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.

    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

https://assets.skiesmag.com/digital/2018/RCAF-2018/files/3.html

I had some troubles with this using Internet Explorer...but some good articles.

Just saw this article at the DND website:

http://www.rcaf-arc.forces.gc.ca/en/article-template-standard.page?doc=from-tholthorpe-to-trenton-the-history-of-434-bluenose-squadron/jhf5kq9w

434 Squadron's coming back as a Test and Evaluation Squadron at Trenton.

Interesting article and development at UWaterloo Engineering relating to surveillance of Canadian airspace
https://uwaterloo.ca/stories/quantum-radar-will-expose-stealth-aircraft

Quantum radar will expose stealth aircraft
New $2.7 million project funded by Department of National Defence will develop technology for quantum radar

Stealth aircraft in the Canadian arctic will be no match for a new quantum radar system.

Researchers at the University of Waterloo are developing a new technology that promises to help radar operators cut through heavy background noise and isolate objects — including stealth aircraft and missiles — with unparalleled accuracy.

“In the Arctic, space weather such as geomagnetic storms and solar flares interfere with radar operation and make the effective identification of objects more challenging,” said Jonathan Baugh, a faculty member at the Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) and a professor in the Department of Chemistry who is leading the project with three other researchers at IQC and the Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology (WIN). “By moving from traditional radar to quantum radar, we hope to not only cut through this noise, but also to identify objects that have been specifically designed to avoid detection.”

 more at link above....