in France, Canada's Royal Military College is the school of choice for many of this country's future military leaders."

• "I regard the Canadian Military College as one of the best of its class in the world. The training and results are in every way of a high order, and the Americans themselves, I understand, say better than at West Point."

• "... The College must also promote a common vision of the profession of arms, the common military ethos underpinning leadership in the CF and the increasingly joint nature of all foreseeable operations."

• By 1900, hardly a Canadian "bridge, road, or railway line was built without the assistance of an engineering graduate of RMC."^[16]

Kate Armstrong, CD

OBE in 1942 for his bravery during World War II while serving with the besieged forces in Singapore; spent 31⁄2 years in a Japanese POW camp; owned a Gothic Revival stone mansion named Ker Cavan c. 1850 in Guelph, Ontario as a summer home 1945–48; listed on the Guelph Collegiate Vocational Institute Wall of Fame

• First woman commandant

• Special Staff Assistance Visit – Report on the Climate, Training Environment, Culture and ROTP Programme at the Royal Military College of Canada

• In 2012, the Commandant's office was filled with balloons in a college skylark.

• initiated a new "Walkout Dress", dictating what officer cadets can and cannot wear on leaving the college grounds

• initiated new structure: Four divisions and 13 squadrons for the cadet wing, and Otter squadron.
• Removed Sgts from within the Squadrons but added WOs at the Division level.
• initiated new uniforms

• Changed the dress of the day from the traditional 'college dress' to the not-so-traditional CF uniform.
• initiated the 'live out project' which saw 4th year cadets move off campus to gain more life experience before heading to their first unit.

• Scaled back RMC sport program
• Changed RMC Redmen logo to the crown and arm of RMC.
• said, "RMC makes engineers literate and artsmen numerate."
• implemented a program of community and high school visits
• launched the Army Technical Warrant Officers' Program (ATWOP), the RMC's first-ever major academic program designed exclusively for non-commissioned members not pursuing an officer career path.

• Member, Gifting committee, Royal Military Colleges Club Foundation

• He has served as commandant of both the RMC (1994–1997) and le Collège militaire royal de Saint-Jean (1992–1994).
• RRMC and CMR closed in 1995.
• Because of a large induction of francophone students from CMR, RMC was transformed into a bilingual university
• The sport teams were renamed RMC Paladins from RMC Redmen to reflect a bilingual and coed institution.
• He has served on RMC Board of Governors (2006–present).

• Later became Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) (1996)

• RMC is first and foremost a place of academic learning, set in a military environment
• higher education and college degrees were more significant to the success of the officer corps in the military
• Football was dropped as a varsity sport

• Women were admitted to RMC
• Visit by Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, 21 May 1980
• RMC became co-educational in 1980.
• Novice boxing was dropped in 1980

• Later became Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) (1989–93, 1994–95)
• Later became Canadian ambassador to the US (1993–94)

• The Cadet Wing paraded on Parliament Hill to celebrate the college's centennial
• BGen Turner, colonel commandant of The Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery 1 September 1979 – 31 August 1986 provided the W.W. Turner trophy for the Ottawa Gunners to present to the best third-year artillery cadet at the RMC. The trophy is in Observation Post de Hart (Op de Hart) – Home of the Ottawa Gunners, 2nd floor of the Army Officers Mess in Ottawa.^[84]

• Lake Lye (near Williams Lake, British Columbia is named in BGen (Ret) William Kirby Lye's honour.
• cadets were permitted to marry, with the permission of the commandant.
• RMC was a military institution within an academic environment.

• 4th-year cadets are permitted to wear civilian attire out on leave
• The Cadet Wing paraded on Parliament Hill to celebrate Canada's centennial

• Commodore Piers participated in the invasion in France during World War II.
• RMC became a degree-granting institution in 1959.
• Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip visit 1959

• Air Vice-Marshal (ret`d) Douglas Bradshaw was the first president of Confederation College of Applied Arts and Technology from 6 March 1967, to 1974.

• The New One Hundred Opening Ceremonies 20 September 1948
• The Old Brigade, for alumni celebrating 50 years since they entered one of the military Colleges, was inaugurated by Agnew in 1950.
• Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip visit 12 October 1951
• The Collège militaire royal de Saint-Jean was founded in 1952
• Pipes and Drums founded 1953

• first postwar Staff Course held June 1946 to June 1947
• Barriefield Military School Board, first in the Canadian Army, teaches children of personnel
• Barriefield complex provides housing for 13 married officer students & families.^[86]

• He was member of a subcommittee of the RMC Club which urged the reopening of the college.
• He served as president of the RMC Club of Canada in 1946.

• The last class graduated in 1942
• RRMC in British Columbia founded in 1942.

• Commandant of RMC when war broke out in 1939. Crerar commanded the First Canadian Army from 1944 to 1945.

RMC closed as a cadet college during World War II.

• Crerar served as a field commander of First Canadian Army in World War II, 1944 to 1945 and after retirement, served as a diplomat and Privy Councillor.

• first Canadian commandant,
• assembled a Canadian military staff,
• Professional associations & universities negotiate to accept RMC graduates
• authorized publication of RMC biannual review (alumni magazine)

• Assembled RMC museum artefacts

• Assembled RMC museum artefacts

• Every cadet who did not enter the British army or the Canadian Permanent Force on graduation (1910) was required to become attached to the Militia within 2 years of leaving the college and to attend two militia camps
• Reported in 1910 that for the first time, every RMC graduate took a commission.

• First Canadian commandant of RMC (as member of British military)
• introduced ice hockey to Kingston as an RMC student in 1877
• competitive entrance examination, with half-yearly examinations
• 3-year curriculum: civil engineering, civil & hydrographic surveying, physics, chemistry, French, English, gymnastic drills and outdoor exercises of all kinds
• five imperial army commissions awarded annually
• $750–$1,000 cost included board, uniform, materials and extras

• replaced British civilian staff with British military personnel,
• tightened discipline, emphasised military training, cut the curriculum to three years
• appointed Military Attache of the British Embassy in Washington in November 1900
• later Major General Sir Gerald C. Kitson ADC; Commandant of Sandhurst

• Then commandant, recommended international pigeon post, which provided messenger service from 1891 to 1895 for marine search and rescue and military

• Oliver Rock, Sudbury, Ontario was named in his honour^[91]

• first Commandant of the Military College in Canada, member of Royal Engineers,
• chose motto, Truth, Duty, Valour
• assembled a British civilian staff,
• organized a 4-year curriculum,
• prepared site for use as a college
• Hewett Shoal, Sudbury, Ontario, was named in his honour 46°4′23″ North 82°4′14″ West

^[91]

• character in opera Leo, the Royal Cadet by Oscar Ferdinand Telgmann was named in his honour.

Sue Wigg