Master Gunner Course

[Halifax Tar]

Hello Folks,

A few years back I worked for a MWO Sup Tech (Now CWO) who had the insignia of Master Gunner on his DEUs.  What exactly is this course ?  At the time when he briefly explained it sounded highly technical and it seemed to be quite and honor for him to have taken and successfully completed this course.  I searched the forum but found little.  Just popped into my head and wondering what this course is all about.

 

[Container]

http://www.forces.gc.ca/site/commun/ml-fe/article-eng.asp?id=4976

this perhaps??

The Army technical warrant officer (ATWO) program is a Royal Military College Department of Applied Military Science (AMS) program. The program’s primary purpose is to support the CF by providing warrant officers with a solid academic foundation in science and technology, and management and critical thinking skills, to enable them to be key players in operational capability generation and management for the Land Force.

Based on the master gunner course offered in Gagetown until 2003, the ATWO program has evolved to offer much more than gunnery, covering subjects such as communications; information management; intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance; vehicles; weapons; defence management; trials and system engineering, to name a few. It prepares warrant officers to serve at the operational and strategic level in the institutional Army.

“The ATWO program has contributed to my effectiveness in my new posting,” says Engineer Branch member Master Warrant Officer Ted Gombert, an ATWO program graduate who is the first non-commissioned member director for a major project (Army Heavy Equipment Replacement and Mechanical Breaching Systems) within Land Force HQ. “It is very rewarding it is to bring my new skills to the capability development world.”

Warrant Officer Alain Bernard (now commissioned) is a member of the Armour Corps and a 2006 ATWO program graduate. He was amazed to realize how much the program helped him not only to understand all the technical aspects of a working group on the cooling of the electronics on the Leopard 2A6Ms, but also to propose a working solution.

WO Dave Aldred, a member of The Royal Regiment of Canada Artillery, participated in a Joint Tactical Data Link Advisory Panel. “The military communication, information system and ISTAR courses,” he says, “really contributed to my understanding of the complex issues facing a Joint, Interagency, Multinational and Public oriented command structure.”

Today’s graduates are facing challenges far more complex than gunnery. AMS programs benefit both program graduates and the CF.

 

[dangerboy]

That is what the course is.

 

[Halifax Tar]

Awesome thanks guys! 

 

[Armynewsguy]

The Army Technical Warrant Officers Program is the official name of the course. It is a one year posting to RMC, the course is run along side the Land Force Technical Staff Program for Majors and Captains.

It is an intensive course, it is not like any other military course that most have been on. If you do not like to work this course is not for you, most days are filled either in class, working on projects or on field study trips. If a night goes by that you are not putting in hours of homework then you are either extremely bright or you have forgotten you had homework.

A great deal of the work is done in teams, there are projects, presentations and homework that are done as groups.

The pace of the course is fast and furious, the staff know their jobs but do not spoon feed anyone.

Overall the course presents a huge amount of information, an inch deep and a mile wide is a favourite saying.

At the end of the course the Warrant Officers are presented their Master Gunner badge and have earned the right to the title of Master Gunner.

If you have any specific questions let me know.

Here is a link to an Army New video and print story on the course.

http://www.army.forces.gc.ca/land-terre/news-nouvelles/story-reportage-eng.asp?id=2624

 

[Halifax Tar]

Great video and reading!  Looks like the Snr NCO I worked for who had the course should be very proud indeed!

Do the RCN or RCAF offer anything like this ?  I would assume its only open to CA uniformed personnel ?

 

[GnyHwy]

The curriculum.  http://www.rmcc.forces.gc.ca/aca/ams-sma/cur/courses-cours-eng.asp

The joining instructions and pre-reqs links etc. are on the right of the page.

 

[AmmoTech90]

One member of the Signal Branch who wore a blue uniform has attended the course.

There is a RCAF course, http://www.rcaf-arc.forces.gc.ca/itp-pfi/page-eng.asp?id=938 normally only open to officers, that has some similarities.  I believe that on MWO may have gone on it, but I heard nothing past, "They've loaded an MWO." and this was a couple of years ago.

 

[Old Sweat]

As noted, it used to be run at the Artillery School. In fact, I used to deliver a series of lectures on military writing to the course in the mid-seventies when I was the Chief Instructor in Gunnery. In retrospect, we could not take full advantage of the potential and ability of the students, and it has gone to a better place.

The traditional Master Gunner cannon on the sleeve is not a Bieberbadge. 

 

[GnyHwy]

In fact, I used to deliver a series of lectures on military writing to the course in the mid-seventies when I was the Chief Instructor in Gunnery.

What would have been the Whiteout budget for a course like that?  ;D

 

[Old Sweat]

What would have been the Whiteout budget for a course like that?  ;D

This was before the badge was reintroduced and one of the assignments I gave the students was to write a short essay on why there should be a Master Gunner badge. The aim was to drive home objectivity and brevity, and as it came early in the block, it was quite easy when marking the papers to make the point that a run on diatribe on the evils of unification and how wretched the CF uniform was did little to advance the argument.