That's a silly statement. It has nothing to do with our proximity to the US, or US influence in the CF. Soldiers of all nations will push the envelope with dress and deportment right up until they get jacked up for it. Same for vehicle grafitti and aircraft nose art. And in Kandahar, with an embroidery shop right on the base that will make anything you want, the imagination is the limit of what some of the troops are having made into patches. It's about minor morale boosts, not national influence.
Do you think that it was a US directive for the CF to officially add the sleeve pockets and velcro to the CADPAT(AR) shirts too? If that too is 'American influence', I'm thankful for it, as it should be done to the CADPAT(TW) shirts too... and some of us had wanted sleeve pockets and velcro removable insignia years ago.
