AEC Officer (what happens if you wash out of training)

[colonel sanders]

Hi,

I am new to this board, but had a question about joining the CF I have never really got a straight answer on.
Say you pass basic training/ officer training.
You enter your professional training, but you don't succeed in your endeavor (Say becoming an AEC). What happens next? You are now an officer in the forces, you have dedicated lots of time to the forces, where do they put you? Can you move on to a trade of your choice? Are you still under some sort of contract? I have never really talked to a recruiter about this, but m very curious.

I ALWAYS get the response "Well the military needs janitors too". But I can hardly see them sticking an officer in a janitors uniform (or maybe I am wrong).

Some guidance on this would be great. I am trying to decide between the Nav Canada route, and the CF route to becoming an AEC.

As an aside, I think these boards are phenomenal. There is so much support in all of the various trades.

 

[PMedMoe]

If you failed at your trades training you would (more than likely) be reassigned to another trade, depending on the reason for failure.  As far as getting your choice, you would only be assigned a trade that you qualified for when you wrote the CFAT.  In some cases (that I've heard of), personnel are only given a choice of 2-3 trades.

 

[4Feathers]

That is correct, and in addition the trade would have to be "open" for OT's. I have also seen cases where the individual would relinguish their commission in order to get an NCM trade, another option to consider.

 

[CallOfDuty]

  I know a fella who failed his training, so he now is on PAT platoon, waiting for a remuster.  The crappy part is, the other two trades he is interested are not open right now...or even worse not open to internal transfers( only open to civvy street).  So he is pretty much left with Logisitics...which he's not interested in doing.
  I can't see them letting him go NCM, as they paid for his 4 years of university.  But who knows.
Cheers

 

[colonel sanders]

Good to know, thanks.

That sort of steers me over to the next option which is civy, as everyone always talks about how low the pass rate is for programs like that.
Are there many officer trades that AREN'T listed on the forces website?

 

[PMedMoe]

Are there many officer trades that AREN'T listed on the forces website?

I wouldn't think so.

 

[mdh]

If you already have a degree wouldn't they give you a waiver on the CFAT if you wanted to go NCM?

 

[gcclarke]

If you already have a degree wouldn't they give you a waiver on the CFAT if you wanted to go NCM?

Your CFAT scores would still need to be above the minimum threshold for each of the NCM trades that you wish to OT to. You'd also have to meet all the other prerequisites, such as vision and medical categories for the trade.

 

[tgunner]

If you fail the AEC course in Cornwall you are RTU (Returned to Unit) and placed on the BLT (Base Training List).  In the past you had up to a year to select a new trade from BLT intake/reassignment list.  I've heard this is only 3 months now.  Either way, each trade has a CFAT requirement and a degree requirement (as well as open/closed status).  CFAT is not a problem for failed AEC as it already has the highest score just to get into it.  If you have an Engineering degree, you are pretty much good to apply to most Officer trade.  If you have a BA or Economics (etc) you are restricted to trades requiring those types of degree.

The fact is, if you get selected as an AEC Officer you are on your way to succeeding.  I understand the need to have a contingency plan, however, you need to set out with the determination that failure is not an option!  The people in Cornwall are there to ensure you pass.  You just need to be determined to commit yourself.

BTW, read:
http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/80860.0.html