What's next? (post-Afghanistan)

[Zoomie]

The combat engineers were in Iraq during GW1.  Apparently a small det had a sizeable formation of Iraqi soldiers surrender to them.

 

[PPCLI Guy]

I'm basically running on a lot of 'hearsay', somewhere a long the line I received the impression that the Canadian Military likes to throw Second-Lieutenants into the 'heat' of it quickly after successful graduation, so for some reason I assumed that Libya wasn't my best guess, since only the pilots (i'm applying to infantry) are cleared for actual combat.

That's not the way it works.  Upon successful (and this is by no means a given) completion of your training you will be posted to a Battalion.  Which Battalion, of which Regiment, will be based on a blend of your desires and the needs of the Corps - and yes, the latter has substantially more weighted value than the former.

You will serve in the Battalion (generally for three years in your first tour of Regimental duty) in accordance with its assigned task that varies from preparing for deployment, deployment, recovery, or reconstitution.  There are no guarantees that you will deploy on operations.

As to the "heat" - trust me, commanding a Platoon in any part of the readiness cycle is a challenge, and one that not all succeed at.

Bottom line - the answer to your strawman question is that you will serve where you are told to serve.  That may be Petawawa, and it may be the Congo.

 

[CobraBalls]

Here's what is going to happen for the Canadian ARMY after Afghanistan IMO.... NOTHING. It is going to be a long, dark and lonely contract for any soldier who has joined the regs or reserves at that time. UN Peacekeeping missions will never happen for us again because of impossible ROEs and large distrust between officers and the UN. If you ask me, the world is going to look at the NATO mission in Afghanistan as a failure which will have negative repercussions on all NATO forces. Africa is a cluster fuck, plain and simple, so realistically, I believe you may see our Navy and Air Force deploy in greater volume, but the Army (other than SF) is going to be a real boring place to work. To be honest, I have thought long and hard about joining the French Foreign Legion. I am in the CF (Army Reserves) and I missed my chance to go to Afghanistan. Don't get me wrong, I am still trying to weasel my way there through OPs any which-way I can, but I doubt it is going to happen, seeing as they need specialized personnel, not a Infantry CPL reservist. French Foreign Legion will always have work in Congo, Ivory Coast, Chad, Niger and other trouble French colonies.

 

[The Bread Guy]

.... To be honest, I have thought long and hard about joining the French Foreign Legion. I am in the CF (Army Reserves) and I missed my chance to go to Afghanistan. Don't get me wrong, I am still trying to weasel my way there through OPs any which-way I can, but I doubt it is going to happen, seeing as they need specialized personnel, not a Infantry CPL reservist. French Foreign Legion will always have work in Congo, Ivory Coast, Chad, Niger and other trouble French colonies.

If that's how you really feel, have at 'er, then:
http://www.legion-recrute.com/en/ou.php?SM=0
Safe travels, and let us know how it works out for you.