Army Communication & Information Systems Specialists (Sig Op, Lineman and LCIS Amalgamation)

[upandatom]

Just read the very first post in this thread,

Jun 4 08

WOW, its 44 pages of people going "Dafuq is going on," "Hey this could work" "Where is my spec pay" "Whats the latest rumour"

 

[LCIS227]

Just read the very first post in this thread,

Jun 4 08

WOW, its 44 pages of people going "Dafuq is going on," "Hey this could work" "Where is my spec pay" "Whats the latest rumour"

And 5 years later we're mostly exactly where we were then. Except today we have techs with their promotion incentives frozen due to spec pay being ripped away.

On another note I found out Friday that the CM held a brief downtown for all but our CoC was either not aware or did not notify us. Looks like the forecast for Sgt to WO promotions have doubled to 16 for CST 

 

[CDNmilMBR]

I understand what you are saying, but is that a Hydro Ontario, Hydro Quebec or Direct Energy Lineman you are talking about? then Yes they make a SH#t tonne more. Ill fully agree there. I know some of them even pull 80k or more a year add in bonus and OT.

I am sorry but if you are talking about pulling and terminating Fiber, Copper, any number of pairing in bundles, in Manholes, confined spaces, business, commercial, residential, etc. Pole Standing, trench digging for cablage, installing tray, cable racks, cable management, records management, terminating BICS panels, then you are wrong, I know people and have done this job (WITH the qualifications), For a very reputable company,that has government contracts. ( a good year, with working 5 days a week, inclduing travel time and a fair amount of OT looking at max 40-45k a year gross) Maybe for the planners and "management" they would get paid as much as a Cpl-Sgt Lineman Serving. I joined because the pay was not enough civi side,

Working with Bell etc is a different story, their job is streamlined and does not get the broad training the military does. Their termination guys are just that, they know how to pull, they know how to plan, but they do just what is in their scope.

You're out to lunch. I am lineman Cpl. I am out very soon. I was offered a job that pays $30/hr with very little travel required - all in Ottawa. I was offered a job in Fort Mac that was $55/hr for 50 hours a week. etc. etc. And no - not powerline. These jobs are based on skills I learned as a lineman.

There are always jobs that pay less. You can work for Bell Technical Solutions and make $15/hr. OR you can make the effort, join a trade association, make a good impression, and get offered jobs that pay fantastic money.

And if you aren't actually out to lunch and just got some bad info - do a job search online. No luck? PM me and I can send you some links. Just gear down before you hurt yourself.

 

[Jarnhamar]

Has it been decided whether or not ACISS techs will get spec pay yet? If so do they get Spec 1 or 2?

Where does an ACISS do their training?

Would someone going to be an ACISS tech do their trade course first or their SQ course first?

 

[MikeL]

Has it been decided whether or not ACISS techs will get spec pay yet? If so do they get Spec 1 or 2?

No decision made yet. If you look back through this thread, you will see numerous posts about the updates/lack of with regards to Spec Pay. Before ACISS came out, LCIS Techs were getting Spec 1(After getting their QL5 I believe).

When you say ACISS Tech, are you being generic to everyone that is ACISS, or a sub occupation like CST?

Where does an ACISS do their training?

Canadian Forces School of Communications and Electronics(CFSCE), CFB Kingston.

Would someone going to be an ACISS tech do their trade course first or their SQ course first?

They are supposed to do BMQ-Land(formerly SQ) before doing on DP1.

 

[LCIS-Tech]

And 5 years later we're mostly exactly where we were then. Except today we have techs with their promotion incentives frozen due to spec pay being ripped away.

On another note I found out Friday that the CM held a brief downtown for all but our CoC was either not aware or did not notify us. Looks like the forecast for Sgt to WO promotions have doubled to 16 for CST 

Correct: The forecast is 16 new WOs and 16 new Sgts, and 35 new MCpl in the CST sub-occ

 

[upandatom]

Correct: The forecast is 16 new WOs and 16 new Sgts, and 35 new MCpl in the CST sub-occ

Could this be because the last group to do LCIS 3s and possibly 5s is about/near hitting that promotion range?

This could be a way of ensuring that they have the ability/authority/opportunity/means to pass on knowledge they have gained from those courses, and how they have used it thus far despite the 1.0/1 2.0/1 training?

I find that if we keep going this way, we are going to become a top heavy sub occ.

 

[Jarnhamar]

No decision made yet. If you look back through this thread, you will see numerous posts about the updates/lack of with regards to Spec Pay. Before ACISS came out, LCIS Techs were getting Spec 1(After getting their QL5 I believe).

When you say ACISS Tech, are you being generic to everyone that is ACISS, or a sub occupation like CST?

I meant generic ACISS, I have a friend going through who had no idea what spec pay was let alone possibly being in a position to receive it.

They are supposed to do BMQ-Land(formally SQ) before doing on DP1.

Thats what I was thinking except theres some talk of my friend being sent to ACISS school before SQ, as well there's a supply tech I know who took her supply tech course before her SQ (she's a cpl and still no SQ yet).


Thanks for the responses.

 

[PuckChaser]

I meant generic ACISS, I have a friend going through who had no idea what spec pay was let alone possibly being in a position to receive it.
Thats what I was thinking except theres some talk of my friend being sent to ACISS school before SQ, as well there's a supply tech I know who took her supply tech course before her SQ (she's a cpl and still no SQ yet).

Previously ACISS (SigOp) had to complete SQ prior to being posted away from PAT platoon at CFSCE, which surprised the hell out of me when I got a QL3 operator from a group of PATs we asked for to do GD work. Now that ACISS pers are sent to Bde for OJT prior to DP1, out of sequence training is happening more and more.

 

[darkskye]

Hello,

I will be hopefully working as an ACISS for the next little bit and I was wondering if anyone could give me some insight on the trade, ie. the day to day taskings that's not explain on the forces.gc.ca website.

Thank you.

 

[LCISindenial]

Read the other posts in this forum.

 

[PuckChaser]

I will be hopefully working as an ACISS for the next little bit and I was wondering if anyone could give me some insight on the trade, ie. the day to day taskings that's not explain on the forces.gc.ca website.

Note: I am a Nav Comm going into a ACISS billet.

The trade is so vast, you literally could be doing anything. Without knowing what unit, troop, section, position and having intimate knowledge of what that unit is doing on a day to day basis, everyone here would be guessing. If you have the position number, look that position up on My Careers from EMAA and see who's there now, then email them. Fastest way to find out exactly what you can expect to do.

 

[darkskye]

Thanks for the response.

 

[AgentSmith]

I'm pretty excited to start my career as a reserve ACISS. It sounds like it will be a good change from my old trade.

 

[upandatom]

I meant generic ACISS, I have a friend going through who had no idea what spec pay was let alone possibly being in a position to receive it.
Thats what I was thinking except theres some talk of my friend being sent to ACISS school before SQ, as well there's a supply tech I know who took her supply tech course before her SQ (she's a cpl and still no SQ yet).


Thanks for the responses.

It is commonly passed by, most of it is covered now on the new BMQ is it not? If so what explains the 15 week long basics?  I was in the weird zone where we went from 9 weeks to 13 weeks, but mine was 11 as a time filler until they could sort out the 13 week one. That was when SQ went from 8 weeks to 4 weeks.

 

[RADOPSIGOPACCISOP]

Anyone heard any new on any possible decision yet?

 

[JBP]

Anyone heard any new on any possible decision yet?

It was kind of like this... Career Management team as of this past APS: "So there's a new update on the spec pay issue... It's been deferred until further notice..." US: "UUuhhh... Isn't that what you said last time?".... THEM: "Not exactly... It passed an initial review after being denied 34324x already and has now been put under review pending the board (treasury) finishing up with the reviews they're already behind on etc... etc... Blah blah blah for 3 minutes..." US: "So, what your really saying professionally, this is 'on the backburner' until further notice'"... THEM: "Well... There's a lot of red tape involved in these sorts of things.. BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH..."...

That's the last 'official' word I've heard other than high RUMINT from random officers (Capt's, Majors) which, honestly, doesn't hold much weight as they are not involved in the treasury board or anything even to do with our trade level management. We haven't even heard anything from our own RSM/SSM. I would assume they are keeping a close watch on these issues...

It's my PERSONAL opinion, they will not issue a "NO" to us as that would cause a loss of personnel. We are already loosing a lot of people as we always have but I think a solid "NO" on spec pay would be the perfect catalyst for a true mass exodus for the IST sub trade anyway. Just stating from personal experience what I've seen with some of my own buddies popping smoke. Both in LFWA and LFCA.

 

[PuckChaser]

It's my PERSONAL opinion, they will not issue a "NO" to us as that would cause a loss of personnel. We are already loosing a lot of people as we always have but I think a solid "NO" on spec pay would be the perfect catalyst for a true mass exodus for the IST sub trade anyway. Just stating from personal experience what I've seen with some of my own buddies popping smoke. Both in LFWA and LFCA.

Not to mention CSTs who are pay frozen and are getting far more screwed than anyone else by MES.

If there are people who went IST solely for the promise of spec pay, you bought the MES crap hook, line and sinker. As soon as I heard them talking about Spec 2 for CISTMs, I knew it was going to crash and burn.

 

[RADOPSIGOPACCISOP]

Not to mention CSTs who are pay frozen and are getting far more screwed than anyone else by MES.

If there are people who went IST solely for the promise of spec pay, you bought the MES crap hook, line and sinker. As soon as I heard them talking about Spec 2 for CISTMs, I knew it was going to crash and burn.

Well LCIS kind of split between CST and IST, so yeah, alot of ISTs are getting screwed in that way as well. Being a former Sig Op, I went IST because I wanted to have some sort of applicable skill at the end of my career, plus I figured if anyone was going to get the spec pay it would be CST then IST. I figured it would be a no, but I'd rather be in the group with a 3/10 chance than ACISS Core which has no chance of getting it.

In any case, from what I've seen the redivision of the sub occs has been really beneficial. There was a huge reinvestment in the training of ISTs in the two IST heavy units I've been posted.

Now they need to sort out this whole Networking portion. 3 years into the trade and everyone still seems confused on who is responsible for the networking portions of systems (hint: it should be the same people responsible for the servers)

 

[JBP]

Well LCIS kind of split between CST and IST, so yeah, alot of ISTs are getting screwed in that way as well. Being a former Sig Op, I went IST because I wanted to have some sort of applicable skill at the end of my career, plus I figured if anyone was going to get the spec pay it would be CST then IST. I figured it would be a no, but I'd rather be in the group with a 3/10 chance than ACISS Core which has no chance of getting it.

In any case, from what I've seen the redivision of the sub occs has been really beneficial. There was a huge reinvestment in the training of ISTs in the two IST heavy units I've been posted.

Now they need to sort out this whole Networking portion. 3 years into the trade and everyone still seems confused on who is responsible for the networking portions of systems (hint: it should be the same people responsible for the servers)

Couldn't agree more. IST may be the only group that benefitted from the change but that's because we were the most neglected or screwed over generally. CST, don't even say anything, you lost spec before the MES happened!

And yes, at the 2 units I've been in so far (1 Sigs, CFJSR) and the many I've worked with, it's been the guys whom operate the servers that also do the networking or, a dedicated det/section of networking pers. I have met a few CST's whom are 'connectivity' techs both in the past at 1 Sigs (There aren't anymore there) and recently at CFJSR but they are few and far between. Dying out as we continue to takeover most of that stuff... Maybe it's not so in the smaller units and the CST still do a lot of networking?