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Just wanted to share my story for those who might be feeling discouraged. I'm 46 and applying for a Sig-O reserve. I started the process last April online, and I am still not there yet.
Not knowing where I fit in the Forces, and having a pilot license, I chose a couple of occupations in the Air Force. After a few months I went down to the recruiting centre to see what was happening. Air force wasn't really looking for people, so nothing happened for quite a few months.
BTW, they folks at the recruiting centre have been top notch throughout the entire process!
After another month of waiting, I went down again. I happened to speak to someone with the same qualifications as me, and he pointed me at the Sigs. I contacted the local Sig recruiter, and got a response the next day. Very encouraging. Went down to fill in the forms, and things started moving along quickly.
I had a chance to go to the change of command ceremony shortly after that, and got a change to meet the other young sig officers. They were very supportive, and looked forward to my joining them. That made a huge impact on me since I was quite worried about my age.
Finally had my interview, testing, and medical late in the fall. I did very well in the test and interview. However, the medical has caused me nothing but problems. I said yes to having asthma on the med form, not knowing this was a show stopper. Major, major disappointment when I was declared med unfit. I wasn't going to let that stop me. The med tech told me about the methacholine challenge test, so I started that process going. I didn't think I really had asthma since I was running 30km a week at that point.
After more waiting, I passed the methacholine challenge indicating I did NOT have asthma. However, that was not good enough for Ottawa. They wanted a full assessment from a respirologist to go along with the test, and I should have that in my hands in the next week or two. Hopefully, hopefully, I will make through in time for training this summer.
One thing I have learned throughout the process is when talking to the recruiters, if they start a sentence with "One bit of advice...", listen to what they say. I was doing all my running on the treadmill till my recruiting officer said get outside. What a huge difference in my training that made!
And don't give up. Don't give up. Don't give up.
Mike
Not knowing where I fit in the Forces, and having a pilot license, I chose a couple of occupations in the Air Force. After a few months I went down to the recruiting centre to see what was happening. Air force wasn't really looking for people, so nothing happened for quite a few months.
BTW, they folks at the recruiting centre have been top notch throughout the entire process!
After another month of waiting, I went down again. I happened to speak to someone with the same qualifications as me, and he pointed me at the Sigs. I contacted the local Sig recruiter, and got a response the next day. Very encouraging. Went down to fill in the forms, and things started moving along quickly.
I had a chance to go to the change of command ceremony shortly after that, and got a change to meet the other young sig officers. They were very supportive, and looked forward to my joining them. That made a huge impact on me since I was quite worried about my age.
Finally had my interview, testing, and medical late in the fall. I did very well in the test and interview. However, the medical has caused me nothing but problems. I said yes to having asthma on the med form, not knowing this was a show stopper. Major, major disappointment when I was declared med unfit. I wasn't going to let that stop me. The med tech told me about the methacholine challenge test, so I started that process going. I didn't think I really had asthma since I was running 30km a week at that point.
After more waiting, I passed the methacholine challenge indicating I did NOT have asthma. However, that was not good enough for Ottawa. They wanted a full assessment from a respirologist to go along with the test, and I should have that in my hands in the next week or two. Hopefully, hopefully, I will make through in time for training this summer.
One thing I have learned throughout the process is when talking to the recruiters, if they start a sentence with "One bit of advice...", listen to what they say. I was doing all my running on the treadmill till my recruiting officer said get outside. What a huge difference in my training that made!
And don't give up. Don't give up. Don't give up.
Mike
It has been a long and bumpy road, but thankfully, my story has a happy ending!
