quote]Why are they below standard, THE F***ing MESS thats why. I was in the reserves and most went there to drink
I was in the Res too, and I have done unit RSS, and now I work with the Res again at Bde level. Your statement might have reflected the circumstances in your unit at that time, but as a general statement IMHO it is false today, not to mention pretty insulting. Most Res soldiers go to the armoury to train-the fact that they might end up in the Mess when they should be training is a leadership failure. Either not enough leaders (a much more common problem in many Res units than alot of people in the RegF seem to want to realize...) or bad leaders, which certainly exist in the Res, just as they do in the RegF. There are mess hounds in Res units, just as there are MIR commandos and oxygen thieves in Regular units. Get off the high horse.
We have trouble keeping enough revenue flowing thru the messes to even keep them open
Glad you mentioned this: I was going to. Most messes are in our Bde are barely staying above the red line.
When a unit has a SGT for a SSM. You know there is something wrong!
Yes, you're right, you do. We had one unit in our Bde like that until recently. This kind of thing happens for many reasons: in particular an Indiv Trg system that has until very recently IMHO failed to realize the unique demands of training Res soldiers and has insisted on a Gagetown-centric "one standard means one school" approach to life instead of figuring out how to devolve trg to LFAs or Bdes. I will not even mention CFSTG at Borden and the hash that has been made of Res CSS training over the years, effectively guaranteeing that most Res CSS units are almost completely lacking technical supervision capability, or much leadership either. A recruiting system that makes it painfully frustrating and slow to get into a Reserve unit, and is not designed to support the type of local recruit flow the Res requires, guarantees that attrition will be replaced only slowly, thus cutting into the gene pool from which a unit must grow its own NCOs. Except for a tiny RegF element, the Army will not "post in" an NCO to a Res unit -they grow their own or they don't have any. As well, as a Res soldier reaches the age at which they are typically becoming MWOs and Majs, the responsibilities of their civ lives often start to catch up with them. So what should they do? Just quit? Back to square one.
You cannot organize training when you don't even know how many people will show.
I disagree: you can, and in the better units they do just that, with training plans that have flex built in. But, I agree that you've identified one of the biggest weaknesses of our Res system: its completely voluntary nature. But, just for a second, ask yourself what would happen in some RegF units if the CO got out on the square and said: "
OK, troops, who really feels like going to Wainwright for the 100th time? Don't wanna go? Oh, come on, please..." Because that's what a Res CO is up against. If the unit has solid leaders and good training, they may do OK. If not, it's back to "who gets off the bus". I was a volunteer firefighter and they often face the same problems. It's in the nature of voluntary organizations: they're all about leadership and motivation.
6A's are 12 weeks in Gagetown on Leopards.
Really? For Res Recce NCOs? Why would that be if the Res has lost the "tank" (Cougar) role?
Class B contracts are not for those who want to soldier more as those jobs are RQ, HQ, CFRC taskings. If anything they erode the quality of the soldier.
Whoah! Pretty broad statement there! Don't you think it depends on how they're led and managed? The Class B in the unit are under the control of the CO-no reason they can't go to the field. The Class B's at CBG HQ should be available to the units by arrangement: all the regulations say is that you can't FORCE them to parade with their home units. We encourage our Class B's in Bde HQ to take courses and to parade and train with their units.After all, they're still soldiers.
The quality of reserve soldier up to MCpl level as I have seen on operations is easily on par with their reg force counter parts
I am sympathetic with this but sadly it is still not completely true. We still have problems with fitness and some skill weaknesses with Res soldiers, although the fitness issue seems to be improving as more Res soldiers make fitness part of their normal daily life. If we can give them the 90 days training the Army says they are supposed to get before deployment, they are usually OK. Unfortunately, the Army has started to shave off days under pressure of op requirements: we recently mounted a platoon with about 30 days of pre-depl training.
Honestly I think that if the unit is only a compnay then it should have an OC not a CO, and be pruned of its entirely useless senior ranks
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A fair number of Res soldiers are not all that opposed to amalgamation, which is basically what you are referring to here. It is not so much that the senior leaders are useless (granted some are...) but that many units simply cannot generate adequate candidates in the first place, so we are back to Sgts as SSMs/RSMs, recycled COs, and RSMs extended until they are CRA.
refuse to believe that a reserve company sized element can generate more admin that a regular force company - I mean we have 4-6 more days a week to get in crap
It is not so much that a Res unit of this size generates
more admin,
per se. It does generate quite a bit: PERs, PDRs, summary investigations, boards of inquiry, grievances, promotions, releases, B and C contracts, screenings for overseas missions, operating biudget management, etc. are all done in Res units, using the same or very similar formats as RegF. The difference is the horsepower available to do it.A Regular sub-unit typically has a full-time 2IC or AO, CSM, a full time clerk, and usually a "company jet" or two who help out in the Coy OR. Then, over in the BOR, you have a full time Chief Clerk, a full time NCO IC, full time clerks in all the positions. There are full time officers in every company who can be tasked to do summary investigations and BofIs. Platoons have full time Pl Comds and 2ICs. It goes on...
A Reserve unit is treated as a unit by the Army and must do all of its admin with, typically, one RegF clerk and one Class B Clerk. The unit (may) have some Class A clerks but like any Class A soldiers their attendance is periodic (a few hours a week) and not totally predictable. But, the Army demands that the admin be done, on time. Of course, alot of it isn't done on time, but that doesn't lighten the load much. In our Bde, we have tried to ease the burden by creating admin pools in our multi-unit garrisons, but this has had mixed success. If you don't do the work at Res unit, you will just have to shift it somewhere else, but now you will create other problems. The burden is just too much for the horsepower, believe me. I get to see the results. The answer is either reduce the admin load (not too likely....) or make sure that we start giving Res unts an adequate full time cadre of either Regulars, Reserves or both.
I think the scalpel needs to cut deep into the fat underbelly of the reserves and create operational effective units - not the current cardboard cutouts. The idea a Reserve Bde did a good job scraping 2 amalgamted companies is ridiculous - that is a Bn(-) not a Bde sourcing.
Actually 200 plus out of a total strength all ranks of 1200
almost all of whom are Class A Reservists and thus not obligated for full time duty, is not too bad on very short notice, considering many soldiers had been away for the summer on course and were getting ready to go back to school or work when the call came for troops. You are right that we don't put out the full strength of a "real" Bde, but there are a whole bunch of reasons why that is. I would be careful not to blame the Res entirely for it. And, you and I have both seen a few RegF units that were a bit on the "hollow" side, haven't we.....? In the long term I am a believer in some amalgamation too: it is inevitable and useful, but it has to be done intelligently: ie: not with a sledgehammer. Cheers.
