ERE - extra regimental - normally a school or RSS. You may have had a good experience but I can assure they are not the desired posting for most young captains.
That is the result of RegF prejudices and a lack of support to ResF units to make them viable. This is entirely a problem of our own making. In the US Marine Corps, things are different. Here's a quote from a RAND study on integration of active and reserve components.
The Marine Corps sees value in having some form of formal AC oversight and mentoring to improve the readiness of the RC. What the Marine Corps has done, both structurally and through its inspector-instructor (I&I) program, is to embed that oversight and mentoring function in the units by assigning AC personnel to RC units. There are 4,025 AC marines providing training and readiness oversight for RC formations and organizations totaling 35,885 RC marines, for a ratio of one AC marine to every nine RC marines. This ratio seems to suggest significant training and readiness oversight impact.
Another point worth noting, which might be more profound from a total force perspective, is the integration of AC marines into the command and control structure of the MARFORRES. The 4,025 AC marines mentioned above are considered in the overall MARFORRES end strength because they are actually a part of the MARFORRES units and structure. Not only are the AC I&Is embedded into the actual unit and organization structure, but they are also part of the same chain of command. When he was commanding general of the MARFORRES, MajGen Thomas L. Wilkerson stated that “the purpose of the integration was to foster a single unit identity. Therefore, a reserve regiment or unit is referred to as a [Marine Corps] unit, not a [Marine Corps] reserve unit.”
... Finally, the Marine Corps treats AC assignments into RC formations as an operational tour. This is significant because these types of assignments are considered to be career enhancing. This type of incentive can go a long way in fostering cross-component integration
Rohn, Laurinda
et al., “Integrating Active and Reserve Staff Organizations: Improving the Chances of Success”
Rand Corporation 2019: 80-81
https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR1869.html
There is absolutely no reason why an RSS posting should be considered a "scutt" job if the right attitude and policies are put in place by the chain of command to make it a career enhancing option. The fact that it is denigrated is a systemic failure of the system.
They should be similar, that was the point of my post. If they were formed battalions the postings wouldn’t be dumping g grounds, see above.
I fully agree that our ResF units should be in formed and fully manned battalions. That's a sine quo non. What has been allowed to exist for the last half century is an abomination.
Explain to me how viewing a military force in terms of operational out out - ie what military capability is has is incorrect.
Because it confuses day-to-day operational needs in peacetime with a force available for operations in times of emergencies. ResF have two key purposes. One is to be a trained force which can be mobilized in emergencies and the second to provide volunteer augmentees to round out day to day operational tasks. The RegF concentrates on the latter (to the extent of permanently bolstering its full-time numbers with Class Bs) and completely ignores the former.
This is precisely my point. You’ve entirely misread my post as an attack on the reserves as a concept. When in fact it’s an argument for restructure. Those national guard divisions are all equipped and built around how many can be recruited and what equipment they have. They are not built around preserving lineage. That’s what I was saying.
We're partially in agreement. ResF units should be at full strength so that they can be mobilized. I think the linage issue is a trope that really doesn't matter to a reorganization issue. The RegF usually pulls out the issue to demonstrate how archaic and narrowly focussed the ResF leadership is and the ResF pulls it out because previous consolidation initiatives brought out didn't solve the problem, just increased it.
This in fact incorrect. The army constantly and continuously restructured around recruiting numbers and equipment until 1945. Units amalgamated, reformed, and reroled time and time again. After WW2 title and corps affiliation became iron clad, and that’s what’s driven us to today.
Actually the second part of your argument is wrong. There were several post-WW2 reorganizations. I joined at the tail end of the last one in 1965 as the results of the Suttie Commission were coming into effect. Based on Suttie's recommendations, Hellyer closed 114 armouries and relegated 72 units to the supplementary order of battle. My own regiment 7th Toronto RCA was the amalgamation of the 29th SP Regt, 42 Med Regt and 1 Locating Regt RCA. The intent was to save money (of course) and to bring the reserve force strength down from 46,700 to 30,000. In fact it ended up dropping to 12,865. It never recovered. And the ResF has never forgotten what was done to it. The only unit ever to come back from Suttie was the Halifax Rifles and that's a political story if there ever was one.
Let me throw some concepts out there in the 30/70 model I suggested. Assume we adopt my model of a ResF battalion that is commanded by a full-time CO, has a full-time company fully equipped and three ResF companies (each formed by a pre-existing ResF Regt but at company strength with a historic connection. So for arguments sake lets call the battalion the 48th Highlanders with all the full-timers badged as the 48th. In addition there is a part-time company from the 48th, a part-time company from the Tor Scots and a part-time company from Lorne Scots but all are under the command of the full-time CO. Each is allowed to keep their own uniform. In addition drawn from the prior RSS pool there will be 10 full-time staff assigned to each part-time company but under the command of the battalion CO. ResF members will be promotable to the rank of major/company commander IF they take the appropriate RegF courses otherwise they rank out at capt. recruits and cadets are kept on a BTL until DP1 is complete and do not go on the bn establishment until DP 1 qualified. The 30 RSS staff work for the battalion. They provide leadership, mentoring and support to their respective ResF companies as needed but are also 100% on the battalion staff for the purpose of training the full-timers as well. The unit full-timers concentrate on RegF collective training Sep to April but from May to Aug inclusive concentrate on individual training for everyone and collective training for the part-time companies using the battalion's organic equipment (coordinated with annual leave and APS)
This battalion has multiple capabilities:
1) it can contribute a bn hq and one company of full-timers on immediate operational requirements'
2) it can raise volunteer augmentees for operations from amongst 400 reservists;
3) It can be mobilized (placed on active service or called out on service) as a full bn in an emergency or for other military duties; and finally
4) it can be spun off into a training brigade in the case of national mobilization with the bn HQ forming the core of the brigade headquarters and each company forming into the trained core of a battalion with a preexisting identity able to absorb and train new recruits.
This type of organization:
1) will provide the reserves with the leadership and equipment it needs to be properly trained and administered;
2) is the least offensive amalgamation program to the reserves themselves - it avoids the damage that Suttie did;
3) provides a structure to support the current day to day needs of the CAF;
4) provides an existing expansion structure for large scale operations;
5) provides a structure to support future equipment programs;
6) provides a greater reach for developing RegF leadership by way of more command appointments and developmental career opportunities;
7) provide a larger number of deployable brigade and battalion headquarters for peacetime operations.
In short - ERE is out of regiment not out of corps. RSS is ERE. And you miss understood my point entirely.
No, No, I get it. I know exactly what it means but why is a job "extra regimentally employed" when you are in fact in a regiment, albeit a ResF one?
Again. We're talking semantics and attitudes. The problem is that the RegF will not validate a ResF unit as a "regiment" or the RSS position as a regimental one. The only thing that will do is a RegF regiment. Therein lies the root of the shame of the system.
We all need to stop looking at the ARes as what it is today and start looking at what it should be tomorrow and start to work towards that as a goal.