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Officer occupations – Which one should I choose?

  • Thread starter Thread starter future_soldier
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future_soldier

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hey guys,

I am soon applying for the ROTP program through a civilian university, however I‘m having troubles deciding which trade I want to go into 4 years from now... I am definatley sure its gonna be army, but whether infantry, armoured or artillery I am still debating. Basically I‘m stuck between infantry and armoured, so I wanna hear from you guys what would be more interesting, exciting, well paid, etc.... I guess anything you have to say about either trade (as an officer).
 
The best advice anyone here can give you is to
talk to a recruiter, since most of us will be biased
in one way or another to our respective units.

I myself am undergoing BOTP as an artillery
officer. I have been told that we can do
everything that armour and infantry can do plus
we have the guns. Whether or not that is true
remains to be seen when I do my CAP(R) and
MOC
 
The basic career profiles for officers in the infantry and the artillery have some common areas and some corps specific training and activities.

As a junior infantry officer you will learn to command a platoon of infantry, either mounted in the LAV III armoured personnel carrier in a mechanized battalion or a dismounted platoon in a light battalion. You will be responsible for the training, administration and leadership & command in training and operations of your platoon. Activities and responsibilities may include running and/or participating in ranges for any or all of the platoons‘ weapons, ranging from static ranges to fire and movement exercises. You may get the opportunity to participate in other types of training such as with helicopters. A senior infantry Lieutenant or junior Captain may also be trained for command of a support platoon (now limited to recce and anti-armour).

As a junior armour officer you will learn to command a troops of four tanks. You would have similar responsibilities for leadership, training and adminstration as your infantry counterpart.

In garrison, the officer will often find him(her)self spending much of their time in the office dealing with personnel and training administration. It‘s the dirty work that someone‘s got to do.

Both the infantry and artillery junior officer will have administrative responsibilities covering such topics as planning and delivery of training, personnel administration of your soldiers, directed professional study programs, and other assigned duties, which can range from being on the Officer‘s Mess Committee to completing investigations ordered by then CO. You may find yourself counselling troops on careers, administration, pay and financial problems, or disciplinary issues (and being their assisting officer when they are charged). You will be responsible for completing periodic assessments on all of your personnel.

After your first tour in a unit, which can last 3-5 years, you will be posted (normally as a Captain, a rank for which you are eligible after three years of commissioned service). Potential postings can range from instructional duties, to headquarters, base staff, or Regular Force Cadre (full-time staff with a Reserve unit). The so-called idealized profile would see an officer returning to unit duty every other posting, though this is not guaranteed.

Both are general service officers, and therefore will have the same pay structure.

As for claiming one to be more exciting than the other, that depends too much on personality and personal interests.
 
LOL. First line in above post should read "infantry and the armour"
 
Of course there are the combat arms that you have pointed out, but maybe talk to a recruiter like it was suggested. The combat arms in the army are not the only ones and you might actually find something cool except from those.
 
Hey I just wanted to ask a quick question for someone in the know. I was wondering if anyone knew who was in charge of running and operating the light armour vehicles such as the Lav 3's. I ask this because when i was on the recruitment website it looked as though the Armour officers were mainly in comand of the tank battle group. The truth of the matter is that this is a dying occupation as we no longer use our tanks over seas and on deployments; if appears as though light armour vehicles are the future of the Canadian Forces. In any case does anybody know who drives such vehicles, is it the Infantry or Armour?
 
Hello all applicants. I am a File Manager at CFRC Barrie and I am willing to answer your questions to the best of my ability. If I don't know the answer to your questions I shall do my best to find out an answer for you. I cannot speak of the details of your personal application unless you call a recruiter or manager to confirm your identity. So with that out of the way shoot! Also please be patient awaiting replays.
 
Thanks for taking the time and effort to come here and try to help people out.
 
CF File Manager said:
Hello all applicants. I am a File Manager at CFRC Barrie and I am willing to answer your questions to the best of my ability. If I don't know the answer to your questions I shall do my best to find out an answer for you. I cannot speak of the details of your personal application unless you call a recruiter or manager to confirm your identity. So with that out of the way shoot! Also please be patient awaiting replays.

I want to visit the CFRC here in Toronto soon, would they have a list of open trades?

I've also applied in the past, I'd like to start a whole new application as I kind of rushed the first one online. Will this effect my application?

Thanks, and that's great your offering your help  :)
 
Thank you so much for doing this thread. It will be really helpful for a lot of the hopefuls that are trying to get into the CF.  :salute:
 
Hey all, I have had some great questions from a lot of you and I will compile a list of questions that I believe are important to all in the future. I still prefer to answer all your questions by personal replies and again please be patient, however a 12 hour return to questions is manageable for me. Again to all good luck!
 
Hi,

Thank you for giving of your time on this thread! I saw on another thread that the pilot's trade (DEO) is closed for the actual fiscal year, could you confirm?

Thanks in advance!
 
If I were to put my application in October 29th, how long would it take before I could expect a reply from the Canadian Forces ? I personally want to be out of here (my town)by March
 
Proud_Newfoundlander said:
If I were to put my application in October 29th, how long would it take before I could expect a reply from the Canadian Forces ? I personally want to be out of here (my town)by March

Didn't you post a similar question here earlier today?  The answer you received is probably the best one you're going to get.  If you want to be out of your town by March, no one is stopping you.....
 
PMedMoe said:
Didn't you post a similar question here earlier today?  The answer you received is probably the best one you're going to get.  If you want to be out of your town by March, no one is stopping you.....

I second this response....  :+1:
 
PMedMoe said:
Didn't you post a similar question here earlier today?  The answer you received is probably the best one you're going to get.  If you want to be out of your town by March, no one is stopping you.....


I completely forgot about the other post, my apologies. A moderator can feel free to delete the post in question. Again, my apologies
 
OYR_Pilot said:
Hi,

Thank you for giving of your time on this thread! I saw on another thread that the pilot's trade (DEO) is closed for the actual fiscal year, could you confirm?

Thanks in advance!

At the moment, it is closed to new applications but that's not to say it won't reopen prior to 31 Mar 13.  So if you have completed your processing, it is now a waiting game.
 
Just a quick question: Say my selection date is November 27th for the trade I selected and I complete my interview around Nov 1st. Will I still have plenty of time to receive a response from Ottawa?
 
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