Need some guidance and advice..

[Goral]

Hello everyone,

i'm an 18 year old kid a couple months out of high school here in Toronto if that helps. Will try my best not to bore anyone with my life story, just wanna make a few things clear. I wanna start by saying a couple things first. I haven't done much my whole life. My parents who are immigrants never really enrolled me into sports and activities like other kids. I later on start gaming and spent a lot of my time gaming and spending too much time on the computer and all that. Now that i'm out of high school, I feel incomplete. People have crisis at mid point of their lives, and I think i'm having one right now (to a lesser degree). Haven't been able to find a job since being out of school, despite applying to many places and coming out with not even a callback. Also, not knowing what I wanted to do in high school has further delayed my plans for college for at least another year.

The feeling of waking up everyday and just doing nothing productive can really bring your spirits down. I feel sort of lost for a lack of a better word. I'm now looking at the military in a couple ways, as in what can I get out of such an experience. What can it offer me in terms of changing me for the better, good life lessons, and everything related. Not necessarily to say that I served in the army, but to have such a thing as that under my belt and thinking back on it, would it be generally a good thing? The camaraderie, the brotherhood(?) is something i'd definitely enjoy.

Now as I've said, i'm going to be out of school for at least another year. Not taking a grade 12 math course is essentially the reason why i'm not in college. Now i'm really interested in working with my hands and skilled trades looks like the way to go, for many reasons. So I was looking around on the Forces website, and seen that an in demand military job is a refrigeration mechanic, something that I have been wanting to get into for the last little while.

So, if I chose the option of joining the military, what would be the best way to approach it? Is it something you should do before college, or after? How does doing college and serving in the forces work?

I know there's other questions that I wanted to ask, so I guess i'll post them when they come to mind.

Was a long read, so thank you for taking the time to help a kid looking for some purpose

 

[Emilio]

Hey bud, I know where your coming from.

I'm 18 years old too and before pursing the military I didn't know shit about what I was gonna do in life.

If you are currently upgrading your grades or in college then you can apply for the reserves (army,navy,air force), basically it's the same as the regular military except you do it part time.

Usually one weekday, and every weekend for about four months. then full time for a couple of summers (at least for the army).

If you want to go full time then there are various programs the military has for paid education, just do a search on the forces website.

good luck. 

 

[BeyondTheNow]

Goral:

There are some great threads among Recruiting from people in similar states of mind. I'd recommend  reviewing some of the responses and advice given. You'll find you're not alone.

If you haven't already, start scanning the trades/descriptions on forces.ca (and around this site) to narrow down what you think you might be interested in. Since you're still young, if you decide there's a specific area you'd really like to pursue that might require certain educational standards, you can look into obtaining those as well. That will also help give you a sense of direction.

 

[Van Gogh]

Hello everyone,

i'm an 18 year old kid a couple months out of high school here in Toronto if that helps. Will try my best not to bore anyone with my life story, just wanna make a few things clear. I wanna start by saying a couple things first. I haven't done much my whole life. My parents who are immigrants never really enrolled me into sports and activities like other kids. I later on start gaming and spent a lot of my time gaming and spending too much time on the computer and all that. Now that i'm out of high school, I feel incomplete. People have crisis at mid point of their lives, and I think i'm having one right now (to a lesser degree). Haven't been able to find a job since being out of school, despite applying to many places and coming out with not even a callback. Also, not knowing what I wanted to do in high school has further delayed my plans for college for at least another year.

The feeling of waking up everyday and just doing nothing productive can really bring your spirits down. I feel sort of lost for a lack of a better word. I'm now looking at the military in a couple ways, as in what can I get out of such an experience. What can it offer me in terms of changing me for the better, good life lessons, and everything related. Not necessarily to say that I served in the army, but to have such a thing as that under my belt and thinking back on it, would it be generally a good thing? The camaraderie, the brotherhood(?) is something i'd definitely enjoy.

Now as I've said, i'm going to be out of school for at least another year. Not taking a grade 12 math course is essentially the reason why i'm not in college. Now i'm really interested in working with my hands and skilled trades looks like the way to go, for many reasons. So I was looking around on the Forces website, and seen that an in demand military job is a refrigeration mechanic, something that I have been wanting to get into for the last little while.

So, if I chose the option of joining the military, what would be the best way to approach it? Is it something you should do before college, or after? How does doing college and serving in the forces work?

I know there's other questions that I wanted to ask, so I guess i'll post them when they come to mind.

Was a long read, so thank you for taking the time to help a kid looking for some purpose

Well in your situation (as you don't know very well what you want to do in your life) I wold suggest go to the army full-time, work their for at least 5 years.
If you work there for a while, not only will you mature and have a better understanding of what you want, but you will have the better alternatives to choose from.
What I mean is after say 5 years you can either choose to stay in the military and continue advancing through the ranks (you can have quiet the career in military as a NCM) or you can go to college, paid by the Canadian Forces (how cool is that ).

P.S. As a side note, very few know at that stage of their lives what to do with their lives. I believe your parents should be a guide for you at that point in your life (ideally).

 

[DAA]

I think you may find that RM Tech "may" require Gr 12 Math but I am not certain off hand.  You can email  [email protected]  and just ask the question "What are the minimum academic requirements for Refrigeration and Mechanical Systems Technician?"  Also ask for a "current listing" of occupations which are eligible for NCM-SEP while your at it.

If your interested in going to College by way of joining the CF, you want to have a look at those NCM-SEP Occupations, such as Vehicle Technician for one.

Good luck!

 

[Vanguard48]

I know you may have seen this page allready on the Forces website but for what its worth check out the following link provided. Hope it helps! Good luck!

Link: http://www.forces.ca/en/job/refrigerationandmechanicalsystemstechnician-56

 

[Goral]

Thanks guys, Appreciate the responses. Still giving it a lot of thought but because this can be a big decision it's better that I do.

Considering visiting a recruiter sometime soon maybe to ask around but not before I find out as much as I could online. How much different is reserves? You go twice a week, you do your training and working on your trade during that time?

Also, if I stay in the forces as a reserve  during college, do they help subsidize the payment or anything like that?

 

[mariomike]

How much different is reserves? You go twice a week, you do your training and working on your trade during that time?

Also, if I stay in the forces as a reserve  during college, do they help subsidize the payment or anything like that?

This may help.
http://www.forces.ca/en/page/careeroptions-123#PartTime-2

"All reservists have access to education, training and professional development opportunities, and financial support for continuing education related to military employment."