Quote:
Originally Posted by kunoman1  Where do you serve if you are in the lower mainland.
How long have you been in the reserves?
How was your experience? Was it the kind of stereotypical view seen in a movie like Jarhead? Was it positive, negative, any complaints?
Were/are you in university at the same time, how does it work when doing both? Are the reserves accommodating or do they frown upon attending school at the same time.
Did you choose the option of tuition funding in exchange for mandatory service in the future (the certain amount of funding = 6 months of service), wouldn't it be better just to be paid in the normal wages and divert your earnings towards tuition payments?
How did it impact your life? |
Hey there I'm going to try to answer a couple of your questions.
First off, I'm regular force so it might not be what you're looking for but I'll give you my 2 cents.
I enrolled in the ROTP program while I was attending university in Toronto during my first year. How this program works is they pay for your subsequent schooling once you've enrolled and then you have your obligatory service, as a rule of thumb two months for every month you are in school. If you work it out, my last three years with 8 months of school in a year, that's 48 months, or 4 years.
My first summer that I enrolled I did basic training at St. Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, back then it was split up in two phases with IAP (Initial Assessment Period) 8 weeks and BOTP (Basic Officer Training Period) 6 weeks. I did two courses in summer school which I had to pay out of pocket and then completed IAP during the second half of the summer. Going into second year, they paid for my tuition and books while I attended school. The next summer I did three courses in summer school and the second half of summer completed my BOTP training again in St. Jean. In my third year summer, I again took three more courses while working at DRDC Toronto to complete 600 hours of engineering work in order to fulfill my graduation requirements. I finished my degree in 2010 and continued working at DRDC Toronto while awaiting training as an Aerospace Control Officer. Early this year I finally got on course and am now fully qualified as a weapons controller in North Bay.
Now I'm not sure what your goals are or your purpose is in joining the military, be it just to make some money on the side or actually experience the military life, but it is not for everyone. During basic training you have to put aside your pride and comply with all the instructions and directions given by your instructors. Yes you will be yelled at, yes you will have to do a lot of physical activity and yes you will have to lead a squad completing various tasks and missions. All this is for regular force as an officer, a lot of my university classmates also joined the local reserve units while attending school and had to complete their basic training on the weekends taking away from studying and a social life. This is a pretty big commitment and while some people are able to do it, not everyone was able to put in the minimum hours required. Reserve force you are paid by the hour when you come into the reserve unit for parade or training while Regular Force you are paid an annual salary. All the pay rates are published on the recruiting website for you to figure out how much you get paid.
I suggest you go into the Vancouver recruiting centre and have a talk with the recruiters to see what plan is best for you. Also, go onto the recruiting website to see what kind of trades you might be interested in. There are pros and cons in reg force and reserve force as well as NCM or Officer. At the end of the day you are representing Canada and whichever path you take will be an honorable one.
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