Army Reserve Restructuring

[Kirkhill]

The Quarterly Militia List from the summer of 1914 makes fascinating reading.
Permanent units and officers, including warrant officers. Retired and reserve officers and RMC cadets liable to call up. Temporaries, Honouraries, Gunnery qualified, Staff qualified. Divisions, Districts, Brigades. Nursing Officers, Vets and Chaplains.

All meticulously prepared and maintained in pen and ink and printed every three months. With returns from compaies in places like Enderby and York Junction.

And among the records are the lists of cadet instructors, every cadet corps in the country and every rifle association.

The only thing missing were the Baden-Powells's, Mr. and Mrs., newfangled scouts and guides. The latter not to be confused with The Corps of Guides which was included in the list.Also not included were the Red Cross (1896) and St John (1883).


Were all these people useful warfighters? Unlikely. But they were organized to manage crises.

http://lindsaylegion.com/reference/library/books/Canadian%20Militia%20Lists/C.M.L.%20JUNE%2030%201914.pdf

 

[Blackadder1916]

They need to be revitalized and encouraged from on high. Not denigrated, laughed at and beaten up with lawfare.

The same goes for the Red Cross and St. John Ambulance.

For sixty years we have been running away from encouraging civic duty, civic involvement, on the grounds we didn't want to militarize the youngsters. Now we wonder why no one wants to fight to defend their country.

Surprise, surprise, the world has changed and the priorities of people (parents and politicians) changed along with it.

Sixty years ago I was in that demographic who they would have wanted in scouts, cadets or what have you (and I did that for awhile). But it was also the era of Vietnam, civil rights, equal rights, the threat of nuclear weapons (the disarmament movement not exclusively the manufacture of the Soviets) and a wider awareness (through media) of sex, drugs and rock n' rock (and I participated in some of that for awhile). There was a lot back then to draw the attention of youth (there's even more now). I would say that there was probably a greater youth participation in "civic involvement" than in previous generations, but you may dismiss that since their involvement would likely be counter to your ideal of "militarizing the youngsters".


While only a brief comment in this 10 year old study of the Cadet movement, it did catch my attention. Those who lead the organization seemed to think they are doing a good job of producing "proactive citizens", the opinion of parents was less telling.

Evaluation of the Canadian Cadet Organizations (CCO) - Canada.ca

Evaluation of the Canadian Cadet Organizations (CCO)

www.canada.ca

There was insufficient data from youth to determine if cadets were more proactive citizens because of their involvement in the program. In the opinion of corps/squadron personnel, development of good citizenship in youth was the second most effective outcome area, with 60 percent believing it to be effective. However, only a small proportion of cadet parents thought their children were more involved in the community because of the program.

 

[CadNav]

They need to be revitalized and encouraged from on high. Not denigrated, laughed at and beaten up with lawfare.

The same goes for the Red Cross and St. John Ambulance.

For sixty years we have been running away from encouraging civic duty, civic involvement, on the grounds we didn't want to militarize the youngsters. Now we wonder why no one wants to fight to defend their country.

I was in the sea cadets for five years, I went every week, and I went sailing one time. In five years. In a windstorm so I was only out for about 30 mins.

New schooling doctrines has removed most mentions of the military, let alone Canadian military. I've had multiple teachers that have said that "if there were no soldiers, there'd be no wars" and "all soldiers are bad" yada-yada-yada.

If they had a weekend partnered where high-schoolers shot guns in the SAT range, did some urban-ops, all of that stuff...

Most (or a lot of) people don't know about the reserves, and think that "the military" is like Full Metal Jacket; of course nobody would want to go in the military if that's what was in real life, it was a anti-war movie after all... there needs to be more information provided to people about the CAF, because there's a lot of people (esp. in the reserves) who think it's like Call of Duty. Of course, there would still be people like that, but it's like voter education; the more you educate people, the more they'll vote and they'll vote better. I'm not that many years in high-school, and most of those people don't understand that you're voting for your MP and not the PM.

I do really like the idea of the CO-OP in schools with the PRes though, but It wasn't offered where I live and I have no clue if they do anything other than haul boxes.

 

[Kirkhill]

Surprise, surprise, the world has changed and the priorities of people (parents and politicians) changed along with it.

Sixty years ago I was in that demographic who they would have wanted in scouts, cadets or what have you (and I did that for awhile). But it was also the era of Vietnam, civil rights, equal rights, the threat of nuclear weapons (the disarmament movement not exclusively the manufacture of the Soviets) and a wider awareness (through media) of sex, drugs and rock n' rock (and I participated in some of that for awhile). There was a lot back then to draw the attention of youth (there's even more now). I would say that there was probably a greater youth participation in "civic involvement" than in previous generations, but you may dismiss that since their involvement would likely be counter to your ideal of "militarizing the youngsters".


While only a brief comment in this 10 year old study of the Cadet movement, it did catch my attention. Those who lead the organization seemed to think they are doing a good job of producing "proactive citizens", the opinion of parents was less telling.

Evaluation of the Canadian Cadet Organizations (CCO) - Canada.ca

Evaluation of the Canadian Cadet Organizations (CCO)

www.canada.ca

Prorities did indeed change.

 

[CadNav]

Surprise, surprise, the world has changed and the priorities of people (parents and politicians) changed along with it.

Sixty years ago I was in that demographic who they would have wanted in scouts, cadets or what have you (and I did that for awhile). But it was also the era of Vietnam, civil rights, equal rights, the threat of nuclear weapons (the disarmament movement not exclusively the manufacture of the Soviets) and a wider awareness (through media) of sex, drugs and rock n' rock (and I participated in some of that for awhile). There was a lot back then to draw the attention of youth (there's even more now). I would say that there was probably a greater youth participation in "civic involvement" than in previous generations, but you may dismiss that since their involvement would likely be counter to your ideal of "militarizing the youngsters".


While only a brief comment in this 10 year old study of the Cadet movement, it did catch my attention. Those who lead the organization seem to think they are doing a good job of producing "proactive citizens", the opinion of parents was less telling.

Evaluation of the Canadian Cadet Organizations (CCO) - Canada.ca

Evaluation of the Canadian Cadet Organizations (CCO)

www.canada.ca

In my opinion, I think the cadets should have some more professionalism.

All we'd seem to do in cadets is drill, and learn the same five lessons over and over on how to tell time (I had to tell people how to read a clock for 40 f-ing minutes, what a waste of time!) I think it should be more about esprit-de-corps, debating, and general "mature" subjects. It should be a place where you actually learn stuff that will matter outside of cadets.

More often than not, the people who get "placed" in cadets (because at 12 years old, it's usually the parents decision) are people who do not want to be there, and the parents think it's "military school" or some pseudo-daycare to keep them at bay for 3hrs. When I was a PO1 in cadets, we had a new cadet who had a disability that made him shake around all the time. He also had some neurological and social problems. That's obviously not the cadets fault, but in my cadet corps anyway, where we only do drill, I have to teach someone to stand still every week that physically can't. It was no fun being in the cadets personally, because we had a lot of people who acted out, and I, at 16 or 17, don't wanna make fun or harass 12 year olds because they can't tie their shoes or tie a tie.

When I think about cadets, I feel like we have people who want to learn citizenship skills and all that, but then instead of that they learn how to read a watch.

 

[Kirkhill]

In my opinion, I think the cadets should have some more professionalism.

All we'd seem to do in cadets is drill, and learn the same five lessons over and over on how to tell time (I had to tell people how to read a clock for 40 f-ing minutes, what a waste of time!) I think it should be more about esprit-de-corps, debating, and general "mature" subjects. It should be a place where you actually learn stuff that will matter outside of cadets.

More often than not, the people who get "placed" in cadets (because at 12 years old, it's usually the parents decision) are people who do not want to be there, and the parents think it's "military school" or some pseudo-daycare to keep them at bay for 3hrs. When I was a PO1 in cadets, we had a new cadet who had a disability that made him shake around all the time. He also had some neurological and social problems. That's obviously not the cadets fault, but in my cadet corps anyway, where we only do drill, I have to teach someone to stand still every week that physically can't. It was no fun being in the cadets personally, because we had a lot of people who acted out, and I, at 16 or 17, don't wanna make fun or harass 12 year olds because they can't tie their shoes or tie a tie.

When I think about cadets, I feel like we have people who want to learn citizenship skills and all that, but then instead of that they learn how to read a watch.

I think Canadians generally, and especially the education system, under-estimates the capacity of their kids to learn.