However- I see the higher intensity onboarding as laid out as problematic simply because a sequence of 2 consecutive 2 months summers is not a natural fit into someone's life other than after G11 and G12.
I'm looking at the months of May to August inclussive as the period during which individual training for reservists takes place. And yes, I'm factoring in summer leave and APS and equipment maintenance for the regular force (whose training cycles run September to April inclusive - remember I'm talking hybrid/total force units).
The two months (July and August) apply only to reservists who are high school students and only have those two months free. The two summers is based on 5 x 25training day (or one month) blocks (50 days first summer; 25 days over the Fall/Winter/Spring; 50 days the second summer) IMHO those 125 training days should be enough for the vast majority of trades to turn out a fully trained DP1 qualified soldier. Some might take less time and could move on to DP2 courses - others might take longer.
What about increasing the initial training outlay to 8 months. Stream 1 is a contiguous block starting in July, Stream 2 is 2x 4 month blocks starting in May. Stream 1 targets highschool graduates and anyone else that is currently unemployed and can handle the 8 month shot, Stream 2 targets those in post secondary in their 2nd to last year of planned study.
Edit- the 8 month was intended to result in a higher trained output- but if that juice isn't worth logistical squeeze of running different streams then just go to 4 months July start.
For folks who are not high school students and with time available, or university students with 3 - 4 months off, more training could be taken. What I could see as well is that many regular force serials should also start in July as high school students graduate - and then carry on straight through into September and thereafter until the training is done. I see no reason why reservists couldn't go on that stream as well.
My whole point is that students - high school or university - ought to be the bread and butter of army recruiting. We need to maximize the summer training for them so that they get the cash they expect out of summer employment. Other things can be gafted on to that.
I was thinking about this too, and in a perfect world, where everyone were competent, this would work great. In the reserves, you'd get a whole lot of people getting sent to Club ED for no reason.
They should bring back the CFAT. Now the only bar of entry is a grade 10. I know people who passed grade 10 who are literally illiterate. That would be the first step to raise the quality of soldiers. Also, the interview is something that can be failed. If you should up to your interview in sweatpants and a wife-beater, how are we gonna expect you to do section attacks, you can't even get dressed!!!
I'm not sure what all is involved in enrolling a reservist. IMHO, a medical is mandatory, an aptitude test that is easy to administer is nice but not essential. In my mind what matters is the evaluation of the candidate as they're doing initial training. We should make it easy during the initial phases to reclassify and individual or even cease their training.
The problem is your expecting full time commitment from part time workers.
No I'm not. I'm expecting part time commitment for part time employment. What I don't want is haphazard commitment.
Many civilian employers are not flexible. I fight with my company just to take my son to sick kids let alone trying to convince them to give me a ton of weekends and specific time periods off. If it was mandatory for them they just wouldn’t hire Reservists.
You need a new employer. The commitment I want is on weekends for the 23/24ths of the year. That's their own time for most people. Folks who have to work weekends and can't make an arrangement with their employer we don't want.
Obviously since the Reserves is a part time gig they need a full time (or at least somewhat decent part time) paycheque to survive unless we decide to pay them enough to make it so their alternate job isn’t needed.
They're getting a decent part-time paycheque now.
There also needs to be a voluntary off ramp for them due to life’s commitments.
The off ramp comes with the terms of service. You sign up for a fixed number of years. Initially, enough to compensate the government for the time and effort and money spent on the training. I'm flexible - for most that would be two or three full September to August collective training cycles with their unit.
Maybe make post service sup res for a specific length of time a thing but forcing 100% commitment for set length of time for a part time job that is all over the place is a non-starter for anyone who has reading comprehension. And those who failed to realize it will not be happy when they do and it starts to mess with their lives.
Sometimes one just needs to grow up and commit oneself to something one started and not bail at the first moment.
Generally I like the idea of a mandatory yearly commitment. Just when you’re no longer able to meet the commitment you need to be able to release.
I see the average reservist passing through two major phases in life - when young and single and going to school with fairly large breaks in the summer - and when older with a wife and young kids with a real conflict on how to spend your time. I want to hammer the training up front as much as possible so that later in life they can coast a bit.
I really dislike the concept of the "indefinite engagement" or whatever its called these days. I would see flexible options for re-engagement. anything from one year to five years with commensurate re-enlistment bonuses (not big ones but fair ones)
Step one would be for the Army to commit to training dates a year out, to permit soldiers to plan.
Commitment goes both ways.
Exactly.
What is needed though is what I call a "social covenant" between DND and the reservist which ensures that they aren't jerked around by the CoC. It must respect the individual's competing interest with employers and family. That's why in my plan there is no mandatory individual training after DP1, just 41.5 days of collective training with the unit. And after DP1, there is no mandatory training in July and part of August so that vacations can be planned. That's why all dates for unit collective training weekends and the summer concentration are published a year in advance so that people can plan their life. That's why the CoC can't change published training dates. That's why there needs to be legislation that not only provides for job protection for "military training" and leave from employers that does not affect their other statutory or other vacation rights and protects seniority and insurance and a myriad of other things associated with reserve service.
Let me simply say that I would never impose a "mandatory training" regime unless all the other building blocks to support it are in place. BUT. I think mandatory training is essential for the health and growth of the reserve force. If it means 25% of the folks who would join won't agree to that - well, I can live without them.
And then not change the dates at the last minute...
See above.
If you write Reservist job protection legislation, you need to add some carrots and not just sticks. Perhaps some tax benefits if they hire a reservist and give them time off. Along with PR acknowledging companies publicly that support the Reservists that work for them?
Absolutely. The various provinces job protection legislation sucks. I know much of it is similar from province to province so there was obviously a program ongoing to get them to agree to some basics, but IMHO I think that a fairly wide reaching legislation can be done by the Feds without needing provincial cooperation. The Feds have constitutional jurisdiction over peace order and good government Militia, Military and Naval Service, and Defence. The words "service" really opens up the scope of the legislation, IMHO. It's being used very narrowly by the usual hand-wringing, risk averse folks within DND but much more can be done with it. It's not that hard to write carrots and sticks into it. The US
"Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act" is just a starting point.
I truly think that we are at an "Inflection Point" brought on by the World's situation. I think the government is ready to go along with quite a few things. Unfortunately the way the army is reorganizing itself makes me think that from a reserve force point of view - a big opportunity is being missed.
