Over time, and a succession of chiefs of defence, the Airborne remained an object of conflicting concepts of operations, military structure and linguistic identity.

The original concept of the Airborne envisaged a rotation of young infantry soldiers and officers through its units, serving a maximum of two years.

It adopted all the symbols of a line regiment, including badges, colours, and history (creating a historical link with Canadian war-time parachute battalions).

This aborted the original operational purpose of the Airborne and, significantly, planted the seeds of an ongoing conflict of identity and loyalty within the Canadian infantry family.

Finally, in the face of recruiting and retention problems, as well as operational concerns, the Airborne was moved to CFB Petawawa in Ontario, where it remained until it was disbanded.

A tug-of-war thus started between advocates of an exclusive "airborne" identity versus Canada's other infantry regiments, whose support was needed to promote a flow of soldiers and, in particular, leaders.

This designation was a convenient mechanism for manning it from Canada's two English-speaking infantry regiments, allowing both to maintain NATO expertise.

The Canadian Airborne Regiment was ordered to be disbanded by the Minister of National Defence after the Somalia Affair on September 1, 1995.

The regiment was also placed on three-hour standby as a quick reaction force during the final day of the Oka Crisis during Operation Salon, but they were not called in.

[3] Prior to the standby order, the regiment had conducted training for six weeks for a possible deployment to the crisis after receiving authorization from Lieutenant-General Kent Foster.

[3] The Canadian Airborne Regiment's first overseas tour was to Cyprus in April 1974, viewed at the time as an ordinary peace-keeping task.

In the first phase, the 1er Commando consolidated its positions on the Green Line in Nicosia, while the rest of the regiment deployed rapidly from its base in Edmonton.

Meanwhile, the Airborne troops, with British support, took command of the international airport to deny further troop movement, then intervened with patrols to prevent escalation of the conflict, patrolling the buffer zone between the lines, assisting with the delivery of relief supplies to refugees and organizing exchanges of PoWs.

The Airborne lost two killed (Paras Berger and Perron of the Royal 22e Régiment) and 30 wounded, while also earning several significant decorations.

Since the Airborne was designed to deploy rapidly into "hot" situations, its 1, 2, and 3 Commando units, with attached support—a total of 900 soldiers—were sent to Somalia late in 1992.

The unit had recently been reduced to battalion size and was still in the throes of reorganization as well as the severe cut-backs by the government at the time.

In the wake of the Somalia affair a number of videos became public showing members of the regiment participating in brutal hazing rituals, and displaying white supremacist symbols.

By March, Canada had its elite battalion, which returned to England to join the 6th Airborne Division as a unit of the Britain's 3rd Parachute Brigade.

The battalion was perpetuated in the infantry commandos of The Canadian Airborne Regiment, whose colours carried the battle honours: Normandy Landing, Dives Crossing, The Rhine, and North-west Europe 1944–1945.

The First Special Service Force was a unique joint formation of Canadian and American troops assigned to perform sabotage operations in Europe in World War II.

Simply named "special forces" to conceal its "commando" or "ranger" purpose, this unit later gained fame as the "Devil's Brigade".

Next came explosives handling and demolition techniques, then a final phase consisted of skiing, rock climbing, adapting to cold weather, and operation of the Weasel combat vehicle.

The first deployment of FSSF to the Aleutian island of Kiska disappointed the troops when it was found that the Japanese forces expected there had already evacuated, but the exercise was considered good experience.

The force remained for three days, packing in supplies for defensive positions and fighting frostbite, then moved on to the second mountain, which was soon overtaken.

For the final advance on Rome, 1SSF was given the honour of being the lead force in the assault and became the first Allied unit to enter the "Eternal City".

This parachute role, was switched from one battalion to another within each of Canada's regular infantry regiments, as they rotated to and from Korea and, subsequently, to Europe.

When the role changed from one battalion to another, within each regiment, a small nucleus of specialized instructor-planners and riggers generally transferred over to the new battalion; however, the rest of the unit quickly undertook the requisite parachutist qualifications, generally with much enthusiasm; the requirement that parachutists be "volunteers" was rarely an issue in converting these tightly-knit infantry units.

(Unlike the CAR, save for regimental ceremonies, the CSOR does not parade in public owing to their role, nor are they part of the official precedence list.)