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My Spirit Otter posted:We must be, but it's definitely not for exceptional MCpls. I know this from experience I re-read his post and you're talking about the same thing. Subjectively exceptional.
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Jun 24, 2011 04:17
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SpaceMost posted:... Then can I be an officer? Sure, you'll just be the one 40 year old on course who knows how everything is done and has to barely restrain himself from killing all the stupid 2LTs that he has to take phase 4 with. But you'll probably get TC anyhow, mainly since the rest of us can barely dress ourselves, let alone have fieldcraft.
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Jun 24, 2011 04:40
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Simkin posted:If, on the other hand, you love Microsoft Outlook and Powerpoint, and give a gently caress about whether your correspondence is all in TIMES NEW ROMAN(!) 10 font, with two spaces, properly indented, and OH GOD WHERE IS MY STAPLER... Umm, yeah, join us. I absolutely loving love how you turned from "Hey dudes, new unit! This is going to be cool." to "gently caress me, gently caress this, gently caress everybody, kill me with a ball peen hammer." In an estimated ten pages no less. And those Sgts aren't having a good time either. I mean, when Poffley pops smoke you know it's time to get the gently caress out. Everybody hates their lives these days. On the other hand, the TO we have now is fairly decent. While I do pick on him alot, I think he'll turn out to be a pretty good officer overall and I'm actually pleased for once. Doesn't hurt that he let me build some adventure training for the Pl before I leave.
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Jun 24, 2011 05:52
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drat, all this talk is really depressing considering I was recently accepted into ROTP as an Infantry Officer. Do the opportunities look any better in the next 2-4 years or am I going to feel compelled to off myself part way through? Furthermore, what kind of opportunities might exist for an Infantry Officer post-Afghanistan?
MagicCube fucked around with this message at 07:13 on Jun 24, 2011 |
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Jun 24, 2011 07:06
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Yeah I'm glad I got out when I did. I kinda started to see the writing on the wall when 56FD down in St Catharines lost their guns for mortars. Dudes in my unit were like "WELP we're still the senior arty unit in the country we're never getting our guns taken away!" while half the year we didn't even HAVE any because some stupid gently caress tried to perform an unload with a motherfucking cam-pole and we had to rebarrel the gun/steal some other unit's gun. The C3 is a 70 year old platform at this point, there will be no further upgrades, 105 is 100% useless in a tactical environment because it's role is either filled by mortars carried by front-line units, 155mm in the rear or aircraft dropping precision munitions. 105 is not big enough for the rounds per minute the C3 can pump out and the reserves are just goading the old girls along until they're gate-queens at some soon-to-be-shut base. It honestly looks to me that the CF is going in the direction of a severely downsized force, focused on rapid deployment. We're gonna see some serious churn in the next few years as Afghanistan dies down which sucks because the guys that were there and could teach the good lessons are gonna see the writing on the wall and peace the gently caress out.
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Jun 24, 2011 07:09
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MagicCube posted:drat, all this talk is really depressing considering I was recently accepted into ROTP as an Infantry Officer. Do the opportunities look any better in the next 2-4 years or am I going to feel compelled to off myself part way through? Furthermore, what kind of opportunities might exist for an Infantry Officer post-Afghanistan? We recently had our recce pl commander complete his ranger and freefall courses. There's always opportunity if you're pretty checked out; Cambrian Patrol as I mentioned before is an incredibly ambitious project to oversee, and we've been trying forever to teach officers how to properly employ snipers since it's apparently only like one 40-minute class on your phase training. Like I said before, if you have a good attitude and can really identify yourself as a good, keen soldier and an effective leader, you can still go far. edit: MA-Horus posted:We're gonna see some serious churn in the next few years as Afghanistan dies down which sucks because the guys that were there and could teach the good lessons are gonna see the writing on the wall and peace the gently caress out. This is the biggest problem the CF is going to face in the next few years, I think.
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Jun 24, 2011 14:56
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Wasn't there talk of opening a base(s) in the Arctic, or even some rumors of overseas bases for quicker deployment to humanitarian crisis zones?
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Jun 24, 2011 17:43
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Quite happy as an NCM, tyvm.  MARS officers can keep their exciting world of backstabbing and douchbagery. I have to believe that the navy has the worst officers in the CF.
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Jun 24, 2011 18:16
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the "overseas bases" is just talk between respective governments of securing permission ahead of time to set up bases near areas we would potentially operate in. Much like the U.S. has permission to base troops in most of the world. It would allow us to not be caught flat-footed like we were when the U.A.E. forced us out. Speaking of the Cambrian Patrol, this is the 2nd year running now that we've been preparing for it. The new C.O. wants to tie it into the 150th anniversary of our unit. They've taken the pick of the litter and made a miniature recce platoon (it's more of a reinforced section with back-up guys to be honest). Like Acumen says, It's not all gloom and doom. Excel at your job and never turn down a course. There's plenty of opportunity out there and you will be rewarded if you put in the effort.
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Jun 24, 2011 18:35
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Barrakketh posted:I, for one, enjoy chatting with the coleman stove at 03:00 AM. Well, I have to say, a nice hour long stroll at 3 am in -40 weather isn't all that bad.
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Jun 24, 2011 19:18
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Barrakketh posted:I, for one, enjoy chatting with the coleman stove at 03:00 AM. As the tank runs dry and you find out the last man on shift didnt fill up the secondary fuel tank. So you have to go outside and fill both.
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Jun 24, 2011 19:44
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Fraser CDN posted:As the tank runs dry and you find out the last man on shift didnt fill up the secondary fuel tank. So you have to go outside and fill both. Where you discover someone has looted your funnel and your back-up funnel from the spares kit box. So you pour as much naphta on your hands as you do in the cells.
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Jun 24, 2011 20:33
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ub posted:Quite happy as an NCM, tyvm. You know for all their lovely personality issues I know a fuckton of extremely competent MARS officers. There's a ton less backstabbing in subs too. Unlike the rest of the navy, subs are actually looking at having more platorms than we can crew next year (that would be three), so it will be super quick advancement for any mars or engineering officer that want to cross over.
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Jun 24, 2011 20:36
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Hey, is it a bad thing if an officer in your chain tells you "you have a very expressive face"
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Jun 24, 2011 20:48
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It means some officer spent alot of time gazing lovingly at your face. It doesn't mean anything about you except that people occasionally have a laugh at your expense. Don't worry about it.
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Jun 24, 2011 22:28
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So, I've been scratching my head apart trying to find maps online with a basic UTM/MGRS grid overlay. I can find topo maps fine enough using canada's toporama and geogratis, but the best map I found doesn't have the gridlines on it. Yeah I could grab some maps from my unit but my CQ seems pretty adamant that "You can just get the maps online!" which I so far haven't been able to my liking I'm going camping and such and I figure I might as well fool around with a compass while I'm out there. Anyone got any ideas? I got a bigass topo map of the area I want, unfortunately it doesn't have the standard 100m gridlines and UTM numbers that I am so used to. Sorry if I seem to be giving too much of a gently caress, but I dont know, I havent touched a map and compass in awhile so why not with my summer off right now and now that Im going Officer last thing I want is to get ridiculed because Im a former infantry corporal who can't nav worth poo poo.
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Jun 25, 2011 00:24
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Morristron posted:I absolutely loving love how you turned from "Hey dudes, new unit! This is going to be cool." to "gently caress me, gently caress this, gently caress everybody, kill me with a ball peen hammer." Yep. Maybe it was Suffield, maybe it was living in the shacks, or maybe it's just something in the air.  quote:On the other hand, the TO we have now is fairly decent. While I do pick on him alot, I think he'll turn out to be a pretty good officer overall and I'm actually pleased for once. Be careful with him, he's quite fragile.
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Jun 25, 2011 18:56
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Simkin posted:Yep. Maybe it was Suffield, maybe it was living in the shacks, or maybe it's just something in the air. I'm with the guns, I was at the position with the triple 7s and mortars. The RCHA biv site was loving attrocious, or so I thought until I visted 3VP. My god, you couldn't get anywhere in that place without being up to your knees in dirt. Also the out-route, goddamn, the out-route. I thought I wouldn't make it out, the water/mud was up to the bottom of the goddamn bushguard. Suffield was a good go for the guns, but seriously gently caress that place.
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Jun 25, 2011 19:31
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Simkin posted:Be careful with him, he's quite fragile. Pfft. If we can turn some of that nervous new guy into bitter vet and get him demanding more of his troops without losing his want to look out for them I would take that as a Maj any day of the week. And I'm sure he can handle it. I think it's just a matter of time in. Also, I'm turning in every bit of kit I own less two sets of combats on Monday. gently caress yes.
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Jun 26, 2011 09:46
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Morristron posted:Also, I'm turning in every bit of kit I own less two sets of combats on Monday. gently caress yes.
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Jun 26, 2011 16:57
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Have I mentioned, recently, just how much anyone thinking of joining as an officer should avoid the infantry? Maybe I can make it a standing Public Service Announcement. 
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Jun 27, 2011 23:53
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Navy engineering or logistics officers: come on in, the water's fine!
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Jun 28, 2011 00:08
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That's good to hear. I'm currently working through the application process to become a NCSE. The next NOAB isn't until October though, so I have much more waiting to do.
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Jun 28, 2011 00:36
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I just shredded both my heels off on Monday during a BFT. Never having had even a blister in all the marches I have done before, somehow this time I completely decimate my feet.
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Jun 29, 2011 02:10
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Elgar posted:I just shredded both my heels off on Monday during a BFT. Never having had even a blister in all the marches I have done before, somehow this time I completely decimate my feet. What boots were you wearing? GPs, gortex, desert boots? Maybe you need new insoles. I'm guessing from what I've been reading that there aren't any officer spots open for prior-service reservists. I wouldn't even be considering it until September 2012.
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Jun 29, 2011 03:35
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Depends on the trade, I'd guess. That far out, it's anyone's guess. We may have all been fired and replaced with contractors by then.
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Jun 29, 2011 05:14
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Woo four day weekend and my unit is #1 in DUIs Canada-wide, or perhaps just 1CMBG wide
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Jun 29, 2011 19:48
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Who's got two thumbs and is duty officer (again) for the whole weekend? ninja edit: please, oh please let nobody try to jump off a bridge or in front of a train goddamnit.
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Jun 29, 2011 23:31
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MA-Horus posted:What boots were you wearing? GPs, gortex, desert boots? Maybe you need new insoles. It was a pair or corcorans. They were fine before, but they just tore my feet apart.
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Jun 29, 2011 23:35
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Simkin posted:Who's got two thumbs and is duty officer (again) for the whole weekend? Could be worse. You could be the BOS. They actually have to stay in the building. Assuming nobody offs themselves you can just do what you were going to do anyways but not get drunk. Unless there's more to the duty officer thing than I thought there was.
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Jun 30, 2011 01:00
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Well, at least this weekend I'm not on extras. If that were the case, I may as well be BOS, as I'm meant to sleep in the Bn building, and wear 3Bs around, like a pretty princess.
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Jun 30, 2011 02:09
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Got promoted to PO2 today. Immediately after which I was handed a pair of Officer Cadet slip ons. From an almost somebody to an absolute nobody in 10 seconds flat. At least I got to sign as a PO2 at clothing stores when I got more OCdt slip ons... That said, this is now going to be the most stress free time I've ever had in the forces, because I have literally no boss and no job until I go to school Sept 7th. I cannot remember being this relaxed since I swore in.
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Jul 1, 2011 05:42
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Weird, I would have figured that CFR'ng from PO2 would leave you at least as a 2LT.
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Jul 1, 2011 07:44
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Well congrats (I guess?)!! In other news, I got a call this week while on leave - looks like I just won a six-month all-expenses paid cruise to the mediterranean, and we leave in a week. Wish me luck!
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Jul 1, 2011 14:54
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Happy Canada day you drunkards!
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Jul 1, 2011 16:48
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Simkin posted:Weird, I would have figured that CFR'ng from PO2 would leave you at least as a 2LT. I'm UTPNCM so I'm an OCdt until I finish school, at which point I'll get 1Lt. It's still confusing because all the references are very old (they refer to "UTPM", University Training Plan, Men) and I swear I saw a UTP I know wandering around with 2Lt on while he was still in school. It doesn't matter much because I'm a civilian most of the year.
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Jul 1, 2011 16:54
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Ten days before I deploy to Afgh. Happy Canada Day all!
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Jul 1, 2011 19:01
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FG;GL Tell us if anything actually happens. Now that our combat roll is over they'll finally capture that 82mm recoilless rifle.
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Jul 1, 2011 19:10
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I just got bugged out to fight floods in Manitoba, again. I swear, I'll murder everyone
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Jul 2, 2011 09:31
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You know, This is the first summer in 6 years now I'm not wearing combats every morning. The first summer in 6 years I'm not melting and choking on dust out on the prairies or freezing my nuts off in Val (-5 at night in August?). I've got 2 months of beard going strong and another 2 months to go before I have to shave it again. For the first time ever I flat out refused a call to come in and work a week-end at the armoury. I don't know who was more shocked, my I/C or or myself. A strange mixture of elation and dread over that. It's finally hit me how badly I needed a vacation. Have a picture from an old friend whose been fighting the floods in Manitoba. 1VP to the rescue 
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Jul 4, 2011 05:25
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