Army Reserve Restructuring

[Halifax Tar]

Someday you'll catch a fish

Probably not, if it comes down to that I may starve lol.

 

[MilEME09]

Im starting to see more harmonizatuon between reg and reserve training which is nice to see. The new CASF course thats reintroducing SQ/BMQL to the army will be common to reg and reserve to allow reservists with the time to go on a reg force course. Veh Techs are also getting similar treatment on DP1, and weapons techs on DP2. Its nice to see a 1 army approach to training occurring.

 

[lenaitch]

You have me thinking that this whole exercise may be more locally focused.

As you say we are fencing in the dark but even then we can sometimes discern solids and voids.

What if this is about posse comitatus, the ancient practice of raising every able-bodied man (and woman) in the community (county), also known as the militia, to assist the sheriff? We are used to thinking of posse comitatus as an American concept but its latin name gives away its mediaeval origins. In time of crisis the Shire Reeve was authorized to raise the people of the Shire and deputize them.

Britain preferred this system to the maintenance of a standing army. They eventually acceded to a small standing army and the establishment of an active militia, volunteers willing to train regularly and serve locally in a crisis, and a sedentary militia, everyone else.

America followed British practice but codified posse comitatus, the act of calling out the militia, or a portion of it, and deputizing it to assist the Sheriff.

....

In Canada we have drfted a long way from our militia and an engaged ctizenry. We now rely on a permanently established police force and a permanently established standing army, both of which have their roots in the militia and both of which are too small to handle crises. They are sized for the routine. When a crisis does come up then the civil police rely on the standing army for assistance.

But what if the standing army is engaged, as seems likely, or the crisis is too big, or is a rapidly developing locally devastating event that precludes the option of bringing in outside forces and the locals have to rely on themselves?

I could see this as a means for re-engaging the citizenry in a militia, as originally understood, so that the "sheriff" can deputize suitable volunteers known to her for aid to the civil power under something like posse comitatus.

The key element in any crisis is knowing what resources you have available to you and that they are organized.

If they are trained, that is a plus, but not a requirement.

This could cover off the State role of the National Guard. The Federal role is something else again and something that, probably, properly is the preserve of the primary reserve.

...

By the way, the original Rangers were members of the local population, the militia, that were permanently deputised and paid to serve the needs of their community while continuing with their civilian lives. Pretty much like our northern Rangers.

History is fun, but times have changed. It was one thing to summon farmers with the clothes on their backs and their own pike, sword or pointy stick to be some king or lord's cannon fodder, willingly or otherwise, but I suspect it wouldn't work today.

Local is better for community participation or volunteerism, and maybe it would work to guard a local power plant or something, but training and leadership would still be important. It's easy to say 'halt - go away'; it's harder if an intruder doesn't.

I'm still unclear of the goal that is intended for this group of potentially several hundred thousand. If we were geographically situated to have vandals at the gate, or faced a Red Dawn situation, perhaps.

 

[ueo]

History is fun, but times have changed. It was one thing to summon farmers with the clothes on their backs and their own pike, sword or pointy stick to be some king or lord's cannon fodder, willingly or otherwise, but I suspect it wouldn't work today.

Local is better for community participation or volunteerism, and maybe it would work to guard a local power plant or something, but training and leadership would still be important. It's easy to say 'halt - go away'; it's harder if an intruder doesn't.

I'm still unclear of the goal that is intended for this group of potentially several hundred thousand. If we were geographically situated to have vandals at the gate, or faced a Red Dawn situation, perhaps.

Maybe recruit the various "gangs" Incentives maybe but they come fully armed.

 

[Kirkhill]

MRES registered volunteer
5 days a year.
40 hours gets you 40 tax credits annually
4 hours every month for 10 months.
1 monthly meeting except during the summer.

MRES certified training
Firearms,
First Aid
Boating
Off Roading
Chainsaws
Cyber
Comms
Electrician...
Backhoe operator

MRES certified equipment
Clothing
Camping supplies
Vehicles
Guns
Comms

MRES certified suppliers
Local stores
Car dealers
Heavy Equipment Dealers

MRES approved licences

The non army way of standing up civically minded volunteers.

58 volunteers in each of 5162 municipalities with 9372 citizens.

Emergency Preparedness and Civil Defence as primary roles.
Local security adjuncts as a secondary role.

Complementary with existing obligations, not in competition.

 

[Ludoc]

MRES certified training
Firearms,
First Aid
Boating
Off Roading
Chainsaws
Cyber
Comms
Electrician...
Backhoe operator

I might just leave the Reg force and join the MRES, sounds like they are getting better training than us.

 

[Brad Sallows]

MRES registered volunteer
5 days a year.
40 hours gets you 40 tax credits annually
4 hours every month for 10 months.
1 monthly meeting except during the summer.

MRES certified training
Firearms,
First Aid
Boating
Off Roading
Chainsaws
Cyber
Comms
Electrician...
Backhoe operator

A long list for 5 days a year, not including institutional/process knowledge. (You'll be subject to military law. Here's the minimum you must know. There are command and administrative chains and processes. Here's the minimum you must know. There are standards of conduct. Here's the minimum you must know. Etc. And here are all the associated required annual refreshers to be completed. Etc.)

What are the lengths of the extant CAF modules?

Add it all up. There's no reason to allow M Res to become a short-cut back-door to granting people certs unavailable to any other CAF member. Does any realistic/usable portion of it fit the proposed schedule?

 

[FJAG]

History is fun, but times have changed. It was one thing to summon farmers with the clothes on their backs and their own pike, sword or pointy stick to be some king or lord's cannon fodder, willingly or otherwise, but I suspect it wouldn't work today.

Local is better for community participation or volunteerism, and maybe it would work to guard a local power plant or something, but training and leadership would still be important. It's easy to say 'halt - go away'; it's harder if an intruder doesn't.

I'm still unclear of the goal that is intended for this group of potentially several hundred thousand. If we were geographically situated to have vandals at the gate, or faced a Red Dawn situation, perhaps.

When last I saw OldSweat he was working on selling off his massive collection of military history books. I'm not big into that but there was one that caught my eye; James Wood's "Militia Myths: Ideas of the Canadian Citizen Soldier, 1896-1921." That was a particulalry critical time in the evolution of Canada's military as the country was at its height transitioning from a rural agricultural to an urban industrial society. It was also a period when the country started its transition from its original French and British stock to one with masses of immigrants. The urban/rural split at that time was roughly 50/50 but rapidly growing in favour of urban. The hardy farmer able to survive outside and well capable of using a rifle was still a prized commodity for the largely infantry-based militia.

Canada has come a long way since then. As of the last census it was divided roughly 30 million urban and 6.6 million rural where rural is defined as having less than 1,000 people with a density of less than 400 per square kilometre. Canada's last census of metropolitan areas and agglomerations, you find Toronto at the top with 6.2 million and Elliot Lake at number 152 with 11,300.

We're now at almost 42,000,000. Assuming we do want 300,000 of these reservists in the MRes as well as 100,000 in the PRes, that works out to one person in every 140 in the MRes and one in every 420 in the PRes. So, the Metro Toronto region would need to raise and support 44,300 MRes and 14,800 PRes as its share. Elliot Lake would need to raise and support 81 MRes and 27 PRes - that's a company in the aggregate. Those numbers could come down a bit if you distribute the them to smaller communities than Elliot Lake and of course increase a bit if you limit the distribution to larger communities of lets say 40,000 (like Timmins) which would then need to raise and support 285 MRes and 95 PRes - roughly a small battalion combined. (The numbers are actually larger when you subtract all communities under 40,000 but I'm too lazy to do the math - you get the point)

It's numbers like Toronto which scare me. Toronto is served by 32 CBG - which claims to have 3,000 ARes (on a good day). Its goal of 14,800 is what the ARes can put together across the country (on a good day). Essentially every unit in the ARes would need to expand five-fold which would mean every one of its 130 some odd units would need to grow into full unit establishments. A daunting task.

Even more so the 44,300 MRes in Toronto. How many will come out to help fight fires or floods in Manitoba or on the Ottawa?

 

[boredtoon]

It's numbers like Toronto which scare me. Toronto is served by 32 CBG - which claims to have 3,000 ARes (on a good day). Its goal of 14,800 is what the ARes can put together across the country (on a good day). Essentially every unit in the ARes would need to expand five-fold which would mean every one of its 130 some odd units would need to grow into full unit establishments. A daunting task.

Growing the ARes at the moment is not necessarily that daunting of a challenge. This Fiscal year, every reserve infantry regiment from Barrie to St Catharines will enroll 40 privates and 2 officer cadets. And that's not because they can only enroll 40, its because that is the maximum they are allowed to enroll. The training system can't handle more than that right now. MCpls are in short supply. Production has steadily increased every year since 2022, and many units have gone from sending 2 or 3 corporals on PLQ/ISCC to sending 8 or 10. Once their is more training capacity, enrollment will increase further.

The rumours are also that units will be increased in authorized strength. A lot of units are close to full. It's been a few weeks since I looked at the numbers, but 1H (I am pretty sure, its a 31 CBG Non-inf unit for sure) is actually 10 over strength. the G&SF are over 300 right now, QOR is 285 of an authorized strength of 315, Argylls are 210 with an authorized strength of ~240..

 

[FJAG]

Growing the ARes at the moment is not necessarily that daunting of a challenge.

That's good to hear.

I've always felt that when there is a shortage in the middle ranks, its a great opportunity for the junior ones to show their stuff. A little bit of methods of instruction training can go a long way to turn a young bombardier into an instructor on a recruit course as long as there is at least one sergeant/WO available as a mentor/course programmer.

Decent ARes advanced and collective training, in order to foster retention, is another matter completely.