Mandatory service for reserves

[ForeverPvt]

Heres a thought. Why shouldn‘t reserves be required to go on a roto within 2 years on completion of their QL3? It would attract more dedicated people, provide valuable training, and take a burden off the regs for manpower.

 

[Fader]

It would also repel the majority of the normal population and get so few new recruits the military would probably cease to exist. Although that‘s just heresay.

 

[nULL]

Yeah, but all qualified reserves, including infantry, WILL evntually have that option, right? They CAN go on a roto if they want to, correct?

 

[Fader]

Doesn‘t the mandate for the reserves place it‘s role as a primarily domestic organization? I‘m fairly certain it does.

 

[nULL]

Oh God I hope not...what‘s the point in training them in anything other than sandbagging/shovelling then?

 

[ForeverPvt]

Yes the reserves are a domestic organization and we all have the CHOICE to go, but what I‘m saying is to make it mandatory to have to go on roto once you‘re trained instead of just being a weekend warrior for X number of years. What use is it to spend all this money on a soldier to train them to be able to operate in theatre and never have them go? Its like training for a marathon, but staying home to watch it on TV.

 

[Pikache]

Considering that hard charging privates aren‘t being taken for spots on tours that are open, I fail to see the point of this.

(And looks like people with more years are in get first dibs on tours still)

 

[hijack]

As far as the Primary Reserves and Operational deployments go...you should review the CF‘s LFRR, which is already well into phase II. Reserves are taking-on ever increasing roles in deployments, and are filling critical staffing positions at home. They very fact that we have CRC‘s on tour is a testament to the increase in reserve positions on deployments. Mandatory service....is a good idea, but towards the endstate of "citizen soldiers". Hoepfully many of them will eventually choose the military as a career. This has been successfully adopted in many European countries. Another role for the reserves, could also be as a training cadre. In Australia, they have full-time reserve companies as part of regular force units. This is an excellent idea because it fills need spots, offers reserves to increase their knowledge base and allows reg force training to be conducted with the appropriate #‘s ie: a coy ex. with 40 all ranks is not a coy. It also further increases the reserves viability as a reg force feeder, and it creates an actual pool of qualified individuals easily called-up and mobilized. Lastly, berating reservist for being militia is rude and ignorant. I have had the pleasure and misfortune of working with both reg/ res officers, NCM‘s....they differences are miniscule. The big difference, comes from within "those members that wear the uniform, and those members that merely occupy someone else‘s uniform".

-"Oxygen Thieves" abound in the reserves and in the regs, the difference is that the regs are better able to ‘sort-out their pte Bloggin‘s than the res.

 

[D.A. Stolovitch]

CFL_Lui:

To clarify one of your posts - the mandate of the Reserve is not primarily a domestic organisation.

The official role of the Reserve, as directed by the CDS contains three elements:

- the framework for mobilisation;
- the Army’s connection with Canadians; and
- augmentation within the Canadian Forces.

No main effort or priority is specified for these three elements of the role. Nowhere is the domestic setting specifically mentioned. Connection with Canadians is domestic, because it refers to the presence of Reserve units across Canada. Mobilisation and augmentation could be for service in Canada or overseas.

The Reserve have in the past played, and will continue in the future to play a significant role in domestic operations (98 Ice Storm, Winnipeg/Red River floods, etc). However, the Reserve alos is participating in ever-increasing numbers in operations overseas, and in Class B augmentation of Regular Force units in Canada.

Regards,

 

[newfiemafia]

Cpl Lui,
By now you think that you would have learned. Didn‘t you learn anything from your comments that you had posted on the Sig Op QL5 column. It is just another case of you opening your mouth and inserting your foot yet again. You should research your info before you start offering advice and info that you do not know anything about.

:fifty: :fifty:

 

[hoganshero]

at the battle of medak pocket the commander says the 870 man force was comprised of 70% reservists. reservists do deploy. I feel that if you forced reservists into deployment you will cease to recruit new reservists. Besides I doubt that reg force soldiers on deployment really want some reservist who doesn‘t even want to be there with them. Not to mention that the idea of the citizen soldier is designed so that those of us unwilling to let go of our civilian lives can still contribute. I would have been mighty pissed if 2 years into an aerospace engineering degree I was asked to hang up school and life for 6 months and head off to Bosnia halfway through the school year...

 

[Spr.Earl]

I believe it should be an option for us.

Reason being,if want‘s to see what real Military life is like before they sign up for life or just for the exspierance.

But once you make that commitment your in for 2 or 3 yrs.

 

[prudorit]

Found this stream interesting, so I thought I‘d post first time here.

It makes sense from a training/experience perspective to have Reservists do a Roto. However, they‘re not called "citizen soldiers" for nothing...

What do you do about a soldier who has a civilian job that won‘t let them go? In the U.S., and I believe in Australia and the U.K., there‘s legislation to protect your job if you go operational.

The down side: there are reports of discrimination against job candidates who have military commitments to fulfill.

Any ideas for solutions?

 

[Redeye]

According to the Forces, the reason that Canadian Reservists do not have job protection under law is because Reservists here are true volunteers - that if they choose to take a callout or go on Roto it is their free choice.

I think that‘s a pretty thin excuse personally, but I understand the priciple behind it.

My employer‘s stated policy is that I can take 10 days off per year as unpaid leave for Reserve Force service - which basically covers summer concentration. That policy, however, is only the beginning - I enquired about courses and longer term commitments and was told that I could take as long off as needed without adversely affecting my employment - though I may come back to working somewhere different within the company (I work for a bank).

I‘m pretty impressed with that.

I‘ve heard the same about discrimination in the US, that a lot of US reservists and National Guard types do not tell their employers about what they do up front until they are well established in the job to avoid falling victim to discrimination.

 

[John Nayduk]

I work for BASF in Windsor, Ontario. They’ve been great to work for as far as leave for military service. They’ve allowed me time off for two tours and the Ice Storm plus courses over the years. Currently, our plant manager, who is a Viet Man vet, can’t figure out why Canada doesn’t use the reserves more.

 

[combat_medic]

Forever Pvt: as a pretty new and pretty young kid, there‘s a lot of factors you aren‘t considering.

If you join up at 16/17, just get out of high school, are still living with mom and dad, no house, no car, no spouse, no kids, no committments, then going on a roto is like a walk in the park. It‘s nothing for a teenager to pick up and leave everything when, in reality, he‘s not leaving anything.

However, if you join up in your mid-late 20s and up, live on your own, a mortgage, a spouse and children at home, as well as a full time job, then it‘s a LOT to ask. Often times just going away from a job will get you fired, and the money from a class C contract won‘t be enough to cover expenses. Not to mention being thrown away like a used condom at the end of the tour, and having to find employment again, even though you were serving your country.

To sum up, mandatory ANYTHING is not a good idea in the reserves until the federal government legislates some fu*$ing job protection and makes it easier for people with families and such to go.

 

[Cycophant]

until the federal government legislates some fu*$ing job protection and makes it easier for people with families and such to go

I‘d just like to offer another side to the story, if I may. Not being in the Forces just yet offers me a different vantage to this problem, thus far.

Though I completely and utterly understand the desire for job protection legislation for Reserves, take a brief moment to look at it through the eyes of a small business, for example. While they may have a strong desire to support Canada and whatever it may use the Reserves for, he can‘t afford to lose an employee for a few months. He could try to hire someone temporarily, but the cost of doing so would diminish if not remove any benefit from doing so. In a business with < 10 or 20 employees, losing one for a few months can be disastrous.

Larger businesses don‘t have it as tough, but it‘s still difficult for some of them to lose a valued member of the company for a few months if they cannot replace him or her. Look at the big battle that was waged over Maternity Leave. It was difficult to debate because if you were against it, you were a "chauvinistic male pig", but the negatives to such a law were obvious and important. The situations are slightly different, but do share similarities.

So it‘s a very tough debate. Both sides have valid arguements, unfortuantely. The United States, which does offer job protection, has seen both the positive and negative impacts of doing so as well.

 

[combat_medic]

Cycophant: I totally understand your position, which is why I said we can‘t have mandatory service until there‘s mandatory job protection. You can‘t have just make it mandatory to go operational without offering something to those people you‘re forcing to go.

 

[rolandstrong]

I seem to remember this mandatory thing from another thread....

Quite frankly I think the use of reservists to augment a regular standing army (and its role) is a half measure for a peace-time military. Increase the regs and get them the equipment to do the job . Reservists volunteering for such duties is certainly acceptable, but remember these personnel need to have additional training to bring them up to speed. These "volunteers‘ in turn bring a great deal back to their respective regiments. However, I don‘t understand the logic of manditory rotations for reservists...its not their role. They are militia...community soldiers with civilian lives. Quite different than a professional soldier.

 

[nULL]

Honestly, if that‘s the way it was, how many people would make the sacrifice to join the reserves? Why would anyone lose money they could be making at a conventional job so they could do things like shovel snow or till over burned earth? The way I hear it is now, reservists can get properly trained and go on tours, which is probably why many join in the first place.