Hello, and I was wondering...

[Coniar]

I can see you piont...
and I certainly enjoy all input negative or not...
I think its awfull so many thousands of people live on the whim of one or two poloticians never the less I still wanna try at the very least assuming I make it ILL have a degree in enginerring and 9 years work experince...
At the very least I hope I come away with a great experince

 

[Recce41]

Yes progession is good, but it will be to fast. It will be like whenwe had 3 yr MCpls. thick as bricks. We have Sgts now with out a CD. Damn they don‘t have the knowledge.
Sgt J CD,CDS com

 

[Harry]

Progression FAST, right. The people that are getting out are for the most part the bright ones, the up and comers, the ones who know there is no chance of being promoted. Normally due to a bottleneck that exists in most trades. There are a surplus of senior NCO‘s who have no intention of going anywhere, they are milking every extra day.

Because of these folks the whole system is back flowing. There will be promotions, but not the ones we need or expect.

I can point out a guy who in ‘90, was an alcoholic yadda yadda. After attrition and only in the past four five years has gone from MCpl to WO. All relative to attrition.

I am not impressed, especially when all that are let, normally is the dregs and malcontents.

Sorry, just had to remind.

 

[Zoomie]

Now that the poor lad <Coniar> has been introduced to the bitterness that goes hand-in-hand with the CF, I think we should focus on the issue at hand. The original question was not whether to join or not, but more specifically whether the Armoured Corps was the place to be. I don‘t know about the rest of you lot, but if I had to go combat arms again <thank god for the Air Force> I would only think of choosing the Corps.
Stick with your resolve Coniar, there are many changes afoot in the Army. By the time you get into the field, they will have hopefully figured it all out.

 

[L.Ron]

Hello Coniar,

I‘m just finishing basic and an going armored myself, although as an NCM. As far as Combat Arms trades Armour was the only choice for me. There are positives and negatives to anything. The army is in a transition now and the next few years will really determine what the ultimate fate of the CF will be. I‘m 27 years old now and wanted to join back in 1991, when soldiers were being bought out and essentially being laid off. Members were understandably bitter and it still remains to this day. The budget is still too small and training is not really the highest priority, especially with the tanks due to maintenance etc... but with the introduction of the coyote and all the good press it‘s getting maybe things will change. One possibility is that our government will pretend the systems on the coyote are state of the art 10 years from now.

One thing that you might consider with your future career is the UTP program. It is for NCM‘s who are corporals. Basically you apply through your unit and if accepted you will go to University and come out an officer with a degree. I think you will also get your corporal salary the whole time. Not bad at all. You will be an officer with a few years of armour experience from the lowest levels, something that I think is important, especially in the combat arms. As a low ranking person I‘d feel much more comfortable taking orders from an experienced Sergeant(like Reece41) than from a fairly fresh 2nd Lieutenant.

Good luck, you still have lot‘s of time

 

[Coniar]

Yes Im sure people would feel more comfortable taking orders from a Vet then from a 2nd Liue. thats only been in the field for a month or two but I have to start somewhere and my first priority is getting an education wich means University first then Job. Other question I had is does anyone know what the prefered University degree is for an armour Officer I was thinking Id like to Magor in Mechanical Enginnering. Good idea???

Coniar

 

[Recce41]

Thanx Smith
So your finishing Basic,Res/Reg. As for Convair if your going ME degree go Engineering officers budds. I‘m not knocking the corp its been good for 20+ yrs for me. But facts are facts.
Sgt J CD, CDS com

 

[rceme_rat]

First, I think you should consider RMC for your mech eng degree.

If you attend a civvy uni, then you have to decide whether you can get sponsorship under ROTP (probably much rarer these days than it use to be), or if you want to join the reserves (either as an officer or as a trooper). There may be some funding available as a reservist.

Actually, civil engineering is the preferred degree for the Engineers. With a mech eng degree, the world is your oyster -- in addition to Engineers, you can consider EME (ideal choice), perhaps Sigs (not ideal), as well as MARE and AERE (both ideal) if you aren‘t limiting yourself to the army.

The Armd folks would be happy with your mech eng degree, but don‘t expect to practice engineering. It might get called on when you are at a unit (to fight with the Maint O) or in a project office (to fight with the EME guys, or to translate engineering lingo to armd lingo).

 

[Coniar]

Ive always wanted to go to RMC but there are down sides, I live in Vancover and its in Ontario hard to get from there to hear on vacation and still have time for vacation among other things.
But are RMCgraduates looked down upon any more by non-RMC officers and NCM, In old war books you always hear about the 2nd Liue. just out of West piont that everyone dislikes.

Just curious...

Coniar