Reserve Recruiting

[anglo-saxon]

If you have thought about joining the Army Reserve, what has stopped you? Please take a minute to complete the poll.

Regards,

A-S

 

[gt102]

My most likely thing that will stop me is my phsyically unfit state and medical problems preventing prolonged stenious physical activities  :-\

 

[J.F.]

Yes I would agree with the physical fitness comment.  I wanted to join for years, but was in awful shape.  Then last spring I just snapped and began a physical fitness program etc., and now  I've completed all the requirements to get in including the pre enrolment fitness evaluation.  Just waiting for the call from my unit at this point.  Should be an interesting adventure!

 

[Dogboy]

interference with my mane job is what i fear. because I'm a shift worker that works 4 on 4 off. so ill see if my office lets me join. without skiding my butt out the door

 

[Gilligan]

interference with my mane job is what i fear. because I'm a shift worker that works 4 on 4 off. so ill see if my office lets me join. without skiding my butt out the door

  Although that is an extremely valid reason, I'll be facing that in the near future...although the other way around, but there are also incentives for companies that allow men or women to be a part of the reserves, and function in a civilian job as well.  Now, I don't know a whole lot about it, as I am not the occupational liason officer at my unit or anything, although now that I think of it, most of it has to do with being a soldier, and then dealing with employers after the fact, but I would think that it would still apply.  What the Liason Council does is work with employers to come to a decision that best suits the soldier, as well as the company.  Say a soldier has to leave on a tasking all of a sudden, and has to take the time off of work, but the employer is hesitant, that soldier can apply to the liason council and have them speak to their employer and hopefully the employer will see the advantages to having their employee go, yadda yadda.
  In addition, just to shoot it out there, as a reservist, you are working part time.  My unit is a little different, in that it doesn't do the thursday nights thing, instead only parades on weekends, and although my unit parades every single weekend, with the exception of a few, most units only parade on thursday nights, and maybe 1 or 2 weekends a month.  Also, one of the things is in the reserves, family and civilian work/school, come before reserve training, thus they have made a rule that states that you must show up to only 1 training opportunity in a month.  If you don't show up to that 1 day a month you go NES (Non-Effective Strength) and will be released, but since there are many other committments on a reserve soldier, they have put this rule in place, making it possible for those wanting to be in the reserves, to be in, and still juggle a normal civilian life as well.  Hope that helps!

 

[kincanucks]

Too many whiners.

 

[anglo-saxon]

Just back after an absence, hence the delay.

Thanks for the feed back all. No surprises there.

For those who feel the recruiting process is too long...stick with it. If it's worth doing, it's worth going through the nause of the recruiting process. You will have the rest of your life to look back on awesome memories that will easily bot out the silliness of recruiting.

For those who cite fitness as a reason for not joining, I really can't sympathise. Your choice is to either dream about it or make it happen! More soccer, less PlayStation/more salad, less pie! One simple decision can drastically change the rest of your life for the better!

Cheers.

A-S

 

[Ghost]

Its a hassle to get to and you only work 1 day a week.

 

[Love793]

Its a hassle to get to and you only work 1 day a week.

You work a little more than one day a week

 

[Pte. Bloggins]

Yeah, I've been working 4-5 days a week including weekends, and 4 weekends in a row now...the work's usually there if you want it.

 

[Meridian]

my biggest issue is the summer time off...  1) getting it through my employer and 2) it will eliminate much needed time that I can use to complete my degree (which is required by the forces anyway for an officer).

 

[The_Stu]

What is the average wait time for getting into the summer reserves for this year? Isnt the CF trying out some sort of sped-up recruiting process this year?

 

[Greywolf]

It's not just that the whole recruiting process is long, but I find with the reserves, most of the time, you can't even get a hold of anybody at the unit.  When I had questions or wanted to visit the unit, there was no way to talk to people from the unit.  It took forever just to put in your application.  One time, I called the unit every 5 minutes for 4 hours on a weekday, and nobody picked up the phone.  I left tons of messages on the answering machine and nobody ever called me back.  Well, actually, they did call me back...4 months after I left the messages.  It doesn't surprise me that some people are literally waiting years to get into the reserves.  It's one thing being determined and patient, but this is just ridiculous.