Next to the Staff turnover last year, the largest change we've had is in how we apply and manage warnings. In the old days, it was by manually slapping a huge banner on a user's account, writing it up and then manually removing it when the time came. The new approach is simpler and more transparent, for everyone. It's also streamlined to keep the Staff from becoming bogged down in managing warnings.

Overview:

• A 0% warning can be used if a "warning shot" is needed, with no impact.
• Users may apply a +5% warning to another user via the MilPoints Assessment screen, this falls into line with our users policing users approach.
• At 10% a user is added to a watch list for the staff.
• At 25% a user is moderated (all posts must be approved)
• At 50%+ a user is muted (they cannot post)
• Warnings automatically decay at a rate of 10% per day.
• Each Staff can apply no more than 50% to a given user, on a given day.
• This means any Staff can mute a user immediately, but concurrence from another Staff is required to keep it in place.
• E.G. A user with 70% warning will be unable to post for 2 days, and back to normal usage in 7 days.
• A user's entire warning history is displayed on the warning screen.
• Staff can decrease warning % at any time.
• All messages and warnings are logged, this helps any review process.

If you receive a warning that you wish to dispute, PM me and I will look into it. Please do not PM any Staff you see online. We're trying, as much as possible, to streamline how we handle matters like this, and a common approach is what is required.

Any questions, don't hesitate to contact me.

Link to article,

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/air-force-pilots-shot-1.4827862

The Royal Canadian Air Force is contending with a shortage of around 275 pilots and needs more mechanics, sensor operators and other trained personnel as well in the face of increasing demands to conduct and support domestic and international missions.
The Air Force says it is working to address the deficiencies and that they have not negatively impacted operations.
Still, officials acknowledge the situation has added pressure on Canada's flying corps and will represent a real challenge for the foreseeable future.
"Right now we're doing everything we can to make sure we recruit, train and retain enough personnel to do our current mission," said Brig.-Gen. Eric Kenny, director general of air readiness.
"In the next 20 years, it's going to be a challenge to grow the force at the rate that we would like."

The shortfall in pilots and mechanics was referenced in an internal report recently published by the Department of National Defence, which also flagged underspending on maintenance for bases and other infrastructure, as well as reductions in annual flying times thanks to Conservative-era budget cuts.
Some of those issues have since started to be addressed by the Liberals through their new defence policy, but the personnel shortage remains an area of critical concern given the need for pilots and others to fly and maintain the military's various aircraft fleets at home and abroad.
Those include the planes and helicopters involved in Canada's military missions in Iraq, Latvia, Mali, and Ukraine; domestic search-and-rescue aircraft; and the CF-18 fighter jets deployed in Romania and guarding against a foreign attack on North America.

The Air Force is authorized to have 1,580 pilots, but Kenny said in an interview that the Air Force is short by around 17 per cent, or about 275 pilots. It is facing similar deficiencies when it comes to navigators and sensor operators who work onboard different types of aircraft as well as mechanics, he added.
'It's definitely a challenge'
Kenny also acknowledged the threat of burnout as service members are forced to pick up the slack left by unfilled positions, and the added challenge in the coming years as the Air Force receives new drones, fighter jets and other aircraft — which will require even more people to fly and maintain.
Efforts have been made to address the shortfalls, including more focus on retaining service members with tax breaks, additional support and services for family members to ease military life, and plans to free up experienced personnel by assigning administrative staff to do day-to-day tasks.
Several initiatives have also been introduced to speed up recruitment and training and attract older pilots back into the Forces, which has borne some fruit, while the military looks at changing the length of time pilots and others are required to serve before they can leave.
But the current training system means the Air Force can only produce 115 new pilots each year, which commanders have said is insufficient to meet its needs given the number that have been leaving for commercial opportunities in recent years.

The Department of National Defence is drawing up plans for a new system that officials hope will be in place by 2021 and include the ability to expand or shrink the number of trainees in any year given the Air Force's needs.
Kenny said the shortfalls will remain a challenge since the current system will remain in place for several more years — and because it takes four and eight years to train a pilot from scratch.
"We know what capabilities we're receiving and now we can start working to make sure that we have personnel that are trained to be able to meet those requirements," he said. "But I'm not going to lie: It's definitely a challenge."

Would anyone know or have a list of the CF aircraft designation numbers. Or where I can find it.  Eg CF-100 Avro Canuck. CC-130 Lockheed Hercules.  I am looking for the numbers and the missing names and holes in the sequence.

I wasn't sure if this should be posted in "The Mess" or under Air Force, so mods if you want to move it, please do so. But since there is a specific Air Force connection to this story, I've posted it here.

My Dad, WO Eric Black, passed away on August 16. He was 92 and had lived a full and, up until very recently, healthy life. His passing was quick and painless and went as well as could be expected. Dad joined the Canadian Army in 1942, serving with the 2nd Battalion North Nova Scotia Highlanders. He lied outrageously about his age, adding two years to the truth and as soon as he could qualify to go overseas, joined the RCAF in 1943. After basic training he was posted to Linton-on-Ouse with a Canadian bomber wing. Right at the end of the war he was posted to mainland Europe where he served with a Canadian Spitfire wing. Dad's service was pretty innocuous, he wasn't air crew and most of the work he did on the ground was un-glamourous in the extreme. In fact, he told me the most dangerous thing that happened to him during the war involved a motorcycle, bottle of Canadian Club and a dare. Dad was never shy to talk about the war years, but it is interesting that there are two stories that only surfaced recently and that I think he had repressed for all these years. I want to share them with you.

Working as ground crew in Linton, one of Dad's jobs was to collect the personal effects from the bomber crew before they headed off. He would collect wallets, photos, etc and store them until they returned. If they returned. Only in the last few weeks of his life did he share with me one of the more poignant aspects of his job. He told me the ground crew would stand on a small hill on the base and wave good bye to the bombers, then later count them back. It was at this stage he would break into tears and say "So many of the boys didn't come back. And they were all just boys". He was only 18 himself. 65 years later this memory still affected him.

The second story he had repressed involves the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Dad's fighter wing was located somewhere in northern Germany at the end of the war. He never told me this story until about a year ago when we were watching a documentary on the TV concerning the concentration camps. It was like a shadow fell over him and he just muttered "I was there. I remember that". When I pressed him for the story, this is what he told me. When the Canadians were getting their pay there was an issue of chocolate and candy as part of their rations. There was a box on the table that said "for the camp victims" or something similar. Of course neither Dad, nor any of the others really understood what this meant. So Dad, always being of a curious nature, asked one of the drivers who was taking the chocolate and candy away if he could go with him. The driver said sure, but to be ready for a shock. So they drove to Belsen and unloaded the goods. This was shortly after it had been liberated and Dad said there were still piles of dead bodies lying around and the survivors were in terrible condition. He said it struck him speechless, and he never discussed this for over 60 years. When he saw the documentary all he said is "it was a hell of a lot worse that it shows on TV". And said no more.

Dad went on to serve with the RCAF until 1968. He couldn't stomach unification and refused to wear a green uniform. He retired to Victoria but remained a proud RCAF veteran and paraded every Remembrance Dad proudly wearing his medals, always brightly shone. He will be buried in the Esquimalt Veterans' Cemetery on September 4, and I have made sure there will be a military padre in attendance (thank you Capt Ken Nettleton of the Canadian Scottish Regiment) to send him off appropriately, and that his grave marker will proudly display the RCAF crest.

Dad loved the RCAF. Per Ardua Ad Astra. I will miss him.

    Aviation enthusiast:   

Aviator Melanie Julien-Foster is looking ahead to the August 10, 2018, BMQ graduation and her first posting at 14 Wing Greenwood as a supply technician.


By Sara White, managing editor of “the Aurora”, the 14 Wing Greenwood, Nova Scotia, newspaper.

Sergeant Larry Keagan prepared 20 course candidates on Basic Military Qualification 0283 for their July 19, 2018, eight-kilometre march, just another milestone in the 10-week Air Reserve BMQ being offered for the first time at 5th Canadian Division Support Base Detachment at Aldershot, Nova Scotia.

The BMQ is a milestone in itself, being offered away from the regular BMQ program at Saint-Jean, Québec, and led by 14 Wing Greenwood, Nova Scotia, and lodger unit instructors. “We’re trying to grow the forces,” says Major Russ Payne, the 404 (Long Range Patrol and Training) Squadron operational flight commander seconded to lead this BMQ. Regular and Reserve Force recruits typically attend BMQ in Saint-Jean, Québec, which can train about 5,000 people annually. “That’s not enough,” he adds.

The Royal Canadian Air Force looked at the Canadian Army’s intake training, offered at multiple locations across the country; 14 Wing, with a large Air Reserve component, is piloting this BMQ with two senior officers and a technician from the wing, staff from 14 Construction Engineering Squadron and several of its flights, and an instructor from Gagetown, New Brunswick. There are course candidates from throughout the country, ranging in age from 18 to 51.

“This BMQ will be proof-of-concept – that we can do this successfully,” Major Payne says. “Maybe down the road, we do three a year, or we can do Regular Force BMQs. So far, we’ve identified 46 lessons learned, and we’re making recommendations as we go. Some have already been fixed; others need to be done to really make this successful.”

One of the earliest identified challenges has been the chain of command responsibility for BMQ training: while the course is generally managed by a Canadian Armed Forces Leadership and Recruit School for all three branch recruits at Saint-Jean, this BMQ is being Air Force-run for Air Reserve participants. Is there a need to report progress up two chains?

“But as far as being here at Camp Aldershot, logistically, administratively and, with the support of the camp – this is perfect,” says Major Payne. “Aldershot is excited to have us: they train, they support. Everything is here.”

Aviator Melanie Julien-Foster is a 29-year-old military spouse and mother of two; she’d often thought of a military career for herself. After family postings through Ottawa, Winnipeg and now Greenwood, “I heard of this pilot BMQ and thought it was the best option for me and my family” she says. “I get to go home every weekend – it works for us.”

She knows that’s not an option for course mates from other parts of Canada, but, with them, she’s learned more about teamwork, and “really getting to see what it does for people when they do it together.”

“This is challenging,” Aviator Julien-Foster says. “It’s outside of my comfort zone; it’s rewarding. There are nine women on the course, so that makes it really nice. I’m doing things I’ve never done before – and I’m doing them!”

http://www.rcaf-arc.forces.gc.ca/en/article-template-standard.page?doc=14-wing-bmq-tests-air-force-option/jke4vy4l