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Your questions are best handled by a Recruiter. Check out this link to speak to a recruiter. https://forces.ca/en/talk-to-a-recruiter/
You likely won’t get that paid for. CAF pays for university or college education under various entry plans. College level stuff is usually tied to a specific CAF occupation. Note that all of these mean actually joining the military for a certain length of service.Hi.
I recently discovered that CAF will pay for you schooling.
I want to go to British Columbia (10 months) to train as a Medical Laboratory Technologist. Does anyone have any information on this? Is it true you get paid a salary on top of your tuition? Also, how do you train to stay in shape? Is there some sort of military base there?
Thank you.
Non-Commissioned Member Subsidized Entry Training Plan (NCM-STEP)
Since this position requires specialty training, the Canadian Armed Forces will pay successful recruits to attend the diploma program at an approved Canadian college. NCM STEP students attend basic training and on-the-job training during the summer months. They receive a full-time salary including medical and dental care, as well as vacation time with full-pay in exchange for working with the Forces for a period of time. If you choose to apply to this program, you must apply both to the Forces and the appropriate college.
For further information, please contact a Canadian Forces Health Services Recruiter: HealthSvcsRecruiting-RecrutementSvcsdesante@forces.gc.ca
Learn more about our Paid Education programs here.
I want to go to British Columbia (10 months) to train as a Medical Laboratory Technologist.
In the website the directory says the BCIT program is Not Suitable under NCMSTEP which is the program where you enlist, do basic, and go to school. It is suitable if you've already done it on your own and want to join.It says under the Canadian Armed Forces Paid Education plan that the school and program is covered.
Browse Directory - CAF-ACE (page 15)
https://forces.ca/assets/brochures/paid_education_programs.pdf (page 36)
Please explain why this wouldn't be paid for
The recruiting page lists the occupational training as being a preceptorship at a Canadian Forces Base- that suggested to me that it’s done as on the job training. Could be that that page doesn’t fully reflect the training? Best bet would be to talk to the recruiters.
I will give it a stab as nobody else has. I am not a MLAB TECH but I have had a number work with/for me in the past.
1. You need to do the Basic Military Qualification and the Primary Leadership Qualification to be a substantive Master Corporal which is the working rank of MLAB TECH. There will be additional training in blood banking, parasitology and military lab topics. There is also exposure to field lab set ups and common field equipment. Both of these are part of a one year mentorship program you complete in your first year. You will have the opportunity to conduct maintenance of clinical skills in civilian hospitals for those skills you do not use regularly in your day-to-day practical (such as transfusion services and micro) . You will also occasionally (but infrequently) be able to deploy to the field with a field ambulance or the Field Hospital during larger exercises. In some units there will be a requirement for deployment readiness which means yearly shooting and solider skills training / verification.
2. Travel is not overly frequent. No more than anyone else.
3. When we have field hospital deployed we always have at least two lab techs deployed. Lab Techs generally work in a two person (Jr Lab Tech - MCpl / Sr. Lab Tech - Sgt) team. It is a small trade and the rotations to the deployed setting matches demand versus supply. Right now we do not have a field hospital deployed. There is little chance at deployments outside of this. There is also a Lab Tech assigned to the Disaster Assistance Response Team, which is a humanitarian standby capability on a shorter notice to move.
4. All most all MLAB TECH work in Canadian Forces Health Services Centres around Canada. Think of this like a walk-in clinic with between 1-5 primary health care teams. It is generally a blended civilian / military / contracted workforce. Work for a Jr. Lab Tech involves running labs ( mostly hematology, and chemistry - nothing sexy), calibrating machines, reporting results, drawing blood, dispatching labs and receiving results, keeping the lab clean and well functioning. Expect occasional secondary duties in most units.
Good luck and I hope you apply or at least visit a recruiting centre to check us out!
MC
A Master Corporal is an appointment. Corporal is (barring exceptional badness on your part) a guaranteed promotion after four years in the CAF (and can be accelerated to three years in certain circumstances). A Master Corporal is a Corporal given additional leadership responsibilities, normally after a formal course and several years as a corporal.