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Hi there, my name's Kevin. Like the title said, I immigrated here about 9 1/2 years ago from China. I live in the glorious city of Ottawa (heh). I originally got the idea of joining the reserves from my friend; he's a Canadian that chose to go back to Finland to serve his compulsory conscription time. I wanted to give something back for my new country of allegiance, what could be better to serve?
I called a few reserve units in my area in Sept of 2010, Governor General's Foot Guards, 33rd Combat Engineers, etc. Only the GGFG got back to me via email, and that took about five months. I got contacted by the recruiting NCO and went into for an interview at Cartier Drill Hall. I thought he was pretty impressed by my answers, but he told me at the end that there's only 6 or so spots for about 11 applicants. I should be okay (so I thought). Call came in the next week, I didn't make it in. I had believed my story for the reserves would end here, but little should I know, it didn't.
I decided after I got declined that I would join the ROTP program, and continue studying at Carleton University, so I put in an online application. Got a call from a Master Corporal at the nation application centre, fixed my application from reserves to ROTP. From there I waited about three months.
Early August, I was on the computer playing World of Tanks (pretty good game, all of you should try it!), the recruiting NCO from GGFG called again, wondering if I'm interested. (Of course) The recruiting NCO changed, and some applicants had problems and didn't make it through. I went to CFRC Ottawa to see if my online application can be changed, but they said I should submit a paper copy, as the online one is difficult to get hold of apparently. Two days later I submitted my hard copy application, the recruiter said to wait three to four weeks. So I did.
Early September, I got the call from CFRC Ottawa go come in for my CFAT and interview. It was absolutely hilarious on their timing. I had just met an old acquaintance from highschool, and was catching up on what we were doing. Just as I mentioned the reserves, my phone rang. Talk about luck eh?
I went to my CFAT next week, I was with three others taking it with me. One was a fellow from the 33 Combat Engineers, who I might be in the January BMQ with should I make it in. According to the Sergeant doing the interview, I did well, unlocked most if not all of the occupations. I thought CFAT was going to be simple, similar to the CFAT sample online. Boy was I wrong.
Remember I said I was an immigrant? I must do an enhanced reliability check because of that. However, I got lucky. Since I came to Canada just near the limit of ten years, my ERC came through in barely a week. Everything so far was according to plan, but I didn't expect one minor thing to complicate my enrollment.
When I had my medical, it started out well, my blood pressure was alright, hearing average. Nothing major happened to me beside a dislocated elbow when I was two years old. I gave my new glasses prescription to the medical Sergeant. She said it wasn't enough, so I made an appointment with the optometrist, so she can fill out my visual acuity form. I came back the same day. The Sergeant took a close look at it, and determined that I'm a V4. My visual acuity had to be V3 for my trade, I had just barely missed it.
Under my old prescriptions or uncorrected, my left eye is stronger than my right. However, with the newest correction, my right eye has become stronger, and my left eye had some complication. Turned out I have a high chance that my left eye has cataract. I'm going to see a specialist in November. Hopefully if I do have cataract, I can get it removed within a short time. Maybe this will improve my eye sight enough to be a V3. If not, I'll see if I can get laser correction.
So here I am, still in limbo, yet to do PT, BMQ starts in January.
I called a few reserve units in my area in Sept of 2010, Governor General's Foot Guards, 33rd Combat Engineers, etc. Only the GGFG got back to me via email, and that took about five months. I got contacted by the recruiting NCO and went into for an interview at Cartier Drill Hall. I thought he was pretty impressed by my answers, but he told me at the end that there's only 6 or so spots for about 11 applicants. I should be okay (so I thought). Call came in the next week, I didn't make it in. I had believed my story for the reserves would end here, but little should I know, it didn't.
I decided after I got declined that I would join the ROTP program, and continue studying at Carleton University, so I put in an online application. Got a call from a Master Corporal at the nation application centre, fixed my application from reserves to ROTP. From there I waited about three months.
Early August, I was on the computer playing World of Tanks (pretty good game, all of you should try it!), the recruiting NCO from GGFG called again, wondering if I'm interested. (Of course) The recruiting NCO changed, and some applicants had problems and didn't make it through. I went to CFRC Ottawa to see if my online application can be changed, but they said I should submit a paper copy, as the online one is difficult to get hold of apparently. Two days later I submitted my hard copy application, the recruiter said to wait three to four weeks. So I did.
Early September, I got the call from CFRC Ottawa go come in for my CFAT and interview. It was absolutely hilarious on their timing. I had just met an old acquaintance from highschool, and was catching up on what we were doing. Just as I mentioned the reserves, my phone rang. Talk about luck eh?
I went to my CFAT next week, I was with three others taking it with me. One was a fellow from the 33 Combat Engineers, who I might be in the January BMQ with should I make it in. According to the Sergeant doing the interview, I did well, unlocked most if not all of the occupations. I thought CFAT was going to be simple, similar to the CFAT sample online. Boy was I wrong.
Remember I said I was an immigrant? I must do an enhanced reliability check because of that. However, I got lucky. Since I came to Canada just near the limit of ten years, my ERC came through in barely a week. Everything so far was according to plan, but I didn't expect one minor thing to complicate my enrollment.
When I had my medical, it started out well, my blood pressure was alright, hearing average. Nothing major happened to me beside a dislocated elbow when I was two years old. I gave my new glasses prescription to the medical Sergeant. She said it wasn't enough, so I made an appointment with the optometrist, so she can fill out my visual acuity form. I came back the same day. The Sergeant took a close look at it, and determined that I'm a V4. My visual acuity had to be V3 for my trade, I had just barely missed it.
Under my old prescriptions or uncorrected, my left eye is stronger than my right. However, with the newest correction, my right eye has become stronger, and my left eye had some complication. Turned out I have a high chance that my left eye has cataract. I'm going to see a specialist in November. Hopefully if I do have cataract, I can get it removed within a short time. Maybe this will improve my eye sight enough to be a V3. If not, I'll see if I can get laser correction.
So here I am, still in limbo, yet to do PT, BMQ starts in January.
