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Naval Reserves Officer Training

Walsingham said:
You'd probably have to go train in between jobs if you are too busy I guess. If I'd join MARS I would have to spend the three summers in Esquimalt living on the base/sea right?.
Yes.

So BMOQ/NETP-O and MARS takes 3 years then go back to your reserve unit and when you get promoted to Lt(N) you go for training, back to Esquimalt?
Well, you'll be at your unit every year in between courses - you never cease being "part" of your unit until you transfer to another unit or take a long-term (over one-year) contract, in which case you're posted to your contract unit. The location of D-level training depends on which D-level you take: Nav in Esquimalt, COPS in Quebec City. Some members never achieve a D-level; it's not mandatory to progress your career past Lt(N) in the Naval Reserve.

After the BMOQ, MARS, D level is there ANY more training required for NAVRES officers to reach the rank of Lt Cdr?
After the D-level (specifically the COPS D-level, which you need to take prior to promotion even if you get the Nav D-level first) you have met the pre-requisites for promotion to LCdr. However, promotion is merit based, not automatic: of 200-odd MARS Lt(N)s in the "promotion zone" nationally, about 3 a year are promoted to LCdr. You stand almost no chance of getting promoted without also achieving Command Part I by doing the 10-week Command Development Course, and by doing a LOT of time a sea.

If one is around 40 by the time they finish MARS do you think they'd still have a good chance of making it to Lt Cdr in the NAVRES one day or will it be very hard since there are many younger people with more "potential" or whatever. I'd like to serve my Queen (It'd be King once I am that old) and Country one day for around 10 years in NAVRES or even more if I can also balance with a busy civvie job like being a lawyer. It'd be hard but even on the NAVRES recruiting booklets and stuff it said NAVRES is drawn from many different kinds of people including lawyers. 
Age is not assessed as a promotion criteria at the merit boards. However, you stand no chance of getting promoted to LCdr in NAVRES with only 10 years in. About 15 years is typically the minimum, and that's for members who have been very active (doing contract work well beyond the minimum required courses and going to sea a lot). If your goal is promotion to LCdr, I'd advise against joining NAVRES; the equivalent rank of Maj is much easier to achieve in the militia on a strictly class "A" basis as their promotions to that rank are based on ranking within their units, and their establishment contains many more senior officers. In NAVRES you will be competing in a national merit process ranked against full-time officers posted to sea-going units. MARS is a sea-going trade, so unless you are quite exceptional, you won't get promoted without putting a lot of time in on the plates (and quite rightly).

That being said, if your goal is the opportunity to do engaging work in an environment that few people have the opportunity to serve in, and you can look yourself in the mirror having achieved "only" the rank of Lt(N) by retirement (assuming you're one of the 25% of MARS enrollees who complete the initial trade training to the occupation's functional point), then I can't recommend any better trade.
 
Thank you for the bundle of info. How much time at sea do you consider to be a lot? Is BMOQ harder than BMQ in terms of the physical training? And physically, isn't officer training (the whole process from officer cadet to Major) for army reserves harder than officer training for NAVRES? I ask because I am not the most fit. I haven't tried improving anything yet but I will just give you what I could do at the moment. I could do 25-30 pushups max, 40-50 situps in a minute I think, 2.5 km in 12 minutes and an 8. something on the Beep test.

Is it possible for a future NAVRES officer to do weekend/summer BMOQ (if there is one) in CFB Borden which is close to me? Or must you go to Esqiumalt for everything?
 
hamiltongs said:
That being said, if your goal is the opportunity to do engaging work in an environment that few people have the opportunity to serve in, and you can look yourself in the mirror having achieved "only" the rank of Lt(N) by retirement (assuming you're one of the 25% of MARS enrollees who complete the initial trade training to the occupation's functional point), then I can't recommend any better trade.

Is it only 25% these days?  NOTC is getting strict with their standards (which is a good thing).
 
Walsingham said:
Thank you for the bundle of info. How much time at sea do you consider to be a lot?
I have the least sea time of most MARS LCdrs I know (put my time in on non-sea operations) and I have a year of days at sea, not counting days alongside, weekends, etc: 365 24-hour periods at sea. I would guess that's pretty close to the bottom of the credibility line - some might say it's too low.

Is BMOQ harder than BMQ in terms of the physical training?
I've done both. They're comparable.

And physically, isn't officer training (the whole process from officer cadet to Major) for army reserves harder than officer training for NAVRES? I ask because I am not the most fit. I haven't tried improving anything yet but I will just give you what I could do at the moment. I could do 25-30 pushups max, 40-50 situps in a minute I think, 2.5 km in 12 minutes and an 8. something on the Beep test.
I'm not the guy to ask about militia phase training. I understand that in the Combat Arms it's quite physically intensive.

Is it possible for a future NAVRES officer to do weekend/summer BMOQ (if there is one) in CFB Borden which is close to me? Or must you go to Esqiumalt for everything?
I'm not much of a future-guesser, but I can pretty confidently say that weekend BMOQ will never - ever - be available. The militia, which does weekend BMQ for NCMs, runs only full-time BMOQ.

Dimsum said:
Is it only 25% these days?  NOTC is getting strict with their standards (which is a good thing).
That's the global MARS retention rate from enrolment to OFP (at least, one I heard recently from a reliable source). That includes voluntary releases and remusters of people who figure it's just not for them, without VEN washing them out.
 
hamiltongs said:
I have the least sea time of most MARS LCdrs I know (put my time in on non-sea operations) and I have a year of days at sea, not counting days alongside, weekends, etc: 365 24-hour periods at sea. I would guess that's pretty close to the bottom of the credibility line - some might say it's too low.
I've done both. They're comparable.
I'm not the guy to ask about militia phase training. I understand that in the Combat Arms it's quite physically intensive.
I'm not much of a future-guesser, but I can pretty confidently say that weekend BMOQ will never - ever - be available. The militia, which does weekend BMQ for NCMs, runs only full-time BMOQ.
That's the global MARS retention rate from enrolment to OFP (at least, one I heard recently from a reliable source). That includes voluntary releases and remusters of people who figure it's just not for them, without VEN washing them out.

What is harder in BMOQ when compared to BMQ? Do you think one would do okay in it with the fitness info I posted? When you say when people figure out its (MARS) not for them, you mean that they are not up to standards for the job or they just don't like it? Why don't people like MARS if that is so?
 
Walsingham said:
What is harder in BMOQ when compared to BMQ? Do you think one would do okay in it with the fitness info I posted? When you say when people figure out its (MARS) not for them, you mean that they are not up to standards for the job or they just don't like it? Why don't people like MARS if that is so?
Okay - we've drifted into the "millions of threads about this already" zone. Do a Google search prefaced by "site:navy.ca" and boatloads of material from this site to answer these questions will come up.
 
Can anyone comment on the length of each training course up to SLt? How many months it takes to do BMOQ, NETPO, Mars 3 and 4, BWK, OOD and any other courses that I may have missed? I just got a job with a provincial government and I'd like to take advantage of the various leave-of-absence benefits to take a shot at joining the Reserves (eyes set on MARS for the challenge, also since the local naval reserve is not hiring bosuns or LogO's :) ).

Edit: Oh snap, saw an answer to my question in another thread. Sorry about posting a redundant question.
 
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