ok i want to join a reserve this or next summer but i dont know how apply
and i also want to know where is the closest reserve in my area ( I live in Hawkesbury ON)

   

Ta da

locations (army)

   

I was also keeping this in the back of my mind, depending on how my schedule this summer worked out.

Does anyone know specifics on reserve field engineers? What should I expect, and why should someone join the reserves as a specialist? I think a diploma is all thats required, and that's certainly covered, but what else is entailed?

I'd be more interested (and useful) as a construction specialist, as opposed to a sapper.

   

Check out the Army.ca forums - there is ton of info in there but it can get pretty heated with those guys.

   

Yeah, I just wanted to get some sort of idea of what I'd actually be getting into before I actually went to talk to a recruiter.... I'll check those forum out though... thanks!

   

thanks guys !!

   

After High-School, I got about a year or two before I go for my trip around the world...So I'll probably join the reserves and volunteer myself somewhere...

   

To join the Res as a Combat Engineer is easy, (provided a unit is close by) to join as a tradesman is tougher. There are a few routes open.

1. Qualify as a Journeyman (From here on, a Journeyman is a person with the appropriate qualifications and documentation from the qualifying authority of your province. No proper paper, no qualification) in your chosen profession and join the Res Engineer Unit. You would then be trained as a Combat Engineer and be able to be employed in either role.

2. Join a Res Engr unit as a Combat Engineer and work towards qualifying as a Journeyman in your selected field on your own time. Present your papers to the unit and become eligible for taskings calling for the skills you possess.

Note: In numbers 1 & 2, you'd still be a Combat Engineer and required to carry out your assigned duties within your Res Unit. Res units are too small to be able to employ tradesman strictly within their chosen field. This type of double hatting is very common.

3. Join the Regular Force as a member of one of the Combat Arms (Inf, Arty, Armd, Cbt Engr) and after your Basic Engagement apply for a re-muster into a Constr Engr trade. Be advised that there is a time limit, space availability concern in your selected trade, and your primary trade may not allow any transfer out due to severe manpower shortages. It can be a crap shoot, but it's one of the bennies of being a member of an Arm. Occupational Transfers from a Support trade is so far down the priority list that you'd need an airpump to breathe.

4. Join the Regular force as a qualified Journeyman. You would then do basic Recruit training, and an Environmental Qualification course of some kind and then posted to a unit as a tradesman.

Bottomline is that if Joe Bloggins wants to be a carpenter in the Regular Force and he isn't a qualified Journeyman, tough luck, you have to join a different trade and transfer on the successful completion of your basic engagement. None of the construction trades are open directly to unqualified recruits. If Bloggins is a qualified Journeyman, then he's in (after jumping through a few hoops). For the Mo' you'll need to be in one of the two situations I mentioned.

Last Note: All Engineers are Sappers. Not all Engineers are members of the Combat Arms. That designation applies only to Combat Engineers.

Hope it helps and that you'll give it a try. I know that the Branch would love to have you.

   

Wow, thanks Spr... I'm realizing definitions of 'engineer' are different in the military, and I'm not sure that I understand which is which. Is a carpenter in the forces considered an engineer? What would be the best route for a civil (structural) engineer who wanted to join the reserves, as far as putting those skills to best use?

I wanted to join the reserves for the experience, but if my being a structural engineer isn't going to contribute anything, I might end up looking up opportnities with DND, or something else.

   

Yellow Pages under Recruiting

   

Yes a Carpenter is a trade within the Canadian Military Engineering (CME) Branch and therefore considered Engineers.

Civil Engineer functions in the CF are performed by the CME Branch. Other forms of Engineering also are included such as Chemical, Electrical and Mechanical.

As for putting your skills to use within the Reserve world, give a Reserve Engineer Squadron or Regiment a shot. You'd have to join as a Combat Engineer first.

Remember, no formal qualification in your civilian field of employment means no formal recognition of your skills by DND. That said, if you do possess certain skills with a hammer etc, they will make as much use of that as is practical. It may not be as much as you like. But a warning needs to be included here: If you try to BS those skills, that will definately show during your trades training, and you'll end up with the added reputation of being a plug.

I'd say try it. But then again I might be some mindless "Killbot" progammed to sucker more fodder into the machine!

   

good luck beaver...I've loved my time in the reserves, and I hope you have just as a good of a time. Good Luck to you to blue_nose hope you find what you're looking for.

   

Try going to Army.ca and doing a search on the trades you're interested and some frequently asked questions.