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For the interview: Be honest. If you smoked weed in the past or poo poo, admit to it. They don't care if you did it in the past, as long as you don't do it now. They will know if you're lying. They're not going to want you to work before basic. They might ask you to come in to pick up some kit, or do some paperwork, but basic is when your career starts. About a signing bonus, the worst that can happen is they say no. So ask. That is a skilled trade you're going into, and I'm sure they're short on it.
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May 29, 2010 02:45
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How do regforce view reserve people? Thinking infantry, specifically, as that's my regiment. Watching Generation Kill the other day, and when the reservists showed up they were portrayed very negatively. It's the marines and a TV show, granted, but I still had to wonder. I've never been to Afghanistan myself, but I've always been curious at what sort of prejudices must invariably exist toward part-timers.
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May 29, 2010 02:46
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surivdaoreht posted:I posted a little ways back in this thread when I was approaching my CFAT date. That day has come and gone, did as good as I had to do to qualify for my trade (not sure what my grade was, or even how many things I qualified for). Well it's probably different for everybody, but I had my interview last summer and it took me 5 months to get a job offer. As regarding the CFAT, acing that is pretty much the intellectual equivalent of putting your pants on correctly. For the interview I wore dress pants, collared shirt and a tie. The interview is just like any job interview, don't stress out about it. Just make sure that you can give some examples from your past of you working in a team, why you decided to join the forces ect. As long as you don't do anything crazy you'll get merit listed and have to wait for someone to call you with a job offer. Is your friend in the reserves or regular force? I don't think you can be in a unit without going through basic, but i really don't know. Good luck. ^I'm pretty sure that reg force combat arms view reservists as weekend warriors. As a civillian waiting to go combat arms I can tell you that all the reservist Combat Engineers/Infanteers I've met at school or whatever have been huge douchebags who overstate their service to try to pick up girls/impress people.
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May 29, 2010 03:08
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Thanks for the timely responses. My friend joined in the summer between first and second year. He didn't have enough time to complete basic, so they had him work in a recruiting centre until the second year of school began. Now that our schooling is done, they have him lined up for basic ASAP. I handed my application in 5 weeks ago, so things are definitely moving quick. At least so far.
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May 29, 2010 03:30
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surivdaoreht posted:Get in your contract to get your cpls after basic. I know a few people who are cpls now( making about 20 grand more a year) because they were trained. Also ask for a signing bonus, the military now has to spend less money on your training( because it is a shorter course for trained individuals) so they should offer you an signing bonus. Also if your already trained why not just do it civilian side and make more money? Also you have college completed why not go officer? Lassitude posted:How do regforce view reserve people? Thinking infantry, specifically, as that's my regiment. Watching Generation Kill the other day, and when the reservists showed up they were portrayed very negatively. It's the marines and a TV show, granted, but I still had to wonder. I've never been to Afghanistan myself, but I've always been curious at what sort of prejudices must invariably exist toward part-timers. It all depends on who you are, what rank ect. But mostly infantry ( speaking for myself and friends at Meaford, people who were not trained infanteers) we saw reserves as the cheap way of getting into the military. They do a 4 week BMQ, 4 week SQ, then a 4 week BIQ then they are fully qualified. In 2 years they will be making cpl pay when it would take a reg force guy 4 years ( depending on qualification). I knew people who didn't know the weapons, and they were cpls. To clear up the animosity between reg force and reserve they make reserve infantry ( cpl and below) do DP1. Now from what I hear if you have a tour as a reservist infantry ( information from my friends brother) they treat you as a regular force soldier. Also the American military is really different then the Canadian military. In the American military the reserve guys do all the reg force training but then after that training they do weekends and 2 week in the summer( or something like that).
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May 29, 2010 03:31
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Lassitude posted:How do regforce view reserve people? Thinking infantry, specifically, as that's my regiment. Watching Generation Kill the other day, and when the reservists showed up they were portrayed very negatively. It's the marines and a TV show, granted, but I still had to wonder. I've never been to Afghanistan myself, but I've always been curious at what sort of prejudices must invariably exist toward part-timers. Speaking from within a platoon going through dp1.1 (phase 3 of infantry officer training) currently, with a few reservists on it, and the rest reg force (we all went through the same CAP course together as well), there's certainly a little bit of bias against them. The problem - as we view it anyhow - is that because the courses are split up into modules, reservists can show up for one or two mods, be loving rockstars (and just blade anyone in their way, shutting down after their moment in the sun), and then gently caress off back to unit, all the while not needing to interact in any useful manner with the rest of us. However, as we're just starting the course, the truth of that remains to be seen. They still can be deployed to any operating theatre, so the camaraderie based on that is pretty strong. Maybe it's different in battalion - life on course (or so we're continually told), is quite different from the reality of life in battalion. On the plus side, having all the reservist around base makes for a fun game of 'what loving batshit insane hat will we see next?' while looking at all the (to us at least) goofy head dresses. Jaunty tam 'o shanter and a fistful of feathers, with an absurdly large cap badge? 
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May 29, 2010 03:36
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Lassitude posted:How do regforce view reserve people? Thinking infantry, specifically, as that's my regiment. Watching Generation Kill the other day, and when the reservists showed up they were portrayed very negatively. It's the marines and a TV show, granted, but I still had to wonder. I've never been to Afghanistan myself, but I've always been curious at what sort of prejudices must invariably exist toward part-timers. Poorly. When you go on tour you'll receive a bunch of fresh-faced reservist kids who've spent hundreds of dollars on random kit that they don't know how to use and you'll be thinking "where the hell did these guys come from?". Eventually they become so integrated that they become similar to the rest of "the guys": some are quality soldiers, and some are bums off the street. The good ones from my tour rebadged over to the reg force afterward and it's like they were never in the reserves. But yeah, being "in the army" for a couple hours every Thursday is a little different from living on a base every miserable loving day of your existence. There's a line, and it's there for a reason.
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May 29, 2010 04:56
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acumen posted:But yeah, being "in the army" for a couple hours every Thursday is a little different from living on a base every miserable loving day of your existence. And if I could do it all again I would have been a reservist. Just sayin'
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May 29, 2010 04:58
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mo infantry for life. Weekend ex looks like its gonna be poo poo? gently caress it, im not showing up. Ill say this from my limited perspective, and others in both regforce and reserve have agreed with me. Across the board, there are more or less an equal number of shitpumps. Ive been on course and worked with regforce members who were complete crap, and who were awesome, and same with the reserves. A lot of reservists too are cool guys because they have life experience and have a life outside the army, and arent just right out of high school infantrymen (nothing wrong with that tho) so you can meet some cool dudes. Yeah our skills and drills are obviously not going to be up to par with regforce (thats why inf have to redo BIQ if they CT unless they have a tour) but that just has to do with time spent training. Comparing that we do only weekends and parade nights, bias not withstanding some inf units do pretty drat well in terms of our skillset, and a lot of these dudes are commited people with full time jobs and families who take a lot of poo poo to come in and work. Only idiots bias against reserve or regforce imo, who cares, judge individuals not groups
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May 29, 2010 07:30
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How does it work when reservists deploy? Do they have to do additional training outside of the normal pre-deployment training? Wouldn't a regular force combat arms guy be super pissed off to have a guy with half the training he has watching his back? I mean it seems to me like I wouldn't want someone watching my back if I didn't absolutely trust that he knew his poo poo/was a professional soldier. Sorry if this is a stupid civvy question. Samu fucked around with this message at 10:29 on May 29, 2010 |
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May 29, 2010 09:38
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Fraser CDN posted:Get in your contract to get your cpls after basic. I know a few people who are cpls now( making about 20 grand more a year) because they were trained. Also ask for a signing bonus, the military now has to spend less money on your training( because it is a shorter course for trained individuals) so they should offer you an signing bonus. From what I've been told, I can become a corporal in about a year. And from what you've said, I'm not going to flat out ask for a bonus, but I'll ask about getting one. But I guess you could interpret that as the same thing. I'm not going civilian side because the industry is a piece of poo poo right now, and I still have to do 2.5 years of apprenticeship to get my license. That's a long time making a sub-par wage, as far as living comfortably. I wasn't aware that becoming an officer was a suitable option for me, what's the difference between going the officer route compared to the private->corporal route?
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May 29, 2010 12:53
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surivdaoreht posted:From what I've been told, I can become a corporal in about a year. And from what you've said, I'm not going to flat out ask for a bonus, but I'll ask about getting one. But I guess you could interpret that as the same thing. I'm not a recruiter but I don't think they can just give you a bonus because you asked for it. However if a bonus is authorized for your trade/education level they may not tell you about it unless you ask them to look into it. A different incentive that may be available is a higher pay category because of your education level. For example people with graduate degrees get a higher pay category than people with only undergrad when they enroll DEO. Not sure if the same thing exists for NCMs but it never hurts to ask. quote:I wasn't aware that becoming an officer was a suitable option for me, what's the difference between going the officer route compared to the private->corporal route? Officers get better pay to start, but you need to have/apply to get a university degree. The careers available are more generalized and geared towards management/leadership, so you start in that role meaning you don't turn wrenches or really get your hands dirty (unless you're combat arms.)
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May 29, 2010 13:16
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Thanks, that definitely clears it up. I spoke to someone after doing my CFAT, and he told me that because I'm going to be completed college when I join, I'll be joining as semi-skilled (higher pay). It won't hurt to ask about a signing bonus at the interview, I don't think. So I'll just go ahead and do that. As far as the officer thing goes, at this point I think I'll stick with the route I'm on. See where it leads me.. plus.. I like turning wrenches.
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May 29, 2010 13:32
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Samu posted:How does it work when reservists deploy? Do they have to do additional training outside of the normal pre-deployment training? Wouldn't a regular force combat arms guy be super pissed off to have a guy with half the training he has watching his back? I mean it seems to me like I wouldn't want someone watching my back if I didn't absolutely trust that he knew his poo poo/was a professional soldier. Usually the reservists jump in sometime before the big brigade training ex before deployment, sometimes even way before that. They do the garrison thing, hang out, live on base, do all the same training. So they've been augmenting their section anywhere from 3-6 months before deployment. You still get the last minute, 2 weeks from deploying dudes, like with what happened on 1-06. For the most part they become just another rifleman, albeit with a different capbadge. By the time they deploy, unless they are total complete shitpumps, they're pretty well accepted. But again it all depends on whoever's attitude. Before 1-06, I think reservists were pretty looked down on. After that tour I think a lot of attitudes changed. You still get the crusty warrants that hate maggots, or you get the relatively newish private types who either just got off their battleschool or havn't deployed at all who think they're hot poo poo and reservists are doofs. I dunno, it all depends on the person. You get shitbag reg force soldiers, you get shitbag reservists, you also get the best of both. That's what it's like here out west, no idea how reservists are treated out east.
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May 29, 2010 14:27
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Fire Above posted:Usually the reservists jump in sometime before the big brigade training ex before deployment, sometimes even way before that. They do the garrison thing, hang out, live on base, do all the same training. So they've been augmenting their section anywhere from 3-6 months before deployment. You still get the last minute, 2 weeks from deploying dudes, like with what happened on 1-06. For the most part they become just another rifleman, albeit with a different capbadge. By the time they deploy, unless they are total complete shitpumps, they're pretty well accepted. But again it all depends on whoever's attitude. Before 1-06, I think reservists were pretty looked down on. After that tour I think a lot of attitudes changed. You still get the crusty warrants that hate maggots, or you get the relatively newish private types who either just got off their battleschool or havn't deployed at all who think they're hot poo poo and reservists are doofs. I dunno, it all depends on the person. You get shitbag reg force soldiers, you get shitbag reservists, you also get the best of both. That's pretty much what I saw. Granted, I'm not combat arms and never have been. For 3-09, we had a looooong workup (9 months) and most of the reservists were there for the whole thing.
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May 30, 2010 10:43
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As far as Navy reservists, which are all called Shads by us, they do have a bit more animosity. They sail more often than we do for Fish pats, on the East coast anyway, but they mostly come out for the summer, hang around partying and loving each other and do the occasional sail. One or two might put in to get attach-posted to one of the 'Heavies' (FF/DD/AOR), but they usually never get deployed with us on a Gulf trip. Their trades training is mostly a joke, my trade training anyway, the MCDV's don't have an actual OPS Room so they just kind of do Bosun work and maybe once or twice they'll show someone how to tune the Nav Radar on the bridge. V  V
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May 30, 2010 13:59
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Although, Shads do have the best looking women of any branch of the CF. So... There is that. And I don't just mean "Military-cute" either. Some ligit hotties there.
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May 30, 2010 17:17
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Lt. Jebus posted:Although, Shads do have the best looking women of any branch of the CF. So... There is that. One of the girls I'm doing basic with is really hot and lives in my city. I take it banging her on a weekend off is a no-no?
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May 30, 2010 19:05
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Samu posted:One of the girls I'm doing basic with is really hot and lives in my city. No, its a no no if you get caught, she tells everyone( and staff find out), or you run the train on her with 5 other guys and duty staff walk's in. edit. Or if you get caught and she cries rape and you get the military justice boot up your rear end. edit 2: On our navigation ex one of my staff sat the group down and and asked show loving who. He said he wouldn't get anyone in trouble, he just wanted to know( Staff knows it happens). He kept his word. Fraser CDN fucked around with this message at 20:02 on May 30, 2010 |
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May 30, 2010 19:57
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I wonder what the percentage of women in the CF haven't slept with their course staff at some point. It must be loving tiny. Also, I'm surprised there isn't more vitriol toward reservists, what with how many reservists act like, now that they parade once a week and have green clothing, they're a super-soldier.
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May 30, 2010 21:33
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Samu posted:One of the girls I'm doing basic with is really hot and lives in my city. They don't want you loving on base. Thats all they care about. gently caress the poo poo out of her in some hotel room and you're golden.
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May 30, 2010 22:03
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WHO CHANGED MY GODDAMN THREAD TAG Anyone done NBCD training recently? Are we using those 1-piece MOPP suits still? I still have mine, it's like a loving snowsuit.
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May 31, 2010 18:40
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MA-Horus posted:WHO CHANGED MY GODDAMN THREAD TAG I like it, personally. Makes me want some poutine.
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May 31, 2010 18:56
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MA-Horus posted:Anyone done NBCD training recently? Are we using those 1-piece MOPP suits still? I still have mine, it's like a loving snowsuit. We did NBCD crossing the Atlantic on the way to the gulf. Yes they are still one piece, cept most of them are CADPAT now. Oh and NBCD drills suck in 6 meter seas.
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May 31, 2010 19:30
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MA-Horus posted:WHO CHANGED MY GODDAMN THREAD TAG It's called CBRN training now and there is a new MOPP suit out there, but I'm not sure how far into the system it is.
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May 31, 2010 19:40
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MA-Horus posted:WHO CHANGED MY GODDAMN THREAD TAG Still the one piece and I hope your suit is in a bag because they don't have that long of a shelf life when they are opened
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May 31, 2010 22:22
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My Spirit Otter posted:Still the one piece and I hope your suit is in a bag because they don't have that long of a shelf life when they are opened Oh gently caress no mine was a training suit. It wouldn't stop water. Or air.
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Jun 1, 2010 00:34
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Also I don't think it's called MOPP 1-4 anymore, it's now Dress State where "DS 0" is the suit within 2 hours' reach (iirc) and "DS 4 with mask" is like MOPP 4. That's what they taught at St-Jean last year, anyway.
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Jun 1, 2010 02:01
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HammerOfHope posted:Also I don't think it's called MOPP 1-4 anymore, it's now Dress State where "DS 0" is the suit within 2 hours' reach (iirc) and "DS 4 with mask" is like MOPP 4. That's what they taught at St-Jean last year, anyway. DS 0 is within 24 hours which is dumb.
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Jun 1, 2010 03:18
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HammerOfHope posted:Also I don't think it's called MOPP 1-4 anymore, it's now Dress State where "DS 0" is the suit within 2 hours' reach (iirc) and "DS 4 with mask" is like MOPP 4. That's what they taught at St-Jean last year, anyway. I think that standard has changed like 3 times in the last year. Because in Afghanistan, there were a few different names it was called and nobody knew which was which.
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Jun 1, 2010 05:04
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So since I joined in 2003, it went from TOPP, to MOPP, to DS. No, that's not confusing at all. Christ.
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Jun 1, 2010 17:40
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MA-Horus posted:So since I joined in 2003, it went from TOPP, to MOPP, to DS. No, that's not confusing at all. Christ. I figured it would be something like that. I want to say it's typical, but I haven't really been around that long.
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Jun 3, 2010 04:47
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So after all that, I got a call a couple of days ago from the Lt. doing my interview. Turns out they've filled all the Aviation Tech positions and I'll have to wait until next April when things open up again. I've already done my aptitude test, my medical, all that jazz.. and now this. So I'm pretty bummed. Not to mention they told me that there was lots of available slots and that they were looking for people, on two separate occasions. I just figured when they told me that after my CFAT and all that, that I was slotted for one of those positions. Ah well, these things happen I guess! Anyways, what I was getting on to asking was; He asked me if I still wanted to come in and do my interview, since it's good for a year after the fact and that'll help me for next year, if I should still want to join (which I do). So I'm going to go ahead and do that, because that seems like the right thing to do at this point? They do have some Avionics positions available. But I'm not sure if that'd be a good fit for me, seeing as how after my first year of school you choose which way you want to go and I chose the mechanical side. I guess I'm just unsure of how much they'd expect me to know. surivdaoreht fucked around with this message at 23:54 on Jun 3, 2010 |
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Jun 3, 2010 23:52
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They don't expect you to know poo poo? Unless you are wanting to do semi-skilled entry, but even then I don't know. If you are doing your interview it's easy enough to find out and then add (or don't) the choice. I missed pilot this year. By 3.5 points - the guy from my local PSO office who was selected got 71, I got 67.5. To add insult to injury, the PSO reviewing my file said "I'd have given you an extra point here and here," and she was the one I was originally supposed to interview with! I'd like to bump to 75 this year, too bad it will cost thousands of dollars in flying lessons... Three CEOTP (internal competition) pilot offers Forces-wide. Something like 530 applications for all entry plans this year, just over 100 offers. It has the most applications besides infantry soldier, which was, I think, 1,700 applications. Next year's competition messages probably due out mid-July.
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Jun 4, 2010 03:12
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It still boggles my mind that infantry is so swamped. A couple of years ago we were starving for guys, companies were half empty and people were putting in for release like crazy after coming home from tour. Now it's a fight to even get in. They should just open up more batallions, I mean, Jesus.
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Jun 4, 2010 04:13
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Fire Above posted:It still boggles my mind that infantry is so swamped. A couple of years ago we were starving for guys, companies were half empty and people were putting in for release like crazy after coming home from tour. Now it's a fight to even get in. They should just open up more batallions, I mean, Jesus. Well we're never going to need infantry for anything major again after the Afghan mission ends so why should we recruit more? 
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Jun 4, 2010 08:06
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When I popped into the recruiting office last Novemberish, the recruiter flat-out told me not to consider applying for infantry and to please, PLEASE instead consider a trade. I... I didn't even want to be infantry.
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Jun 4, 2010 14:55
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Canuck-Errant posted:Well we're never going to need infantry for anything major again after the Afghan mission ends so why should we recruit more? Well the retard PM did pretty much come out and admit that JTF2 is operating in Iraq right now. Which we've all known since 2003, but  Antiwar protesters keep reminding us that Canadians are better for not being there.Thank god there was no standard ops there. We're pushed to the limit with the 'Stan as it is. I remember before I left they were willing to throw me my leaf to sign on for a deployment as desk jockeys were in such demand.
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Jun 5, 2010 05:51
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Fire Above posted:It still boggles my mind that infantry is so swamped. A couple of years ago we were starving for guys, companies were half empty and people were putting in for release like crazy after coming home from tour. Now it's a fight to even get in. They should just open up more batallions, I mean, Jesus. Its because the actual regiments have nothing to do with it really, its the infantry schools being filled up for the year so they couldnt take on anymore applicants.
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Jun 6, 2010 02:27
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MA-Horus posted:Well the retard PM did pretty much come out and admit that JTF2 is operating in Iraq right now. Which we've all known since 2003, but Man, I wish I were in JTF2. I bet I would have two pairs of boots. Maybe even four. edit: and a cool sidearm
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Jun 6, 2010 03:24
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