Divining the right role, capabilities, structure, and Regimental System for Canada's Army Reserves

[mariomike]

A military paid SAR team in Vancouver would be busy, but the pissing match between the volunteers, military and the emergency services could get nasty.

I believe Vancouver emergency services are only involved in Heavy Urban SAR.

"Collapsed structures and trenches; challenging, near-vertical environments; and swift-moving water. The team also prepares for and carries out the decontamination of large numbers of people."
http://vancouver.ca/home-property-development/urban-search-and-rescue.aspx

 

[Colin Parkinson]

I was thinking more the Northshore Rescue team who do stellar work and are almost doing it full time. There is a push to make it paid. A reserve SAR team might be a threat to that plan. Better they give Reserves more paydays so they can train for SAR x time a year (on top of their normal training). Problem is that in the smaller communities, many of the members might also be called in by their respective employers in event of a large SAR incident.

 

[PPCLI Guy]

Oh look - double-dipping is back.

The so called growth of the so called Reserves will in fact come from the Reg F who retire to become Class B double dippers in non-deployable positions in HQs.

Perfect.

 

[MJP]

Oh look - double-dipping is back.

The so called growth of the so called Reserves will in fact come from the Reg F who retire to become Class B double dippers in non-deployable positions in HQs.

Perfect.

Well we are rolling back the clocks to 1968 on everything else so we might as well bring back every other change we have made over the years.

 

[SeaKingTacco]

Oh look - double-dipping is back.

The so called growth of the so called Reserves will in fact come from the Reg F who retire to become Class B double dippers in non-deployable positions in HQs.

Perfect.

 

[Eye In The Sky]

Bumped with the latest promises from the Defence Review (PDF) -- more background attached.

New inititives?  72 and 84 maybe. The rest isn't new.  :

 

[MilEME09]

76. Enhance existing roles assigned to Reserve Force units and formations, including:
• Combat Support and Combat Service Support; and

Giving us proper tooling, parts, and training time would be a good start

 

[Fishbone Jones]

National Service. Do we want to go there? I figure after 127 pages we might want to look back (or not, I didn't) and see if anything or situations, taskings, etc has changed with the change of government.

I'm pretty sure we talked it here or elsewhere on the forums but I'll wait until you guys decide whether it should be part of the discussion..

 

[Ostrozac]

National Service. Do we want to go there?

Do you mean Conscription? Considering how much difficulty Canada had with implementing conscription during both World Wars, it's hard to imagine a realistic scenario for peacetime conscription in Canada.

Besides, conscription isn't that trendy anymore. I think NATO is down to only about 6 nations using conscription, as opposed to its heyday in the 1950's, when I believe every NATO nation except Canada had conscription.

 

[The Bread Guy]

National Service. Do we want to go there? I figure after 127 pages we might want to look back (or not, I didn't) and see if anything or situations, taskings, etc has changed with the change of government ...

For more background, another 14 pages on mandatory military service & the CF here (last posts ~5 years ago).

 

[Haggis]

The so called growth of the so called Reserves will in fact come from the Reg F who retire to become Class B double dippers in non-deployable positions in HQs.

Perfect.

The Reserves will then be managed by Reserve formation HQs filled with "Reservists" who have never darkened an armoury door and have no idea how the Class A world works.

Perfect.

 

[Haggis]

81. Offer full-time summer employment to Reservists in their first four years with the Reserves commencing in 2018

You mean... like... Regional (Reserve) Summer Training (RST) which is presently underway and has been since...well... forever?

This goes to prove there are no original ideas left in either Hollywood or Ottawa.  "The Mummy" and the Defence Policy are perfect examples of that.

 

[Jarnhamar]

I think the reserves need to be revamped and take on a more obligatory service model.

Having privates, section platoon and company commanders pull out of exercises (or taskings) at the last minute constantly screws everything up.

Having reservists augment the reg force is awesome, greatly needed and much appreciated but dealing with the various unique contract dates and different arrival departure times is a huge pain in the ass.

Maybe increase schooling benefits for reserves (and regs) but the trade off being mandatory exercises and training.  That would of course need to involve employers like in the US.

 

[RCPalmer]

You mean... like... Regional (Reserve) Summer Training (RST) which is presently underway and has been since...well... forever?

This goes to prove there are no original ideas left in either Hollywood or Ottawa.  "The Mummy" and the Defence Policy are perfect examples of that.

If they mean full summers of employment, that would be a significant improvement.  In the current training model, we are only offering a few weeks of full time training.  For example, we might offer a member a 4 week BMQ or a 7 week Infmn DP1, but rarely will we offer those courses consecutively to both to train the member in a single summer and provide them with a full summer of employment.  That has a huge impact on the value proposition of the reserves for post-secondary students who need to work for that full 4 month summer break. 

 

[RCPalmer]

I think the reserves need to be revamped and take on a more obligatory service model.

Having privates, section platoon and company commanders pull out of exercises (or taskings) at the last minute constantly screws everything up.

Having reservists augment the reg force is awesome, greatly needed and much appreciated but dealing with the various unique contract dates and different arrival departure times is a huge pain in the ***.

Maybe increase schooling benefits for reserves (and regs) but the trade off being mandatory exercises and training.  That would of course need to involve employers like in the US.

I agree with you, but that commitment has to go both ways.  Last minute course/task cancellations, and/or date changes are increasingly becoming the norm these days, and we shouldn't be surprised when that impacts on the member's availability.  When the Army's commitment to a member is wishy-washy, it makes it very hard for the members to plan their lives, so they will hedge their bets.  There are cultural changes on both sides of the fence that will have to happen to see improvement in the PRes reliability piece.   

 

[Kirkhill]

Doesn't all of this boil down to the need for the Reserves to have a separate, dedicated budget?  A budget of something like 1 BCAD (+/- 25%) from what I can gather from published reports.  A budget that is mandated and not, apparently, discretionary.

 

[Remius]

:goodpost:

 

[Halifax Tar]

Doesn't all of this boil down to the need for the Reserves to have a separate, dedicated budget?  A budget of something like 1 BCAD (+/- 25%) from what I can gather from published reports.  A budget that is mandated and not, apparently, discretionary.

You are of course including the RCN and RCAF reserves into that budget, yes ?

 

[RCPalmer]

You are of course including the RCN and RCAF reserves into that budget, yes ?

I threw that number out in this thread some time ago based on the following:
http://www.forces.gc.ca/en/about-reports-pubs-report-plan-priorities/2014-reserve-force.page

Unfortunately, FY14/15 was the only year the cost capture was done in this way that I have seen, but I think it reasonable to carry it forward or backward from an order of magnitude standpoint. So, yes it is intended to capture the full cost of the PRes, not just the Army Reserve.  It does not however, capture the costs associated with COATS, Rangers, or the Supplementary Reserve. 

 

[Journeyman]

Speaking as an outsider....

I read quite often, here and elsewhere, about basic Infantry skills (like an annual PWT3 shoot) being difficult to keep current in many Reserve units.

Beyond possibly providing for some really cool t-shirts and badges, is giving them more technical tasks likely going to work?

:dunno: