NCMs below the rank of warrant officer wear a trade badge on the sleeve of the DEU jacket.

The RCMS has its origins in the Dominion government's 1885 response to the North-West Rebellion, with the appointment of Canada's first Surgeon General, Doctor Darby Bergin of Cornwall, Ontario, and the mobilization of two field hospitals.

[2][page needed] It suffered significant budgetary cutbacks after the 1994 Broadbent Report following the end of the Cold War, with all six of its remaining military hospitals being closed.

The current colonel-in-chief is Princess Anne, Princess Royal (daughter of Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh) The Medical Officer Training Plan (MOTP) is a CAF programme under which the CAF "will pay successful recruits to complete a recognized Canadian university MD program.

Typically, candidates selected for this program attend university during the regular academic year and participate in additional military training during the summer months.

In turn the Canadian Forces Environmental Medicine Establishment is the military component of the Defence Research and Development Canada.

The training covers diverse topics including life support equipment and human factors, search and evasion as well as disorientation and night vision.