Reserve A-stan Tour in 2007; 36 bde

[Krazy-P]

what area are these reservists coming from?

 

[cbt arms sub tech]

For TF01-06, some reservists from LFWA are training for a February deployment, plus Pre-deployment rumors for TF04-07 starts in Sept, rumor is its a 18 month possible work opportunity....

 

[Krazy-P]

its too bad i will miss the one in feb, my paperwork for my OT to infantry with the LERs is almost ready. 

 

[cbt arms sub tech]

Again, chain of command are the true experts, but thats what some of us have been hearing, maybe someone really informed can share some info...

 

[Good2Golf]

I dunno if your questions have been answered yet I just jumped to the end of the question to let you guys know what happened with us.  In May we started unit pre training for the tour.  At the end of May 41 Brigade  sent us to wainwright and let us sit there.  1PPCLI didn't know about that it wasn't their idea at least.  At the end of Aug we showed up at their lines and did a quick dag and went on the BTE with them.  That was 7 weeks and now on Nov 1st we are doing mission specific training.  So in no way should it be a 6 month workup.  And if your unit plays things right they won't let you rot away in wainwright.  They will get you courses in the time between until you do workup with the regs.

Gents, you need to pull the info out of your CoC actively if you're not getting the answers you want/need.  The answers are out there for sure, so if you're not getting them at the armoury you need to crank your requests for info up a notch. 

For you guys going out on TF1-06, if you think you were frustrated with how things have been going on work-ups (pre-BTE, BTE, etc...) you're not the only one.  Had a good chat with the BG Comd a few days ago while he was over here doing his recce...there are definitely things that could have gone much better; feedback from the troops out west was that lower level training was decent and properly focused but that it started to lose it when folks higher up the food chain started directing recreations of the battle to protect the Foulda Gap.  That said, Comd TF1-06 is looking forward to Res contributions in theatre and I think you guys will have a good go -- expect to be busy and do stuff and get out on lots of patrols.  His view is to have you guys as complementary forces not supplementary forces...as described in the Canadian Army Journal article linked by Infanteer on the previous post page.  It is also his view not to have idle hands sitting around waiting for stuff to do, so be prepared to lean forward and jump when he directs...it is fully his intention that TF1-06 is as "high speed, low drag, out there doing things" as possible.  Personally, I would not be surprised to see guys out on the road for close to a week at a time living out of the LAV and not back in the barracks in KAF. 

Re: integration into the TF....don't think that lower level integration is necessarily a bad thing or that not being formed up into a separate company (or couple of platoons) will ruin the experience over here...you'll come up to speed closer to as unified a standard as there will be more quickly and although you have your regiment buds from home over here in the package, you will (or should) relatively quickly mix in with whatever sub-sub-unit or lower level org you're assigned to.  You can still always shoot the poop with your regimental buds when you get back in from patrol but suck in everything you can from the 1VP guys you'll be working with.  1VP is in the enviable position (compared to many other RegF infantry units) of having a fairly robust and experienced leadership chain from section commanders up to its higher levels, short of the CO himself who had a close-to-no-notice posting, moving his entire family West with only two weeks notice to move (keep this kind of stuff in mind if you do hear your fellow reservists complaining a little too loudly about how life can be and the sacrifices they are making doing what they are doing).  You will no doubt gain valuable experience from the RegF guys to a degree you didn't think would happen and they'll pick up some stuff from you guys (good point on some of the civ employment that many of you guys have...perhaps not directly applicable but at least providing a fair bit of dare I say diversity to the make up of the patrols).  Keep a positive, contributory attitude on your tour and you will be rewarded with professional pride and a sense of achievement that should be well deserved.  Learn, soak things in and practice those things you hoist aboard at every opportunity.  A large portion of friction between RegF and Res comes from an "I know  and am just as well prepared as anybody out there"...that may be true....but more likely is not the case.  An attitude to absorb the experience and knowledge that has come from years and years of operational soldiering experience on the part of the Reg folks will serve you well.  The end goal would be to appear indistinguishable (aside from the Brit-pat chest rig that some Reg guys are sporting on sentry over here these days ) from a RegF soldier both in conduct, professional task-oriented expertise, and a sound knowledge and ability to execute your TTPs in support of your assigned mission and tasks.

Cheers,
Duey

 

[Michael Dorosh]

Thanks for your help, appreciate your time & effort, hope all is well...So many questions to ask, sometimes wish LFWA had a forum such as this, where real answer were given.

Commander LFWA invited all of us to email him with further questions - with one caveat - you also have to cc your Commanding Officer and the Brigade Commander of 41 CBG (Colonel Gludo) on any email correspondence with the LFWA commander.

 

[a_beautiful_tragedy]

For TF01-06, some reservists from LFWA are training for a February deployment, plus Pre-deployment rumors for TF04-07 starts in Sept, rumor is its a 18 month possible work opportunity....

task force 1 07 are guys from lfaa and its 1 year not 18 months, 6 months work up 6 months deployment to afghanistan

 

[cbt arms sub tech]

Hey, different areas, different rumors, so who knows!

 

[Shades]

I'll tell you it was a sad day when we moved to the NSE from 1VP they treated us well and cut the bullshit out where it shouldn't be but in the res world people are so high strung when they see the regs and try to impress them to much creating undue jobs and such.  1VP treated us very well and their training and leadership is good.  I can only hope that NSE will do the same for us and that we have a good job overseas but none the less always soak in the knowledge and apply it.  Leave the troublesome troops back at the unit and take the ones worthy of the job.  I see some people are talking about 6 month workup......hahaha thats not a workup thats reserve bullshit with alot of siting around when they could run applicable courses to get their guys ready.  We started in May their was no reason for it sure we did ranges and stuff before we showed up got some of the paperwork out of the way but then we rotted away in wainwright for 4 months doing nothing some were swings for courses and such but then again we were told it was a 6 month workup aswell. 

 

[cbt arms sub tech]

Shades,

What have you been doing lately for work up training in Edmonton?

 

[armyvern]

I'll tell you it was a sad day when we moved to the NSE from 1VP they treated us well and cut the bullshit out where it shouldn't be but in the res world people are so high strung when they see the regs and try to impress them to much creating undue jobs and such.   1VP treated us very well and their training and leadership is good.   I can only hope that NSE will do the same for us and that we have a good job overseas but none the less always soak in the knowledge and apply it.   Leave the troublesome troops back at the unit and take the ones worthy of the job.   I see some people are talking about 6 month workup......hahaha thats not a workup thats reserve bullshit with alot of siting around when they could run applicable courses to get their guys ready.   We started in May their was no reason for it sure we did ranges and stuff before we showed up got some of the paperwork out of the way but then we rotted away in wainwright for 4 months doing nothing some were swings for courses and such but then again we were told it was a 6 month workup aswell.  

Please do the following for your next posts:
Use spellcheck;
Check punctuation;
Avoid profanity; and
Maintain professionalism.

It's appreciated on this site. Thanks.

 

[Bloggins]

I am in 32 Bde in LFCA. I don't know how it is usually handled in LFWA. However what the current direction for reserve augumentees on TF 0106 is the following. The home units are responsible to have all of the augumentees complete ELOC. Next the soldier will spend 2 weekends at the area training centre in Meaford to complete MLOC. All paper work and DAG administration is the responsibility of the parent Bde and home unit. The soldiers will then join 1 RCR or there applicable element for the BTE and stay on for the rest of the pre-training stuff like mission specific. The line serials that they have excepted nominations for are 2 full reserve infantry Pl's for D&S tasks. 1 in mirage and the other in Kandahar. The one in Kandahar doing external D&S things like convoy escort as well. What the outgoing LFCA Comd said was that the remainder would be 2 reservists per section in the rifle Coy's and individual soldiers to NSE and NCE. Some reserve members may go with humint and of course CIMIC is all reserve. As well agumentees to CSS and MNB HQ. That is the current game plan but of course things are subject to change on a moments notice if I got anything wrong that someone knows please post it.

Cheers.

 

[Shades]

Please do the following for your next posts:
Use spellcheck;
Check punctuation;
Avoid profanity; and
Maintain professionalism.

It's appreciated on this site. Thanks.

Yes indeed I'll watch my language, and the spelling I was in a little hurry to post that so don't worry.  And as to the whole D&S I am part of D&S 1 PL going to Khandahar part of NSE at the moment, we still don't know an official job yet.  As per the training we did ELOC at home unit like said and paperwork as per requirements.  It still ended up in doing 6 DAG's lol.  For mission specific as per my time table given includes the following Gas Mask fit/testing which we already did.  Two more medical dags, one day for mission specific needles and a day for a check up.  Four days of First Aid....some others that went through it already told me it more in depth to combat first aid.  Five days of Peace Support Training.  Five days Language/Cultural and mission specific kit issue. Four days of Reflexive Shooting (Gunfighter Drills).  Three days of Comms Training mostly involving the CI.  And that is all they have listed for our mission specific training.

 

[Bloggins]

As far as mission specific goes they will probably add some more. And as for the DAG's they are a necessary evil that will be time consuming. Other stuff that will probably be included after the war fighter phase of your work up will be things like foreign weapons and stand training where you will get to role play through different scenarios. Once they have you on the ground do not be surprised or let your morale slide if things all seem to change. It is after all the nature of this particular beast. Just make sure that you are good to go for things like telephone banking, a long distance plan and that you get a civi passport so you can keep it when you return home.

Cheers.

 

[KevinB]

Knowing the CF -- internet banking will be th ebest bet.
  30min phone cards (/week the time accumulating) where provided for Athena.

For some reason I dont think CO 1VP will allow the D&S to remain with the NSE for long -- it did not work for Roto II Athena and I cannot see it working on TF1-06.

Unlike some tours Afghan has no "mission specific needles" - but reservists will not likley have the needle battery that the regs get going thru Cornwallis (well St. Jean now).
HEP A/B, Tet/Dip, YF, Typ, Meng, MMR and Polio - are blanket immunizations -- then the Mefloquine for Malria is the only area specific med that is given (or Malarone or the other Dsomethign anti-biotic for those who dont like Manic Monday's  )

 

[cbt arms sub tech]

There's some great feedback out here, thanks to all who contributed information.

 

[Shades]

Tomorrow I get mission specific needles so far I am sitting at 8 before them.  And then sometime either DEC or Jan start my little mood swing pills lol.  As per foreign weapons I think there may be a quick familiarization.

 

[Haggis]

Tomorrow I get mission specific needles so far I am sitting at 8 before them.   And then sometime either DEC or Jan start my little mood swing pills lol.   As per foreign weapons I think there may be a quick familiarization.

Before my tasking in the Republic of Georgia (a somewhat more "developed" country that A'stan) I topped out at 15 shots. The immunization nurse promised a set of steak knives when I hit a dozen.   So far, no knives.....

 

[Good2Golf]

Knowing the CF -- internet banking will be th ebest bet.
  30min phone cards (/week the time accumulating) where provided for Athena.

For some reason I dont think CO 1VP will allow the D&S to remain with the NSE for long -- it did not work for Roto II Athena and I cannot see it working on TF1-06.

Unlike some tours Afghan has no "mission specific needles" - but reservists will not likley have the needle battery that the regs get going thru Cornwallis (well St. Jean now).
HEP A/B, Tet/Dip, YF, Typ, Meng, MMR and Polio - are blanket immunizations -- then the Mefloquine for Malria is the only area specific med that is given (or Malarone or the other Dsomethign anti-biotic for those who dont like Manic Monday's  )

Kevin, I think you're right about CO 1VP's desire to move D&S away from NSE toute-suitey..

Manic Mondays...dang...I was taking the stuff on Wacky Wednesdays!   Ooops.

Cheers,
Duey

 

[OPA]

I heard a rumor about going to Wainwright for 5 weeks while on work-up, has anyone else? Do you know what it might be for?

Thanks