Search results

I will further add that the most interesting, challenging and rewarding (in every sense) work that I have done (I am an engineer) has been field work. It is one thing to sit behind a desk and write detailed technical reports that no one will ever read. It is a completely different role to be...

I am assuming you are young. You have your whole life ahead of you. There is a good chance you will live to be 100 years old and your working career will be 50 years. When you are young, you should seize the opportunity to travel, learn and explore. I am now semi-retired and looking...

I recall lobbying for hearing protection with integrated radio communication that would allow members of the ship's engineering department to talk to each other while wearing hearing protection. That went precisely nowhere. That was over 30 years ago.

The United States - and a former US president in particular - has normalized vitriol and hatred. The entire business model of any number of 'news' organizations depends on outrage. They feed that outrage to make money.

By that logic, if you have three submarines, that means one is operational, one is in workup and one in refit. I don't think that is how things really are.

I always thought that Canada's shipbuilding strategy should be to build about one ship a year..... forever. That maintains the workforce, skills and knowledge and allows for gradual evolution of ship design and construction. The start-and-stop shipbuilding program is ruinous. Edit: I know...

Dude.... the article is dated 1 April. Think there might be a tiny chance someone is making a joke? :)

A wild card in the mix is Canada's former Governor General Michaelle Jean who was born in Haiti and is of Haitian decent. Since her time as GG she has been given a number of plum jobs that gave her access to power and money. There is a chance she has some pull and some people owe her...

See this link for a letter written by Adm Rickover in 1953. It was true then and it is true today. https://whatisnuclear.com/rickover.html Here is an excerpt of the above: a practical reactor plant can be distinguished by the following characteristics: It is being built now. It is...

I agree but will point out that in industry there are 'uniforms' that reflect one's rank in the company. I recognize the whole 'tech bro' culture is an outlier to this and of course I am painting with a broad brush but: The workers typically wear jeans or construction type clothing. Technical...

In terms of 'looking professional', a huge belly overhanging a belt is of greater concern to me than someone's hair colour. I am long retired but the number of obese people in uniform is dismaying. For reference, I live in the National Capital Region.

I used to work for a company that rolled together sick leave and vacation. Never get sick? Four weeks of vacation every year. Always sick? Four weeks of sick leave but no vacation every year.

Mr Pivo, Thanks for your recent thoughts on nuclear submarines. To be clear, I am a former Navy Marine System Engineer with almost 30 years of experience in the Canadian nuclear industry. I know of what I speak. A nuclear program is incredibly expensive and complicated. Please don't...

Two comments: 1. Your estimates for required staffing are about an order of magnitude too low. A single unit commercial nuclear power plant (I know, not directly comparable) employs about 500- 600 personnel. Staffing includes document management, QA/QC, oversight, training, security...

OK, I have had a few beers. Pardon what follows. I am an RMC grad from many decades ago. I think one of the root problems with RMC is that it doesn't know what it wants to be. It wants to be bound to tradition from its founding but wants to be modern. It wants to provide an education...

As someone who works in an industry not substantially different than DND (I am typically involved in very complex and difficult engineering and construction projects), I would suggest that people in DND are generally well paid for what they do. While hourly pay rates may be a bit lower, my...

Tim Cook describes various bits of trench art, trench newspapers and even theatre productions (and similar) in his 2018 book The Secret History of Soldiers: How Canadians Survived the Great War. That might be a starting point for you.

There was a significant amount of bullying that went on for first year cadets at the military colleges. Does anyone know if that environment has been tamed?

In 2.5 years posted to Protecteur many decades ago, I remember one 'abandon ship' drill that went as far as having everyone on the upper decks in life-raft capacity sized groups lined up around the life rafts. I don't recall any other drills at any other time on any other ship (may have...

Same here, except I was trying to get away from a dysfunctional family.