SITREP ON MILITIA INFANTRY UNITS

[Haggis]

Haggis there is no way in god's green earth I would deploy with a Reservist as my Section 2i/c or above, not now not ever.

It comes down to this I am a 7yr Reg Force Cpl...That Reserve MCpl or Sgt etc etc has alto less experience then me in just about everything you could name let alone days in, I would find my life unnecessarily endagered by that person being in charge when he is clearly not ready for it.

I have two Army Reserve buddies, both are cops.  One is an Infantry captain and a big city SWAT assault team leader.  The other is an Infantry Sgt and an OPP ERT member.  Both do 2-3 ops a week.  How does thier experience compare?

So I can honestly say I have no idea how to rectify the problem you put forth

I do.  Train them up and let them deploy.  By your approach, you're not giving them the chance to fail, but neither are you giving them the chance to succeed.

You are, of course, aware that Reserve Infantry soldiers from Major on down have been leading Infantry sub units in Bosnia since 2002?  Is that experience worthless as well?

 

[little jim]

You are, of course, aware that Reserve Infantry soldiers from Major on down have been leading Infantry sub units in Bosnia since 2002?  Is that experience worthless as well?

One should consider that RegF pers also require that experience, professionally and career wise....

 

[HItorMiss]

OK I was hasty but I wont back down on my assertion, it was a generalization to the extreme I agree

but if said MCpl was just a reservist MCpl his entire career and has say 7rs in Res time...how many days vs my time in Reg is that really? How much more experience in soldiering do I have over him? That is also why most Reservist that go on tour drop in rank down to Cpl level I believe...

Not now not ever was hasty I will retract that statement but only with the provision that said leader was indeed ex Reg and had Reg force experience to back up that leadership postion.

 

[the 48th regulator]

I have been watching this thread with intrest and I think I'm finally going to weigh in on it....

I hate to say it but in many ways I agree with GO.....Please don't hurt me Tess LOL

I'm currently doing TMST with Res Augmentation, In fact my #2 on the C6 is a Res guy, I got lucky he is a great troop, I would say one of the best of the Res that showed up for this tour. But here lies the rub we have a Coy full of Reg guys just itching for tour but they can't go because slot's were mandated from higher to the Res, in my oppinion that is job stealing. Is it fair to the Reg guy that just put in 2 yrs without a tour to be told sorry your going to the 10% pool because the slot we wanted you to have just got mandated to a Reserve force soldier?, even you Tess have to agree it isn't.

I ran TOET's at my unit and I was kind of aghast at how bad the avg Reserve soldiers handling drills were. I want it clear that not all were bad and I had Reg guys that were bad too, but on avg the skill level was below that of some of the new guy Pte's and these guys were all Res Cpl's. My point here is it takes more time on avg to train up the mid skill level Res soldier then the lower end Regular Soldier, that is the fault of "Higher" not the soldiers themselves.

I do have a suggestion though that brings Res Augmentation with us on Operations and perserves the Reg force Jobs on tour. On Roto 0 Reserves filled the CIMIC roles and on this current tour we have a D&S Pl of all Reserve soldiers. Why not leave it at that, I know that yes it is less positions overall then with forced Augmentation into the rifles coys, but it is slots no?


*digs his trench and waits for the incoming fire*

I'm going to take allot of fire on this one...

Haggis there is no way in god's green earth I would deploy with a Reservist as my Section 2i/c or above, not now not ever.
It comes down to this I am a 7yr Reg Force Cpl...That Reserve MCpl or Sgt etc etc has alto less experience then me in just about everything you could name let alone days in, I would find my life unnecessarily endagered by that person being in charge when he is clearly not ready for it.

So I can honestly say I have no idea how to rectify the problem you put forth

hmm,

As I lean over the lip of your trench,

But here lies the rub we have a Coy full of Reg guys just itching for tour but they can't go because slot's were mandated from higher to the Res,

When I went on my tour (with your regiment, and battalion back in 1994), as a reservist, there were only two types that did not go on tour from the reg force;

Those that had compassionate reasons, and those that were slugs that effed up...

If things have changed, then I most sincerely apologize, and say mea culpa, mea culpa, mea mofo culpa on taking the mickey out of all the regular force troops that have had a hard time and have tried to open the eyes of the people on this site.

Haggis there is no way in god's green earth I would deploy with a Reservist as my Section 2i/c or above, not now not ever.

pfft,

Trust me sunshine, there would be no go way in God's green earth that you would have the privilege to serve with me, if I was still in, with that attitude.

pro patria and take that to the ivory tower in pet.

dileas

tess

 

[Michael OLeary]

OK I was hasty but I wont back down on my assertion, it was a generalization to the extreme I agree

but if said MCpl was just a reservist MCpl his entire career and has say 7rs in Res time...how many days vs my time in Reg is that really? How much more experience in soldiering do I have over him? That is also why most Reservist that go on tour drop in rank down to Cpl level I believe...

Not now not ever was hasty I will retract that statement but only with the provision that said leader was indeed ex Reg and had Reg force experience to back up that leadership postion.

Does this mean you feel you should have the right to review the files and approve the appointments of your superiors?

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

Seen.
Now as for the dropping down ranks for tours,...that does make sense to me and I don't think most will argue that. However there are reservists who have had several tours, so what does one do?
Personally, I think it would have to be case by case, but thats probably a ton of admin time that no one has........

Didn't help, did it?..... :-[

 

[HItorMiss]

hmm,

As I lean over the lip of your trench,



When I went on my tour (with your regiment, and battalion back in 1994), as a reservist, there were only two types that did not go on tour from the reg force;

Those that had compassionate reasons, and those that were slugs that effed up...

If things have changed, then I most sincerely apologize, and say mea culpa, mea culpa, mea mofo culpa on taking the mickey out of all the regular force troops that have had a hard time and have tried to open the eyes of the people on this site.


pfft,

Trust me sunshine, there would be no go way in God's green earth that you would have the privilege to serve with me, if I was still in, with that attitude.

pro patria and take that to the ivory tower in pet.

dileas

tess

Tess.....*sighs* leave it to you to make me rethink somethings.... However I posted again to clarify my point, and no I don;t hate reserves so don't pin that button on me. To you first point right now in our 10% Coy we have a platoon of guys getting out, and 2 platoons of deployable troops, so althought I'm not in Op's I do indeed fail to see a manning issue.

As for leading me and my attitude your right that was a piss poor way to try and get my point across, I tried to clarify and I think I failed again.
What I was trying to get at was the disparity level in training not at potential or ability.

As for reviewing said pers files that is not my job that would be the job of my highers and I know they do indeed review every persfile that comes on tour with us.

 

[Haggis]

One should consider that RegF pers also require that experience, professionally and career wise....

... and you're going where with this?

My point is that some Reservist leaders already have operational experience leading soldiers.  Why should that experience be any less valuable/relevant?

Four years ago nobody (Reg or Res) had operational experience in Afghanistan. They took lessons learned in the Balkans and applied them to A'stan.  Fifteen years go nobody had operational expereince in the Balkans.  We relied on Cyprus skills.

As for reviewing said pers files that is not my job that would be the job of my highers and I know they do indeed review every persfile that comes on tour with us.

To take this further, HotorMiss, does this mean that you have the right to not follow a lawful command given to you by a Reservist who is senior to you and has been placed in command of you by your Reg F chain of command?  Think this one through carefully.

 

[Michael OLeary]

As for reviewing said pers files that is not my job that would be the job of my highers and I know they do indeed review every persfile that comes on tour with us.

So, if your chain of command reviews those files, conducts the preparatory training and decides that a reservist will be your section commander, you will agree with that assessment?

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

I have a question that will probably seem stupid but, having never experienced it, what exactly is this 10% and what do they tell them?

I mean I have an idea but do they say you are going,...going,..going,...whoops, stay home or are they told they are not going unless....?

 

[rifleman]

I have a question that will probably seem stupid but, having never experienced it, what exactly is this 10% and what do they tell them?

I mean I have an idea but do they say you are going,...going,..going,...whoops, stay home or are they told they are not going unless....?

edited because it was just plain mean.

 

[Haggis]

EDITED CAUSE THE ABOVE POST WAS TOO MEAN.

Stop helping!!! ;D

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

I understand the bashing wears you down but,.........come on , does that help at all?
Lets just see if we can agree on something.....




Hey, I just saw Che's pig fly by my window......

 

[HItorMiss]

Sirs...

as for disobeying a lawful command I'm pretty I wouldn't unless of course it was something right out there but still legal, such as defuse that IED...doesn't matter where that command came from I'm not it doing for the simpel fact I haven't a clue how....

As for accepting said Reserve leadership once reviewed by the C of C, then yes I would have to wouldn't I, but if I for one second thought that that person should not be in command after doing some training with them, I would indeed document the faults as I saw them and put those up my C of C for review, and yes I would notify said leader I would not backdoor him he has a right to know why I am doing what I am doing.


Bruce, the 10% works more like a training aid and they sometimes do the training and are there to back fill postion overseas in case of mishap

 

[rifleman]

Stop helping!!! ;D

Man I wasn't quick enough with the edit

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

Nooooo problem...... ;D

 

[Haggis]

As for accepting said Reserve leadership once reviewed by the C of C, then yes I would have to wouldn't I, but if I for one second thought that that person should not be in command after doing some training with them, I would indeed document the faults as I saw them and put those up my C of C for review, and yes I would notify said leader I would not backdoor him he has a right to know why I am doing what I am doing.

And for that I would applaud you.

 

[the 48th regulator]

Aww you see,

He was bang on, of course he wears the 8 pointed star....

Great, now GO!! deserves to kick my ponti reserve ass....

dileas

tess

 

[a_majoor]

This reserve bashing is just silly. Canadian reservists are (as pointed out) ultimately fed and trained by the Regular force, so if there are problems being uncovered in the staffing, training and equipping of reserve force soldiers, sub units or units, then we all know the first place to look for solutions.

There is no a priori reason a reservist, a reserve sub unit or even a reserve unit cannot do any of the tasks required on deployment, if this was the case most Canadian deployments since 1992 or so would have been miserable failures. For that matter, foreign armies have large reserve components equipped with the most advanced warfighting equipment (nations like Sweden, Norway, Israel and the United States, to name a few), and for the most part they offer LESS training than we do our own reservists, yet when the rubber hits the road, both the United States and Israel have been able to go to war and fight everything from armed incursions to full scale armoured battles with their reserve soldiers, and win.

GO!!!! and others are correct to point out that the current structure of the Reserves isn't very efficient, and the Forces over all are starved of manpower and resources, but identifying the problem is only 1/2 the story. We need workable solutions, and we need smart, experienced people to execute them. Locking the reservists in their armouries or on D&S platoons might be a short term way of husbanding resources, but it is also incredibly short sighted. There is a wealth of experience in the reserves, from ex-regular troops, foreign soldiers and the knowledge that tadesmen and professionals bring into the military from their civilian occupations. It is there to use.

 

[Haggis]

Well it's about time we hear from you, Arthur.

Welcome.