[Skladfin]

Originally Posted by Danke

Pioneers would do a few things, they were the Infantry's organic combat engineers.

You'd run the rubber boats crossing rivers, blow mortar pits with explosives, do all the NBCW testing and cleanup, lay and remove minefields, set claymores, tie lots of knots and work with ropes, fill lots of sandbags, set and remove booby traps, chop down trees and build bunkers with them, and other similar tasks.

You'd have a chainsaw, a carrier with a dozer blade, and lots of C-4. About the only piece of personal kit you'd have that was special was a crimper for setting blasting caps on det cord. It was a pretty good platoon to be in, a lot of hard work but maybe less bull. Put the crimper in your KFS carrier.

The traditional pioneer would to out way ahead of the main element with an axe or a pick and chop down trees to build bridges or clear other obstacles They did the real mountain man gig and were the blacksmiths too so shaving for daily parade wasn't required. The beard protects you from heat and slag.

At times the folks in the Pioneer platoon would also get to be regimental pioneers so they'd dress up in 1800s garb (leather apron and axe), wear a beard, and parade with the band or the colours.

Wow, that job description is so extremely stereotypically Canadian it's almost offensive. No wonder they got rid of Pioneers.