Diploma Military Arts and Science (DMAS)

[Silverfire]

Howdy folks;

So I'm about to begin the DMAS program offered through Humber College.  To give a little detail about myself, I'm a prior service member who had to leave midway through BMQ in order to take care of family issues.  After I had squared away my family problems, I had attempted to reapply to service when I was turned down due to a directive stating members must be out of service for 24 months.  In the time since then, I've just been working different retail jobs, paying the bills until I could figure out my next step.  I toyed with the idea of joining RCMP but I decided that I was too young and didn't continue my application. I decided that taking the DMAS program would be beneficial as the military is something I have an interest anyway, and it wouldn't hurt to have when I reapply to the military.

Anyway, back to the point, for those who don't know about it there's a thread here with a bit more detail.  Essentially its a course set up mainly for NCM's to get an education in subjects pertaining to the military.  The course is strictly run online and it can be done at your own pace.  For myself personally, I'm attempting to do it in a semester format, taking 5 courses per semester for a total of 4 semesters. Because I can do the course at my own pace, I can do 4 semester back to back, do 3 then 1, 1 then 3, etc and I can also stack as many or as little courses as I want all at one time. 

This thread is just to make a journal of sorts of what courses I'm taking, how I'm pacing myself out, any difficulties I'm having, etc.  For my first semester, my classes are

DMAS 001 English 1
DMAS 002 Writing Grammatically
DMAS 003 Leadership in a Team Environment
DMAS 005 Operations Planning Process
DMAS 042 Racism and Discrimination

I'm going to try to update this a few times a week, at least as much as possible.  Hopefully we can all take something away from my experience in this program.  If anyone has any questions, concerns, or even words of advice, fire away. 

In any case, wish me luck, my semester starts in about an hour and 40 minutes.

 

[navymich]

Good luck on your program.  I started mine a couple of years ago and hit the halfway point after the fall '11 semester.  I am only doing 1 or 2 classes per semester though.  Before this, I only had high school, and that was 20 years ago.  To my surprise, I am enjoying this program more then I had expected to, and actually feel smart!  Although I need to work on some of my concentration and motivation with doing online courses, the fact that I can do it at my own pace and location is a great help to me.  Being a shift worker allows me a fair amount of time to work through it.

I really enjoyed the OPP course, it had some great discussions going.  Your 042 course is not on my program, but I notice that it varies a bit between different colleges (I am taking mine through Candore).

For those that are interested, you can find a college near you through: http://www.ontariolearn.com/avail_programs/programs.htm.  That is for Ontario, but I'm sure there are links through for other provinces.  And here is an overview on it: http://www.cda-acd.forces.gc.ca/step/deo/dmasc-eng.asp

 

[Silverfire]

30 minutes to go!

And in terms of assignments and such, did you find that you have sufficient help from instructors if it was ever needed?

 

[navymich]

And in terms of assignments and such, did you find that you have sufficient help from instructors if it was ever needed?

I never had any issues with asking for help.  Be sure to put in full effort on discussions and assignments, and the instructors are even more willing to give effort back.  Try to stay a few days ahead of the schedule they give you so you have time to get a response back from any questions you have.  Many of the instructors have other courses or jobs on the go and don't get back to you for a couple of days; you don't want to be late on submissions because you are waiting for clarification.  I also found that they can be good about giving an extension if required.  But be sure not to abuse the privilege or leave it until the last minute.  It's also not a guarantee (at least, not without a loss of some marks) so don't expect it either.

Also, for your future semesters, try to mix the courses up a bit.  Keep some of the low level easier courses to mix in with the RMC requirements instead of having a heavier load later.

 

[Silverfire]

DMAS 001 (ENGLISH 1)
Dr David Tilson

Seems relatively easy so far.  All that has been done so far is a quiz on language and communication, things like the parts of speech and spelling.  I will admit its slightly confusing at times knowing the whole noun, pronoun, subject, predicate, etc.  But other than that, its been relatively manageable.

DMAS 002 (Writing Grammatically)
Dr David Tilson

It actually honestly seems very similar to DMAS 001.  So far the content seems to be the same. 

DMAS 003 (Leadership in a Team Environment)
Dennis Margueratt

So far have done a reading about teams and the different types of teams as well as work cultures.  It does seem interesting as it definitely applies to the military as well as any other civilian job. 

DMAS 005 (Operations Planning Process)
Dennis Margueratt

Probably the course I'm most excited for.  What I've read so far is just an explanation of Operational Command and Operational Control, as well as the Levels of War (Strategies, Tactics, Operations) as well as a brief excerpt about Joint Intelligence Preparation of the Battlespace (JIPB).  I'm hoping this will hold useful to any future military career I have. 

DMAS 042 (Racism and Discrimination)
Dennis Margueratt

Another interesting course.  So far I've had some readings about what racism and discrimination is.  One of the first assignments was to have a discussion with other class mates about their own biographies as well as their thoughts on racism and discrimination.  Some excellent points have come up in terms of racial profiling and whether it is effective or not etc. 

Overall, I've had a relatively easy time with the course.  The English and Grammar classes are annoying as all the noun, predicate, adjective stuff was all taught in elementary school; I've almost completely forgotten about it.  But hopefully it will become beneficial in the sense that I will be able to better communicate with other people through writing. 

The courses taught be Dennis Margueratt will probably be my favourites because

a.) It's not dry content
b.) It's more directly related to military
c.) It's also taught by someone who was formerly in the Canadian Forces; I believe he last held the rank of LCol.  So it will definitely be interesting learning from him for sure. 

Anyhow, that's all that I have for now.  If anyone has any comments, questions, or suggestions, feel free to fire away. 

 

[Shamrock]

DMAS 001 (ENGLISH 1)
Dr David Tilson

Seems relatively easy so far.  All that has been done so far is a quiz on language and communication, things like the parts of speech and spelling.  I will admit its slightly confusing at times knowing the whole noun, pronoun, subject, predicate, etc.  But other than that, its been relatively manageable.

Not sure if this helps (or is insulting!), but I'm a grammar dude so here's what I hope is helpful.

A noun is a word or phrase that represents something in real space or in concept.  A table, a dream, or the car, for example are all examples of nouns.  A proper noun is something that there's only one of in the world and so deserves a capital letter - Montreal and the Internet.  To see if you're dealing with a noun, you can test it by placing a or the in front of it and have it still make sense.  The yellow is nonsensical.

A pronoun is a word that represents a noun in language, in the same way the noun represents a real world thing or concept.  It and they are common pronouns - it can stand in for the table, the car, or the 1978 World Series.  It is there, it is red, or it was won by Team Canada.  There are a ton of types of pronouns.

A subject is an actor in a sentence or phrase, the one who does the action.  In Bill kicked Dave Bill is the subject. The predicate is what we say about the subject.  kicked Dave is the predicate above - it contains the inflected verb to kick and the noun Dave.  Every subject must have a subject and a predicate to be grammatically correct, though the subject can be implied.  STOP! is a good example - the subject is implied to be whomever hears the sentence.  Bill! is not a grammatically correct sentence - it is a fragment.  Please note, the subject can't always be implied as Kicked Dave is ungrammatical (but Kick Dave. is).  This is why passive sentences are dislikeable: Dave was kicked [by Bill] Dave looks like the subject but he really isn't as Bill is the one committing the action.

So, subject is one section of a sentence, the predicate the other.  In an org chart, the sentence would be the top and the subject and the predicate on equal footing.  The subject can be broken up into subordinate clauses and the predicate its own. 

 

[Silverfire]

Haha yeah, it helps.  Honestly I think it's just one of those things where I'm going to need to take an hour or two and read over it continuously.  I know for myself personally, in high school I always received high marks for my writing...I just don't know how I put it all together.  I read a lot of books growing up so in terms of forming a sentence I'm comfortable doing that.  My problem is located all that grammatically voodoo stuff. 

I want to compare it to rifle shooting.  You can be a natural at shooting and be completely confused when people start talking bullet grains and such.

 

[Silverfire]

My my, I have been slacking a touch.  Granted I was ahead of my course, now I'm back on schedule.  I'm currently writing 3 short paragraphs answering a few questions about teamwork.  Depending how decent it is when it's finished, I may post it on here. 

 

[GAP]

It never crossed your mind that maybe this might not be the most receptive audience?

Why should we care about you doing your homework?  Show mommy instead.

 

[Silverfire]

Yeah fair enough. I know for myself personally, when I was trying to figure out about the program I couldn't Find much so I thought if anyone else was thinking about taking it they would have a better idea.

 

[PMedMoe]

It never crossed your mind that maybe this might not be the most receptive audience?

Why should we care about you doing your homework?

I suggest a move to Personal Stories.

 

[The Bread Guy]

Yeah fair enough. I know for myself personally, when I was trying to figure out about the program I couldn't Find much so I thought if anyone else was thinking about taking it they would have a better idea.

They might benefit from a better idea of the content of the course, not just you sharing your homework diary.