# Comm Res being absorbed by the Army?? Yet again??



## Loachman (15 May 2007)

The Librarian said:
			
		

> ARAF (Air),



That's actually "Air Reserve Augmentation Flight", which are individual units and does not include units such as 400 Sqn and 438 ETAH etcetera, rather than the Air Reserve (or as I like to say, "Air Militia") proper.

Does the Comm Res still exist as a separate entity? What about medical reservists - another separate entity now? I've given up trying to keep up.


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## Sig_Des (15 May 2007)

Loachman said:
			
		

> Does the Comm Res still exist as a separate entity?



From what I hear, this is the last year in such. Back to the Army for Comm Res


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## Edward Campbell (15 May 2007)

Highjack alert!

I'm highjacking this thread for a bit of a history lesson.

In the army, in the '50s and '60s, Signals was a _poor relation_ in the militia.  Technology was changing and there was not enough money to equip and train militia signals units and people.  They were _poor relations_ and as they became less and less _able_ their status deteriorated further and further.

Enter _Chairman Lew_ Wylie, a signals colonel (then - he retired as a MGen) and a highly regarded/respected (by the combat arms generals) officer.  He was, at the time, in charge of the fixed/strategic communications network, which may or may not have been a _system_ or a _command_ - I'm old enough to be allowed to forget reorganizations which are older then 87.5% of army.ca members!  "Here's what I'll do for you," said Wylie to the army brass: "I'll take all your signals militia and make them into my own communications reserve.  These CommRes units will have almost enough equipment to support a militia area exercise and they will be able to borrow kit and regular force people from their parent strategic/fixed communication network units.  When you, in the regular army, need augmentation _(which was why, back in the '60s and '70s, the militia existed)_ I will send you trained regulars, from my units, and I will backfill my static units with reservists."

So was it written, so was it done!

The army was happy - we didn't really want the bother of managing the signals, anyway.  The former signals reservists seemed happy enough (and well enough trained when I had a bunch of ‘em in ‘81) - they still had jobs.

I suspect it is still prohibitively expensive to equip and train reserve signals units.  Maybe there's another _Chairman Lew_ Wylie out there - probably a captain or major now, who will rescue the signals reserve in 2022.


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## armyvern (15 May 2007)

E.R. Campbell said:
			
		

> Highjack alert!
> 
> I'm highjacking this thread for a bit of a history lesson.



No highjack required Edward, I'll just split this one off into it's own thread. If it was said again, and is to be done yet again, I'm sure that discussion will follow!!

Vern


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## willy (15 May 2007)

E.R. Campbell said:
			
		

> I suspect it is still prohibitively expensive to equip and train reserve signals units.  Maybe there's another _Chairman Lew_ Wylie out there - probably a captain or major now, who will rescue the signals reserve in 2022.



Well I for one am not  of the opinion that having the Comm Res separated from the Army is a good idea.

TCCCS is an excellent example of the reason we need to be part of the Army.  My understanding of the TCCCS fielding process is that the kit that was originally intended to go to 4 Bde ended up going in large part to the Militia, who had only been allocated minimal amounts of such kit up until 4 Bde was disbanded.  The Army owned the TCCCS project, so the Army decided where to send the kit, and the militia ended up with more kit during the re-org because they are part of the Army.

We aren't.  We didn't get included in the re-allocation plan, and as a result, every time I want to run an exercise, I have to beg, borrow and steal radio-equipped vehicles from other local units because we don't have enough.  

We've been sitting by ourselves in our own little corner for too long as far as I'm concerned, and I'm exceedingly happy that we will soon be playing with others.


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## smitty66 (15 May 2007)

+1 Willy
I've already stated my points on this a few months ago http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/57190.0.html so I won't waste everbody's time.
I think it will be a good thing after a few hiccups.
Cheers


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## Sig_Des (16 May 2007)

smitty66 said:
			
		

> +1 Willy
> I've already stated my points on this a few months ago http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/57190.0.html so I won't waste everbody's time.
> I think it will be a good thing after a few hiccups.
> Cheers



I KNEW we'd discussed this one before. Thanks once again, Smitty, for covering my ass. Like I've stated, I am also of the opinion that this is a great thing for the individuals soldiers and the Comm Res as a whole.


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