Canadian military fur wedge cap

The Canadian military fur wedge cap, "envelope busby", or Astrakhan busby is a uniform hat worn by the Canadian military and RCMP. The outside of the cap is entirely covered in real (e.g. seal skin or Persian lamb) or synthetic fur and is shaped like a wedge. When not being worn the cap folds flat. The cap is about 8 inches (200 mm) high but is normally worn with the apex of the wedge shape depressed back into the interior of the cap to form a longitudinal trough at the crown, reducing the overall height. Often the cap is patterned such that the front of the crown will be slightly higher than the back. On one side of the military style fur wedge cap hangs a flat flap made of cloth or wool that extends from the crown to the bottom of the cap, known as the 'bag'. The colour of the 'bag' was determined by the regimental colours (e.g. the RCMP bag was yellow). The bag is very similar to that worn with the busby. Because of the cap's passing resemblance to the hussar busby author and researcher James J. Boulton dubbed it the envelope busby. Still, whatever influence the busby may have had on its design, the fur wedge cap pattern was "distinctly Canadian"

Canadian Armed Forces

The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF; French: Forces armées canadiennes, FAC), or Canadian Forces (CF) (French: les Forces canadiennes, FC), is the unified armed force of Canada, as constituted by the National Defence Act, which states: "The Canadian Forces are the armed forces of Her Majesty raised by Canada and consist of one Service called the Canadian Armed Forces."

This unified institution consists of sea, land, and air elements referred to as the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN), Canadian Army, and Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). Personnel may belong to either the Regular Force or the Reserve Force, which has four sub-components: the Primary Reserve, Supplementary Reserve, Cadet Organizations Administration and Training Service, and the Canadian Rangers. Under the National Defence Act, the Canadian Armed Forces are an entity separate and distinct from the Department of National Defence (the federal government department responsible for administration and formation of defence policy), which also exists as the civilian support system for the Forces.