Reserve Infantry DP1 part-time

[KnightShift]

Hello Everyone,

I'm currently doing a weekend BMQ in Ontario and have been told that Infantry DP1 can be done part time as well. I'm wondering if anyone has done it recently and can provide any info about course structure/length etc. Specifically I'm curious about how many weekends it takes to complete and if there are any longer training periods (for field ex's etc.) that are involved. If all goes well I'm hoping to be on a part time DP1 next fall.

Thanks!

 

[NavyShooter]

Trg Coy CSM for a PRes Infantry unit here.

I had a soldier a couple of years ago who was looking for a weekend based DP1 Infantry Course - we looked across the country to see if there was one being run. At that time, 39 Brigade was running a Weekend DP1 module 1 course, but the Mod 2 had to be done during the summer. We could not send him out west, and his full time job precluded him taking summers off to train. He ended up releasing, and unfortunately we lost a good soldier.

Since that time, the DP1 has been changed to the RQ INF PTE course, and there is no longer a Module 1 and Module 2 that can be done separately.

I think there are 37 Training days required, and there is no way that such a course could be run over the non-summer period by a unit.

That would require 17 weekends. It's hard enough for troops to commit to a 10 or 11 weekend BMQ.

Since the switch to the RQ INF PTE course, I have not seen any sign of these courses being run on weekends.

Also. There is no appetite to have PRes troops attend RegF Battle School for training during the winter months - I tried that too.

I will suggest you line yourself up to attend the RQ INF PTE course next summer.

Best regards.

 

[KnightShift]

Trg Coy CSM for a PRes Infantry unit here.

I had a soldier a couple of years ago who was looking for a weekend based DP1 Infantry Course - we looked across the country to see if there was one being run. At that time, 39 Brigade was running a Weekend DP1 module 1 course, but the Mod 2 had to be done during the summer. We could not send him out west, and his full time job precluded him taking summers off to train. He ended up releasing, and unfortunately we lost a good soldier.

Since that time, the DP1 has been changed to the RQ INF PTE course, and there is no longer a Module 1 and Module 2 that can be done separately.

I think there are 37 Training days required, and there is no way that such a course could be run over the non-summer period by a unit.

That would require 17 weekends. It's hard enough for troops to commit to a 10 or 11 weekend BMQ.

Since the switch to the RQ INF PTE course, I have not seen any sign of these courses being run on weekends.

Also. There is no appetite to have PRes troops attend RegF Battle School for training during the winter months - I tried that too.

I will suggest you line yourself up to attend the RQ INF PTE course next summer.

Best regards.

Thanks NavyShooter, appreciate the info!

 

[daftandbarmy]

Trg Coy CSM for a PRes Infantry unit here.

I had a soldier a couple of years ago who was looking for a weekend based DP1 Infantry Course - we looked across the country to see if there was one being run. At that time, 39 Brigade was running a Weekend DP1 module 1 course, but the Mod 2 had to be done during the summer. We could not send him out west, and his full time job precluded him taking summers off to train. He ended up releasing, and unfortunately we lost a good soldier.

Since that time, the DP1 has been changed to the RQ INF PTE course, and there is no longer a Module 1 and Module 2 that can be done separately.

I think there are 37 Training days required, and there is no way that such a course could be run over the non-summer period by a unit.

That would require 17 weekends. It's hard enough for troops to commit to a 10 or 11 weekend BMQ.

Since the switch to the RQ INF PTE course, I have not seen any sign of these courses being run on weekends.

Also. There is no appetite to have PRes troops attend RegF Battle School for training during the winter months - I tried that too.

I will suggest you line yourself up to attend the RQ INF PTE course next summer.

Best regards.

IOW they're trying to decimate the Reserves, right?

 

[brihard]

IOW they're trying to decimate the Reserves, right?

How do you figure? BMQ followed by eight weeks of full time training for SQ/DP1 full time in the summer was the norm for years and years and worked fine. Some potential recruits can’t swing full time summer training for two months- ok, sucks, but so be it. Most recruits can, so focus on delivering the best training that can be achieved in those two months. Expecting a one size fits all is unrealistic. PRes DP1 will continue up to be build around the availability of full time students.

 

[daftandbarmy]

How do you figure? BMQ followed by eight weeks of full time training for SQ/DP1 full time in the summer was the norm for years and years and worked fine. Some potential recruits can’t swing full time summer training for two months- ok, sucks, but so be it. Most recruits can, so focus on delivering the best training that can be achieved in those two months. Expecting a one size fits all is unrealistic. PRes DP1 will continue up to be build around the availability of full time students.

Diversifying options for recruit training is a great way to ensure the maximum number of people can enter the ARes, and running local weekend courses has helped build that resilience, especially for people with jobs vs. full time students.

No surprise, some of my more capable and longer serving NCOs came through that pathway.

'Tough sheisse buddy, sucks to be you with a real job over there' isn't a great way to build the bench strength of a citizen army in the long term ...

 

[NavyShooter]

The impact of this is minimal for a University Student who's got a full 4 months to devote to the Army - they can do BMQ in May/June, then roll straight into a DP1 and be fully qualified in a single summer.

For a High School student, if they're only able to commit to 2 months (Jul/Aug) then in their first year, they get BMQ, then their second summer they do DP1.

Alternatively, a HS Student can do a weekend BMQ through the winter months and go onto DP1 in Jul/Aug.

 

[brihard]

Diversifying options for recruit training is a great way to ensure the maximum number of people can enter the ARes, and running local weekend courses has helped build that resilience, especially for people with jobs vs. full time students.

No surprise, some of my more capable and longer serving NCOs came through that pathway.

'Tough sheisse buddy, sucks to be you with a real job over there' isn't a great way to build the bench strength of a citizen army in the long term ...

In an ideal world without any of the constraints CAF faces, sure, a part time DP1 on weekends over the year with, say, a final week long field phase/graduation would help to expand the recruiting pool a bit. For what would go into doing it, I’m not sure how much the juice would be worth the squeeze.

There would be the opportunity cost of not having those instructors for other weekend courses to expand the skills of already trained troops. I would be concerned that - anecdotal successes notwithstanding - a part time DP1 running ever second weekend might not really cement the skills and knowledge the troops need to have by the end of it, and a lot of time would be burned reviewing stuff they barely remember from two weekends ago. I would be concerned about greater attrition from troops who, partway into a school year’s worth of lost odd weekends, decide it’s not for them and just drop it. And they would absolutely still need a week long field phase that would necessitate that continuous week of work.

If CAF decides it needs a lot more reservists, than at an institutional level they can dedicate full time resources to running more DP1s, including looking at whether demand exists to run the odd nationally-loaded course outside of the conventional summer months. When I was ops and training at my unit, there were never enough BMQ and DP1 spots, and I absolutely could have send some recruits cross country during the fall/winter/spring for courses.

Of course this all just goes to the much larger subject of how poorly the PRes seems to tap into existing recruiting pools and how units in major urban centers are artificially constrained from growing to their potential.

 

[Brasidas]

The impact of this is minimal for a University Student who's got a full 4 months to devote to the Army - they can do BMQ in May/June, then roll straight into a DP1 and be fully qualified in a single summer.

For a High School student, if they're only able to commit to 2 months (Jul/Aug) then in their first year, they get BMQ, then their second summer they do DP1.

Alternatively, a HS Student can do a weekend BMQ through the winter months and go onto DP1 in Jul/Aug.

What about a non-student?

If you can't run a mod 1 during the training year because of a shortage of qualified staff or other priorities, so be it. You can run every mod during the summer, regardless of when, where, or how you do so.

Requiring all courses to run a continuous 8 weeks regardless of local units' ability to support cuts brigades' ability to bring in anyone who can't fit all of that time in at once.

If the financial taps are getting turned on, focusing on running PLQs and providing additional local training days and employment for those available and interested could create capacity.

I remember doing support exercises galore and opportunities for lots of interesting short taskings across the country as a non-student reserve sig in my late 20s.

My QL/3 was more than twice as long as the DP1 I ran as a course director. There was some excellent training in the older, including weeks in the field on both my trades courses. But it was a lot more difficult to get troops in the door let alone trained with the time commitment (and explicit requirements at the time that troops had to do a summer instead of fall recruit course, plus a driver wheel before trades training). I'd never have been able to take the 24 weeks of summer training in the jobs that I had without quitting my job to do so (which I did).

The newer system reserve sigs are running are more manageable, and HRA is even more so.

If the best possible pipeline for retaining troops in a given trade from enrollment through instructor cadre is getting high school and university students, so be it. Likewise if unit instructor capacity prevents other routes from being considered in the near-term, that's fine.

But decisions like removing modularization and options for delivery entirely seem short-sighted to me.

 

[PuckChaser]

The newer system reserve sigs are running are more manageable, and HRA is even more so.

You mean the one that has disconnected res sigs training from CFSCE and keeps widening the gap to their RegF counterparts? Sounds like a great system if you want to create reservists, not so much if you want individuals capable of integrating with minimal training delta into RegF formed units, IE why the reserve exists.

 

[Remius]

Trg Coy CSM for a PRes Infantry unit here.

I had a soldier a couple of years ago who was looking for a weekend based DP1 Infantry Course - we looked across the country to see if there was one being run. At that time, 39 Brigade was running a Weekend DP1 module 1 course, but the Mod 2 had to be done during the summer. We could not send him out west, and his full time job precluded him taking summers off to train. He ended up releasing, and unfortunately we lost a good soldier.

Since that time, the DP1 has been changed to the RQ INF PTE course, and there is no longer a Module 1 and Module 2 that can be done separately.

I think there are 37 Training days required, and there is no way that such a course could be run over the non-summer period by a unit.

That would require 17 weekends. It's hard enough for troops to commit to a 10 or 11 weekend BMQ.

Since the switch to the RQ INF PTE course, I have not seen any sign of these courses being run on weekends.

Also. There is no appetite to have PRes troops attend RegF Battle School for training during the winter months - I tried that too.

I will suggest you line yourself up to attend the RQ INF PTE course next summer.

Best regards.

There is a part time RQ inf Pte course planned here this year. Weekends and an extended week or so at the end.

It isn’t the norm but it is being done to clear the non ofp backlog.

 

[NavyShooter]

Where is that one being run? In case I need to ask for a spot for one of my troops.... ;-)

 

[Remius]

Where is that one being run? In case I need to ask for a spot for one of my troops.... ;-)

NCR.

 

[NavyShooter]

Bit of a commute....LOL

 

[IRepoCans]

I've been staff on a few PRes part-time DP1s and RQIs, usually it breaks down to 2 weekends a month (sometimes 3 weekends in a month depending if they pack in a cold weather operator or are adding some training weekends to makeup for loss of time due to movement to RTAs and back) with the assessment FTX occurring during March Break.

There is a modular path, it's just not mods as it formerly was, and is more so tied into the respective POs and their ECs/PCs... it's also a huge pain in the ass.

Not sure how it is elsewhere, but 32 CBG's BSL has a full time instructional staff year round that does nothing but run fulltime and part time courses.

 

[Brasidas]

You mean the one that has disconnected res sigs training from CFSCE and keeps widening the gap to their RegF counterparts? Sounds like a great system if you want to create reservists, not so much if you want individuals capable of integrating with minimal training delta into RegF formed units, IE why the reserve exists.

As opposed to a regforce system that almost felt designed to exclude as many reservists from reaching OFP as possible?

I liked the old reserve QL/3 and centralized training system, with a couple weeks in the field, as both a det member and det commander.

But by the time I was running DP1s, we'd gone through a ridiculous number of flipflops with deferments of "ok, we're going to run one more of the old course" and OJPRs.

As of summer 2021, I tried my damnedest staffing up CoAs of how to make it work off of both the QS/TP that I got access to and the OJPR.

The modularization and training days just didn't break down in a way that we could make it work at a level lower than div, and we could barely coordinate squadrons together for local-level training.

By the time that I got confirmation that I wasn't getting tasked as course WO again in my last summer as a sig op, they were still running a pre-CNR(E) training package for courses that were run with minimal coordination.

My understanding is that there is now more coherent expectations, logistics, and staffing for courses shared across multiple brigades.

If you want direct equivalence to regforce training, you need to start by freeing up enough equipment and staff to support it. I haven't seen that since shortly after comm res dissolved and the brigades told us "everything will be the same but better" and then prioritized instructors for roles other than training new sigs.

Want a reserve sig op that can use the comm suite in a LAV? Are you going to train them to use it once, and then have them not see it again for three years when they suddenly get on a plane to Latvia?

Reserves train and use the equipment that they have access to and can maintain proficiency with.

 

[Brasidas]

You mean the one that has disconnected res sigs training from CFSCE and keeps widening the gap to their RegF counterparts? Sounds like a great system if you want to create reservists, not so much if you want individuals capable of integrating with minimal training delta into RegF formed units, IE why the reserve exists.

As opposed to a regforce system that almost felt designed to exclude as many reservists from reaching OFP as possible?

I liked the old reserve QL/3 and centralized training system, with a couple weeks in the field, as both a det member and det commander.

But by the time I was running DP1s, we'd gone through a ridiculous number of flipflops with deferments of "ok, we're going to run one more of the old course" and OJPRs.

As of summer 2021, I tried my damnedest staffing up CoAs of how to make it work off of both the QS/TP that I got access to and the OJPR.

The modularization and training days just didn't break down in a way that we could make it work at a level lower than div, and we could barely coordinate squadrons together for local-level training.

By the time that I got confirmation that I wasn't getting tasked as course WO in my last summer as a sig op, they were still running a pre-CNR(E) training package for courses that were run with minimal coordination.

My understanding is that there is now more coherent expectations, logistics, and staffing for courses shared across multiple brigades.

If you want direct equivalence to regforce training, you need to start by freeing up enough equipment and staff to support it. I haven't seen that since shortly after comm res dissolved and the brigades told us "everything will be the same but better" and then prioritized instructors for roles other than training new sigs.