Griswald,
You sound like the type of person we need in the Canadian Military Engineers! I hope you joined to deploy as I think that is probably going to happen to you in the next couple of years with the projected growth in Cdn Army activity in Afghanistan.
One word of caution, please be patient with the system as it may not be able to move as quickly as you would like it to - even once you're in! Also, being new to the Reg F you should be a breath of fresh air for the Construction Trades. Having worked many years around the Construction Troops in Combat Engineer Regiments I feel it is safe to say that many of the more senior tradesmen have become a little 'disenfranchised'. Why? Well, I think it has to do with a lot of things, but one of the main reasons is that most of them are older soldiers who have transferred over from another trade (inf, armd, etc.) and doing PT and going to Wainwright on exercise (for example) is not what they want to be doing. My answer is - that is why we wear a uniform. Everyone needs to be deployable and have the basics to fight. If not then we would hire Brown & Route (Civilian US Contract Company) to build our camps everywhere we go. If you don't want to soldier then take down the uniform and retire gracefully.
Sorry, my rant is now finished. Welcome and I hope serving your country is everything you dreamed it to be.... because it never has to do with the money.
CHIMO!
S6.