Information Gathering;

[cuzimsmaller]

Hi everyone, this is my first post on this forum so a little about me.

Maybe its because my favourite movie of all time is Saving Private Ryan but I've always had aspirations of joining the military despite strong criticism from my family to not even think about it and just get my degree and a 9-5 job however, I do not wish to leave "what-ifs" behind and just follow blindly the path my family has laid out for me.  I am a first generation Canadian and I currently reside in Toronto, Ontario and go to university here too (studying IT management).

I joined this forum to look up information about joining the Canadian Army Reserves before directly contacting a recruiter. As of right now I am merely poking around and gathering information to see if the forces is right for me and if I can do it given what's going on in my life right now.  Other than that, I am a Kendo and Krav Maga practitioner outside of my academics.

Right now, I wish to join the reserves to gain valuable experience that will help me in my life later as well as some extra money to help pay for my schooling. And I was wondering if I am studying IT management, which military reserve position would best translate into skills that can be used for civilian purposes. I live in Toronto and the closest reserve bases to me are the:
The Royal Regiment of Canada
The Queen's York Rangers
The Toronto Scottish Regiment
And I've been told they are not recruiting currently so would I just constantly check with them to see if there are any position available?

I've also read on the forces.ca site that basic training will be done at CFLRS at St-Jean-sur-Richelieu in Quebec and I was wondering how long that period would be (I'm reading over 15 weeks for the officer program) given that school starts in September and I will probably be busy throughout that period so I was thinking I should hold off my application until the summer of next year when I actually have time or do I just apply and do BT the following summer? (I've read the application process takes some time)

Assuming I go through with this, I am also a terribly weak swimmer. I only learned how to front crawl because my hard *** Australian high school gym teacher forced those of us who couldn't swim to dive into the deep end in gym class or fail the swimming unit of his course. "You either learn here or out there". Great advice, love him for it.  However, I did not successfully learn how to do the other strokes or tread water at all though as I simply front crawled when we did laps. I've read on the site that we should do basic swim courses outside of BT. Is this provided by the forces or do I have to personally go out and look for a swim instructor? 

Cliffs:
- Questions about Reserves
- Which military job would best translate into a civilian role given that I am working towards an IT management degree?
- Basic training. How long? Apply now? Apply next summer?
- I suck at swimming/I can ONLY front crawl. What to do? Assuming I do apply.

Of course, I have other questions as well but I believe those can be answered best by the recruiter. And thanks to all those who reply to my thread!

 

[Journeyman]

While I cannot answer your questions, since I know little of recruiting, I wanted to wish you the best of luck.

Your post actually stands out from so many in the Recruiting threads because you put effort into making a coherent, readable submission.

Thank you.

 

[Neill McKay]

Right now, I wish to join the reserves to gain valuable experience that will help me in my life later as well as some extra money to help pay for my schooling. And I was wondering if I am studying IT management, which military reserve position would best translate into skills that can be used for civilian purposes.

[...]

I've also read on the forces.ca site that basic training will be done at CFLRS at St-Jean-sur-Richelieu in Quebec and I was wondering how long that period would be (I'm reading over 15 weeks for the officer program) given that school starts in September and I will probably be busy throughout that period so I was thinking I should hold off my application until the summer of next year when I actually have time or do I just apply and do BT the following summer? (I've read the application process takes some time)

I'm not a subject-matter expert on any of your specific questions, but I'll make a couple of general comments:

Whatever your military occupation, if you spend long enough in the Forces you'll gain a lot of useful, less-tangible, skills for the civilian workplace relating to leadership, communications, supervision, ability to work under pressure while paying attention to details, and so on.  So I would suggest that you may want to look at the whole package rather than trying to find a military occupation that exactly mirrors your civilian occupation.

Regarding training, reserve training tends to be scheduled around school breaks as there are a lot of students in the reserves.  Much of your training would be part-time during the school year, and longer periods would often be scheduled in the summer.

 

[cuzimsmaller]

I'm not a subject-matter expert on any of your specific questions, but I'll make a couple of general comments:

Whatever your military occupation, if you spend long enough in the Forces you'll gain a lot of useful, less-tangible, skills for the civilian workplace relating to leadership, communications, supervision, ability to work under pressure while paying attention to details, and so on.  So I would suggest that you may want to look at the whole package rather than trying to find a military occupation that exactly mirrors your civilian occupation.

Regarding training, reserve training tends to be scheduled around school breaks as there are a lot of students in the reserves.  Much of your training would be part-time during the school year, and longer periods would often be scheduled in the summer.

I understand that there are a lot of other useful skills that may be learned from a military occupation however, what I am trying to consider is the occupation title and how it will look to potential employers on a resume in the future. Of course, I'm not looking specifically for something that is a mirror-image of a civilian career but if there is something along those lines available I'll take it. I mean what better way to kill two birds with one stone. (to gain experience towards your future career and explore the option of joining the military)

So just to clarify, would the 15 week basic training duration that was mentioned on the site be split between whenever I have breaks (i.e. winter break, summer)? So I would have to make multiple trips for basic training if that was the case?

 

[Neill McKay]

I understand that there are a lot of other useful skills that may be learned from a military occupation however, what I am trying to consider is the occupation title and how it will look to potential employers on a resume in the future. Of course, I'm not looking specifically for something that is a mirror-image of a civilian career but if there is something along those lines available I'll take it. I mean what better way to kill two birds with one stone. (to gain experience towards your future career and explore the option of joining the military)

If you haven't found this yet, it's probably a good place to start: http://www.forces.ca/en/jobexplorer/browsejobs-70.  Note that not all military occupations exist in the reserves, but there are communications units in the army reserve that may have some of the more relevant ones to your career.

So just to clarify, would the 15 week basic training duration that was mentioned on the site be split between whenever I have breaks (i.e. winter break, summer)? So I would have to make multiple trips for basic training if that was the case?

I believe that most or all army reserve units conduct their basic training courses at the local unit, mostly on weekends.  (I know my local unit also uses the March Break for part of theirs.)  Otherwise, I believe that the BOMQ course for reservists is split into two phases which take place over one or two summers, but my knowledge on this isn't especially current.

 

[Rheostatic]

Regarding your interest in IT, I suggest you consider the Signal Operator trade (recently renamed ACISS, bit still appears as Sig Op in most recruiting material). In Toronto, this trade may be available at 709 Communications Regiment, if they are hiring.

I live in Toronto and the closest reserve bases to me are the:
The Royal Regiment of Canada
The Queen's York Rangers
The Toronto Scottish Regiment

Those are units, not bases, and there are other units that work in the same armouries as those units.

If you speak to a recruiter at CFRC Toronto, they can give you a better idea of the range of different units and trades available in your area.

 

[cuzimsmaller]

Thank you for your responses, still wondering about the swimming thing though. Do they provide courses or do I have to personally find someone to teach me?

 

[Rheostatic]

I don't think you'll have to swim at an Army reserve BMQ (someone from 32 CBG can correct me if I'm wrong). If you're really concerned about it, take a swim class a your local city gym, but I wouldn't let that stop you from signing up.

 

[northernboy_24]

You need not worry about the swimming.  At reg force BMOQ there were 3 swimming classes and if you were a poor swimmer they had separate exercises for you to do that included standing in the shallow end or having a life-jacket.  You really dont have to be a swimmer at all in the forces.  If you fail the basic military swim test they just put that in your file so that there are certain courses and positions you cant go for.  i.e. they wont send you on a dive course or as a JTF2 assaulter because they require swimming skills.  You will be fine in the military army, airforce or navy if you cannot swim.

 

[cuzimsmaller]

Thank you again for all the responses. Greatly appreciated. I have contacted the communications reserves and hoping to hear back from them sometime.

Just some FYI for people using the search function and had the same question as me:

I also emailed someone on the forces.ca and I was told that some courses for Basic Training for Reserves can also be done with the unit if available during the whole year while others would need to be done during the summer and winter breaks (especially for students).

Again thank you for all the responses.