MARS Officers at Sea

[LordVagabond]

Thanks for all the replies so far guys  I'm sure that as I think of more questions I'll either call the CFRC or post em up

 

[SomethingImportant]

Did LordVagabond get into the MARS program?

 

[bt13]

Thought I'd share some interesting light reading for any fellow MARS applicants out there looking for some more in depth insight. Apologies if this has already been shared.  :-[

The document is a graduate thesis titled "THE DEVELOPMENT OF EXPERTISE IN MARITIME SURFACE AND SUBSURFACE (MARS) OFFICER TRAINING IN THE CANADIAN NAVY" and is written by Lieutenant-Commander Maryanne McCarthy-Senebald while at the University of Calgary in September of 2000. The information and procedures outlined might be out of sync/off base to current Canadian Navy standards but I found pretty interesting nonetheless, here's a little snippet.

"The study was conducted at VENTURE, The Naval Officers Training Centre (NOTC) in Esquimalt, British Columbia. The study was authorized by National Defence - Headquarters, the Director of Naval Personnel and Production, the Commander Maritime Pacific Fleet, and by the Commander of Maritime Forces Pacific. Thirty officers from the Maritime Pacific MARS Officer population of approximately 336 officers volunteered to participate in the study. These officer were member of the Regular and Reserve Forces, and included MARS IV students, Course Training Officers, and Fleet Officers at various levels of professional development..."

Document located at  http://hdl.handle.net/1880/40632  and was found through Google search, I obviously take no credit for the work.

 

[wrivers]

What is the usauall time away from home, when i read up on this it said the average time away is 3 months,

 

[kratz]

Your time at sea will vary too much to be able to give you a number of days or months. It depends on things like, your own career progression, which ship you are posted to, the fleet sailing schedule and the other needs of the service.

A quick search of the site brought up a number of MARS topics. Another search of "sea time" brought up:
http://forums.navy.ca/forums/threads/33864.0.html

http://forums.navy.ca/forums/threads/33559.0.html

http://forums.navy.ca/forums/threads/70962.0.html

 

[Svanen]

…your Bridge Watchkeeping certificate, which is awarded to you ONLY by a Commanding Officer of a ship.

Apologies for re-activating such an old thread. I was intrigued by the above: is it accurate?

In my day, the CO provided a recommendation (following informal, ongoing assessment during practical experience at sea), but the BWK was awarded by a board (following successful completion of an oral examination ashore). Perhaps things have changed.

 

[FSTO]

Apologies for re-activating such an old thread. I was intrigued by the above: is it accurate?

In my day, the CO provided a recommendation (following informal, ongoing assessment during practical experience at sea), but the BWK was awarded by a board (following successful completion of an oral examination ashore). Perhaps things have changed.

CO gives the BWK Certificate. The Commodore awards the NOPQ afterward.

 

[Svanen]

CO gives the BWK Certificate. The Commodore awards the NOPQ afterward.

Thanks, got it.

I was reserve MARS and we didn't have C of C II, so things worked a bit differently.