Opportunity for Reserve deployment [Merged]

[Mainz]

I am a Naval Reservist currently on a six month deployment here at Camp Eggers in Kabul, Afghanistan.
There are other reservists here, all of whom, as stated in this thread, volunteered.

 

[FlyingDutchman]

Thanks for the link recce, I was looking for something like that.

EDIT: and I echo what others have said, you volenteer.

 

[FlyingDutchman]

They might be able to deploy you if the emergiancies act is used, but s*** would have to hit the fan for that to happen.  Anyone have a concrete answer to that?

 

[dapaterson]

They might be able to deploy you if the emergiancies act is used, but s*** would have to hit the fan for that to happen.  Anyone have a concrete answer to that?

Per the National Defence Act:

32. (2) The reserve force, all units and other elements thereof and all officers and non-commissioned members thereof

(a) may be ordered to train for such periods as are prescribed in regulations made by the Governor in Council; and

(b) may be called out on service to perform any lawful duty other than training at such times and in such manner as by regulations or otherwise are prescribed by the Governor in Council.

(Subsection (3) to the above places further restrictions on the ability to mobilize the Supplementary Reserve)


A full mobilization of the Reserve Force would require placing all Reservists on "Active Service" per s31 of the NDA.  At this time, an order-in-council from 1989 has placed all members of the Regular Force on Active service, and all members of the Reserve Force on Active Service when outside Canada.

 

[shortym]

how does reserve deployment work? do you get placed in a reg force platoon ? im taking about infantry.

 

[MikeL]

Not sure how it is now for Op Attention, but during the combat mission,  Infantry Reservists would join Regular Force units and be placed within sections, platoons, etc with Regular Force Soldiers.  The ones who were sent to NSE Force Protection were a bit different as that was mainly a Reserve manned unit.  I believe CIMIC and Psy Ops had a large percentage of Reservists as well.

In the past, I believe there was a entire Rifle Coy made up of Reservists in the Battle Group for some Bosnia tours.

 

[Canadian.Trucker]

This is all dependent upon the mission/theatre that you self-identify for and then the job that you're selected to do.  It's a pretty broad question you're asking because as an infanteer you can be placed in many non-combat arms jobs as well a hard wired Infantry positions.  As well for some theatres different workup training is required such as UNMO (United Nations Military Observer) type tasks, combat training etc  and therefore the length will also widely vary.

As Skeletor said there were situations where an entire sub-unit was all Reservists, but this is not always the case.  For example my entire Pl in Afghanistan was all Reservist (until we received a replacement for one of my guys that was injured), but the Battle Group had Reserve augmentation throughout right down to the Sections within the Rifle Company's.

Each tour and rotation is different depending on the theatre, specifics would help to answer your question better.

 

[BDTyre]

My reserve infantry unit has contributed members to:
NSE Force Protection (the platoon had 2 RegF Sgts and 1 RegF Pte)
NSE Det Kabul (SecFor)
NSE (later converted to MCU)
CIMIC
Psy-ops
OMLT
Battlegroup
408 SQN (door gunner)
TFK HQ
RC-South HQ

That only covers the last 5 years of deployment to Afghanistan. The list for other operations would probably fill lots of spaces. Every single member that filled these positions was an infantry reservist, either officer or NCM, and ended up working with other reservists and RegF members. As others pointed out, the composition of your sub-unit depends on theatre, task, and other variables.

Lots of stuff for infantry to do....

 

[matthew709]

hey there, just a few questions.

1. can a reserve infantry volunteer for any deployment that Canada is involved in. or does the government only request reserves when necessary, and then they can volunteer for the deployment.

2. how does a reserve infantry go about volunteering for one of the current UN deployments. I assume its a bit different of a process.

3. once accepted into the reserves. how long would it take for me to be able to volunteer to be deployed. (aside from training that would be then done for the specific deployment)

 

[dapaterson]

If there is a requirement for reserve augmentation, the chain of command will seek volunteers.

To be deployable, you must be at least 18 years of age, and must have reached the Occupational Functional Point - OFP.  That is, you must have successfully completed the common military and occupation-specific training to make you employable in your military trade.  That is the bare minimum; additional qualifications may make your candidacy more appealing.

The precise requriements vary from deployment to deployment; sometimes we want infantrymen; sometimes we want logistics officers; sometimes we want generic staff officers.  The short answer is: it depends.

 

[x_para76]

If there is a requirement for reserve augmentation, the chain of command will seek volunteers.

To be deployable, you must be at least 18 years of age, and must have reached the Occupational Functional Point - OFP.  That is, you must have successfully completed the common military and occupation-specific training to make you employable in your military trade.  That is the bare minimum; additional qualifications may make your candidacy more appealing.

The precise requriements vary from deployment to deployment; sometimes we want infantrymen; sometimes we want logistics officers; sometimes we want generic staff officers.  The short answer is: it depends.

To piggy back off dapaterson's answer you also need to be merited high enough by your unit that they would submit you as a candidate for deployment over other members. 

 

[SurgicalError]

Hey everyone,

I'm new to the forum and have searched around for an answer to this question for a while now, but don't really know what keywords to search, as none of my efforts have been fruitful so far.

Here goes...

I am currently in my third year of university, and am looking to join the Toronto Police Service after I am done school in 1.5 years. Recently, I spoke to a buddy of mine who was in the QOR and is pursuing the same path as I. His story lead me to checking out the reserves, and I am now very interested in joining. I already went and spoke to a recruiter, but I was having difficulty thinking of questions on the spot. My main question is as follows; In what scenario is a reserve infantryman obligated to deploy (involuntary). I have been told that if we go to war, I will have to ship out and fight, but I'm not really sure what that means. Did reserves have to involuntarily ship out to Afghanistan at any point?

Again, I'm sorry if this has already been answered, but I did search and couldn't find it.

 

[George Wallace]

Reserves are 'voluntary', period.  The Reserves are NOT 'involuntarily' sent on foreign, nor domestic, deployments.  All Reservists who deployed to Afghanistan, or any other foreign deployment, have done so voluntarily.

It would take an Act of Parliament to 'activate' Reserve units in times of 'Total War', such as WW II, for deployment outside of Canada.

 

[SurgicalError]

Thanks George, that's really good to know

 

[FJAG]

Reserves are 'voluntary', period.  The Reserves are NOT 'involuntarily' sent on foreign, nor domestic, deployments.  All Reservists who deployed to Afghanistan, or any other foreign deployment, have done so voluntarily.

It would take an Act of Parliament to 'activate' Reserve units in times of 'Total War', such as WW II, for deployment outside of Canada.

Wrong! Wrong! and indirectly, partially right.

The National Defence Act has several key sections that provide for the terms of service for reservists which DO include obligatory service.

S 31 allows the Governor in Council (i.e. cabinet) to place individuals and units (including reservists) on Active Service for the defence of Canada or in support of UN or NATO obligations;

S 33(2)(a) and QR&O 9.04(2) provide for those circumstances where reservists and their units may be ordered to train;

S 33(2)(b) allows the GiC to call out reservists and their units to provide any lawful duty other than training and make regulations to that effect. QR&O 9.04(3) is such a regulation that provides that the Minister of Defence may do so in the event of an emergency which is defined to include war, invasion, riot or insurrection whether real or apprehended;

S 275 provides that the CF (including reservists or units) may be called out for service in aid of the civil power

All of these are provisions already enacted in the NDA and may be triggered by the GiC or the Minister as set out in the individual sections. All of these are obligatory service and NOT voluntary.

That said, the practice at least since Korea, or even earlier has been NOT to use these provisions but to rely on reservists individually volunteering their service.

The point is however that a common practice, even a long standing one, can be changed at the drop of the hat with the right Minister, cabinet and situation without the need for any action by parliament at all.

Don't let the above worry you as far as joining the reserves and the police at the same time. The chances are extremely slim that you will be required to do anything other than "voluntary" service.

:cheers:

 

[SurgicalError]

So when was the last time that  involuntary deployment was enacted?

Thanks for the detailed answer btw

 

[George Wallace]

That said, the practice at least since Korea, or even earlier has been NOT to use these provisions but to rely on reservists individually volunteering their service.

 

[SurgicalError]

Ok thank you George

 

[DAA]

Could be slightly out of date (1999) but some interesting reading.......( THE CANADIAN ARMED FORCES:  THE ROLE OF THE RESERVES )

http://publications.gc.ca/collections/Collection-R/LoPBdP/BP/prb9911-e.htm

 

[SurgicalError]

Seems like an interesting read. Gonna give it a look over tonight. I'm really liking this forum btw. You guys are all very helpful and quick on the responses too