^ now that is informative. Well put together, and to the point.
wson's piss-poor grammatical skills aside (never a good idea to call serving members "Dude"... just a heads up :nod
I've also found it a bit difficult to get a straight word on the trade. That said, I am also well aware that the trade is in massive flux, and that a lot of the juicier bits of the job are Classified, however those recruiting video's (and its not just SigOp/Comms related ones) can be a bit vague.
As for the Amalgamation thread.... its a long read and can get pretty confusing as there is a lot of banter between serving members that someone who is a complete outsider might find a bit baffling. As for info about some day to day jobs they do... the threads a bit light on those to be honest. BUT... if interested in the trade it is a must read so that you know what you're getting into and for what might lay in the future (although it seems no-ones quite sure on that at the moment).
But to give Swingline his due, I found those links to be quite good.
I know its frustrating seeing the same posts, over and over again (Imagine being a recruiter!). But this is a huge resource for those not in the know and its been going for a while so there's a lot of crap to sift through before you find what you're looking for a lot of the time... and it's only getting harder the more traffic the site gets.
I also find that a lot of the time people get linked to threads that date back to the early 2000's, with latest entry being something like 2006 or 2007. Considering the amount of change the CF has gone through since then, are those threads and topics even accurate anymore?