Army Reserve Restructuring

[Kirkhill]

Post in thread 'Reserve Weekend / Part Time BMQ' Reserve Weekend / Part Time BMQ


How much of BMQ could be written into a non-miltary High School course?

Civics - chain of command?
First Aid?
Fieldcraft/survival?
Camp management?
Navigation?
Emergency management?
Hazardous materials management?
Pre-BMT PT standard?
Communications procedures?
Military history?
Weapons safety?
LOAC?

Not to turn out soldiers but to do two things

Familiarize civilians with useful skills
Reduce BMQ training times for those joining.

 

[Brad Sallows]

Boy Scouts and, in BC, a CORE course used to cover almost all of that for the average non-urban teenager.

 

[Remius]

I litterally learned Basic Winter Warfare minus the weapons in Scouts.

 

[Remius]

I litterally learned Basic Winter Warfare minus the weapons in Scouts.

And I’ll add…

It was one night a week, one weekend camp a month or so and 2 weeks in the summer. Very similar to the reserve schedule.

 

[Kirkhill]

And I’ll add…

It was one night a week, one weekend camp a month or so and 2 weeks in the summer. Very similar to the reserve schedule.

So the Class A schedule could allow for useful training?

 

[McG]

How much of BMQ could be written into a non-miltary High School course?

Civics - chain of command?
First Aid?
Fieldcraft/survival?
Camp management?
Navigation?
Emergency management?
Hazardous materials management?
Pre-BMT PT standard?
Communications procedures?
Military history?
Weapons safety?
LOAC?

Of all the things high school should invest in, the list should not even include teaching military ranks, map & compass, marksmanship, and LOAC.

 

[daftandbarmy]

Of all the things high school should invest in, the list should not even include teaching military ranks, map & compass, marksmanship, and LOAC.

Orienteering and Biathlon evolved from efforts to increase civilian population readiness for conscripted military service...

Orienteering - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Kirkhill]

Of all the things high school should invest in, the list should not even include teaching military ranks, map & compass, marksmanship, and LOAC.

OK on three out of four.

I disagree on no teaching map and compass. But I still believe in teaching mental arithmetic and analog clocks.

 

[Brad Sallows]

So the Class A schedule could allow for useful training?

No, too many lesson periods would have to be set aside for British Bulldog.

 

[MilEME09]

So the Class A schedule could allow for useful training?

The demands places on class A units are considerably more then they were 30+ years ago. I do think the CAF needs to consider an increase in the training schedule available for reservists. From 1 to two days a week. Say Tuesdays and thursday, this would add 35 additional half days of potential training.

 

[Kirkhill]

The demands places on class A units are considerably more then they were 30+ years ago. I do think the CAF needs to consider an increase in the training schedule available for reservists. From 1 to two days a week. Say Tuesdays and thursday, this would add 35 additional half days of potential training.

You can always do more with more time. And you can always keep raising barriers by piling on more requirements.

On the other hand, like the enemy, the volunteer gets a vote. They may not have 35 additional half days to give.

But perhaps after two years of Class A training they might meet your employability/deployability standard.

Which is more important to you? Turning out a reservist in double quick time? Or securing an asset that can assist you for the next ten years?

These are not people you get to command. These are people offering to help. You yank too hard you will lose them.

 

[FJAG]

The demands places on class A units are considerably more then they were 30+ years ago. I do think the CAF needs to consider an increase in the training schedule available for reservists. From 1 to two days a week. Say Tuesdays and thursday, this would add 35 additional half days of potential training.

Honestly, I have to disagree in large part.

You know me. I'm a believer in mandatory ARes unit training and a contracted period of service. We have to get rid of the "come when you feel like it" mentality of the CAF vis a vis reservists.

To make essential training mandatory it needs to be the minimum necessary, well planned and programmed, and with dates set in stone so that the average reservist is quite capable of meeting the mandatory requirements. I see 45.5 days per year of that.

For me the key is that mandatory training must also include the initial training to reach DP1 / PCF. That's best done in the first 14 months of service via 2 months each summer and one weekend per month in winter. 5 months of individual training should be enough for the vast majority of army trades. (officers will need more).

By all means provide additional voluntary training opportunities for people wishing to progress through DP2 but the 45.5 annual mandatory days need to be oriented towards collective training or the Ares will never progress.

 

[Kirkhill]

Honestly, I have to disagree in large part.

You know me. I'm a believer in mandatory ARes unit training and a contracted period of service. We have to get rid of the "come when you feel like it" mentality of the CAF vis a vis reservists.

To make essential training mandatory it needs to be the minimum necessary, well planned and programmed, and with dates set in stone so that the average reservist is quite capable of meeting the mandatory requirements. I see 45.5 days per year of that.

For me the key is that mandatory training must also include the initial training to reach DP1 / PCF. That's best done in the first 14 months of service via 2 months each summer and one weekend per month in winter. 5 months of individual training should be enough for the vast majority of army trades. (officers will need more).

By all means provide additional voluntary training opportunities for people wishing to progress through DP2 but the 45.5 annual mandatory days need to be oriented towards collective training or the Ares will never progress.

And an ARES unit can't manage both an individual training platoon/company and a functional company concurrently?

I think it could if the weekly syllabus was common throughout the reserve, if it was supplied with all the necessary lesson plans and materials, if it was melded with Zoom instruction and monthly regional training at an accessible training centre as well as two weeks in the field once a year.

That gathering together of the local "family" once a week builds connections and educates indirectly.

One of the reasons people fall by the way side is that they too often turn up to discover that their time is being wasted by poorly prepared, if not absent, instructors. People thrown into the breach and time wasted while the adults figure out what they are going to do with the time left in the evening.

If there was a national course and a national schedule and both were rigorously followed then a lot more useful training could be accomplished within the Class A parameters.

 

[daftandbarmy]

And an ARES unit can't manage both an individual training platoon/company and a functional company concurrently?

I think it could if the weekly syllabus was common throughout the reserve, if it was supplied with all the necessary lesson plans and materials, if it was melded with Zoom instruction and monthly regional training at an accessible training centre as well as two weeks in the field once a year.

That gathering together of the local "family" once a week builds connections and educates indirectly.

One of the reasons people fall by the way side is that they too often turn up to discover that their time is being wasted by poorly prepared, if not absent, instructors. People thrown into the breach and time wasted while the adults figure out what they are going to do with the time left in the evening.

If there was a national course and a national schedule and both were rigorously followed then a lot more useful training could be accomplished within the Class A parameters.

Good question.

My experience was that 'it depends'.

We went through so many ups and downs in terms of numbers, and experience levels, that one year we could run a pretty good company level training program and the next there was me, one trained Pl Comd, a Sgt acting as CSM, and 6 x brand new MCpls so 'the basics' was all we could muster. And I'd act as the Pl Comd's Rad Op...

This reality impacts the achievement of all kinds of lofty goals thrown around by those on high, of course.

 

[Kirkhill]

@FJAG

45.5 days

0.5 days is 18:00 to 22:00 = 4 hours

A weekend is 18:00 on Friday to 18:00 on Sunday or 2 days or 48 hours or 12 half days which equals 6 days.

Two weeks equals 18:00 on Friday to 18:00 on Sunday two weeks hence or 16 days or 384 hours or 96 half days which equals 48 days.

....

September to April = 8 months
4 weeks per month = 32 weeks
0.5 days per week = 16 days or
128 hours or
192 periods of instruction at 40 mins each

September to April = 8 months
1 weekend per month = 16 days or
384 hours or
576 periods of instruction at 40 minutes each.

2 weeks per year = 16 days or
384 hours or
576 periods of instruction at 40 minutes each

1 night a month for 8 months
1 weekend a month for 8 months
2 weeks a year

1344 periods of instruction.

Allow for learning how to fill in forms in a military fashion, how to dress, how to wash, how to eat, how to clean...etc in approved military fasion and even sleeping in approved military fashion becomes a learning experience. As is learning how to travel.

My guess is that there aren't many, if any course oulines based on filling 1344 periods of instruction annually.

...

A typical High School course
September to June is 10 months
Call it 9 months with holidays and PD days.
4 weeks a month
36 weeks
5 periods a week
180 periods of instruction

A course of 8 classes a year

1440 periods a year.

vs

1344.

 

[FJAG]

And an ARES unit can't manage both an individual training platoon/company and a functional company concurrently?

Not only are they able to - the ARE is set up to provide an establishment which does just that - but also most units find it desirable to do so.

If you look at the ARE, the CBG headquarters has only 10 positions allocated for training - two in the G3 Ind Trg cell, two in the G3 Col Trg cell and six in the brigade battle School (all of whom are leaders or administrators). There are zero instructors on the establishment.

OTOH, the establishment of each common unit headquarters has eleven: two as the unit trg O and NCO and nine in the individual trg cadre of whom three sgts and three MCpls fulfill the primary instructor positions.

In short, the system is set up to facilitate training at the unit level with oversight and management at the brigade. Circumstances - staff shortages - and IMHO, empire building, have blended these distinct establishments into brigade schools that do not serve the units well as they could.

@FJAG

45.5 days

. . .

1344 periods of instruction.

I'm not sure where this particular exercise in math leaves us since I think you are mixing apples with oranges here.

When I talk 45.5 days per year, I'm talking mandatory training that every individual in the unit who is DP1 qualified MUST attend as part of their annual requalification training and unit collective training cycle. (i.e Sep to Aug - one weekend per month for ten months and a 16.5 day annual exercise) These 45.5 days are quite separate and apart from the initial DP1 individual training (which is also mandatory) and from the completely voluntary DP2 and above individual training.

I frankly don't care whether or not DP1 courses are conducted in summer blocks at battle schools or winter training period conducted by the unit, or a combination of the foregoing so long as the courses are fully programmed and resourced and mandatory attendance is required. I do insist that DP1 be completed in the first sixteen months of service (starting July of Year 1 and ending at the end of August of Year 2) and that they be followed by at least two, preferably three, annual unit collective training cycles (Sep to Aug) of obligatory service (at 45.5 days per year) so that we get a reasonable return of service for the DP1 training investment we've made.

As for the voluntary DP2 and above courses, it seems reasonable to me that both summer block courses and winter weekday/weekend training be used as appropriate. Again, remember that I'm looking at hybrid units where some full-time staff provides leadership and expertise and instructors while additional instructors come from volunteer part-timers. I'm very cognisant of the fact that part-timers who have risen to the rank and experience level desirable as instructors are exactly those people whose family life makes teaching year-round difficult. That's one of the main reasons that I favour hybrid units where full-timers who teach both RegF and ARes unit members are part of the units establishment.

 

[dapaterson]

Units should not be recruiting.

Units should not be providing individual training.

Units should be career managing for post DP1, and conducting collective training.

 

[Kirkhill]

My point is that your 45.5 day calendar under estimates the training opportunity.

Also, leaving training in the hands of 200 discrete sections of 11 (one per unit) seems to be at best inefficient and also likely to produce highly variable results. Especially if those 11 are expected to prepare their own lesson plans and schedules and source training areas and materials while managing individual training for people of at least two skill levels (eg year 1 and year 2) as well as organizing collective training for each of the various arms.

Does CADTC provide one single text/workbook that the new entry can work through and to which the instructors can supervise and teach?

I remember being given a bunch of pams and being told there were many more in the system. I was then taught Methods of Instruction and how to build a lesson plan and told to carry on. The unit instructors got the same instruction and support.

And the RSS consisted of a Capt and WO. The WO's vocabulary often seemed to collapse to "DILLIGAS, Sir!"

It would be nice to think that CADTC had got round to creating standard courses that worked within the bounds of the Class A schedule.

 

[quadrapiper]

Post in thread 'Reserve Weekend / Part Time BMQ' Reserve Weekend / Part Time BMQ


How much of BMQ could be written into a non-miltary High School course?

Civics - chain of command?
First Aid?
Fieldcraft/survival?
Camp management?
Navigation?
Emergency management?
Hazardous materials management?
Pre-BMT PT standard?
Communications procedures?
Military history?
Weapons safety?
LOAC?

Not to turn out soldiers but to do two things

Familiarize civilians with useful skills
Reduce BMQ training times for those joining.

Good start would be overhauling the cadet training syllabus, then funding it properly. Lots of great stuff on paper that doesn't happen, or only happens in certain locations, because the resources either entirely aren't there or are fundraised for locally.

 

[daftandbarmy]

Units should not be recruiting.

Units should not be providing individual training.

Units should be career managing for post DP1, and conducting collective training.

And then there's the whole BOR 'Texas scramble' that is, despite it's importance to unit effectiveness and morale, largely outside of the unit to control and consumes inordinate amounts of bandwidth to keep on track ...