Re Satisfied with Work Point...there were a few whiners, but I am satisfied. The difficulty with the course is a significant lack of available instruction personnel and funding, but one better get used to doing more with less in this organization. I have no experience of St Jean, but I understand they aren't as pressured with prep time and short staffing. I thought the staff and particularly the Div PO's were very good and fair. There was enough pushups and discipline that you felt you were on basic, but the staff was approachable when it counted. The course essentials were all covered, and for the most part it was the experience I was expecting.
One nice thing about doing the course here is that your field exercises are at Albert Head, which has some beautiful scenery, if you're into ocean, mountains and wildlife. Also Sea Kings doing hoist exercises right next to your biv site... It didn't rain
that much...
. Really, can't beat Victoria. Work Point is also ocean front in Victoria, and the food is great at the galley. The staff is great, and it is nice that they are for the most part Navy. The Nuclear Bio Chem course is extended at this BOTC to cover some naval stuff like ship citadel, and cleansing stations, so as a Naval Reservist it's nice to get that spin. I'm sure the CS gas feels the same in St. Jean...
On the down side, the barracks is very old, not enough IT access, and sometimes genuinely not enough time to study for some exams, but you suck back, reload and carry on... teaching that, leadership and teamwork is the point of the course, anyway...
I don't know for sure what "much longer" means, though I heard 14 to 16 weeks thrown around. That would include IAP and BOTP. Frankly, I'm not sure the people making the decision know yet.
TRB means "Training Review Board". Fail a performance objective and the retest, and you are automatically standing before a board of your PO's and officers (course CO, too), where you have to convince them you are worth a) keeping on course, b) recoursing, or c) keeping in the military at all... in some cases they may recommend a candidate go NCM if they they see something they like, but they don't think the candidate has the requisite officer qualities (or needs time to develop leadership attributes). You can also end up at a TRB for screwing up really badly, or for the same thing multiple times. A number of people ended up there in the last week as a result of unsuccessful small party task field evaluations, or the cumulative effect of numerous chits and conducts. Some graduated, some didn't.
Hope that's helpful in informing your decision... get as much info as you can from as many different sources as you can, and the average will probably be close to the right answer...