CIC Subcomponent of Reserve Force is no more

[gwp]

the Minister approved a regulatory change to reference B creating the Cadet Organizations Administration and Training Service (COATS) as a sub-component of the Res F to replace the Cadet Instructors Cadre (CIC) sub-component effective 2 June 2009. In addition to officers of the CIC MOSID, the creation of the COATS sub-component through this regulatory change will permit officers and NCMs of other MOSIDs to be included within the COATS sub-component,which was not the case in the past.

This includes all members of the Supp Res currently attach posted to elements of the Canadian Cadet Organizations (CCO) for the purpose of supporting the Cadet Program. It also includes all officers of the CIC MOSID currently on the Supp Res, and such othermembers of the Supp Res that may be so identified and fit for service within the COATS sub-component. Subsequently, it may also include a limited number of qualified ill and injured CF members who are fit for service in the COATS sub-component and interested in continued CF service in support of the Cadet Program.

See full document attached

 

[Snakedoc]

This is quite interesting.  Does this mean the possibility of a more robust NCM component in the cadet training system?

 

[dapaterson]

SnakeDoc:  Gettin an NCM component to support the Cadet movement was one of the driving forces behind this.


But here's a question: once you're over the compulsory retirement age for COATS, does that make you an overCOATS?

 

[Northalbertan]

Any ideas on what other changes this may initiate in the CIC?  Bigger budgets for example.  What roles NCMs may take in the CCOs?

 

[gwp]

Any ideas on what other changes this may initiate in the CIC?  Bigger budgets for example.  What roles NCMs may take in the CCOs?

There is no change for the CIC Branch or occupation.  The change is that the labour pool to support the Cadet Organizations is larger and includes officers and ncms from all branches and occupations of the CF as well as the CIC.  Presently there are hundreds of ncm's who are from the supplementary reserve list employed at Regional Cadet Headquarters some are over 60 years of age and were in an administrative no man's land.  The really interesting aspect of this is the ability of a retired or supplementary reserve ncm to move from the SupRess to COATS and serve at a local cadet/corps or squadron as an ncm doing admin, supply, training, etc. 

The CIC is the largest officer occupation in the CF at about 7,500.  By including ncms and others in the potential labour pool for the Cadet Organizations, COATS could become larger than the PRes.

 

[gwp]

Effective June 2, 2009 QR and O is amended to reflect the change - note the highlighted section.

2.034 – RESERVE FORCE – SUB-COMPONENTS
2.034 – SOUS-ÉLÉMENTS CONSTITUTIFS DE LA FORCE DE RÉSERVE

The sub-components of the Reserve Force are:
La force de réserve est composée des sous-éléments suivants : (2 juin 2009)

(a) the Primary Reserve, which consists of officers and non-commissioned members who have undertaken, by the terms of their enrolment, to perform such military duty and training as may be required of them and contains all formed Reserve Force units;

a) la Première réserve, qui se compose d’officiers et de militaires du rang qui se sont engagés par leur enrôlement, à accomplir les fonctions militaires et l’entraînement qui peuvent être exigés d’eux et qui comprend toutes les unités constituées de la force de réserve;

(b) the Supplementary Reserve, which consists of officers and non-commissioned members who, except when on active service, are not required to perform military or any other form of duty or training;

b) la Réserve supplémentaire, qui se compose d’officiers et de militaires du rang qui, sauf lorsqu’ils sont en service actif, ne sont pas tenus d’accomplir des fonctions militaires ni toute autre forme de fonctions ou d’entraînement;

(c) the Cadet Organizations Administration and Training Service, which consists of officers and non-commissioned members who, by the terms of their enrolment or transfer, and supported by members of the Regular Force and members of the other Reserve Force sub-components, have undertaken as their primary duty the supervision, administration and training of cadets or junior Canadian rangers who are members of the cadet organizations referred to in section 46 of the National Defence Act.

c) le Service d’administration et d’instruction des organisations de cadets, qui se compose d’officiers et de militaires du rang qui, selon les conditions de leur enrôlement ou de leur transfert et soutenus par des militaires de la force régulière et des militaires des autres sous-éléments de la force de réserve, se sont engagés, comme leur tâche principale, à la supervision, à l’administration et à l’instruction des cadets ou des rangers juniors canadiens, membres des organisations de cadets visées à l’article 46 de la Loi sur la défense nationale;(2 June 2009)
(2 juin 2009)
(d) the Canadian Rangers, which consists of officers and non-commissioned members who have undertaken, by the terms of their enrolment, to perform such military duty and training as may be required of them, but who are not required to undergo annual training.

d) les Rangers canadiens, qui se composent d’officiers et de militaires du rang qui se sont engagés par leur enrôlement, à accomplir les fonctions militaires et l’entraînement qui peuvent être exigés d’eux, mais qui ne sont pas tenus de suivre un entraînement annuel.
(2 juin 2009)
(M) (2 June 2009)

 

[opie_cic]

As I understood, COATS does not replace the CIC, but rather, the CIC now falls within COATS, which will include anything that assists the CCO, such as NCM's, etc...

Reading this, am I incorrect?

 

[Neill McKay]

As I understood, COATS does not replace the CIC, but rather, the CIC now falls within COATS, which will include anything that assists the CCO, such as NCM's, etc...

Reading this, am I incorrect?

Up to now, there was a subcomponent of the reserve force called CIC, a branch called CIC, and a military occupation called CIC.  All three entities had virtually identical membership.  (The only exception I can think of was CIC officers who were on the Supplementary Reserve, a different subcomponent of the reserve force.)

With this change, the subcomponent is now called COATS and in addition to CIC officers it will include members from other military occupations (and therefore from other branches).  If you are a CIC officer then that is still your military occupation and you still belong to the CIC branch.

COATS will not include all CF members who work in support of the cadet programme.  Some regular force members are posted to DCdts, the regional HQs, and detachments.  These members remain in the regular force and will continue to be posted in and out in due course, as their careers progress.  (E.g. a reg force MARS officer working as the ACO [Sea] in a detachment for three years doesn't transfer from the reg force to COATS; for him, it's just another reg force posting.)

 

[opie_cic]

I just had this e-mail forwarded to me, and given that the sender said distribute this to all CIC members, all supp res members, and anyone contemplating going CIC, I thought it was prudent to it post here.

References:  A.  National Teleconference - Regional COATS OPIs - Tuesday, 7 July 2009
B.  Updated Key Messages and Q&As (attached below)
C.  COATS IMPLEMENTATION - WARNING ORDER (previously communicated)

The implementation of our new COATS sub-component is now moving forward with exceptional speed.  It may have taken us some 4 to 5 years to get to this point, however, implementation is now upon us and it is recognized that the timelines are short and the nature of the work involved so critical - given the impact on our members.  Detailed below is a brief summary of some of the more critical discussion points of reference A.  Further to this teleconference, DCdts also released two communication packages: a key messages document and an updated Q&A document (both documents are attached below).  The purpose of these two documents is to dispel rumours that are spreading regarding the implementation of the new COATS sub-component.

The following 5 points were noted as key issues during the teleconference at reference A (in most cases they will also be addressed in the two documents provided below):

(1) STATUS OF THE "CIC" AS A BRANCH AND CF OCCUPATION.  The CIC will remain as a branch and as a CF occupation (MOSID 00232).  In short, there is no change to the "CIC" as a branch or as a CF occupation as we currently know it. 

(2) STATUS OF THE "CIC" AS A SUB-COMPONENT OF THE RESERVE FORCE.  With the changes approved on 2 June 2009, the CIC will no longer be classified as a specific "sub-component" of the Reserve Force.  As most of you know, prior to these changes the Reserve force was comprised of four sub-components:  Primary Reserve, Supplementary Reserve, CIC and the Canadian Rangers.  Within this construct, membership in the CIC sub-component was restricted to CIC Officers only.  With the changes approved on 2 June 2009, the sub-components of the Reserve Force was changed to the following four sub-components:  Primary Reserve, Supplementary Reserve, COATS and the Canadian Rangers.  The new/amended QR&O is attached - see article 2.034 to review the four sub-components of the Reserve Force:

http://admfincs.mil.ca/qr_o/vol1/ch002_e.asp#2.03

(3) BUILDING BLOCKS OF THE NEW COATS SUB-COMPONENT.  The "CIC" will be one of three MOSIDs assigned to the new COATS sub-component.  The other two MOSIDs are as follows:  General Duty Officer (GD Offr) and General Duty NCM (GD NCM).  The MOSID "numbers" for these two new MOSIDs is expected to be approved at any moment.  As noted in the documents that follow, these two new MOSIDs will allow the Cadet Program to continue to employ members that had previously belonged to other MOSIDs (RMS Clks, Log Offrs, Infantry, Hull Techs, etc.).  These members will now have to consent to do a sub-component transfer from the Supplementary Reserve to COATS. 

(4) REQUIREMENT TO CONSENT TO A SUB-COMPONENT TRANSFER.  As documented in previous correspondence, there is now a standing requirement to transfer all personnel (less Reg Force mbrs) into the new COATS sub-component.  The new sub-component "consent form" was included in previous correspondence, but is included again as a key document:



These sub-component transfers will be actioned in accordance with the following priorities:

Priority 1:  Prior to 31 July 2009.  Supp Reserve personnel (Non-CIC Offrs and NCMs) who are over the age of 60 or those members that do not meet the minimum medical standards for service with the Regular Force or Pres (they could be of any age) must be transferred from the Supp Res to COATS prior to 31 July 2009.  The  Should members not consent to this transfer, they will not be eligible to work and will be released from the CF (for those over age 60 or those with medical restrictions belwo the minimum medical standards for the Reg Force/PRes).  By consenting to the transfer, they will be able to continue to work for the Cadet Program.  Please be advised that we have not heard from nor have we received forms from two Dets and two CSTCs (unit names withheld).  For all units, it is critical that those mbrs designated as Priority 1 be actioned ASAP.

Priority 2:  Within 60 days after the GD Offr and GD NCM MOSIDs are created - current estimate - prior to 30 September 2009.  All remaining Supp Res personnel must be transferred to the new COATS sub-component.  Again, sub-component transfer consent forms must be completed and forwarded to this HQ for action.

Priority 3:  Prior to 31 March 2010.  All CIC Officers must be transferred into the new COATS subcomponent.  At present, DCdts is working to have the national system transfer all currently serving members into COATS.  Again, at this time, we do anticipate that consent forms will be required to be signed by CIC Officers.

(5) REQUIREMENT FOR PRC/VSS.  With the creation of COATS all members of this sub-component - repeat - all members of this sub-component will require a PRC/VSS in order to work within the Cadet Program.  For those members who are transferred to COATS as part of this exercise, they will have 90 days to have a PRC/VSS completed.  In the past, some members of our staff were not required to have a PRC/VSS, however, this has changed.  The PRC/VSS is now a mandatory requirement for employment within the Cadet Program.

As you can appreciate, the implementation of COATS is progressing very quickly and, in many cases, the "administrative tail" is trying hard to keep up with the regulatory changes.  There are many regulations, policies, documents and processes that will need to be changed and this will take some time for NDHQ, DCdts and the Regions to action.  In the interim, I will continue to provide updates and/or guidance as often as I can and when new information warrants.

The following documents were released by DCdts staff this morning under cover of the following comment:  "Colleagues: We have been advised that misunderstanding is developing to the effect that the CIC has been disbanded.  To assist the leadership in countering such misunderstandings, attached below is the draft version of the Key Messages and Q&As for the COATS Implementation in English.  Translation is in progress and we expect official release early next week."  In this regard, your assistance is solicited to ensure the real provisions of the new COATS is understood by all concerned - this is a good news story by any measure!