How to be an Officer? Is it hard? (Reserve)

[Tom902]

Hello,

I am planning on becoming an Officer(AF branch), I am currently completing my final year in my 4 year degree in accounting.  I am considering becoming a logistics officer.  I would like to be a manager in the area of finance, Human Resource, or supply management.  But definitely not cooking.  I am also opened to Medical Administration.  Or anything you guys would like to recommend to me  :nod:

Is it hard for me to become an officer? Is there a lot of people who apply for these types of positions?  Because I know alot of people who wants to become accountants are too afraid to get dirty, die, or "waste" their degree. 

But I disagree with them, I was an Air Cadet years ago when I was aroun 13 years old for about 2 years.  I miss it.  Also when I was in high school, physed class i could run the longest with the greatest pace, and also do alot of push ups.  I was also stronger than average, with average height and weight,  I never really excerised other than in gym class when i was in high school. 

I havnt really excercise other than walking to school 3.7km-7.4 km 4 times a week with 10-15 pounds on my back.  I just did decline push ups(the leg up ones/harder than regular ones) and I can do just 19 reps, 1.5 sets. 


My university grades are okay.. like 71 to 73 percent(over all).

My average accounting class marks are around 75. 
My average managment class marks are around 78,  but it would of been like 81 but I screwed up on my ethics class and got like 68 percent (because the prof and I don't see eye to eye)

But I kick *** in management class, I lead all my group projects that I have ever gotten and get way better than average marks in our projects, I also love to make presentations and attended toast masters(presentation club) briefly in the summers. And I taught a my managment peers on a chapter for 80 minuites in a managment class about survival LOL.(only 4 people have done it out of 240)

I also do not have any experience from "outside" employers other than my parents and family.  I help manage my fathers real estate properties he owns 3 rental properties.  and help my grandma who owns about 5 of them. 

I think i can get a recommendation from a management professor.

But im really worried I might not get in...
I think i have the ability to become a leader,  im not shy, I am well liked in school, i always participate in classes,  lead my work groups 90% of the time we have projects, and achieve atleast 80 percent.

4 years ago i was really shy, boy i change alot really fast(for the better)


---------------------------------------------------------------------
fast facts,
Never did drugs/drink
Born Canadian
Never committed a crime
I am 21

I slowly started working at my parents age the age of 4...  I was brought up in a restarunt and i mopped floors, wash dishes, cut meat, paint houses, type ad's out, do deliveries, cook, clean, grind.  SO im not afraid of work.

Why I wanted to join the forces -
Exprience
Way of Life
Money

Sure its nice to make an extra 5-10 k a year if i make it.  But I can advance in my civilian career easier,  I can also maintain my fitness level, and never feel too comfortable in life...I only want to grow and change to be the best I can be.  I have been constantly trying to improve myself for 7 years and counting. 

 

[daftandbarmy]

Why join the army to be a pencil necked geek when you can get a kick a** job in civvy street for tons of cash and all the booty you can fit in your van?

If you want to join the army as an officer, do it because you have a burning desire to lead slavering hordes of your nations' fanatics into the trenches of the enemy while swinging a nail studded club over your head and bellowing your personal war cry. Or something like that. It's the most fun you can have with your burning clothes on! :camo:

Seriously, if you want to be an accountant, stay in civvy street. If you want to be a soldier, and lead soldiers, join the army. There's a big difference.

 

[Tom902]

Why join the army to be a pencil necked geek when you can get a kick a** job in civvy street for tons of cash and all the booty you can fit in your van?

If you want to join the army as an officer, do it because you have a burning desire to lead slavering hordes of your nations' fanatics into the trenches of the enemy while swinging a nail studded club over your head and bellowing your personal war cry. Or something like that. It's the most fun you can have with your burning clothes on! :camo:

Seriously, if you want to be an accountant, stay in civvy street. If you want to be a soldier, and lead soldiers, join the army. There's a big difference.

Accounting is accounting... There is one problem.  your not getting the point.  a Logistics Officer and an accountant are both pencil pushers.  And they both get paid well enough.  But I don't really want to become an accountant in my civilian career.  But instead I want to work for my local goverment.  Working on Accounting/Administrative roles.  and be a logistics officer on the side.

 

[Greymatters]

Hmmm... I think you might be the one who missed the point.  Basically you need to decide if you want to be in command of a project team in an office environment, or in charge of troops in a field environment... 

If you try to do both, you'll do both partially well, but if you focus on one you can throw all your energy into it and make a bigger impact... 

 

[muskrat89]

Brace yourself for the hordes coming to set you straight regarding what Log Officers really do....

In any case, remember that regardless of trade, branch, etc. as an Officer, you have chosen to be a leader of personnel. You are also expected to be a "soldier first" regardless of what duties you are assigned within your trade. Hypothetically, you could find yourself operating in a combat environment, a local disaster, aid-to-civil-power, or whatever - and troops will be looking to you to have the right stuff.

I really do think you have some misconceptions.

 

[gcclarke]

Honestly, there seems to be misconceptions on both sides. The nice young man who asked about joining the Air Force as a Reserve LogO rather quickly got slammed because some people got the impression that he didn't want to become an Infanteer. Not everyone's career ambitions has to include winning the Victoria Cross.

There is plenty of room in the Canadian Armed Forces for what was so eloquently termed "pencil necked geeks".

 

[muskrat89]

I didn't see him getting slammed.

My concern is that he is fully informed about what he is getting into - nothing more, nothing less. I believe that the other posters may have been ribbing him a bit, but their intentions were similar to mine - to help him make informed decisions.

 

[Monsoon]

Tom 902 -

Sounds like you'd be a pretty competitive candidate for Log. The accounting background or something similar is (I believe) now a requirement, and you meet that. If you're a natural leader among your peers, that gives you a leg up on the competition. One of the things that separates a "pencil-necked geek" (as someone so politely put it) in the military context from the civvie context is that in the military, our geeks need to work with a lot of other people. The ability to work with others is a biggie.

If you're worried about being in shape, it doesn't sound from your post like you have anything to worry about that some light jogging and push-ups can't remedy.

Good luck with your application.

 

[Monsoon]

Seriously, if you want to be an accountant, stay in civvy street. If you want to be a soldier, and lead soldiers, join the army. There's a big difference.

So you'd prefer that all LogOs be washed-out Infantry candidates? Do you feel the same way about military doctors and pilots?

 

[George Wallace]

One point I'd like to make, and that is that you are very unlikely to join as an Air Force Reservist.  You will likely only have Land or Sea to choose from.

 

[Tom902]

Yea Gen. Wallace, I read that somewhere in the forum that the military put alot of $$$ in the Army than in the airforce.  I also live like 20km or 25 min away from the Air Reserve base.  about over 50 percent of enlisted workforce goes to the Army.  so there is probaly 50 percent more officer openings

I might try to apply for the Air Force and maybe the Army at the same time...  I wonder if i can do that. 

If I am not accepted from the Air Force it aint too bad i guess.  Because It takes too long to drive to the AF reserve about a 1 hour commute(calc. both ways in the summer :S) 

Also my city have about 7 Reserve Units. 

1st Field Regiment, RCA (Halifax - Dartmouth)
3 Intelligence Company
33 (Halifax) Service Battalion
36 Canadian Brigade Group Band
36 Canadian Brigade Group Headquarters
72 COMMUNICATION GROUP HEADQUARTERS HALIFAX
723 Communication Squadron
The Princess Louise Fusiliers

I live like a few streets away from many of these.  Like the The Princess Louise Fusiliers is really like 2 streets away.  and another I think is near my university(which i live on the same street)

Also I am aware that if for some reason i am deployed in a dangerous area there is a chance that I will have to fight. 

And about my accoutant that I wrote "I dont really want to be an accountant".. I really mean that I do not want to be a public accountant... the ones who work in firms and do your taxes(thats where the big money is at).  I want to manager that does budgeting, cost calc., wages, planning. which is more of a managerial role because in the civvie life they advise managers and eventually they will become one in fairly large size organizations like military units and med. to large size companies. 

Alot of people do not know that an accounting degree is actually a more credible and harder degree than a management degree.  Because accounting degrees focus on the how money affects an organization, following rules, principles, how to measure ect..  Its really the language of business.  Everything in business revolves around it.  Accountants can become managers, financers, much easier than the other way because in accounting the rules are really really picky.

Finance is tricky too its far more theory based(which requires manipulating formulas for the right situations)

In a management degree really you are getting a diluted mix of psychology, light accounting, marketing, and light financing course into one.  In my humble opinion marketing is a joke degree unless it is at the masters or Ph.D level i would give them respect.

 

[George Wallace]

Alright.  Something doesn't smell right here.  You do not communicate like a person who has seriously taken any university courses.

You claim to have talked to the Recruiters, and yet you don't seem to have two clues of what you are talking about.  If you seriously want to be a Log O then you would most likely want to join 33 Svc Bn, and the Recruiting office would have told you that.  The other option may be the Naval Reserve.  I am sure that your measurements, in time and distance, to the location of the Air Reserve are right out to lunch.

But, as I said, something doesn't smell right here. 

 

[Roy Harding]

Yea Gen. Wallace, I read that somewhere in the forum that the military put alot of $$$ in the Army than in the airforce.  I also live like 20km or 25 min away from the Air Reserve base.  about over 50 percent of enlisted workforce goes to the Army.  so there is probaly 50 percent more officer openings

I might try to apply for the Air Force and maybe the Army at the same time...  I wonder if i can do that. 

If I am not accepted from the Air Force it aint too bad i guess.  Because It takes too long to drive to the AF reserve about a 1 hour commute(calc. both ways in the summer :S) 

Also my city have about 7 Reserve Units. 

1st Field Regiment, RCA (Halifax - Dartmouth)
3 Intelligence Company
33 (Halifax) Service Battalion
36 Canadian Brigade Group Band
36 Canadian Brigade Group Headquarters
72 COMMUNICATION GROUP HEADQUARTERS HALIFAX
723 Communication Squadron
The Princess Louise Fusiliers

I live like a few streets away from many of these.  Like the The Princess Louise Fusiliers is really like 2 streets away.  and another I think is near my university(which i live on the same street)

Also I am aware that if for some reason i am deployed in a dangerous area there is a chance that I will have to fight. 

And about my accoutant that I wrote "I dont really want to be an accountant".. I really mean that I do not want to be a public accountant... the ones who work in firms and do your taxes(thats where the big money is at).  I want to manager that does budgeting, cost calc., wages, planning. which is more of a managerial role because in the civvie life they advise managers and eventually they will become one in fairly large size organizations like military units and med. to large size companies. 

Alot of people do not know that an accounting degree is actually a more credible and harder degree than a management degree.  Because accounting degrees focus on the how money affects an organization, following rules, principles, how to measure ect..  Its really the language of business.  Everything in business revolves around it.  Accountants can become managers, financers, much easier than the other way because in accounting the rules are really really picky.

Finance is tricky too its far more theory based(which requires manipulating formulas for the right situations)

In a management degree really you are getting a diluted mix of psychology, light accounting, marketing, and light financing course into one.  In my humble opinion marketing is a joke degree unless it is at the masters or Ph.D level i would give them respect.

Like, my Father was a CMA - actually, he was like, an RIA (the prior designation), and he was, like - an excellent corporate leader.  But he never really, like, understood my attraction to like, the Army.

I understand accounting - and to be honest, I thought your original question was well thought out, if naive (and naiveté is not a sin around here) - but you're beginning to be annoying.

The folks who have posted previously have been trying to point out various realities to you.  And although you may not be comfortable with how those realities were pointed out - they remain realities.

If you want to be an "Army Guy" - as unrealistically outlined in all the cliche Hollywood films - then Logistics isn't the place for you.

If you want to use the skill set you have to serve your country, then perhaps an honourable, but less "storied" branch of service such as Logistics MAY be for you.

Your sarcasm is not useful - you came HERE for info - we didn't search YOU out.

Your enquiries are best made at a local CFRC.

And yes, your accounting designation is a useful thing to have, and yes, if your story of leadership is true, then leading CSS Troops may be your thing - go ask a CFRC.

 

[Harris]

Also my city have about 7 Reserve Units. 

1st Field Regiment, RCA (Halifax - Dartmouth)
3 Intelligence Company
33 (Halifax) Service Battalion
36 Canadian Brigade Group Band
36 Canadian Brigade Group Headquarters
72 COMMUNICATION GROUP HEADQUARTERS HALIFAX
723 Communication Squadron
The Princess Louise Fusiliers

Actually some of the above are Headquarters, and you can't join one of those from civie street.  The Units available in/near Halifax currently are:

Army:
3 Intelligence Company
3 Military Police Unit
723 Communication Squadron
1st Field Artillery
The Princess Louise's Fusiliers
33 Service Battalion
Halifax Rifles
33 Field Ambulance

Air Force:
Air Reserve Flight - Shearwater

Navy:
HMCS SCOTIAN

Note, not all of the above units will necessarily have an opening for LogO.

 

[Monsoon]

You claim to have talked to the Recruiters, and yet you don't seem to have two clues of what you are talking about.  If you seriously want to be a Log O then you would most likely want to join 33 Svc Bn, and the Recruiting office would have told you that.  The other option may be the Naval Reserve.  I am sure that your measurements, in time and distance, to the location of the Air Reserve are right out to lunch.

I think his travel to the "air reserve" was based on the driving time to Greenwood; I didn't think Shearwater had a very large AirRes flight.

 

[high_octane]

Don't let all the discouragement on here stop you.  The reserves is a great way to get some valuable military experience without a full commitment.  I started out in comm reserves in NB and then joined Reg force

It sounds like you are a good candidate.

Your original question is best answered by recruiting because it probably depends on reserve officer openings in NS.  Having a degree makes you eligible for many trades.  Maybe you could use the degree more as a Log O but why not do something different on the weekends?

 

[Roy Harding]

Don't let all the discouragement on here stop you.  The reserves is a great way to get some valuable military experience without a full commitment.  I started out in comm reserves in NB and then joined Reg force

It sounds like you are a good candidate.

Your original question is best answered by recruiting because it probably depends on reserve officer openings in NS.  Having a degree makes you eligible for many trades.  Maybe you could use the degree more as a Log O but why not do something different on the weekends?

Emphasis added by Roy Harding.

And the REST of his post is spot on - get to a recruiting office and THEN weigh your choices.

 

[Tom902]

Alright.  Something doesn't smell right here.  You do not communicate like a person who has seriously taken any university courses.

You claim to have talked to the Recruiters, and yet you don't seem to have two clues of what you are talking about.  If you seriously want to be a Log O then you would most likely want to join 33 Svc Bn, and the Recruiting office would have told you that.  The other option may be the Naval Reserve.  I am sure that your measurements, in time and distance, to the location of the Air Reserve are right out to lunch.

But, as I said, something doesn't smell right here.

First I would like to say sorry to Wallace and the other readers who I may have offended, I was kind of in a rush when I was typing the message that you are referring to, because I was on a break at work in my family business(working on a labor day).

When I was typing it I was surfing thru the Army pages copying and pasting the units that is classified as a reserve on the webpage(http://www.army.forces.gc.ca/land-terre/units-unites/index-eng.asp?action=City&id=13).  So that took me alot of time.  Also about the recruiting part about 50 percent of the enlisted soldiers are apart of the army branch.  I didn't get that from a recruiter, I just read it from the forums which I found when using the forums search function. 

And some pointed out that I might think that army is all about Hollywood and ect.. which i understand. but I thought it was more of the opposite(not being sarcastic).  I thought a Logistics officer is just a manager supervising and working with people trying to make budgets, and ect... which I am attracted to.  I want to make budgets and manage cost.

Sorry that I am annoying the heck out of you guys because really I don't know what a Log officer is suppose to do.  Please correct me if I am wrong.  Sorry for being a jerk. 

Also about the Marketing comment, I do sound pretty arrogant...  but in my university its just a common belief for alot of us accounting/finance majors.  We think that marketing is a cake walk because the exams are just a bunch of multiple choice questions.

I would of gone but it was labor day, tomorrow I will go talk to the recruiter and weigh my options. 

I posted this orginally because I was curious about how competitive this spot really is.  I have really really smart friends people who get atleast 84 percents' im just afraid i might see people like that in the reserves.  Also what kind of people join the reserves as a Log's Officer.  Like what kind of careers do they lead in their civvie life. 

Thanks guys for your support.  And sorry for being brash.

 

[Roy Harding]

...
I posted this orginally because I was curious about how competitive this spot really is.

Thanks guys for your support.  And sorry for being brash.

It's competitive.

Brash is good - just be prepared for the backlash.  You appear to be able to handle it - although personally I think you back-pedalled too fast - you'll learn.

I'll let you in on a secret.  I've served in many places (including Afghanistan, if that serves to lend credence to my comments), under many officers.  I've served under some real idiots, and I've served under some real inspirational and effective men.  Some of those great officers were - gasp - Logistics and EME types.

Go figure.


Roy Harding


PS - Which type of Officer YOU'LL turn out to be is entirely up to you.

 

[daftandbarmy]

So you'd prefer that all LogOs be washed-out Infantry candidates? Do you feel the same way about military doctors and pilots?

Nope. I've served with lots of first class 'non-knuckle draggers' in my time. But I prefer that all Officers need to think about their troops first, and their careers somewhere after that. I'm worried that Tom 902 is a little too career focused for a 'newbie'. He should wait until at least reaching the rank of Major before going there! ;D