5,000 Regs and 3,000 Reserves going into......??

[Mike_NavRes]

We all read the report.  8,000 more people expected to sign on......is that how much of a short-fall our military is in? I am having trouble thinking how in the world the minister got to that number!!  Being someone who is in the process of joining the Canadian Naval Reserves (aptitude and interview up next) are my chances being recruited for a specific trade improved (Nav Comm or NCI OP) because of added positions, or is this reported 3,000 new Reserves mainly going to be shuffled quickly into the Army like I have read in another post?

Thanks for responding guys,

P.S. This is BY FAR the most informative Canadian Navy site on the entire web, so much important information for a new blood like myself written by you veteran guys out there.  Thanks.  As well I must thank you guys for being one of the most well-written, intellectual forums on the Internet.  All the *%$# is kept to a minumum.  Its a joy to read!   

 

[Ex-Dragoon]

Mostly the Army but you will see some (not a lot) go to the other elements as well.

Thank you we try our best.

 

[who980]

Your chances of getting a trade like Nav Comm or NCIOP are quite good with or without the added numbers due to the fact that these trades (esp NCIOP) have high attrition rates  so there is always room for new recruits.

Ryan

 

[Cloud Cover]

Define high attrition rate, and can that rate be distinguished from the rate of pers who do not have their contracts renewed?

 

[who980]

Define high attrition rate, and can that rate be distinguished from the rate of pers who do not have their contracts renewed?

High attrition rate, as in pers who remuster, do not renew their contracts and or are not given the opportunity to renew their contracts.  Although Im sure some would say the latter might not related to attrition as much as the first two.  Yourself, as a NESop working in the ops room with all the other ops room trades can probably put forward a more informed view on attrition in those trades.

Ryan

 

[Cloud Cover]

Just so there's no confusion, I'm not in the navy anymore, haven't been for quite a while. I agree with your conception of attrition, and i would further add that I suspect the greatest contributor to the attrition rate is the middle factor- those who bail out rather than sign up for more. Of course, there are always going to be those who just don't work out...

 

[Cloud Cover]

Funny you should mention the ops room as a source of high attrition. There are peaks and valleys in manpower, but it seems to me the attrition rate in ops room jobs is traditionally high. Not because the job is that hard to figure out [steep learning curves, but not insurmountable]- but I suspect the sheer frustration and unnecessary tension that seems to historically pervade the ops room, no matter the platform and quality of equipment. It's the environment that makes it a tough go sometimes ... 

LOL, then ... there's always the stress of attempting to reversing rotation of the WLR antenna before it has come to a complete stop. Occupational hazard that thankfully has long passed in time ... Cheers, beers and no fears.

 

[FSTO]

I think that the high attrition rate omong operations room trades have alot to do with lack of job satisfaction. Seemingly endless simulated battle problems followed by long periods of inactivity (during transits) lead many to wonder what the heck they are doing. Compare that with the Boatswain trade (the ones I have been working with the last 3 yrs) who seem to have a visual completion to their day when: ships comes to anchour, completing a Replenishment at sea (RAS), doing the tiddley rope work for our ceremonial equipment etc. As inconsequential as this may all seem, having completed something real can give a person real job satisfaction.

In my own experience I hated my job as the Communications Officer. In my mind I was nothing more than the Combat Officers b**tch. Nobody slapped you on the back and said "Job well done Commo on the message file today!", When you explained to the CO why comms were down; "Well sir, there was a massive solar flare that has messed up the ionisphere and therefore we are not getting our HF transmissions out." You don't get the "I see" look from the CO, your more likely to get the "Your feeding me a line of BS" look from the CO. Finally as the Commo, your section, the Naval Communicators are mainly holed up in the CCR, one deck above (on a Frigate) the ops room and it seems (I know that I will piss off Navcomms who are on this forum, but rightly or wrongly, this is the opinion of the MARS officers) that they do everything in their power to ensure nobody gets access and insight into their world, especially the Communications Officer.

Compare that situation to the Deck Officer;
1. You have HOD (Head of Department) status (albeit you are the junior guy) the Commo does not, eventhough the both of you have generally the same amount of sea time.
2. You work very closely with the XO and CO getting that all important "Face Time"
3. The work of your department is pretty high profile, Entering Harbour, Exiting Harbour, Coming to Anchor, Coming to a Buoy, RAS are "All ships evolutions" meaning that the entire ships company is involved.
4. At the completion of these evolutions, there is visual evidence of a job well done or poorly done, if its done well, YOU are golden, if it is done poorly everybody knows because the CO has chewed you a new one in front of everybody.

This post may tick off a few people but that is the reality of life of a second tour MARS officer. Is it fair? No. Am I being to harsh on the Naval Communications Trade? Yes, and I'll be the first to admit it. But as I said that is the reality.


   

 

[who980]

There is a reason we don't let anyone into our little world.  Security.  Need to Know.  etc.  The CCR is supposed to be "If you're not on the access list, you arent coming in", unless of course, it is in the course of your duties (firefighting, maintenance etc).  And thats what we are taught from our QL3's on, security, dont let anyone in the CCR who isnt supposed to be there... and rightly so.

I have gotten the impression though, that being the CCISO is one of the less popular MARS officer jobs.  Which is unfortunate.  I get the feeling to that sometimes, because of the secrecy of our job, people dont quite understand what really happens in the CCR, and some of the situations we deal with.  For example, HF comms being affected by solar activity.  To a layman, this probably sounds a bit absurd, and maybe sounds a little bit like an excuse when in fact it is a reality we deal with on a day to day basis at sea.  As for your CO though, should he not trust your judgement and what you're telling him?

I think though, in the end you can probably come away from the CCISO job with a lot of good knowledge if you really get into it.  And that would probably benefit yourself as an ORO or CBTO as well as the NavComms when you're in that position.

Ryan

 

[FSTO]

I have done both the CCISO and Deck Officer jobs. By far the Deck Officer job was far more rewarding to me personally, where the CCISO job (mainly due to my Combat officer, the section worked their ass off for me) was the worse experience career wise (it took me 3 yrs to get the PER stink off of me).

With the new career path for Communications Officers, I really hope that things get better. There is alot of potential in that section of the warship, it has just been handled poorly by the MARS world.