The Reserve Thread- A Merged Collection of Q & A's

[rolandstrong]

It‘s encouraging to hear your response Brin...thanks for that...

I guess this is what they mean by a top heavy, ineffective bureaucracy.

Fortunately the Seaforths are a good regiment, and have been supportive in a time when a great deal seems to be mixed up. What will be will be. I won‘t give it up that easy though....

Cheers!

Ducimus

 

[sten_sterling]

I released in 1999, reapplied in June 2001, still have not even had a medical, CFRC is still generating a VFS. . . .You hit it on the head with the "lost paperwork" by the CF idea, this was the case with me, and unfortunately many others. There are many examples of this very occurence, we are not the "exception" rasther the norm when former cf members try to re-enroll

 

[Troopasaurus]

1. joining the reserves at 16 good or bad idea ?
2. air cadet trg i think it will help alot and im used to barrack life and drill and some field work and rifle courses
3. certain school courses i dont want a desk job!! so ive completely shut out busness(sp) education
4. wich out of the following courses would be the best for the army ?
- AI = athletic instructor
- RCC = rifle coach course
- doesnt matter do whatever i want

so any help i really want recon specialist in the PPCLI but any infanty engineer or arty is alright field ops is were i want to be.

thx for all your help

 

[combat_medic]

1. joining the reserves at 16 good or bad idea ?
>>This depends on you. I‘ve met 16-year olds who are mature and able to handle everything the military can dish out, but my experience has been that the slightly older troops (18-20) usually have an easier time at it. For example, there was a 16-yo kid on my basic who had never even done his own laundry before!!!

2. air cadet trg i think it will help alot and im used to barrack life and drill and some field work and rifle courses
>>Again, depends on you. For the love of God, don‘t ever tell anyone that you were EVER a cadet. Also, don‘t go into your training assuming you know everything already. Most ex cadets I‘ve seen on courses are either the most successful or the least successful. They either keep their mouths shut, do a reasonable job and help their buddies out, or they‘re cocky and arrogant, don‘t learn anything, and either fail the course or become mediocre soldiers at best.

4. wich out of the following courses would be the best for the army ?
- AI = athletic instructor
- RCC = rifle coach course
- doesnt matter do whatever i want
>>If you can get the leadership or drill instructor courses, they might come in handy later on.

so any help i really want recon specialist in the PPCLI but any infanty engineer or arty is alright field ops is were i want to be.
>>Just don‘t assume you‘re going to get into recce platoon right out of battle school. Be willing to bide your time a little, get more courses, and just take the opportunities as they present themselves. You never know, you may end up hating reconnaisance and get posted in a Mortar platoon or something.

 

[BestOfTheBest]

I am joining the reserves right now and i am 16 years old but later on when i am done high school I would like to go to Regular but if i do go to reg do i stay at like the same rank as i was in the reserve or do i start form like private

and my other questions is I gave in my application papers in the begning of september for the GGFG and they said that they start recuriting in Oct and  said they would call me in october.
and now its october and i was wondereing what if they dont call like if they forget or something. what should i do call back or what?
somone tell me please
thanks

 

[Zoomie]

In most cases you will revert back to being a Private when you CT (component transfer) to the regular force. All I can say is get as much training done as possible in the way of official courses. (ie BMQ, CAP, MOC, whatever they call them nowadays) Those courses will most likely be 100% transferable and you won‘t have to do them again.

If they said they were going to call you in October and they haven‘t yet, there is absolutely no harm in giving a call to the GGFG recruitor and letting him/her know that you are still interested. The recruiting process is long and tedious enough as it is, take the bull by the horns and get involved. If you want anything for yourself in the army, you have to spear-head the effort, or it won‘t happen.

 

[Troopasaurus]

thanks for all the help and i dont expect to get recon or any courses right after battle school. the recon im talking about is the recon specialist course and the whole crapping in a bag deal well what does JTF-2 do ? SAS ? yup same thing that would make your ruck smell funny tho i have two excersizes coming up one on the 11th - 13 oct. and another on the 18th-21st oct. the first is at area B and the second is at larsons(sp) bench trg area both are part of the old CFB chilliwack base anyone heard or been to them ?
:cam:

 

[Nunquam Retrorsum]

In answer to the question about reverting to private upon CT, it depends on how long you‘ve been serving in the reserve...if you‘re a reserve warrant, you certainly not gonna revert to private. They‘ll calculate how long you actually worked during your time in the reserve and make a approximation of what that translates into reg time. Anything under Master-Corporal has extra-slim chance of going anything but private in the reg

 

[Argyll_2347]

I believe that your BMQ and SQ qualifications carry over to reg force, but not MOC (well, Infantry anyways). That is what I have been told because I also plan on joining reg-force upon completion of high school.

 

[Argyll_2347]

1. I joined when I was 16!
2. I was an Army Cadet for 3 years (left as a Sergeant), all it did that is good for the army is that I knew the rank structure, knew organization (i.e. sections, platoons, companys, etc.), drill, and polishing boots!
3. If you got those in the cadets, they are good for knowledge, but useless for qualification. I think that the only thing that carries over from cadets to the army is the para course (but don‘t quote me on that)

heh, recce is the best!

 

[sgtdixon]

Well Im currently with 868 RC(Air)CS and I just took SIC this summer and Graduated 4th in my Sqn. Neways How Long have you been in cadets, if its 5 or more years there is a pay incentive when you join the Military as well as a promotion Incentive I‘m sending away for my papers in Febuary and hope to be on basic next summer maybe see ya there

 

[Troopasaurus]

im a sgt at the moment but i will be a flt/sgt on oct 24 i am a lvl 4 (this is my fourth year) and i have taken PERT and i am probably taking AI this summer maybe SLC then staff im not sure and do recce platoons use C8‘s at all ? I would love one of those only a 10% loss of accuracy over the C7 with a 26% reduction in size/wieght i have never heard of the promotion and pay incentives but im in on that ! my first ex went off quite well we played "tactical manuvers" 4 times hog tied the chief warrent officer and raided some other cadet camps (746,861,147)

521 Aurora sqn. is the best air cadet sqn. in BC!!!!

 

[Argyll_2347]

Dixon: When I was in Army Cadets, I heard a lot of BS about how you could get automatic promotion to Corporal if you achieve WO and NSCE and Master Cadet. I found out that that isn‘t true. But, I‘m not sure... your thing could be something that I don‘t know about.

 

[Zoomie]

There is a CFAO that dictates that former Cadets that have attended a national course and have XX number of years in the Cadet League will receive 6 months of seniority. All this means is that such a person will be promoted to Cpl at 18 months, vice being promoted with everyone else at 24 months (two years).
Good luck trying to find this CFAO, because unless you show it to your Unit, they will not believe you.

 

[Sharpey]

Merit and trade courses are also a factor, not necessarily just time in. Armoured Corps is 24 months plus a QL4 (MOC now?) But then again, I whent three years and two QL4‘s before I got mine. I‘ve been told the extra year I surved as a Super Trooper was because the Unit lost my ROE and apparently I didn‘t parade for a year. You learn fast to keep track of your days!

 

[BestOfTheBest]

what happens after i am done all my test?
when do i do basic training? i am in high school so when would that happen? and how long?
and how long is for them tell they tell me about basic training after the all the test are done would?

 

[Jarnhamar]

If you are interested in going from reserve to reg force i suggest you start from scratch or near scratch. You will probably have to anyways. Unless you have a few years in the reserves you will probably have to do reg force basic training and if your transfering to combat arms, namely infantry, your going to want to do the reg force infantry course not only because you will learn a lot more then the reserve one but you will get more respect in the battalions.

 

[ninty9]

Hey all,

I‘ve been around for a while reading the posts and what not which have already answered a lot of questions for me.

But I do have one specific question that I would like some insight into.

I am a second year college student here in Calgary and I have made up my mind to go into the Army Reserve. What I need some opinions on is when I should sign up.

As I see it, I have two options. I either sign up at the beginning of the New Year and start my training in the summer and go back to school in Sept. and continue on in the reserves, or finish my last two years of school and then go into the reserve.

I can‘t really decide on which I could do. I will go and talk to a recruiter in the New Year so I can see what they have to say, but I’m also looking for your opinion.

Were any of you in the reserves while you were in school? Do you regret it and wish you had waited until you had finished school? Would it be too much work that I would not be able to handle both school and the army at the same time?

Any insight on the subject would be great.

Thanks in advance.

On a side not, I think this site is just great. I really appreciate the time and effort put in by all the members. I‘m sure I will be around often from now on.

 

[Sharpey]

Well, I joined the Res when I was in Highschool. I skipped College/University and whent right into a full time job (got lucky). Alot of my fellow soldiers are in school or post secondary education. They miss out on alot of weekends because of exams (so they say). But I say, why wait? Get your Military career starting early. It‘s fun! I wouldn‘t even wait ‘till the new year, go down now, get the paperwork started. One thing you will learn is that paperwork in the Army moves veeery slow. Start the process now, why wait?

 

[Zoomie]

I did Looniversity and Reserves at the same time. No real hardships. The extra cash helped out alot. Weekends were never a real issue, since we all know that the party‘s are during the week at the real bars. Really helped in the long run too.... Discipline builds a unique way of achieving your goals, both at school and on the personal front. I don‘t regret my time one iota.

Peace