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While it doesn’t seem to be in vogue to discuss the expansion of the Medical Reserve to meet our current and future international and domestic operational needs, that is exactly what I would like to make an argument for right now. I would like to create a discussion that focuses on our current situation and get some ideas into public forum on how we can help fix some of these problems.
First some history. In joined my current unit now 22 years ago, still in high school with only vague ideas of what I was going to do with my life. At the time the unit was approx 25 pers strong. Over the last 22 years I have watched and actively assisted, first as a stint as recruiting NCO then years later as recruiting officer the growth of the unit to over 100 personnel in the late 1990’s. I have also watched the unit shrink, over the last half decade of restrictions, to now under 70 personnel.
While I agree we have to do our very best to try and recruit trained medical professionals, I submit that until we fix the systemic problems that the Medical Reserve units have, we will not be entirely successful in this area. I speak of the well known fact that we have very low levels of modern medical equipment. Any medical professional worth his or her salt is going to want to see the equipment and tools that the Forces is going to ask them to use. While we now have the METIMAN simulator, which by all accounts is a great piece of kit, this is only one step down a much longer road.
We also need to further address the training requirements of the medical professional. These people for the most part are already established in a very demanding field with almost limitless employment opportunities. Our current rates of pay and long courses make it very difficult for medical professionals to rise in rank and take on new opportunities.
There is another solution. When you examine the majority of personnel that are nurses, doctors and paramedics in our units I submit that the one common denominator that you will find in the majority of the cases is that they joined the forces BEFORE they went into the medical profession. Of our two paramedical personnel that are being listed for TF 1-08 and the now 5 pers undergoing Bison dvr trg for the same Roto and our Adjt going as a CIMIC officer, not one of them was a medical professional before they joined. We need to get back to thinking longer term. When you examine the leadership positions in my unit you will find that under the new restrictions most of us would not be allowed to join. Where will the leaders of tomorrow come from?
Due to the cutback in new members joining the unit we have at this time 1 MCpl in the unit. (paramedic, possibly going overseas) We have a small number of Cpl’s with promise but they are still very junior and some of the best of them are potentially heading overseas as Bison dvrs.
We all know how many recruits it takes to make one MCpl. The time and course requirements to make a MCpl are very high. The attrition rate is massive but it can be done. You have to get them when they are finishing high school, when they are keen, when they have time, before their careers are started. BMQ, SQ, QL3, QL4, PLQ. By my count this is 25+ weeks of courses. Most of the time the young, who are just starting their post high school education, can find the time for this kind amount of commitment. The courses at all the schools are still laid out for high school and university schedules.
While this timeline can be decreased by approx 3 weeks for the PCP trained recruit, I would say that for most of these people this is too much trg that would get in the way of their civilian career.
We need to turn the recruiting taps back on, allow local CO’s the flexibility to solve the problems posed to them. I applaud the long awaited Reserve PCP program. (We have one Sgt starting later this year) it is just the start of the direction we need to go on a much more massive basis.
We now have a part time PCP program in BC. I can’t imagine a more cost effective and better setup for the medical reservist. The part time program “consists of nine workshops (each comprised of three classroom days), five evaluation sessions plus clinical and preceptorship time. The clinical and ambulance preceptorship time must be completed within three months following the classroom portion. Independent study makes up a large component of this program. Scheduling of each workshop is normally at three to four week intervals dependent on the class location and requirements of the participants.”
My career path would see the 17-19 year old recruit progressing through BMQ, SQ, and QL3 over their first 2 years. During this time they become familiar with all the operational requirements and soldier skills required to deploy a medical facility to the field. Some time between QL3 and 4 or after QL4 our members would start the part time program. During their time at the Justice Institute they would be being paid on a part time basis for their schooling rather and only attending the unit on a minimal basis. (one maybe two Thurs nights/month) Finally they would do their 3 week class B “clinical and preceptorship time”
After the reserve QL4 they are now qualified to the Regular Force QL3 level. We can deploy them overseas. (Remember these are young, keen people here that really want to get overseas and will leave to another trade if they can’t see a path, as they have been doing over the last 5 years.)
When they are done they can go back to civilian careers, finish school, join the reg force, stay in the reserves, be offered the Reg Force QL4, start PLQ trg, etc. The options are only constrained by our lack of imagination and our willingness to assume a little bit of risk.
Will there be risk? Of course. Some people will try to abuse the system. Get a free ride. We need to trust the CO’s and their staff’s in the local units to weed out these people. Only the very best that we are sure are mature enough and responsible enough will be offered the PCP training. Will there be errors. Probably. Will we have a lot more PCP personnel ready to deploy in a few years. Absolutely.
Thoughts?
First some history. In joined my current unit now 22 years ago, still in high school with only vague ideas of what I was going to do with my life. At the time the unit was approx 25 pers strong. Over the last 22 years I have watched and actively assisted, first as a stint as recruiting NCO then years later as recruiting officer the growth of the unit to over 100 personnel in the late 1990’s. I have also watched the unit shrink, over the last half decade of restrictions, to now under 70 personnel.
While I agree we have to do our very best to try and recruit trained medical professionals, I submit that until we fix the systemic problems that the Medical Reserve units have, we will not be entirely successful in this area. I speak of the well known fact that we have very low levels of modern medical equipment. Any medical professional worth his or her salt is going to want to see the equipment and tools that the Forces is going to ask them to use. While we now have the METIMAN simulator, which by all accounts is a great piece of kit, this is only one step down a much longer road.
We also need to further address the training requirements of the medical professional. These people for the most part are already established in a very demanding field with almost limitless employment opportunities. Our current rates of pay and long courses make it very difficult for medical professionals to rise in rank and take on new opportunities.
There is another solution. When you examine the majority of personnel that are nurses, doctors and paramedics in our units I submit that the one common denominator that you will find in the majority of the cases is that they joined the forces BEFORE they went into the medical profession. Of our two paramedical personnel that are being listed for TF 1-08 and the now 5 pers undergoing Bison dvr trg for the same Roto and our Adjt going as a CIMIC officer, not one of them was a medical professional before they joined. We need to get back to thinking longer term. When you examine the leadership positions in my unit you will find that under the new restrictions most of us would not be allowed to join. Where will the leaders of tomorrow come from?
Due to the cutback in new members joining the unit we have at this time 1 MCpl in the unit. (paramedic, possibly going overseas) We have a small number of Cpl’s with promise but they are still very junior and some of the best of them are potentially heading overseas as Bison dvrs.
We all know how many recruits it takes to make one MCpl. The time and course requirements to make a MCpl are very high. The attrition rate is massive but it can be done. You have to get them when they are finishing high school, when they are keen, when they have time, before their careers are started. BMQ, SQ, QL3, QL4, PLQ. By my count this is 25+ weeks of courses. Most of the time the young, who are just starting their post high school education, can find the time for this kind amount of commitment. The courses at all the schools are still laid out for high school and university schedules.
While this timeline can be decreased by approx 3 weeks for the PCP trained recruit, I would say that for most of these people this is too much trg that would get in the way of their civilian career.
We need to turn the recruiting taps back on, allow local CO’s the flexibility to solve the problems posed to them. I applaud the long awaited Reserve PCP program. (We have one Sgt starting later this year) it is just the start of the direction we need to go on a much more massive basis.
We now have a part time PCP program in BC. I can’t imagine a more cost effective and better setup for the medical reservist. The part time program “consists of nine workshops (each comprised of three classroom days), five evaluation sessions plus clinical and preceptorship time. The clinical and ambulance preceptorship time must be completed within three months following the classroom portion. Independent study makes up a large component of this program. Scheduling of each workshop is normally at three to four week intervals dependent on the class location and requirements of the participants.”
My career path would see the 17-19 year old recruit progressing through BMQ, SQ, and QL3 over their first 2 years. During this time they become familiar with all the operational requirements and soldier skills required to deploy a medical facility to the field. Some time between QL3 and 4 or after QL4 our members would start the part time program. During their time at the Justice Institute they would be being paid on a part time basis for their schooling rather and only attending the unit on a minimal basis. (one maybe two Thurs nights/month) Finally they would do their 3 week class B “clinical and preceptorship time”
After the reserve QL4 they are now qualified to the Regular Force QL3 level. We can deploy them overseas. (Remember these are young, keen people here that really want to get overseas and will leave to another trade if they can’t see a path, as they have been doing over the last 5 years.)
When they are done they can go back to civilian careers, finish school, join the reg force, stay in the reserves, be offered the Reg Force QL4, start PLQ trg, etc. The options are only constrained by our lack of imagination and our willingness to assume a little bit of risk.
Will there be risk? Of course. Some people will try to abuse the system. Get a free ride. We need to trust the CO’s and their staff’s in the local units to weed out these people. Only the very best that we are sure are mature enough and responsible enough will be offered the PCP training. Will there be errors. Probably. Will we have a lot more PCP personnel ready to deploy in a few years. Absolutely.
Thoughts?