RangerRay
Army.ca Veteran
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Or wherever Work Point Barracks were…You mean the QOR West?
Reconstitution
- Thread starter Kilted
- Start date
- Reaction score
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So replace a problem with a new problem, then pretend we've fixed things?
That's typically the preferred CoA for these kinds of things.
- Reaction score
- 6,307
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Does anyone know if the RCN or RCAF have released a plan yet?
Don't really expect anything, on the RCN side, but unless we tie up and retire some ships, while slowing down the ops tempo (including random fleet exercises) we don't have a hope in hell, and ships will 'self retire'. Believe we're still pulling instructors to fill at sea billets, and we've broken the schools anyway.
Don't really expect anything, on the RCN side, but unless we tie up and retire some ships, while slowing down the ops tempo (including random fleet exercises) we don't have a hope in hell, and ships will 'self retire'. Believe we're still pulling instructors to fill at sea billets, and we've broken the schools anyway.
- Reaction score
- 27,896
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- 1,090
PLD is an overall cost of living, not an accomodation, allowance.
And in the late 90s, divesting quarters to encourage home ownership and equity on retirement was a deliberate policy choice.
And in the late 90s, divesting quarters to encourage home ownership and equity on retirement was a deliberate policy choice.
Halifax Tar
Army.ca Fixture
- Reaction score
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And we should be encouraging that. It's just fiscally prudent. Can't live on the shacks or Q's for ever.
Tell me you’ve served in the military, without telling me you’ve served in the military
- Reaction score
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The problem is, the CAF went from encouraging people to buy through policy, to forcing people to buy through removing base housing as an option.
Oh gawd no, please let us stay in Edmonton!Or 3 RCHA in Winnipeg. And the LdSH and 1 Svc Bn in Calgary.
Why/How did the CAF remove base housing as an option?
(I never lived on base when I was in, so not sure familiar with the details…I know around the time when I joined, 1999-2000, the general understanding I had was one could live fairly affordable if willing to live in base housing.)
Eaglelord17
Army.ca Veteran
- Reaction score
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Which new problem? You have guaranteed housing, which would be cheap/standardized on price across the country. No need for those other benefits then once that has been provided.
PLD is overall cost of living, but if housing is taken out of the equation, your pay is going to go about as far anywhere in the country.
Homeownership isn’t always fiscally prudent, it CAN be, but it can also be a quick way to lose a lot of money. One of the main ways to lose a lot of money on it is moving constantly, which happens to be how the CAF tends to work.
There are many things people don’t realize about homeownership, such as if you take the full 25 years to pay off your mortgage you have basically doubled the cost of your house just with interest by time its all said and done. Add in maintenance expenses, upgrades, etc. your sunk costs increase more.
Divesting of shacks was more to do with trying to decrease overhead in a time of fiscal restraint and a relatively cheap external housing market. That housing market no longer exists and there are enough horror stories about CAF members working second jobs just to scrape by.
I would have lived in shacks when I was regs if I was allowed as would most of my course mates. But we weren’t and for those first few years it gives you a opportunity to build a lot of camaraderie. That comaraderie is one of the things that keeps people in.
As I have said before, the more they try to make the CAF just another corporate hellscape, the less people will stay because there is a better office job which will pay more and treat you better civvy side every time.
- Reaction score
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CFHA has been removing old PMQs and replacing them with far fewer units. In some cases, entire sections of the PMQ patch have disappeared, with no new houses built.
PMQs are still relatively affordable most places, if you can get into one.
The new problem is it would be seen as a negative by anyone looking to buy and would be a step backward in preparing people for life after the CAF.
That's an oversimplification of cost of living. Housing is a large factor, but by no means the only one worth noting.
Fair points, but that likely means the CAF should look at ways to reduce the number of times people are posted, rather than making living on base the only viable option.
I lived in shacks for the first three years I was in, it was a great time, and I saved a lot of money doing it. I agree that living-in should remain an option throughout your career, as it does build comradery in a way that Mon-Fri 8-4 doesn't. I think the best way to do it would be to build apartment buildings on base, it solves part of the housing issue, and gives people an option if they aren't interested in home ownership.
I also agree that keeping the CAF as more than just another job is the best way to recruit and retain people.
- Reaction score
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Seems like a waste of energy hating people who don't even know you exist outside a chat room.
If you can't do anything to release it in the real world, impotent rage just seems like a way to develop an ulcer.
Ironically, the government of Alberta has an advertising campaign to attract Ontario people to come live and work in that province.
IKnowNothing
Army.ca Veteran
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I might be entirely wrong, but when it comes to Borden/Meaford "area" is very much the key word. If you don't mind driving half an hour both those points on the map give someone a remarkable range of living preferences.
Halifax Tar
Army.ca Fixture
- Reaction score
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Meaford had nothing. Worst accommodations and mess I've ever eaten at. Owen Sound is boring.
Pet is fine. Until your kids are teens.
lenaitch
Army.ca Veteran
- Reaction score
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How does that square with integrating the military with the surrounding community. If part of the argument is to have bases near - but not in- urban communities, does the convenience of the member sentence their spouses and kids to the long commute?
That's the problem with assessing communities as 'suitable'; it is so subjective. One community that somebody enjoys would be a hell-hole for somebody else. Some say you need to attract the urban population. Ottawa is over a million people now. Is Pet not close enough for young urban Ottawans (?) to consider joining? Would living in Borden be attractive to some urban Torontonian who thinks anything north of Steeles is terre inconnue where dragons live?
Using southern Ontario as an example, I can't imagine what it would cost to buy/expropriate enough land for an all-singin'/all-dancin' base. Even a re-purposed Borden would challenge many families to be able to afford housing, and adding in a few thousand certainly wouldn't drive the prices down.
TacticalTea
Army.ca Veteran
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As a future parent, what's the issue with Pet and teens people keep talking about?
Halifax Tar
Army.ca Fixture
- Reaction score
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Like alot of post industrial, broken towns Pet/Pembroke have drug use problems. And I would suspect higher than average teen pregnancy statistics.
Not alot of future or economy there.
It's sad really. Pembroke was a bustling community.
RangerRay
Army.ca Veteran
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As someone who grew up in a small mining town, there’s not much for kids to do except drink, do drugs, fight and f@&$.
