Two points I want to address:
Feels better to know that I'm not the only victim of free education syndrome. I'm not going to ask the military to change their recruiting program but it has been quite misleading and perhaps they are not getting the people they want but that's a different discussion. It looks like my out look will be a civilian career. Although I'm sure I will miss the experience of being an officer. I guess in the mean time I'll stick to cadets and watch. Anyway thanks for all the valuable discussion.
Just a quick point, so everybody doesn't loose all hope in our primary officer production facility: not all of them are like that. Most, in fact, in my experience here so far, are serious about a career. I have met many "kids" (and I mean no offence, my oldest son is older than most of them. He's still a kid, they're still kids), while on course and at RMC, that I would willingly work for and with. Anytime, anywhere.
During my 4 years at CMR, I was exposed to a lot of different people and leadership styles. Not only amongst fellow cadets, but also from staff - professors, drill staff, PERI staff, and the College leadership. I got to see people like Col Daigle (CO of the VanDoos at Oka) and Gen Dallaire in action - and some others who didn't distinguish themselves anywhere near as well.
One of the weird little paradoxes I discovered was that cadets who excelled at "playing the game"; the guys who did everything perfectly and by the numbers, usually made crappy officers. The guys who got in trouble, struggled a little (or a lot), "retreads"... for some reason, they made the best practical officers.
Being a retread myself, I have to confess that I'm not entirely without bias here - but it was something I noticed even before I walked the retread path, so I consider it a valid observation (if anything, it's something I try to live up to, not something I assume is universally true)
In my *cough* graduating class, there were maybe a dozen people who I would follow without hesitation, anywhere, without question. There were another dozen who I'd happily follow out of a sense of morbid curiosity and latent
schadenfreude, and the rest were grey men who probably did their time and got out without anybody ever noticing one way or the other. Of those I'd've followed anywhere, about 2/3rds were retreads.
That's not to say that these guys were saints... one of the best personal leaders I've ever known, a guy so steeped in the military ethos that he was almost a caricature, and hyper-competent, every once and a while he'd tap-dance all over his own genitals by doing something so what-were-you-THINKING stupid... And my own career progression is not without adding some bootprints to my own John Thomas.....
But the point I'm making is that yes, RMC can and does produce effective leaders - but they are (sadly) rare. And I think that the ratio of good ones to grey men could be enormously increased with some truth in recruiting and some better councilling early on in their careers. If I could go back in time and 'splain some things to my 17-year-old-dumbass self... well who knows - but I THINK some unpleasant things could have been avoided, and the army would have gotten a much more effective soldier in the process.
But I also want to point something else out - my membership in the Canadian Forces Bizarre Career Path Club has actually done me, personally, a great deal of good. It was a HELL of a way to get here... but I learned a lot along the way and I think I'm a better officer for it. So if you really DO hear the call of leadership, if you really DO want to become an officer, don't let early setbacks dissuade you from your path. Never, ever, ever give up. Persistence in the face of extreme adversity is a core attribute of a successfull officer. At the end of the day, it is all about getting the mission accomplished No Matter What, about never ever throwing in the towel and conceding the enemy his victory. If you won't do that with your own life, how can we expect you to do that in the field?
DG
