Cap Badge - McGill University Officers Training Corps The McGill contingent of the Canadian Officers' Training Corps was established in 1912 to train students as militia officers. Its first commander was V.I. Smart, a McGill professor of railway mechanical engineering. The McGill COTC was formally connected with the 148th (McGill) Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, and associated with a number of other units. Initially only infantry training was given, but beginning with the Second World War, training was given in all arms of service.