The Canadian Armed Forces widely uses colonels commandant as honorary appointments to act as advocates for members and to advise on relevant policy matters.
A colonel commandant travels widely to canvass the views of all ranks in the corps and frequently attends military policy conferences, ceremonies and unit celebrations.
[2] In 2001, the Canadian Forces Medical Branch canvassed past and present members for nominations to the role of colonel commandant.
In photographs where the officer is portrayed as the 'colonel commandant', the rank insignia of a brigadier affixed on a maroon/vine red background is used.
The post is found in all corps of the army as well as the Mechanized Infantry Regiment and the Sri Lanka National Guard.
In the British Army, the term colonel-commandant goes back at least to the American War of Independence, when it denoted an officer in command of a regiment.
They were both abolished from 1 June 1928, replaced by the appointment of brigadier (though the rank insignia – a crown over three "pips" or stars – remained the same).
[11] The Royal Marines adopted the appointment of brigadier-general to be held by its colonels commandant (then five in number) in 1913,[12] and dispensed with it again in 1921.
[16] In 1779, Hungarian-born Colonel Commandant Michael Kovats died leading the Continental Army cavalry against British troops at Charleston.
Colonel-Commandant was also used for Lloyd J. Beall, the commanding officer of the short-lived Confederate States Marine Corps during the American Civil War.