# Forces.ca



## wle1 (26 Feb 2010)

Hi guys, is it just me or is forces.ca down most of the time. Everytime I go straight to the website by typing the URL in the address bar, I get a "this page cannot be displayed", but if I punch it into google search and click on a link that leads to somewhere in forces.ca it seems to work about 1 out of 10 times. I use internet explorer.

Right now I'm trying to apply to be an infantry soldier at my local reserves, and I'm trying to figure out what my other 2 choices would be on the application form.


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## EpicBeardedMan (26 Feb 2010)

Yeah the sites been down for a week or so now I've noticed. I'm sure if you needed help with picking a trade the guys on here wouldn't mind helping ya out.


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## Nfld Sapper (26 Feb 2010)

You do know the correct address is www.forces.ca right? not just forces.ca


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## wle1 (26 Feb 2010)

Yeah www.forces.ca, http://www.forces.ca.... Doesn't matter how I type it, it still doesn't work. 

But as far as other trades go... 

- I like being outside
- I like shooting guns
- I want to do this part time, just to get the hang of the military lifestyle. If I like it, I might become a full-time member
- I like moving around
- I finished grade 12, and have a certificate for automotive technician trade from BCIT
- I've been working all my life, except for 1 year @ BCIT and 1 semester at douglas college (for marketing)
- I like doing business (But since there are no "sales" type of jobs in the military, that's out of the question)
- I wouldn't mind going the air force or navy because I'm not picky

That's all I can think of ATM.


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## MARS (26 Feb 2010)

Both of your links just worked for me.


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## gcclarke (26 Feb 2010)

It works fine for me as well. Are you perhaps using a particularly antiquated version of Internet Explorer? I tried a few times using both IE 8 and Firefox 3.5.8.

As for your other question, check around at the other reserve units in your area and see if any of them seem to be doing something that you might like as well. From what you listed, it certainly seems like Infantry would probably be your best fit, but who knows, maybe Bos'n or Combat Engineer or something else might also pique your interest. Or you might end up deciding to just go ahead with only the one trade listed on your application.


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## Journeyman (26 Feb 2010)

wle1 said:
			
		

> - I wouldn't mind going the air force or navy because I'm not picky


 :rofl:      classic


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## wle1 (26 Feb 2010)

gcclarke said:
			
		

> It works fine for me as well. Are you perhaps using a particularly antiquated version of Internet Explorer? I tried a few times using both IE 8 and Firefox 3.5.8.
> 
> As for your other question, check around at the other reserve units in your area and see if any of them seem to be doing something that you might like as well. From what you listed, it certainly seems like Infantry would probably be your best fit, but who knows, maybe Bos'n or Combat Engineer or something else might also pique your interest. Or you might end up deciding to just go ahead with only the one trade listed on your application.



Yeah I am using the most updated IE and firefox.


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## nairna (1 Mar 2010)

Im having the same problem as well! Both in Chrome and IE 8, it is very annoying! I have reset my modem, my router, cleared my cache, all I could think of and it still is not working. I do not know what is wrong!?


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## MARS (1 Mar 2010)

Again, 

It worked for me just now at 1157 (Z +3) using both links provided above.


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## infantryian (1 Mar 2010)

The site goes down a fair bit I have noticed, but the original poster seems savvy enough that he can troubleshoot his internet connection when need be. Perhaps more advice on second and third trade choices would be helpful.


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## Franko (1 Mar 2010)

How ironic, someone comes on this _*unofficial*_ site to bitch and moan about the official site.

That made my day.

Regards


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## mellian (1 Mar 2010)

wle1 said:
			
		

> - I like doing business (But since there are no "sales" type of jobs in the military, that's out of the question)



You would be surprise. Skills gain from running a business and selling can be used in variety of occupations...selling an idea to an Officer or others, convince people of certain things, haggling and bartering with others, etc. Then there is logistics, maintaining supplies, and such. 

I remember these guys who can practically sell anything no matter how useless or worthless a may be for anyone, and then apply these skills to get better deals in restaurants and stores, get themselves out of a speeding ticket, and such. They are like Obi-wan, but without the hand waving.


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## Mike Bobbitt (1 Mar 2010)

We're certainly not without our service interruptions here, so I'm staying quiet...


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## HavocSteve (1 Mar 2010)

Helps if you have a Ferrari for a computer. I'm running dual core Intel Extreme with Cross-Fire ATI Radeon PRO video cards at 512mb along with 8gigs of DDR3 OZ Ram =\ Spent nearly 4grand on my computer but that's because I love online gaming (Counter-Strike Source and Battlefield 1942.. ect).

This site doesn't load up to slowly, and the official website is always up unless Firefox doesn't connect to the server itself. Which would be their problem on their side. 

Just remember, more RAM is like having a bigger brain. More you got, fast and smarter your computer becomes  :rage:


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## hamr37 (9 Mar 2010)

It has been a hit or miss to weather or not forces.ca would load. Ironically it is working for me this morning... Is it possible that they are working on updating the site? I am looking forward to see what is on demand this fiscal year.


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## George Wallace (9 Mar 2010)

hamr37 said:
			
		

> It has been a hit or miss to weather or not forces.ca would load. Ironically it is working for me this morning... Is it possible that they are working on updating the site? I am looking forward to see what is on demand this fiscal year.




Looking at the Weather Matrix for the location that has the forces.ca server, I can see that the weather is getting warmer, and that a mix of sun and clouds is in the forcast for the next five days, with less than a 30 per cent chance of precipitation.  I am not sure whether or not that is of any help to you, but thought I would pass it along just in case.


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## hamr37 (9 Mar 2010)

You have been a great deal of help. Thanks Mr. Wallace! You know, I could not for the life of me remember the proper spelling of "whether," so I decided to write down the closest thing to that. I knew someone would respond quickly to correct me, and I appreciate it. Now, the next time I have to write whether, I will remember it; and the next time you are writing about the forecast, you will remember that "e."



			
				George Wallace said:
			
		

> Looking at the Weather Matrix for the location that has the forces.ca server, I can see that the weather is getting warmer, and that a mix of sun and clouds is in the forcast for the next five days, with less than a 30 per cent chance of precipitation.  I am not sure whether or not that is of any help to you, but thought I would pass it along just in case.


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## hamr37 (9 Mar 2010)

P.S.
I'm not being disrespectful, I thought your post was pretty funny


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## greentoblue (9 Mar 2010)

wle1 said:
			
		

> Yeah www.forces.ca, http://www.forces.ca.... Doesn't matter how I type it, it still doesn't work.
> 
> But as far as other trades go...
> 
> ...



You can either join the Army Reserve in your civilian trade - Vehicle Tech or do something different like combat arms: infantry, armour, artillery, combat engineers.  If you like doing sales, with enough experience you can join your unit's recruiting team which is really marketing and human resources rolled into one.  A quick glance at the internet shows you have multiple options in the Vancouver area.  Unless you are deadset on a particular unit you might want to start with the unit that is closest to your home to see what they have to offer and then work your way through a process of elimination.


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## HavocSteve (15 Mar 2010)

Anyone notice anymore problems with the Forces website? It hasn't been working for myself for over a month or so now. My girlfriend just tonight was able to look up RMS Clerks for me on their website but I was unable to see the link she sent me  ???


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## Wilshire Blvd. (21 Mar 2010)

Forces.ca hasn't been working for me either.


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## fischer10 (21 Mar 2010)

Same, at the moment it is down for myself as well. Although it was back working yesterday as I was looking through to see if they updated the "In need jobs" but it looked like the same as before it went down.  :


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## Occam (21 Mar 2010)

I just checked it, and it seems to be working fine (both the main site, and recruiting).


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## Wilshire Blvd. (26 Mar 2010)

It's still down for me. I'm not very technical - is there anything I can do to fix this? I've cleared cookies, cache etc. Still nothing. Is it time for a new computer? :-\


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## Occam (26 Mar 2010)

Wilshire Blvd. said:
			
		

> It's still down for me. I'm not very technical - is there anything I can do to fix this? I've cleared cookies, cache etc. Still nothing. Is it time for a new computer? :-\



Does this link work?  http://131.137.250.121


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## Wilshire Blvd. (26 Mar 2010)

Occam said:
			
		

> Does this link work?  http://131.137.250.121



Occam, that link works. I can get into the 'National Defence and Canadian Forces' page from that link, but when I try to get into the recruiting page, an error that says 'The connection to the server was reset while the page was loading' is displayed. If I knew what that meant, I may be able to fix it on my own, haha.


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## cn (26 Mar 2010)

I run into this problem as well sometimes.  I do get the server error message occasionally but I just tried and got into the site just fine.  Hit and miss.


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## Occam (26 Mar 2010)

Wilshire Blvd. said:
			
		

> Occam, that link works. I can get into the 'National Defence and Canadian Forces' page from that link, but when I try to get into the recruiting page, an error that says 'The connection to the server was reset while the page was loading' is displayed. If I knew what that meant, I may be able to fix it on my own, haha.



It would appear that your DNS server is having issues.  Using the plain language "www.forces.gc.ca", you're not having any luck because you have to use DNS to resolve that to an IP address.  If you use a direct link (131.137.250.121) to the IP address like I gave you (removing the need for the DNS service), you're successful.  You're able to get to the Forces' main page, because it is on the same network as the IP address I gave you.  The Recruiting website is on a different network (208.85.114.196), so your computer has to consult DNS to find it - and it's not being successful.  

Just out of curiosity, what DNS addresses are you using? (follow the instructions here if you don't know how to find out using XP/Vista/Win 7).  Don't list any of the other information, such as your IP address.

Bear in mind that if the IP address listed points to your home router, then your router is probably configured with your DNS settings and you'd have to log into that to find out its DNS settings.  Also, what ISP are you using?

My ISP doesn't have very reliable DNS services, so I use OpenDNS.  There is a free service that you can register for, but truth be told you don't even need to register and can just use the DNS server addresses at the bottom right corner of the main page for OpenDNS, replacing the DNS addresses you're currently using.  I have those settings in my router, and I have all of my home network PCs pointing towards the router for DNS server information.


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## Wilshire Blvd. (27 Mar 2010)

Occam said:
			
		

> It would appear that your DNS server is having issues.  Using the plain language "www.forces.gc.ca", you're not having any luck because you have to use DNS to resolve that to an IP address.  If you use a direct link (131.137.250.121) to the IP address like I gave you (removing the need for the DNS service), you're successful.  You're able to get to the Forces' main page, because it is on the same network as the IP address I gave you.  The Recruiting website is on a different network (208.85.114.196), so your computer has to consult DNS to find it - and it's not being successful.
> 
> Just out of curiosity, what DNS addresses are you using? (follow the instructions here if you don't know how to find out using XP/Vista/Win 7).  Don't list any of the other information, such as your IP address.
> 
> ...



PM inbound.


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## Jonner3 (30 Mar 2010)

This is not a DNS issue, I have been having this issue on and off for the past few weeks. Same issue on multiple computers and multiple networks. 

The IP for forces.ca is 208.85.114.196 which I have verified on my local machine as well as online DNS tools. This is a server issue on the recruiting site, could be one server on the cluster having issues which is why it is random and/or only affecting certain people.

That being said it does work at times, and likely working at the recruiting centre so may have to go in and do everything in person. Stop trying to fix it, because it is NOT on user end.


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## Wilshire Blvd. (7 Apr 2010)

I'm up and running again.


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