Wanted: Canadian Army Authors

[Mike Bobbitt]

Hello all,

In an attempt to expand our exposure and make the best of the community that has formed here, I‘m canvassing for people who might be interested in writing on topics of interest to the Canadian Army.

Subjects can be of local, national or international interest, though preferably with a broad appeal. Some examples might be:

• Current events, such as LFRR (is that still "current?")
• Equipment reviews
• Exercise reports
• Unique/interesting unit training
• Analysis of tactics/doctrine
• Opinion pieces
• Historical assessments
• Military book reviews
• Examination of some aspect of a foreign army
• Anything appropriate...!

Articles will be posted in a special forum here, and may be read by the 800 or so visitors we receive each day.
Don‘t worry if your writing skills are a bit rough, I can help tune things up before it hits the streets. And if you don‘t have a topic in mind, but still want to write, we‘ll find something appropriate.

The articles would have to be original works, not previously published, and of course consist of only public information. The length of the piece depends primarily on the subject matter, but 1,000 words is a good digestable size.

Unfortunately, I can‘t offer the authors any money at the moment. (Since the site doesn‘t make any money, there are no profits to share.) Your noteriety is all I can offer. I hope some of you will consider this, as it is a great chance to make a contribution, and I‘ve already seen countless examples of innovative thought.

If you have an idea you want to pitch, or just want more info, please e-mail me.

I know some may view this as "homework" or intellectual BS, but the mere fact that we‘re all here demonstrates that we want to read about the Canadian Army. I‘m just trying to drum up some interesting reading.

Thanks in advance for helping out.

 

[kurokaze]

Hi Mike,

I would mind writing about my experiences in
BOTP(R) (whenever I actually start anyway) and
CAP(R) if you‘re interested.

 

[Mike Bobbitt]

That would be great! On the one hand, you‘re probably going to be pretty busy during the course, but if you can find the time to throw together some notes, I‘m sure it would be of interest for those yet to be loaded.

There are 2 approaches to consider here: take notes during the course and formalize them afterward, when you have time, or present a "week by week" report on the course, as it happens. Your call on the format, but I think it‘s a great idea for all those wondering "what it‘s like." (Not just new recruits, but old soldiers who want to get a feel for how things may have changed!)

Cheers

 

[kurokaze]

It‘ll probably be a week by week thing. Since I‘m
joining reserves, I‘ll try to post an update every
Sunday night after I return from BOTP(R) and
whenever possible during CAP(R)

Cheers!

 

[SpinDoc]

Kurokaze,

If you‘re up to it, I would suggest volunteering yourself to be the platoon rep to do the weekly student course critique. I did it during my CAP(R) and it offered insight from what others think of the course and often you‘ll find that there are things you never noticed about the course that others did. It might give you more material for your articles.

Plus it sometimes get you into the course WO‘s/Crse O‘s good books if you do it properly.

Just a suggestion from a "veteran" candidate and current course officer.

Mike: I‘m willing to write an article about the essentiality/joys of owning a dental pick as a rifle cleaning tool if you don‘t think it sounds too silly.

 

[Mike Bobbitt]

Great idea about doing the course critique, it sort of kills 2 birds with one stone.

As for the dental pick piece, why not! I was always jealous of the guys who had them, and always wondered where to get one, how well they worked etc.

I‘m really impressed with the level of participation here, there have also been a number of people contact me directly about this. Looks like we‘ll have a pretty good library if proposals turn into reality!

Cheers

 

[kurokaze]

good idea SpinDoc. Now is the platoon rep an
actual position?

 

[Mike Bobbitt]

Usually it is, though they may want to rotate it around (not the norm).

Volunteering for this job (as long as you like it) may also save you from being "voluntold" to do another job that you don‘t like...

 

[SpinDoc]

Yes, very true about the voluntold bit too, although you may have to be thrifty with your time, because it IS an extra duty... but don‘t hide behind the course critique and avoid station jobs.

The way I had it was that I had 3 section reps who get input from their section, write them down on a sheet of paper and hand it in... but you will probably have to harp on some of them because everyone‘s just so busy with other stuff, esp on CAP.

One very important thing to remember about writing course critiques is your tone. You are making observations about the course, not to bash the instructors or quality of instruction.

i.e.
GOOD
- Most students observed that the use of overhead slides was beneficial to this lecture.
- Some students suggested that making pams available to be borrowed would be helpful for PO 304.05.

BAD
-MCpl Soandso didn‘t know what he was talking about in PO 101.01
- Candidates are not getting enough sleep during the field exercise.

You will have to sift through the comments to see if it‘s just people bellyaching or if it‘s a geninue concern or if it‘s all part of the instructors‘ plan to maintain a certain stress level. Writing this stuff down would definitely help members who are about to go on course in the future.

 

[kurokaze]

Got it. Honest, Objective, Reporting!