How to go on TOUR??!

[Great Harveney]

Hi guys

I have been in the military for about 4months now and just completed my BMQ n SQ this summer for reserves. I am still only 17 (18 in November) and finishing off high school. I am suppose to be starting my SQ (yes I am going Infantry) course very shortly and was wondering what requirements are needed to do some touring.

My dad is already in Afghanistan (field amb) and keeps sending me pictures which make me sooo jealous. I know that reserves can go oversea too but is it less or more for regs? I would also like to know if there is an age restriction and I'm sure there is a course restriction. Also do you have to be in the military for a certain amount of time you would had to of been in the military to show that your ready?
???
Like i said I'm 17 and i really want to make the military a career and would like to get a tour done before i start university.

I also have another question about this. How do you even get info on tours at your unit.

heh 1 LAST question  ;D how many tours is Canada involved at this time. If someone could just tell me a site which listed them instead of naming them all would be real great.

Thanks again.

 

[Hasty P]

there is an age restriction, you must be 18 years of age to be deployed overseas.  I don't think you need to be in for any specific amount of time to be selected for a tour.  Unfortunately I don't think there are many openings for infantry reservists on many of the upcoming tours, specifically roto 3 and 4 to afghanistan, someone correct me if I'm wrong.  For reservists going on tour there is pre-deployment training for 4 - 6 months, not exactly sure how long....  I do know it's difficult for a reservist to even go on tour, I've put in numerous memos requesting one and have never gotten an oportunity to go on one, and if there are spots available, priority will most likely be given to guys with a little time in, although like I said, it isn't a requirement.  All I can say is once you're done BIQ keep putting in memos requesting a tour and hope for the best......  good luck

 

[Hasty P]

here is a site with all the Canadian Forces deployments....

http://www.forces.gc.ca/site/operations/current_ops_map_e.asp

 

[AmmoTech90]

Website with names, locations and numbers:

http://www.forces.gc.ca/site/operations/current_ops_e.asp

And you have to be 18 before you can go overseas as Canada is a ratified signatory to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict.

 

[pbi]

Hi guys

I have been in the military for about 4months now and just completed my BMQ n SQ this summer for reserves. I am still only 17 (18 in November) and finishing off high school. I am suppose to be starting my SQ (yes I am going Infantry) course very shortly and was wondering what requirements are needed to do some touring.

My dad is already in Afghanistan (field amb) and keeps sending me pictures which make me sooo jealous. I know that reserves can go oversea too but is it less or more for regs? I would also like to know if there is an age restriction and I'm sure there is a course restriction. Also do you have to be in the military for a certain amount of time you would had to of been in the military to show that your ready?
???
Like i said I'm 17 and i really want to make the military a career and would like to get a tour done before i start university.

I also have another question about this. How do you even get info on tours at your unit.

heh 1 LAST question  ;D how many tours is Canada involved at this time. If someone could just tell me a site which listed them instead of naming them all would be real great.

Thanks again.

Welcome aboard, GreatH, from a felllow Patricia (LEdmnR=4PPCLI): I'll offer you a few answers that I hope will help.

Normally, Army Reserve soldiers must be MOC-qualified (ie: you have completed the necessary DP1 training in your particular Branch), must be at least 18, and must be recommended by their unit before they can serve overseas. There are also several administrative and medical requirements that your unit can explain to you. My personal recommendation is to get a couple of years of service as a Reserve soldier first, so thay your skills and experience levels are up: I don't believe in allowing overly "green" people on overseas missions,  but that is my opinion only.

Normally, you should be able to find out about mission vacancies from your unit chain of command. Check with your superiors: they should be able to contact your unit training office who are responsible to manage these vacancies. In your unit training office should be a computer terminal running a program known as CFTPO. This military software is used by the Army to manage the business of tasking soldiers and equipment for operational missions. It will display all the operational deployment positions that have been assigned to your Brigade/unit to fill (in your case 41 CBG), and give details on each position, on the mission, dates, requirements, etc. CFTPO can also produce hard copy print outs for each position. Once a person is selected to fill a position, their name is entered (either at unit or at Brigade) and the entire CFTPO system, right up to Army HQ, is aware of the fill. This is a pretty good system and is a huge improvement over the old days of doing it all by messages.

As for the availability of positions for Res Inf soldiers: no worries. Almost every mission requires some Inf, and usually a percentage of these are Reserve soldiers. Here in Op ATHENA, for example, we have a complete formed platoon of Res soldiers from 38 CBG (my home Bde) and they are doing very nicely thank you. We have other Res soldiers in other positions.

Just at the moment, the only "big" operation is Op ATHENA, and "big" is really a relative term because this Roto is greatly reduced from the previous two. For the next year or two years the Army will be trying to minimize overseas missions in order to do some much needed overhaul and repair on a number of internal problems. But, no fear-the world is always coming up with new places to go! Cheers.

 

[rw4th]

The best way to get call-outs as a reservist: be good soldier, show up for training and when they ask for volunteers to go somewhere, put up your hand.

Beyond that its all about being at the right place at the right time

 

[dglad]

The best way to get call-outs as a reservist: be good soldier, show up for training and when they ask for volunteers to go somewhere, put up your hand.

As a former CO of a Res inf unit, I would particularly emphasize the "show up for training" point above.   We have all too many Reservists, unfortunately, who either can't or won't put in the time and effort required to a) develop a decent soldier and b) allow the leadership to evaluate his/her abilities.   Does this mean attending 100% of training events?   No, of course not...by definition, a Reservist has "another life" to live.   However, committing yourself to attending the clear majority of training events is vital, because if you don't, not only do you miss important training, but you also make it harder for the unit leadership to determine how good a soldier you really are.   There will almost always be more soldiers wanting to go on a tour than there are slots available (that may not be true for some trades, admittedly).   So if you don't become a good soldier and, perhaps more importantly, make sure your superiors are able to TELL you're a good soldier, then your chances of getting selected when there's any sort of competition involved for the open slots go down.

As for Reservists going on ops, absolutely yes.   As was pointed out by pbi, there's a full platoon of Reservists deployed to SW Asia now.   Here in Bosnia, we have an op made up primarily of Reservists.   The Reserve Force has been augmenting the Regular Force, which has been stretched pretty thin in recent years, and that trend will probably just continue.

 

[Infanteer]

We have all too many Reservists, unfortunately, who either can't or won't put in the time and effort required to a) develop a decent soldier and b) allow the leadership to evaluate his/her abilities.   Does this mean attending 100% of training events?   No, of course not...by definition, a Reservist has "another life" to live.

I'd just like to expand on this statement Mr Glad.   You are apt in your reference to "Reservists" (meaning all ranks); however, I feel that lack of commitment is hurting far more then soldier development and evaluation by his superiors.   In my experience, there also needs to be emphasis on the notion of NCO's and Officer's making regular commitment.   In my former Unit, out of SNCO cadre of about 15-20, I'd say about 5 or so did most of the work.   The same could be said for our Officer's.   I frequently remember two Lt's doing everything while the other 6-8 were ghosts.   I'd bet that 25% was handling most of the workload there as well.

It kind of pissed me off because the troops were getting shit on by the Officers and SNCO's during role call for being short 50% while a few dedicated leaders were doing the work (and meanwhile, things like "instructor shortage" and "lack staff" seemed to pop up, IIRC).

Funny, alot of those guys had no problems making it to the Mess functions or throwing on their DEU's for Remembrance Day.   I think traces of the "Militia Social Club" still plague units to different degrees.   As well, I started to get vibes of a "jaded" mentality among some of the leaders.   "What do you know?  I was on such-and-such tour and I've been in for X years, so I can be bitter and not show up...."   In my opinion, it is what you are doing here and now that counts; one can only rest on their laurels for so long.

 

[Jarnhamar]

If theres one thing that utterly destroys morale (AND the desire to show up every training period) it's when someone who barely shows up gets the good taskings and courses over other guys who show up all the time.

 

[NavyGrunt]

If theres one thing that utterly destroys morale (AND the desire to show up every training period) it's when someone who barely shows up gets the good taskings and courses over other guys who show up all the time.

But you're not bitter...and I bet thats never happened to you..... ;D

 

[Great Harveney]

Heh thnx for the replies...

Too bad there isn't more tours. I guess now my goal is to get a tour done in the reserves before i decide to go reg force. My main concern now is attending the LER's which is kinda hard for me knowing its hard to catch a ride with only about 30-40% of the LER's show up and that i cant drive for a few months.

Also i have another question on the "DP1 training". What is that?? I'm still fairly new and trying to work out all the acronyms in the military (which is about a million) :.

~Thnx for the replies Hasty P, Ammotech90 and Pbi.

 

[Gayson]

DP1 is probably a new name for your BIQ (basic Infantry Course).

For example the QL4 I am trying to get on in Jan  is now called DP2 Armoured Recce.

The DP stands for "development period" and I believe every MOC course you take would be called DPx. . .

 

[pbi]

Hi dglad: how is it going over there?? How are our soldiers doing, in particular the BRSM? (Say hello for me...) What will come after your Roto?
Here it has suddenly spiked up in the last 72 hrs: the baddies are apparently finally on the move to try and stop the elections. We took 107mm rocket again last night here in Bagram (no damage, thank God-these buggers must have been sick on the day they taught aiming), and our local defence arty battery were thumping away for a bit, along with the usual air show by A-10s and Apaches out hunting the launch sites. All across the AOO there have been IED, rocket and mortar attacks, and a few actual contacts with ACF forces, but so far the enemy has not really done any significant harm (knock on wood....). We can only hope that his lack of success will continue until a) they are all killed or captured; b) they give up and go home; or c) the election is successfully completed.

On a very interesting note, there was a rocket attack in the vicinty of the Kabul MultiNational Bde HQ last night (no harm done) Guess who called up the KMNB PIO two minutes after the rockets went in????

Al Jazeera!!  Hmmmmmmmmm.

JGayson: you are right: DP1 is the developmental period (DP) that takes a soldier from a recruit to an MOC-qualified soldier. BIQ would be the means of achieving that for an 031/R031.

Cheers.

 

[dglad]

Hi, pbi!   Things are going very well here...no rocket attacks or open conflict.   Here, things are more in the "bubbling beneath the surface" category...lots of corruption, organized (and disorganized) crime, the so-called "grey warfare" environment.   However, there seems to be a pervasive belief that the international military presence is still necessary; that, if we were to suddenly just pull out, things would eventually spiral down into chaos again.

Having said that, I really believe that the Bosnian mission is what success looks like.   We've been able to draw down to just 7000 tps from 60000 only a few years ago, and that number can probably continue to reduce.   The key now is to maintain SA and a robust ability to respond, while the international community works with the local authorities to continue rebuilding.   It kind of bugs me that Bosnia is treated as "yesterday's news" and is largely forgotten, since it's a fine example of what peace enforcement is capable of.   Of course, as far as the media is concerned, if it bleeds, it leads, so rockets and bombs make it onto the news, while the slow crawl of a wounded country back towards civil order doesn't.

All of the tps here are doing very well.   The greatest danger remains the roads (sadly, there have been several fatal traffic accients in just the past few weeks; thankfully, none involving Canadians), followed by the horrific threat of mines.   Bosnia has become an excellent opportunity to practice two of Krulak's three blocks (the peace enforcement and humanitarian blocks, not the combat block).   It's also a test-bed/proving ground for new concepts, like Liaison and Observaton Teams (LOT).   The soldiers are learning a lot and putting forward a fine effort.   I would especially note that most of the roughly 85 OP BRONZE Roto 0 pers are Reservists, a fact which brings its own strengths (and challenges) to the party.

Ex-BRSM is doing fine and says hi.   He's doing the RSM thing again, here.   In fact, most of 38 CBG's contribution to BRONZE is working in LOT, a brave new world for soldiers, but probably the way ahead for some aspects of soldiering in the 21st century.

 

[pbi]

Dglad: thanks for that! Great to know that our troops (and the Ex-BRSM.....) are doing well. The 38 CBG D&S Pl here are doing well too, after a couple of issues at the start. Recently the Comd TFK has been rotating them a section at a time through the ForcePro Coy in Camp Julien, just to give them a different challenge and change of pace from Camp Mirage. The OC tells me they are doing well in the new environment. I am very proud of them, especially when you consider that they were given only about 50% of the required prep time to generate the Pl. Thank goodness for the "veteran pool". It is interesting to see the extent to which the US Army is using ARNG and USAR over here: most of TF Phoenix, the force that runs the training program for the Afghan National Army, is ARNG. I am quite sure our guys could do the same thing.

As for last night's festivities here, it was only one rocket. Correction from my first e-mail: what I thought was the gun bty firing CB was actually aircraft unloading ordnance onto the live fire range just outside the base. We are expecting a return engagement tonight: today has been a busy day again across the CJTF76 AOO as the enemy continues his campaign, but still with little success. Gid bless and keep safe all Coalition and ISAF troops as they confront these bastards in their bloody work, in order to ensure that hte people of Afghanistan can vote.  Cheers.