Regular Officer Training Plan (ROTP)-RMC 2000 - 2018 [Merged]

[aesop081]

(mine's until 2020, I'll be doing more training as an air navigator after I graduate RMC),

As a note, you will be doing training as an Air Combat Systems Officer after RMC, not Air Navigator.

;D

 

[breezie]

Yep, I know, looking forward to it! My brother loves flying remote control helicopters, and when I told him ACSO's will probably be doing a lot of work with UAV's, he was very very jealous!

 

[tyciol]

As far as I know, as long as you will have enough years in you to fulfill your contract (mine's until 2020, I'll be doing more training as an air navigator after I graduate RMC), they don't seem to really care about age. As far as my other experience, I've lived overseas for most of the past 15 years (New Zealand for 8, then Banff/Lake Louise for 3, then off to Japan for 4 years), which obviously gives me a lot more life experience than most of the people straight out of high school. I also did some volunteer work with the Canadian Embassy while I was in Japan (I was my province's emergency contact person, or Consular Warden), which got me interested in working for Canada. As far as my high school marks, they did want to see them, and that can play a role in what courses you end up taking. For me, I'm in arts, so next year when we have to take some science courses, I'm exempt from the "pre-chemistry" class, because I did chem 12. I'll probably take it anyway, it's been a long time! And if you remember enough of your calculus, etc, you  can challenge certain courses. You take a challenge exam, and if you pass, you can get exempted from the course. I also have a heapload of transfer credits from UVIC, so I don't have to take as many electives if I don't want to. I probably still will take some though, there's a lot of interesting courses here.

Hope that helps! Any more ?s feel free to ask.

I dunno, it seems like you do have a lot of life experiences that make them want you as a candidate, like you've done things during your life that give extra qualifications. Definately they want you to have enough time remaining to fulfill a contract... but I think the idea with officer programs is they want you to be an officer for more than just 5 years. 5 years service may be all that's mandated (more for pilots) but the idea seems to be that they want to entice you to stay on longer as an officer who serves in the forces long-term, right? So people who are younger will have more years ahead of them to potentially do that. They are probably not as interested if say, you'll be at retirement age 2 years after the 5 years mandatory, because they couldn't even sign you up another term after that.

I really don't like mandatory retirement ages, I think people should be able to serve as long as they are fit. It's okay if they want to be more stringent in examining older people since it does correlate with impaired senses and cognitive function but it's better to examine that on a case by case basis I think, because lots of people retain these sharply through a healthy stimulating lifestyle, which I would expect many officers in the military do.

 

[aesop081]

I really don't like mandatory retirement ages, I think people should be able to serve as long as they are fit.

The problem with that is that the longer people stay in, the more it holds up openings for other people. The prevents the recruiting of younger blood and that is vital for the CF.

 

[dimsum]

Yep, I know, looking forward to it! My brother loves flying remote control helicopters, and when I told him ACSO's will probably be doing a lot of work with UAV's, he was very very jealous!

That's one of the possibilities, but (at the moment) it's not like most of us are going that way.  The Aurora/Sea King world still takes most of us.

 

[daindophia]

Hello
I know this topic may annoy some of you.. many of you... because it's been covered so many times and in so many different ways,
but all the threads i've read got off topic or didn't provide me with the exact information i needed.
(or i just sucked at researching)

anyways, i'm a gr.11 student right now, female lol,
and i really want to be a pilot in the air force.
i'm going to be applying to RMC- ROTP, and doing the mandatory service after the 4years blah blah blah...
however, the more i research on it, the more confusing it seems to get?
i'm in desperate need of clearer answers....
if there are answers to my questions somewhere else, maybe someone could provide a link to that page or whatever..
that'd be great.

so, here are the questions:

1) has the years of mandatory service after completion of ROTP increased from 5 years to 7, and now to 9????
2) becoming a pilot- so say i do 4 years, get a bachelor's in aeronautical engineering... what happens then? am i able to serve my mandatory years as a pilot? if yes, what should happen for that to work? (something about 2 years waiting, 2 years flight training and then the mandatory service... :S please clarify the procedures!!)
3) after my mandatory years, am i free to go? as in... either stay in the CF or do something else irrelevant..?
3) are all students of RMC required to wear uniforms outside of school...?

that's it!

 

[SupersonicMax]

1) has the years of mandatory service after completion of ROTP increased from 5 years to 7, and now to 9????
2) becoming a pilot- so say i do 4 years, get a bachelor's in aeronautical engineering... what happens then? am i able to serve my mandatory years as a pilot? if yes, what should happen for that to work? (something about 2 years waiting, 2 years flight training and then the mandatory service... :S please clarify the procedures!!)
3) after my mandatory years, am i free to go? as in... either stay in the CF or do something else irrelevant..?
3) are all students of RMC required to wear uniforms outside of school...?

First, before anyone jumps on you like an animal, I suggest you start using capital letters when required.  I personally find it hard to read text when it all lower caps.

I'll try to do my best to answer  your questions with what I know.

1) has the years of mandatory service after completion of ROTP increased from 5 years to 7, and now to 9????

I didn't hear anything about the mandatory service being changed.  It has always been 2 months of mandatory service for 1 month of schooling.  What you heard may be that the contract terms are different.  Having said that, once your mandatory service is over, even if you're contract is not over, you can request for a release.  (ie: contract is 9 years, mandatory service is 5, you decide to request a release on the 7th year.  That's fine and chances are they will grant it (personally, I know a few people that did it, and it was not a problem), but it's not guaranteed)

One thing you may want to be aware of is that there is also mandatory service for becoming a pilot.  It's 7 years from the day you get your military pilot wings.  These mandatory service periods are not cummulative.  For example, let's say you graduate from RMC in 2006 and you have 5 years of mandatory service thereafter.  You get your wings in 2008 and you owe 7 years after that. 

Your mandatory service from RMC will end in 2011 (5 years after your RMC grad) and your mandatory service for pilot will finish in 2015 (7 years after your wings), which is really a total of 9 years of mandatory service, vice the 12 when you combine the two.  The mandatory services overlap eachother.

2) becoming a pilot- so say i do 4 years, get a bachelor's in aeronautical engineering... what happens then? am i able to serve my mandatory years as a pilot? if yes, what should happen for that to work? (something about 2 years waiting, 2 years flight training and then the mandatory service... :S please clarify the procedures!!)

As explained above.  Your RMC mandatory service starts from the time you graduate from RMC, even if you're not qualified in any military trade at that point.  It is considered military service.

3) after my mandatory years, am i free to go? as in... either stay in the CF or do something else irrelevant..?

You will also have a contract.  When your mandatory service is over, you may ask for a release (like explained in 1)).  They may grant it or not, depending on the circumstances.  Once your contract is over, you will have to sign an other one to stay in the CF.  They may or may not offer your a new contract and you may or may not accept it.

4) are all students of RMC required to wear uniforms outside of school...?

It depends.  I think 1st years have to now.  When I was there, we didn't have to.  People that are there now are probably in a better position to help you on that one.

Cheers

 

[daindophia]

Thank you so much!
I apologize for not using capital letters... it must have become a habit.
Anyways, thanks again.

 

[daindophia]

Actually, it'd be great if one thing could be clarified: the procedures taken to obtain military pilot wings?

 

[SupersonicMax]

Go to the supply store and ask for a pair of pilot wings.

Jokes aside, you need to do the Basic Flying Training and Advanced Flying Traning.  It is explained in GREAT details somewhere on the forums.

 

[Lumber]

3) are all students of RMC required to wear uniforms outside of school...?

No. Only first years have to wear uniforms outside of school, and only until they are granted permission to stop wearing their uniforms outside of school, which has been around April in the last two years.

However, if it is before 1630hrs (4:30pm), then everyone has to wear their uniform if they leave the campus. Our day ends at 1630, so you're still considered to be on duty before that, and need to wear your uniform.

 

[i_am_red]

Hey guys, I just called the recruitment centre today asking if I have been accepted to RMC, and the answer is yes. However, the person said that I'll have to go for a prep year first at St.Jean first before I begin my studies at the college. Does anyone know how that works? Is it one year at St.Jean or summer training there for 2 months then begin first year at RMC? Anyways, I asked the person why I got the RMC Junior offer, and the reason was that my grades weren't high enough, but the last time I checked I only needed a 70% to get in and I have a 75+ average. What's up with that?

 

[bms]

You can find information on the RMC St-Jean website: http://www.cmrsj-rmcsj.forces.gc.ca/

It doesn't matter what your grades are nor does it matter how good of a candidate you are. All that matters is how good you are compared to all other applicants. It's a competitive program and if they select someone, they want them to suceed. Therefore, they likely take the candidates that faired well enough to be selected, but they likely looked at your grades in an objective sense and thought that the highest probability that you would suceed at RMC would be to take preperatory year first. It's nothing personal, just the objective effects of a faceless machine. In fact, I'd bet that there are more people than just you in that boat.

Congratulations on your acceptance and remember to look at this as a very positive thing.

 

[yoman]

Do be warned that you will in all likelihood be spending 2 years in St-Jean. One year as a prep student and the other year as a first year student.

 

[SupersonicMax]

Is that supposed to be a bad thing?

 

[Big Foot]

Alright, I will overlook your seeming indignation about "only" being offered Prep year with a 75% average. Let me tell you something, there have been a great number of people before you who got Prep year with higher HS academic averages than you, myself included. I went to Prep after having a HS avg of 85+% and didn`t complain. It`s a great year to not only learn about yourself but to learn about what is expected of you. Take it as a great learning experience.

 

[Marshall]

Alright, I will overlook your seeming indignation about "only" being offered Prep year with a 75% average. Let me tell you something, there have been a great number of people before you who got Prep year with higher HS academic averages than you, myself included. I went to Prep after having a HS avg of 85+% and didn`t complain. It`s a great year to not only learn about yourself but to learn about what is expected of you. Take it as a great learning experience.

I thought they looked for 80%+ Average at least and not 70% for RMC anyways.. I must of misread somewhere.

 

[yoman]

Is that supposed to be a bad thing?

Depends on the person. RMCSJ has quite a few differences when compared to RMC. Some good things and some not so good things.

 

[Big Foot]

And if you can't handle the not so good things, don't waste your time with RMC or the military.

 

[The Dunnminator]

Is that supposed to be a bad thing?

One more year of free education and pensionnable time for me sure isn't a bad thing.