Canadian Joint Operations Command (CJOC)

Recently I was contacted by one of the representatives of Canadian Department of National Defence (yes, this is how we spell “defense” here in Canada, so – deal with it) with a gentle reminder that I was falling behind on my Canadian military insignia. Which was true, and those of you who followed the story know exactly why. Those of you, who did not, can catch up here. Long story short – I was missing a brand-new and important command from my line-up – the Canadian Joint Operations Command (CJOC), to be exact. Well, the things you do to keep DND guys happy…  And here it is…

The Canadian Joint Operations Command (CJOC; French: Commandement des opérations interarmées du Canada or COIC) is one of the two unified commands of the Canadian Forces, the other one being the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command. CJOC was announced in May 2012 as the result of the cost-cutting measures in the 2012 federal budget through the merger of Canada Command, the Canadian Expeditionary Force Command and the Canadian Operational Support Command under an integrated command-and-control structure. The command was stood up on 5 October 2012 to officially replace the three former organizations.

The command team is composed of a three-star commander, assisted by three two-star deputy commanders, one for each of the three main components (Continental, Expeditionary, and Support). The team is rounded out by a one-star chief of staff and four senior non-commissioned members, an overall command chief warrant/petty officer, and a command chief warrant/petty officer for each component.

CJOC's role is to "anticipate and conduct Canadian Forces operations, and develop, generate and integrate joint force capabilities for operations."

The continental component consists of six regional joint task forces. In five of these JTFs, the commander also commands an army division or a maritime force. The five southern JTFs have no permanent operational units: units and detachments are temporarily assigned to them from the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army and Royal Canadian Air Force according to operational requirements.

[Oct.3, 2013 - Edited to add] However, the story did not end there. In fact, it had a pretty cool sequel. Today I have received a package from DND. The contents of the package have pleasantly surprised me, to say the least...  To drop the suspense, here is what I found in the aforementioned package:

The above information provided in part by Wikipedia, National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces website, Global Security, and other official websites of the corresponding formations.