Why join the Canadian Armed Forces

[dannybou]

These figures are taken from an article in Le Journal de Montréal a few weekends ago:

Recruit: $26,616 - $39,096
Corporal: $44,736
Master/Corporal: $44,736 - $57,048
Sergeant: $51,384 - $60,888
Warrant Officer: $57,252 - $64,452
Master Warrant Officer $63,180 - $68,772
Chief Warrant Officer: $70,128 - $73,068

Lieutenant: $43,176 - $74,436
Captain: $59,412 - $78,852
Major: $80,652 - $90,420
Lt Col: $93,492 - $99,492
Colonel: $86,100 - $101,300

I won‘t go into our Generals salaries. Plus there are all sorts of moneytary incentives for submarine service, overseas missions, specialist etc.

The point of this thread? Why is it that Canada has so many young people on welfare? The Canadian Armed Forces are running adds for recruiting, offering bonuses to join. There are numerous trades, technical, they even pay for University as long as you serve. Why aren‘t more people taking these advantages? I did 24 years ago and have never regretted it. Heck, that‘s where I met my wife. So I would like to hear from the youngsters of this Country? Look at the salaries? Wouldn‘t it be better for the future? Learning a trade, belonging to an organization? Participating in overseas missions?

 

[wongskc]

Well, all throughout high school, whenever I mentioned that I was thinking of a military career, the automatic knee jerk reaction was "What? You‘re gonna get killed!" As I graduated then moved on to post secondary, the usual comments then became the sterotypical "What‘s a matter, can‘t think for yourself?" and (courtesy of my Aunt) "You‘ll get sent to Afghanistan before you even finish your degree!"

My own parents told me I would be wasting my summer until I told them that the reserves actually pays ! Yes, they thought that the army doesn‘t pay its troops.

So basically summing it up, I‘d have to say the reason why no one takes advantage of what the military has to offer is because of pure ignorance. They are not aware that it can offer a great career and decent pay and they automatically disregard any notion of even considering it.

 

[Pieman]

This is a really nice question, and I will add my two cents to it at it as best I can:

As a recent graduate, I have put my application in as an officer. Money is not the insentive for me at all, as I already make a comparable amount in my new job. I am looking for a major challenge, and I think the forces will do it. But I am not within the majority of people.

What would be stopping a lot of people? From speaking to many people, close freinds, and family about the CF, I believe it is this:

1) The Canadian Forces are underfunded. Notice I have this as the number one reason. It is well known we have out dated equipment and funding problems. If you are young and ambitious, this does not look like a good option for someone trying to climb high in their career. I think there is a growing beleif that the CF is not able to ‘handle it‘s own‘ anymore. Also, there is a fear that many people have that some of the equipment is unsafe. I had more than one person say to me: ‘Sea Kings are flying coffins‘.


2) People do not understand what the forces are, and are in general undereducated about them. They have the impression that it is too difficult and a hard life, and they think of the movie ‘Full Metal Jacket‘ when they think of life in the Army. Yes, the Army is no picknick and is not easy, but it is still a bad impression to be walking around with.

3) The recruiting process is a MAJOR turn off. I believe it takes a lot of thinking and building up nerves to come to the decision: ‘Yes, I am going to do this. I will apply‘. Then you go to the recruiting center and apply and you are facing 3 months - 2 YEARS waiting time to get in. Man, that was a big slap in the face for me. And I already feel disrepected by the government for making me wait so long after I made a very hard decision to serve my country. I believe someone quoted they lose 30% of applicants due to waiting times on this forum numerous times.

I am sure there are many more reasons, but my guess is that these three are the big ones that most people have.

 

[Jarnhamar]

Unfortinuatly when people take the first step to joining the military they are jerked around by the recruiting department. Can you imagine how many people have been overlooked, forgotten about or simply given up because of all the hassel? If our recruiting area was more effective we would have many many more soldiers in the army today.

 

[Marauder]

Most of the sheeple in this country that have grown to recruiting age in the last decade have been kept fat, lazy, and stupid by the Liebral hegemony. Why join the big scary army and WORK for a living when you can just sit around your squalid little apartment and have the government pay for your rent, alcohol, cigs, and drug of choice. The Liebrals have made it too easy to be a simple money sponge with no responsibility for going out and getting an actual job, let alone be a productive citizen.

 

[Harris]

The recruiting center has been an issue for the 17 years I‘ve been in. Everybody complains yet nothing is done. In my opinion the majority (not all) of people in the recruiting centre are there not because they love doing recruiting but because they are recovering form a long term injury, are a Reservist (like myself) on a Class B job and the $ is good, or have been put there to keep them out of trouble. If there is someone from the recruiting system that can correct my thinking I‘d love to hear from you. The latest bit of empire building I heard about the recruiting centre is that they have developed an electronic version of the test everyone writes, yet there has to be a recruiting centre staffer there when people do it. Why is that needed? Just about every Unit I‘m aware of has a recruiting Officer/NCO. Why not train them to administer the test?

On a plus side, I also heard that Units are now allowed to conditionally enroll new members. That means some of the requirements can be sorted out after the fact and if the member is found lacking they can get the boot. That also means that Units can get people on course sooner.

 

[Infanteer]

The recruiting center has been an issue for the 17 years I‘ve been in. Everybody complains yet nothing is done. In my opinion the majority (not all) of people in the recruiting centre are there not because they love doing recruiting but because they are recovering form a long term injury, are a Reservist (like myself) on a Class B job and the $ is good, or have been put there to keep them out of trouble. If there is someone from the recruiting system that can correct my thinking I‘d love to hear from you. The latest bit of empire building I heard about the recruiting centre is that they have developed an electronic version of the test everyone writes, yet there has to be a recruiting centre staffer there when people do it. Why is that needed? Just about every Unit I‘m aware of has a recruiting Officer/NCO. Why not train them to administer the test?

I‘ve raised this issue before. Solution; make it part of career progression, thus inviting the best junior officers and NCO‘s who are encouraged to excel.

 

[Pieman]

Most of the sheeple in this country that have grown to recruiting age in the last decade have been kept fat, lazy, and stupid by the Liebral hegemony.

Lol. I am not sure you can blaim that one on the Liberals. I would blaim that one on Nintendo.

The recruiting center has been an issue for the 17 years I‘ve been in. Everybody complains yet nothing is done.

Does anyone have an idea why that is? From the outside looking in, it seems really bizzare that everyone agrees the system needs to be changed, yet no one seems to be capable of changing it. It seems like a pretty easy thing to fix. Does anyone know who is in charge of recruiting? (Or is anyone really in charge?) At this point, I would really love to write that person.

 

[Gayson]

It took me 18 months to get in with various delays including lost paperwork.

Also many people ask me if I get payed in the militia, it seems that people have many bad misconceptions on the army. I find this sad because the army is the first job I have ever had that does not feel like "work".

I think part of the problem is in the lack of the use of media as a recruitment process. The latest recruitment video shows a bunch of random **** than the slogan "Strong Proud". The problem here is that information available to the public for easy access is just too vague.

If the CF wants to get more people to apply and get more support from the public than they should use popular media to spread the word.

When I see the TV commercials for the Army they should be displaying some of the cooler jobs available, everything from Armor, Engineering, Infantry all the way to being a sniper or JTF. Also a single Generic Phone number needs to be displayed where someone could call it and have tons of information available via a person to talk to or a ring tone menu. When someone calls this number they should be able to get information on pay, jobs and info on all the local units near them and the jobs they offer.

Many of the benefits of the army were unknown to me until after I joined and put a little time in. Things like the carry over pay from the day being dp2 qualified to promotion to corporal (recieved on promotion), the educational assistance, all the bonus pays. When I actually learned about this stuff my jaw hit the floor, and when I tell some of my civy buddies about them they are amazed too.

The CF needs to start showing the public how much fun and rewarding the military really is.

 

[Da_man]

Originally posted by Harris:
[qb] The latest bit of empire building I heard about the recruiting centre is that they have developed an electronic version of the test everyone writes, yet there has to be a recruiting centre staffer there when people do it. Why is that needed? Just about every Unit I‘m aware of has a recruiting Officer/NCO. Why not train them to administer the test?
[/qb]

yeah i did c CFAT on a computer... there was no one in the room, but there was one of these "mirrors"

 

[Yes Man]

I think pieman pretty much got it right.

People look at the Canadian army as a joke. No one I know wants to try and make a career of it.

Also this recruiting process is such a pain I am in amazed that people actually will go through it. If it where anyone else but the army put me through this much aggravation, I would tell them to go **** themselves.

 

[R031button]

I have to agree with Yes Man, I‘m a senior in highschool, and everyone I know looks at the forces a joke, only a very small percentage every join, and most are fairly ignorant of all the benifits available.

The recruiting process is also a pain, and it‘s made worse by the amount of trouble it takes to get to even speak to a recruiter, however thought up the idea that recruiting detachments should only be open from 8:00am to 4:00 pm should be dragged to an alley and shot. It‘s impossible to contact someone in that time frame if your a student or if your working. Also, there are very few recruiters available to speak too, all of three in British Columbia, which works out to a little less then one recruiter per million people.

Once you‘ve actually gone through the waiting process of your application you then have to basicly twiddle your thumbs untill you get accepted into a regiment. In the reserves this means waiting to get sworn in, which is usually at least four or five months. Once your officially a member, you then go throught he great ordeal of getting kit. I don‘t know about other brigades, but in the 39th the policy is that the regimental QM can no longer issue recruits with their first batch of kits, it has to come from the area support unit in Chillawak. And this can take a long time, I can testify to that. I joined up in april, and I have yet to be issued a single piece of kit, I go to course in a month and a bit. To make it even better, the RMRang stand down in a week.

This is why people don‘t join the forces, it‘s simply to much hassle, our unit has already had four recruits drop out, to my knowledge. And to be perfectly honest i don‘t blame them, it‘s hard to stay motivated when you can‘t go on the ex your preping for because none of your kit has came in yet, and to be honest, if I had known it would be like this, I‘m not sure if I‘d have joined up.

 

[CDNBlackhawk]

I started my application Last July, My file went to Borden 5 weeks ago(should have been sent 10 weeks) and i still havent been called yet. The procces for getting in is completly rediculous and Unorganized, one place doesnt know what the other place is doing or saying. Half the time the Recruitment staff seems like they are confused. Not all of them, but the majority of the ones i have dealt with are.

it needs to be changed hands down, I am getting fed up.

 

[Yes Man]

I think its funny, because the first post in this thread says that joining the forces would be a great way to get people from going on welfare; most people would die of starvation before their file gets processed.

 

[McLean]

I‘m 19 years old, and I‘ll be joining soon, and I can tell you the various responses I usually get from friends when I ask them if they‘ve ever considered joining.

The most common response is that they‘re unwilling to commit themselves to something as demanding as the CF. They don‘t mind working hard, as long as they get to come home at 4:00 every day and kick back with a beer and a joint. People‘s priorities kind of scare me, to tell you the truth. I hate to say this, especially since I‘m talking about my own friends here, but they‘re all pretty dead set against having to work harder than anyone else. It seems to be a pretty common mentality, "well this guy doesn‘t work very hard, why the **** should I?"

Surprisingly, there are a couple of them who are just terrified by the idea of basic training. They see movies like Full Metal Jacket and assume that BMQ is about totally destroying and humiliating them. They all think they‘ll be under the iron fist of MWO. R. Lee Ermey for the entire course.

I guess what it boils down to is a combination of laziness and ignorance. I should add that this is by no means a universal attitude, I‘ve got a couple friends who are as enthusiastic about joining as I am, and there are lots of other young people on these boards who feel the same way. I guess there‘s hope for us punks after all

 

[atticus]

When I see the TV commercials for the Army they should be displaying some of the cooler jobs available, everything from Armor, Engineering, Infantry all the way to being a sniper or JTF. Also a single Generic Phone number needs to be displayed where someone could call it and have tons of information available via a person to talk to or a ring tone menu. [/QB]

I agree. Just look at the USA‘s recruiting video‘s. They show all the cool stuff like climbing a mountain and blowing stuff up. If the army showed stuff like snipers and infantry and the such then it would spark an interest in younger people. Yeah, there would be a few that would think that it would be a piece of cake to become a JTF2 space ninja with laser beams comming from their eyes but isn‘t the training for weeding those people out?

 

[Spr.Earl]

It‘s a choice of life style.
You‘re choice so don‘t *****.

 

[Goober]

The Army needs to spend money on an experienced director to make the promo videos. The ones they have now are "ok" at best.

The US knows how to run recruitment campaigns, I think the Canadians need to make thier own spins on some of thier ideas. Wouldn‘t hurt to come up with some of thier own too. Perhaps some show of military might in or near some major cities.

 

[wongskc]

I bet that the CF could get make their own recruiting ads that are 50X better instead of having to contract it out to advertising companies that have liberals in their pockets.

 

[Goober]

I‘m not talking about any advertising companies, I‘m talking about accomplished directors of film.