Reserve Armour Officer Cadets

[Mjohns]

I can not find an answer through search on the timeline for reserve armoured officer training after CAP.  If anybody knows the time and or dates it would be appreciated.

Thanks

Mac09,

I just completed my PH IV reg force and the reserves were basically running concurrently to us (I believe two courses may have gone through).  AFAIK (and understood from speaking to the WOs) after CAP reserve armour does a single course over 1 summer... the P RES armour course is what is was called around the school.  Effectively it was a G-Wagon/recce commander's course.  Now it's possible in the time between an acquaintance of mine's CAP and PRES she also did some type of CC (phase III) course...

Matt

 

[orange.paint]

Respect:
About the 2Lt thing - Definate agreeance there.  Last summer on my course we were at the ranges late one night doing live fire.  A bunch of the drivers that were going to join us for our tactical portion of phase lived a floor above us and were supposedly being a little noisy.  Rather than respectfully ask these people to quiet down, several 2Lts who had just arrived for ARTLC went upstairs and started jacking them up and calling them to attention and such, while another called the MPs on them.
NOT a good idea.  Your drivers not only know more about the vehicle than you, but they can also be the deciding factor in whether you pass or fail your course.  I found that they worked extremely hard for me and my buddies, but when some guys started yanking them around a bit, they would start following orders verbatim, such as move the vehicle in a linear path to the next bound rather than use the terrain to your advantage (or even worse, crank the heat up in the back of the vehicle so the poor GIB was dying...).

Driver turn left.......driver RIGHT RIGHT!!! Yep we/they do it.Something you got to understand is that these poor souls have been in the field for proably 8 months strait by the time you got to your summer fun.These guys are used and abused on every type of course all year long.If one of you decide to shit all over one for no apparent reason (and he's not a thud) I can assure the rest of the drivers will know pretty quick.Suddenly the driver you had that was almost picking the positions for you,giving you a Cadillac ride cross country is suddenly hitting ruts (i.e your ribs on the turret ring)and acting like a robot.I.E turn right (simple direction),suddenly your heading south on a north bound trace.Treat em good and they will help you out tremendously (like slowing down to show you your going to miss your turn.)Not kicking your coffee cup into the woods,helping out storing your gear.Also realise some of these drivers are MCPL qualified down here now also.I feel bad for some of them.

Very true.  The advice refers to what is known as the "grey man" theory - I should have mentioned it earlier.  You want the DS to know who you are, that you worked hard and did well - but that's about it.  Drawing undue attention to yourself is a sure way to:

(1)  Course Glory, whereby you become the focus of the DS and Top Candidate, but the rest of the students may hate you and the remainder of the Army won't give a rat's a** that you were Top Candidate in a year or two.

I have only once topped a course and I can honestly say beside the plaque that is somewhere in my basement it has done me zero good on a day to day basis.This army strives on the 60% mark you either pass or fail.I personally try my best every course but in the long run it really doesnt madoesn't..as long as you pass.
What do you call the bottom third mcpl on his Sgt course? SGT.

Treat the drivers good,they will help you out bigtime.

 

[nick_the_guy]

I'm looking for some information regarding the development periods for armour officers in the reserves. An Army website says, in general, that you need a Basic Development Period to make lieutenant and that's based on Basic Officer Qualification, Environmental Qualification and Basic Officer Qualification.

http://www.admfincs.forces.gc.ca/dao-doa/5000/5031-8-eng.asp

In terms of an armour officer in the reserves, which courses do you need to take? Not sure if any of the officer courses were listed at this link. The local recruiter couldn't be specific but said it was very difficult for the current officers to get the courses that they needed.

http://www.army.forces.gc.ca/lf/Downloads/training_calendar-calendrier_d_entrainement-2009.xls

My local recruiter said it was much easier to finish development periods as an NCM as most of the training can be done by the unit. Being an officer required going away to the regular forces bases to get training. Any insight would be appreciated.

 

[TangoTwoBravo]

First you will take the Basic Officer Qualification followed by the Common Army Phase (CAP) course. Armoured officers will then take the Primary Reserve DP1 Armoured Recce Troop Leader course. The basic and CAP courses will generally take one full summer while the DP 1 ARTL takes another. The DP1 ARTL used to be in five ten day mods (ten weeks), but we are moving to a two-mod course that is roughly twelve weeks in length. I think that this was run for the first time this summer.

You will generally need to be able to commit two full summers (pretty much three to four months each) to get your DP1 completed as a Reserve Armoured officer. These will usually be in Gagetown, although I think that some CAP serials have been run in other areas.

 

[nick_the_guy]

I see. I doubt I can commit to two summers @ 3-4 months a piece due to work commitments. I guess that means that a career as an Officer in the Reserves is not possible?

 

[ajp]

THere is some flex, meaning you can take mod's of courses to get by.  Go ask the Unit you intend to join.

 

[nick_the_guy]

Already asked and was given the impression it was quite the difficult road to travel. Not too much detail though, they were much better regarding NCM options. I have already submitted an application at my local unit and wrote armour officer as my third choice as the other options available didn't interest me much. All in all, if I get accepted as an armour soldier, I think I'll be pretty happy. Thanks for the info.