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I used to work for a company that rolled together sick leave and vacation. Never get sick? Four weeks of vacation every year. Always sick? Four weeks of sick leave but no vacation every year.

Mr Pivo, Thanks for your recent thoughts on nuclear submarines. To be clear, I am a former Navy Marine System Engineer with almost 30 years of experience in the Canadian nuclear industry. I know of what I speak. A nuclear program is incredibly expensive and complicated. Please don't...

Two comments: 1. Your estimates for required staffing are about an order of magnitude too low. A single unit commercial nuclear power plant (I know, not directly comparable) employs about 500- 600 personnel. Staffing includes document management, QA/QC, oversight, training, security...

OK, I have had a few beers. Pardon what follows. I am an RMC grad from many decades ago. I think one of the root problems with RMC is that it doesn't know what it wants to be. It wants to be bound to tradition from its founding but wants to be modern. It wants to provide an education...

As someone who works in an industry not substantially different than DND (I am typically involved in very complex and difficult engineering and construction projects), I would suggest that people in DND are generally well paid for what they do. While hourly pay rates may be a bit lower, my...

Tim Cook describes various bits of trench art, trench newspapers and even theatre productions (and similar) in his 2018 book The Secret History of Soldiers: How Canadians Survived the Great War. That might be a starting point for you.

There was a significant amount of bullying that went on for first year cadets at the military colleges. Does anyone know if that environment has been tamed?

In 2.5 years posted to Protecteur many decades ago, I remember one 'abandon ship' drill that went as far as having everyone on the upper decks in life-raft capacity sized groups lined up around the life rafts. I don't recall any other drills at any other time on any other ship (may have...

Same here, except I was trying to get away from a dysfunctional family.

I am thinking a shadow box containing the items would be in order. Something that can be passed down (maybe with a note tucked inside) and less likely to be just tossed in a drawer and forgotten.

As a very junior MARE, an effort was made to convince me (and my colleagues) that serving onboard Oberon-class submarines would be good for our careers. We we were given a tour of an O- boat by a very bitter duty leading seaman. He stunk and obviously hadn't showered in a while. He hated...

The Canadian War Museum in Ottawa has a submission process as described on their website. You describe what you have and they will then make a determination if they want it.

I earlier wrote a post about how safety management works in industry. As I think more about this, I am realizing that DND is decades behind industry in developing and implementing a 'safety culture'. I understand that DND is an organization whose job is (amongst other things) to inflict...

Please allow me to share my perspective as a long-out-of-the-game MARE who has worked as an engineer (usually some type of field work) for some decades. First, where I work, everyone has the RIGHT to a safe work environment and everyone has a RIGHT to stop work in unsafe conditions. This is...

I was trained as a Marine Systems Engineering Officer. My memory is that the technical authority for ship engineering resides in NDHQ under what was called Director General Maritime Engineering and Maintenance (I expect names have changed but roles probably haven't changed much). DGMEM was...

While I am a (very far) outsider looking in, I can see an intersection between the 'reconstitution' and the Arbour report recommendations. The time is ripe for fundamental, systemic change throughout CAF. Whether such change occurs or is effective remains to be seen.

One of the rules to which I subscribe is that PowerPoint is an aid, not your purpose. I have been to meetings where someone has spent time preparing a presentation but can't start due to some technical glitch in getting the presentation on the screen. Everyone sits around for 20 minutes...

If you are even thinking of being a cook, I suggest you get a job right now working in the kitchen of a large restaurant. See if in six months you still want to be a cook.

I recall an urban legend about a shipboard parade when all the sailors were expected to turn out in their best rig. Immediately prior to the parade, all the stokers mustered in the engineering workshop. A quick shot of black spraypaint and all the stoker footwear met the standard of clean...

About a decade ago I was involved in a DRDC 'innovation' project. The folks at DRDC were several decades behind industry in knowledge, understanding and technology. I was unimpressed. My efforts to introduce defence folks to industry practices have led to naught.