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Intelligence branch..

L

ludacris

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could someone explain to me exactly what the intelligence branch does, I ve always been curious about this, Ive gone to the website but it doesnt really explain much.
 
I am applying for the 3 Intelligence Company in Halifax.. While I am not for certain what their mandate is, from what I have been reading and what the recruiter has told me is that their job is to make sure other units have the proper information when in combat. Intelligence is also trained in foreign equipment and formations. The recruiter also mentioned there is a lot of IT work and that they are a "well-rounded" unit. From the descriptions and what I have been reading it sounds quite interesting, and I enjoy working with computers so that is why I am applying.

John
 
this does sound very intrseting, is there any pre requisits to get in? ive heard of some other military branch of intelligence, and this person was selected to join after being in the army already for a few years. is this alwasy the case?
 
If you want to Join the Int Branch, you need to have at least 3 years of military experience before being considered for Reg Force Int.

If you‘re joining Reserve Int, it depends on the unit. Some prefer previous experience, some don‘t.

Keep in mind, though, that you won‘t be issued a Tuxedo and a Walther PPK in the Int Branch, so if you want to be James Bond you‘re SOL.

Here‘s a quote from http://www.intbranch.org/

Actually, intelligence is very straight forward. It is simply knowing what other players in the game are up to, capable of, and likely to do next. Knowing, as the Duke of Wellington famously put it, "What‘s on the other side of the hill."

Thought of that way, intelligence is actually applicable to most endeavours in life, not just military operations. In the military context, intelligence has classicly been responsible for knowledge of three things: "enemy, weather and terrain." Those are things commanders and staffs need to know about in order to plan operations.
 
Yes, I forgot to mention that. I was applying for the reserve unit, so you don‘t need prior experience. They just "take people off the street" as she put it during our meeting :p
 
Highly unlikely.... oh you meant intelligence!

Platoon of 6 Int Company out of 38 CBG.
 
Actually, 6 Int is completley under 41 CBG. The Platoons out in Vancouver and Winnipeg don‘t actually belong to the Brigades in those provinces.
 
Reg force intelligence is opened up for Direct Entry Officer, although I don‘t know if the ranks have opened up.
 
You sure about that? I‘d have trouble believing it...
 
Originally posted by Korus:
[qb] Keep in mind, though, that you won‘t be issued a Tuxedo and a Walther PPK in the Int Branch, so if you want to be James Bond you‘re SOL.
[/qb]
Several years ago, to combat all the misconceptions that are out there, 6 Int Coy had t-shirts made up which said "We don‘t do anything remotely cool." :D

Int is a very interesting trade, but Hollywood has completely screwed up the layman‘s view of it.
 
I thought it funny that 3 Int Coy was advertising on one of those mobile bill boards at the base of the Citadel. I do however have a slightly strange sense of humor.
 
Yeah they have those Glo Promotion billboards advertising positions outside Winsor/Willow park.
 
I am sure. A friend of mine is attempting to go DEO Int reg force. I am in the process of remustering to it while I am in ROTP because they opened it up. Although I don‘t yet know if it will be open to ROTP, we will see.
 
Slim-

While I agree with you that there are numerous reserve members of the trade that are merely taking up space, I think you‘ve missed the point of the t-shirt. "We don‘t do anything remotely cool" is not an attitude, it‘s a fact. We don‘t have sexy equipment to play with- no tanks, arty pieces, machine guns, etc. (and certainly no Walther PPK‘s or shoe phones.) We play with maps and markers. We don‘t handle a lot of equipment, but we do like to look at pictures of neat foreign kit. We do social studies projects about the geography and history of other nations. Face it- we‘re geeks. Nothing remotely cool.

Attracting military personnel into that environment has always been a problem, particularly in the reserve world. Some units have tried going the other way- recruiting geeks off the street, and bringing them into the military world. IMHO, that is misguided, and has produced appallingly few good int ops.

As for the individuals you mentioned, the only one I know is Darren. I can tell you he had a good attitude durings his 3‘s and 4‘s (5 years ago), but I got out that fall, so I can‘t comment on anything since then. If what you say is true, that‘s a shame- he had a lot of potential.
 
Originally posted by Slim:
[qb] his focus on that course wasn‘t stricktly the int trade, was it!
[/qb]
Oooh... below the belt! I remember defending him to the other instructors- "he‘s just helping out the lesser experienced people on course..." Found out later I was wrong. Crap. :mad: He was still a good student, though.

And yeah, I did some cool stuff in int as well, but it all had to do with EW, not with the "traditional" int branch stuff. :cool: ;)
 
I like that T-Shirt saying, because when people hear Int, they often do think James Bond, Walther PPKs, and Martinis, or CIA blackops, or whatnot.. When in reality Int isn‘t about that. I see of it as more of a "We‘re not James Bond" kind of thing. But I guess everyone will interpret it differently.

There are the boring times, but to be honest, on a Janus Ex, even being a lowly plotter is a pretty cool job, since you‘re watching what‘s going on.

But, in my time in I‘ve done a lot of ‘cool‘ things, and if you‘re a switched on, motivated troop, it‘s an awesome trade with good opportunities.

There are people whom I find ‘toxic‘ to the trade, really unmotivated, but there are others who are switched on, and beleive in the soldier first mentality, which I beleive is important. (A fat, lazy, unfit IntOp is useless if he‘s tasked to an airmobile assault with an Infantry Platoon, for example.) Unfortunatley with the numbers in the Pls, it‘s not always possible to drop the toxic people.

BTW, Slim, is that Sgt S. still with the unit? The only Sgt S. I can think of is actually a switched on NCO, on his third tour right now.. I‘m probably thinking of someone else..
 
Originally posted by Slim:
[qb] Originally posted by clasper:
2 Int Coy in Toronto has a number of oxygen thieves that do NOT belong in the int world. Likewise I was on course in Meaford with several int types who shouldn‘t have even been in the forces, never mind int! People like Ed W. Allan P. and Andrew G.

House cleaning required! Those people are more of a hazard to their own side than the enemy‘s! :mad:

I could go on but I get myself wound up just thinking about it!

:cdn: [/qb]
Hmm.. I was thinking about re-mustering to 2 int, maybe I should and shake the place up?
 
I‘m pretty sure Darren is part of 2 Int. If he was in 6 Int, it would have been very briefly, and though a friend of mine worked with him, I never met him personally.

I‘m a member of 6 Int Coy, Wpg Det (though currently on long term class B in Yellowknife). It‘s "officially" 5 Platoon, but most people still call it Winnipeg Det. We are under 41 Bde, but the Company is very decentralized, and Wpg Det works far more closely with 38 Bde (being co-located in the same building as 38 Bde HQ and all). We don‘t really think of ourselves as a 41 Bde unit.

Wpg Det is recruiting pretty actively these days, however after some bad experiences with accepting people "off the street," the CO has mandated that all new recruits are to be remusters. Most reserve Int units have adopted this policy, and only wave it in exceptional circumstances. The Det accepts 2-3 recruits every year. If you are interested I can give you a contact number. Even if you do have to join another trade first they can still give you some advice on how best to go through the process.

Anyway, poking fun at the trade is something of a reserve Intelligence tradition. However, despite the occassional act of self-depreciation, most Int Ops do really like their job. I personally really enjoy being part of Wpg Det. It‘s a close knit unit with some great people, and we have an excellent relationship with 38 Bde which lets us really exercise our skills in co-operation with their operations and exercises.
 
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