DAA said:
Can you expand on this a bit more, I would be interested to hear?
First thing that happens when you walk in AFCO (recruiting center) is them getting some basic details from you. Regardless if you plan on applying or not. It's just a single sheet of paper on clip board. There was some questions pertaining to your areas of interest in the navy (royal marines in my case). But also basic details such as age, gender, nationality, etc. You also fill out some contact information. That way they can barrage your email... Not actually. But it also helps them when they inevitably you have to talk to someone else. As I believe this paper sticks to your file.
Following that I talked to the overseas expert who would personally handle my paperwork until it got sent to AFCO Exeter. Which he recommended me to as it would be cheaper for my stay and they had more experience in overseas recruitment. He obviously answered various questions of mine but also gave me a link to a website similar to army.ca. But I believe there's is official. They have recruiters on the forums. So pretty much any question you can think of has been answered by a qualified person "officially". You can get to that forum through their recruiting website.
Then once back in Canada I received a phone call in my prescribed hours (time change) within a week. Notifying me that my file had been passed onto Exeter. And that it was time to book my medical, fitness test and my psychometric test. (their training booklet was far more in depth). They also test your "mechanical" knowledge. Which is good because it really tests if you can see how and why things work. In that part I felt that physics was also being tested. I also had a book on the royal marines given to me that answered most questions. "What you can go on to become, base locations, step by step guide, etc". It was actually helpful. All my tests were also booked back to back which was nice, financially. With a PRMC following shortly after if I was successful. Which is a week long selection.
Getting a hold of them by phone was also extremely easy and I never got the run around. This new extension thing at our CFRCs is really problematic as the guy I was referred to never answered and if I deviated just to talk to a human being they blew me off. So I usually just visited in person to get things done.
So the main difference was speed in recruitment. Clarity in information being passed on and I found them to be more knowledgable/ up to date on any changes in the recruitment process. Because in contrast the first time I applied o the CAF they lost my file completely including original my documents (birth certificate). And it took forever plus a lot of harassment on my part to get things booked. I believe I waited 7ish months from my application date to sit my first test. They also never upgraded my info regarding my education to graduated highschool. Though I provided the documentation.
The 2nd time I applied I was already trained with multiple quals in my trade and could get sent straight to bn, which were and still are hurting badly for guys. I was told it would take 2 months, that never happened. And once I was merited I had to be de-merit listed because they processed me as a new recruit. So that's when I felt it was time to take certain steps as I did not want to it on my hands and play the hopeful recruit any longer. As you already know.
Unfortunately it was not in my cards to join the royal marines. As we lack any sort of expeditionary/rapid deployment amphibious force. Yes there's CSOR but it's more specialized than the marines. And right now there is still a push to go airborne when in reality every politician would be to scared to use them and even poor countries can afford radar. Yet most countries can't even watch their coastlines efficiently. And rivers are the highway of the jungle. Plus it's a place where you can go where the standards are much higher and it's not sf. Come on marine commando regiment being put in Victoria, lol.
