# New to CIC



## nbello (1 Nov 2019)

Hello, everyone

I am a newly enrolled OCdt in the CIC programme. What am I to expect? How is the pay? Is there any chance of moving up if I show hard work and resilience. Do Officers stay until retirement if so, is there a pension and does CIC help you pay for school? What is BOTC like? I appreciate any help you can me give as I tried searching these boards with no luck. 

Officer Out


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## DeweyDecimal (1 Nov 2019)

Your Commanding Officer should be your primary source of information for questions such as these.


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## koszo (1 Feb 2020)

nbello said:
			
		

> Hello, everyone
> 
> I am a newly enrolled OCdt in the CIC programme. What am I to expect? How is the pay? Is there any chance of moving up if I show hard work and resilience. Do Officers stay until retirement if so, is there a pension and does CIC help you pay for school? What is BOTC like? I appreciate any help you can me give as I tried searching these boards with no luck.
> 
> Officer Out



1. Expectations would depend on your unit's needs and what your position is.

2. Pay scale would be found here https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/services/benefits-military/pay-pension-benefits/pay/officers.html#officercadet1under Class A Reserve General Service officer. CIC get 25 paid days of unit service a year (unless you're the CO in which case you get 35). Courses and any additional service would be extra. Regular training nights would be claimed as half-days.

3. Depends.

4. Depends, apparently but I have no details, and as for school you get your paycheque and that's about it.

5. Not too sure but if you have a CCONet account you can view some basic information. Your Region-> Regional Cadet Instructor School -> and then in the file directory.

Hope this helps!


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## LittleBlackDevil (3 Feb 2020)

I, too, am wondering what BOTC is like for CIC ... having gone through the infantry version I am assuming it's a lot different, but searching through this forum I can't find anywhere that someone has described what it was like beyond the very basics that can be found on places like Wikipedia which say:



> The aim of the Basic Officer Training Course (BOTC) is to introduce course candidates to the military environment, teach basic military and leadership skills common to all CF officers, guide the development of officer-like qualities and provide opportunities to apply leadership. Phase 1 is delivered by four weeks of computer based distributed learning (DL) and on the job training that must be completed before moving on to the inhouse Phase 2 that involves eight days classroom training (10 days if Standard First Aid is included for those not qualified already). The BOTC Course content includes:
> 
> Adhere to CF Regulations and Values
> Lead Subordinates
> ...



I don't know if it is like the BOTC I did back in they day where it's what you'd expect from basic training: getting up at oh-dark-thirty for some intense PT, inspections and getting yelled at by Warrant Officers, struggling to stay awake during class, and spending the evening cleaning the heck out of the barracks, polishing boots, and ironing stuff? Or is it more easy going?

People will say "ask your CO" but at my unit the CO did her BOTC so many decades ago she can't offer much, and the only other officer is an OCdt who has not done his BOTC yet.

So I'm interested to see what comes up in this thread or, nbello, if you get your BOTC before I do, please share your experience!


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## sapperboysen (3 Feb 2020)

BOTC is a basic course to get people to function as a member of the CAF. Don't expect much about cadet specific topics though scenarios are often presented in the cadet context. You will do PT each morning. Depending on who your staff are, this may be staff lead or student lead. You will also have uniform and room inspections everyday. Typically your first inspection is a stand to inspection outside of your room. The course is mainly dedicated to practical training that wasn't covered during the distant education portion. You will have drill classes every day and classes on leadership. At the end of the course you will have a small party tasking assessed and you will have a drill assessment. You will also need to write a basic op order for the small party tasking and hand that in for marks. In the past a mess dinner was also done, but this was removed on the last course I taught on. We did a visit to a reg force mess instead. 

The course is typically taught by experienced CIC officers with an NCO teaching all the drill classes. How the course is run does vary between regions and most of my experience has been in Pacific.


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## daveptns (5 Feb 2020)

I'm new to the CIC as well. No previous military experience but I coach minor football. Im a volunteer right now but eventually may get into being enrolled... once i get the hang of things.
Thanks for any and all info, folks!


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## daftandbarmy (5 Feb 2020)

daveptns said:
			
		

> I'm new to the CIC as well. No previous military experience but I coach minor football. Im a volunteer right now but eventually may get into being enrolled... once i get the hang of things.
> Thanks for any and all info, folks!



Thank you for your (unpaid but enthusiastic) service. Seriously. We need alot more folks like you.


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## daveptns (6 Feb 2020)

daftandbarmy said:
			
		

> Thank you for your (unpaid but enthusiastic) service. Seriously. We need alot more folks like you.



I appreciate it! I thought to myself, as I had a bunch of free time, "what am I good at?". Coaching football kids for 2.5 months over the course of 12 years, I figured what a better way to spend my time than to focus time and energy on lending a hand developing young leaders! I'm having fun and learning a lot!


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## daftandbarmy (6 Feb 2020)

daveptns said:
			
		

> I appreciate it! I thought to myself, as I had a bunch of free time, "what am I good at?". Coaching football kids for 2.5 months over the course of 12 years, I figured what a better way to spend my time than to focus time and energy on lending a hand developing young leaders! I'm having fun and learning a lot!



And I bet that your corps will kick ass during inter-cadet corps football games.  

When I was ac adet we did stuff like that all the time. It was alot of fun.


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## LittleBlackDevil (16 Feb 2020)

Last weekend at the joint winter FTX for my corps and another nearby one, while the officers were sitting around chatting I asked them what the BOTC and occupational training is like. Pretty much what KIB described, although they said it will probably be a lot more "laid back" than the infantry officer phase training I did back in the day. It doesn't sound like it's a complete cake walk though. Depending on who is running the course, they described lots of people being reduced to tears on the course.

So I guess it's fairly standard fare when it comes to the inspections, being belittled and yelled at, and having your limits pushed. From my point of view that's a good thing. Sounds like it's probably a decent balance since there's certainly no need to go as far as on an infantry officer course in this regard given what CIC officers do.

@nbello -- have you been scheduled for your BOTC yet?

@daveptns -- Did you just start at the beginning of February? Are you starting to get settled a bit? What are they having you do with your corps? I myself started the week before Xmas. I had previous experience in the infantry so I've been able to settle in pretty quick. Just waiting impatiently right now for CFRC Hamilton to speak to my references and do my background check!


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## daveptns (17 Feb 2020)

LittleBlackDevil said:
			
		

> Last weekend at the joint winter FTX for my corps and another nearby one, while the officers were sitting around chatting I asked them what the BOTC and occupational training is like. Pretty much what KIB described, although they said it will probably be a lot more "laid back" than the infantry officer phase training I did back in the day. It doesn't sound like it's a complete cake walk though. Depending on who is running the course, they described lots of people being reduced to tears on the course.
> 
> So I guess it's fairly standard fare when it comes to the inspections, being belittled and yelled at, and having your limits pushed. From my point of view that's a good thing. Sounds like it's probably a decent balance since there's certainly no need to go as far as on an infantry officer course in this regard given what CIC officers do.
> 
> ...



I started in November. Getting settled in quite well. I've been at our marksmanship nights a whole bunch; that's been fun. I've been doing a bunch of learning, getting into things as I dont have a military background. The other staff has been helpful as well. We have two other volunteers on board. It's been a great time so far!


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## LittleBlackDevil (17 Feb 2020)

daveptns said:
			
		

> I started in November. Getting settled in quite well. I've been at our marksmanship nights a whole bunch; that's been fun. I've been doing a bunch of learning, getting into things as I dont have a military background. The other staff has been helpful as well. We have two other volunteers on board. It's been a great time so far!



That's great, glad to hear things are going well.


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