I'll believe it when I see it.
I don't see it as shooting for the bottom. The last time I looked military pay was tied to the Fed civil service pay with a military factor notching it slightly higher. Some may argue, mut Fed civil service pay is better than competitive with most civil jobs in the same category. That was certainly the case for the legal profession where Federal support staff did considerably better than their private industry peers.Yes other Canadians live in the same places for less money, but we shouldn't be shooting for the bottom. If we want motivated young people to join, we need to make it appealing to the motivated, not the equivalent of working as a supervisor at Best Buy.
Full time critical staff will continue to not be in the CAF until pay and benefits get better.I don't see it as shooting for the bottom. The last time I looked military pay was tied to the Fed civil service pay with a military factor notching it slightly higher. Some may argue, mut Fed civil service pay is better than competitive with most civil jobs in the same category. That was certainly the case for the legal profession where Federal support staff did considerably better than their private industry peers.
There are already numerous pay allowances in play to compensate specific cases and I certainly do not support any across the board pay raises beyond the usual cost of living ones. If someone finally turns on the tap for more funds than my priorities are for equipment as number one and more part-time people to build mass as number two. I'll support more full-time people once a proper systemic review and reform is done to resolve the inherent "management" inefficiencies of DND, the CAF, the CAF's recruiting and training system, the equipment procurement system and the defence industrial base.
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I'm certainly not in a position to argue as to whether one trade/classification or another should get more or less of the pie. There's a whole machine in government that works on that so that rough equity is maintained.Full time critical staff will continue to not be in the CAF until pay and benefits get better.
With my training and experience, my counterparts in ECCC make about 25-50% more... I'm just one of the specialist skills that the CAF is short, and trying to recruit.
Maybe we don't need to pay Gunner Bloggins 25% more, but I suspect the ACIS Tech needs at least that much to keep putting up with CAF BS.
Not sure when that photo was taken, but when a member is promoted within the ORMM, they are requested to return the lower-level insignia to Rideau Hall. I did find this newer photo which the OMM insignia has been removed.Maisonneuve is back in the National Post: ''Canada has far too few soldiers. Here's a radical fix — mandatory service''.
Perhaps I'm wrong but it appears that he is wearing a medal that he shouldn't. Specifically, his CMM neck badge is correct but he shouldn't be sporting a (full-sized) court-mounted OMM.
What do you think?
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His foreign awards are recorded here: https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/t.../dhh/honours/commonwealth-foreign-honours.pdfIf not recognized, it should not be worn.
If non-Canadian, it follows the CD once gazetted.
The current problems are revealing how wholly inadequate that military factor is.The last time I looked military pay was tied to the Fed civil service pay with a military factor notching it slightly higher.
If someone finally turns on the tap for more funds than my priorities are for equipment as number one and more part-time people to build mass as number two. I'll support more full-time people once a proper systemic review and reform is done to resolve the inherent "management" inefficiencies of DND, the CAF, the CAF's recruiting and training system, the equipment procurement system and the defence industrial base.
The current problems are revealing how wholly inadequate that military factor is.
An understandable perspective for somebody who isn't in and is part of one of the wealthiest cohorts in the country. But when we're recruiting and trying to retain from the other side of the spectrum this doesn't work.
The CAF has shortages in highly skilled occupations. But the CAF is also short across the board. That definitely speaks to a broader problem.
Part of the wider issue, of course, is that the mediocre pay, is compounded by poor family services and spousal support in a country with an increasingly aging population where the price/income ratio for housing has doubled over the decades. A young family of four that isn't making over $180k today would struggle maintaining a lifestyle most would consider middle class in most of the country. But every time the member moves that family loses $50k from the spouse starting their career over. How does the CAF compensation structure account for that? And that is all made worse by losing a daycare spot (my wife nearly quit her job when we couldn't find daycare....in Ottawa), not being able to find a family doctor, etc
The maxim that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result, holds. Over the last two decades, CAF shortfalls have gotten worse and worse. And yet nobody wants to listen to members literally telling them in release surveys what the problems are. Expecting things to change because new kit is the definition of insanity. You might retain a few pilots with new F-35s. Good luck retaining the techs and engineers though. And that same challenge is true across other services.
Finally, like I said earlier, a lot of these conversations ignore demographics and needed family income today. A member is much more likely to be older and have dependents today than generations past. That also means they care about family income. If you screw the spouse, the member's pay has to make up for it. The CAF doesn't come close today. And so increasingly, every posting message is a family decision of do we take this or should we end here.
Throwing money at this, won't fix everything, but it will stem the losses and buy time till ab lot of the institutional changes can be made and the missing supports built. Or I guess we can just pray for a severe recession....
Maybe we don't need to pay Gunner Bloggins 25% more, but I suspect the ACIS Tech needs at least that much to keep putting up with CAF BS.
This issue screams for rigorous and open minded application of the risk management hierarchy, right down to "throwing money" as the short term bandaid PPE analogueFinally, like I said earlier, a lot of these conversations ignore demographics and needed family income today. A member is much more likely to be older and have dependents today than generations past. That also means they care about family income. If you screw the spouse, the member's pay has to make up for it. The CAF doesn't come close today. And so increasingly, every posting message is a family decision of do we take this or should we end here.
Throwing money at this, won't fix everything, but it will stem the losses and buy time till ab lot of the institutional changes can be made and the missing supports built. Or I guess we can just pray for a severe recession....
We're more likely to put up the CAF BS if the money and benefits are worth it.
I can tell you this last deployment was my last. Not because I've lost steam or desire it's that the financial benefits are no where near what the CAF needs to offer me to go away for 6 months and live in a tin can. And thats inclusive of all deployment benefits. It's not worth it.
The best part these days? There's trades that are upside down. Especially on the officer side. Senior officer ranks > 90%. Captains in the low 80s or worse. This is now reducing promotions (gotta keep those rank ratios), only making the problem worse, as people perceive that there's no reasonable way to make more. Career managers pleading with Captains and giving them anything they can but a promotion (the one thing that will give them more pay).
Gotta just chuckle at some of the discussion here. Soooooo out of touch.
I think their intentions are noble, I just think their experience no longer aligns with reality.
It's only natural the longer you're removed a organization like the CAF the less and less valuable you're experience becomes as it loses connection with the present reality.
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Findings for people under the age of 30 showed Canada in 58th place, the U.S. in 62nd place and Mexico in 22nd place. Australia was 19th in the category and New Zealand was 27th.
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Denmark, meanwhile, is the world's happiest country for those aged 60 and older, followed by Finland, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Canada, Australia and the U.S.
I suspect quite a few jobs or number of jobs could be civilianized.The overwhelming majority of CAF "engineering" jobs should be civilianized. Their employment profile is materially different from most others; my old joke was "Louis St Laurent is the EME Home Station".
In most areas CAF compensation on an individual level outstrips Canadian average pay; the problem is that that does not translate to household income.
So, the problem space has to be addressed, among other ways, by providing greater geographic stability, which might include as a second order effect a greater reliance on extended TD / IR.
There's also a need to accept that pay rates can (gasp) go down. In the 1970s, an occupation that uses computers was high tech / high demand; today, everyone and their dog uses computers...
So, the problem space has to be addressed, among other ways, by providing greater geographic stability, which might include as a second order effect a greater reliance on extended TD / IR.
There's also a need to accept that pay rates can (gasp) go down. In the 1970s, an occupation that uses computers was high tech / high demand; today, everyone and their dog uses computers...
I suspect quite a few jobs or number of jobs could be civilianized.
I call a bit of BS on that. DND PS is set up like any other department and follows the same hiring model and processes While a lot of jobs do rely on that experience a heck of a lot of other jobs do not.Yes and no. DND PS is basically set up to take military members. There's no actual training or development program for many of those PS jobs. They need ex-military with a whole bunch of military quals. If a whole lot of those jobs were civilianized, we'd end up with a lot of unqualified people doing jobs they have no experience with.
I've worked with EITs at ADM(MAT) too. They are not, however, the majority of ENG recruits. For example, go look at jobs in the EW, Ammunition and Explosives, etc. You'll find few to none civvies without military experience. Moreover the jobs you're looking at civilianizing do need some military experience and/or specific fleet/system knowledge. These are not jobs occupied by civilians today. So today's civilian employment is not what we're taking about. Also, there are some perspectives that only come from wearing the cloth of the country. As my ex-mil boss at ADM(MAT) used to say to some civvies getting stressed over signing a flight permit with substantially higher risk than they were used to in the civilian world, "We're not f***ing Air Canada."In fact most of our ENG candidates were bridged in students who had a few years doing real work as students.