Ex Royal wanting back in.... but problems

[LoyalRoyal4Life]

Hey guys,

This is directed to anyone with experience with recruting, but any constructive answers at all are appreciated.

Me story.  Ex RCR, done 3 right after high school.  I am 35 now, have since acquired a Computer Science degree and have been working in software ever since.  Of fine Cape Breton stock, still in great shape physically, eyes still point straight ahead, 2 arms, 2 legs, and I am in the gym 4 days a week. All that good stuff.

I re-enlisted back in July 2008.  Everything seemed to be going fine, I was told that I would be back in flow in no time flat, especially going 031.  My only snag was that I lost my discharge papers and service number and as such they had to go to the archives in Ottawa to dig up my former service record.  They have dug up my old CFATs, medical, all that good stuff, but I am sort of shocked at the time it is taking to find my records.  I keep getting this vision of these "archives" in Ottawa as being akin to that huge warehouse in the final scenes of Raiders of the Lost Ark where they rolled the ark into this sea of nondescript boxes and articles (being researched by "Top Men" - hah), or even worse, that they just sort of fired these things into piles in a huge storage locker. (see, my service took place before everything went onto comps, hence my dilemma).  Anybody have any idea how long this sh1t show is going to go on for?  Yeah, I know how the army works having seen it up close for 3 years, but 7 months?!?  to find a record?!?  How are these things filed?!?  I am about ready to shut her down sh1t pump on this, really.  I mean, I read articles such as this http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070824/military_recruits_070824/20070824?hub=TopStories and it all sort of baffles me.  frig, I am willing to fly up there to Ottawa and pitch in if need be and just get this done.  I mean, I do not want to train new soldiers, although I am a bit seasoned, I have experience, am in good shape, want an Afghan ROTO and I sure as sh1t know that battle school today is sightly different (and a bit more slack and idle) than it was 17 years ago when I was last there.  The kids today I am sure never got the odd cuff in the ear of crack on the back of the calves with a pace stick (all well deserved I assure you).  Plus, some still serving friends tell me that a lot of the new guys coming up are a bit lazy (sorry new guys  >).  I still have a few years of grunting left in me in any event.  So yeah, there it is, my last company just finally went tits up, and I would love to move on this rather than ride the pogey train and wait.  So, to close, any idea how much longer this can take?

Also, I am a dual citizen, born in Canada to a Polish dad and am at this point half tempted to enlist over there, the Polish army is currently in both Iraq and Afghanistan and since they joined NATO and moved to a professional volunteer army, we are all playing nice now (but I can only imagine the jacking up and c0ck (and quite probably violence) that one receives in the Polish Army infantry school ) .  I just want to make a difference of some sort (after years of building crappy, meaningless software), but would rather do it here in Canada and with the RCR if in any way possible.  I sure as crap do not want to finally make it back in after 2011 and spend three years rolling about in a white painted LAV III doing little or nothing to make any sort of difference.  I would rather MIR Commando out and develop a morphine habit   

So yeah, that's about it.  I know that when it comes to the army, Nobody Knows what sort of waits can go down.  Cool, but anything, ballpark even, maybe from someone on here with experience in recruitment might be able to give me some sort of idea as to what to expect.

Thanks all and Pro Patria!

R..

 

[CFR FCS]

You re-enlisted in July 08 or re-applied?  The archives are a National bureaucracy that stores ALL the government documents, not just DND's, and your files, if not scanned and computerized are likely on microfiche (very small photo negatives). They will eventually show up.  It is not uncommon for a verification of former service (VFS) to take months.  I would advise contacting the CFRC again and letting them know your situation, employment wise, has changed. maybe they will push the rope a little harder to get your paperwork.  Best of Luck.

CFR FCS   

 

[the 48th regulator]

My only snag was that I lost my discharge papers and service number. and as such they had to go to the archives in Ottawa to dig up my former service record. 

They have dug up my old CFATs, medical, all that good stuff, but I am sort of shocked at the time it is taking to find my records. 

I keep getting this vision of these "archives" in Ottawa as being akin to that huge warehouse in the final scenes of Raiders of the Lost Ark where they rolled the ark into this sea of nondescript boxes and articles (being researched by "Top Men" - hah), or even worse, that they just sort of fired these things into piles in a huge storage locker

I hope I do not sound crass, and please understand where I am coming from before you jump all over me for only quoting part of your post.

I commend you for wanting to rejoin, and go over to Afghanistan. I won't question your reasons as they are your own, however, if you are willing to go with any army no matter what, you may want to just slow down a bit.  But I digress.

Okay, let us get back to what was nagging at the back of me wee little brain.

You state that you could not find your discharge papers and service number.  Okay, I can understand the Dog chewing up a copy of your discharge papers, however, you coming from a regiment that forces all members to one time or another to paint rocks white, can not remember your service number??

You did everything with that service number.  You probably recited your service number more times than you recited your own name, and you can not remember it.

Now you wonder, why it is taking the system to wad through all the archives, and your description is not far off, of everything that was documented and properly sent to the archives from the history of Canada.

We are talking about an archive that contains documents that state the amount of children that were given pasteurized milk in the town of Stayner in the year of 1937.

An archive that contains every speech spoken, written, scrapped, and criticized by the media that Pierre E. Trudeau ever thought up, wrote and spoke.

The same archive that is vying for the Guinness book of records for the largest collection of paper products, ever amassed in one location on the face of this Earth.

I think you get the Gist of what I am saying.

I commend you for you passion, of going overseas to do your duty.  However, I think that if you were unable to come up with some basic information, you should acknowledge and commend the people for doing their passion and duty of wading through all those records to find your information.

Be patient, Taliban Jack's cronies are going no where soon....


dileas

tess

 

[LoyalRoyal4Life]

Hi there,

God as my witness I cannot.  It has been 14 years since I left,  My memory is not the best at the best of times.  No dogs btw, fire.  When I was serving I was, how shall we say, not the best soldier in terms of being a keener.  Not airborne material, certainly not JTF-2.  I cannot remember half my families b-days, including my own son's half the time - ex-wfe is totally out of the ? .  I still know my last three (dah).  I still proudly have my RCR medal on the wall (along with loads of pics) .  I did make some best guesses, all of which Sgt Mc***** and a female type master jack recorded and to whom I gave my SIN to so as to quicken help with the search.  My long term memory is terrible like that... bad with faces, names, etc.  I goofed around, chased female types at the Camelot and then more busy Maratime Club in Gagetwown (whoops, did I just give my battalion away).  As I said, I later went on to become a computer programmer and have had millions of nums swirling in my head for years and years now (bad with those too).  I really cannot remember, not for sure, what it was.  After me and Sgt. Mc***** went over this and I gave him my best 10ish or so approximation/combinations, he cut right to the SIN request and I complied (thinking things would go fairly quickly).

With regard to serving in the Polish army, I very nearly consider Poland my second home, I speak the language fluently, fell in love with more than a few Polish girls over the years (me god they are pretty) and spent a good deal of time there with my aunt Tekla (I once had to file for conscription exemption but they have since moved all volunteer).  It is not exactly like I am joining the North Korean army or anything, not at all.  Poland is now NATO, one of the most loyal contributing forces within NATO who has consistanly been willing to do some heavy lifting, and it does hold a certain romantic feeling for me (Beau Geste, sans Foreign Legion).  I have even seen some former friends, mostly keener types who went 2REP in the FFL after the airborne disbanded when morale went into the crapper, given my citizenship situation, I don't see my desire as any more drastic than that choice, probaly even better given my unique citizenship situation and close relation to the country of my dad and family.  As far as desiring to see some Afghan time, after riding a cublicle farm for umpteen years I really have this desire for a bit of action, it is sort of hard to explain my exact motivation (and as I mentioned, my current employer is dead, just has not hit the floor yet.  I am 35 years od, have worked in the IT industry now for about 8 years all told, mostly start-ups and produced primarily Vampireware (software that sucks the living life-blood out of everythingand everybody it touches and never sees the light of day - I feel at times as if I have done nothing with my life at times, and it might be half over, my life).  I did more in 3 with the RCR than I have done in 8 writing code or administering networks or databases.  Also, I lost a good friend there in 06, a former section mate from battle school (who later re-badged and went PPCLI).  It sort of irked me a bit to say the least.  Some things I remember as if they happened minutes ago, like some silliness that went down in the shacks back in my brash youth.  It is not that I cannot remember my service number totally, I sort of have a jist of it, but I am only able to shortlist at this time.  Sgt. Mc***** said he has seen this before, although I dunno what MOCs these guys were from, I know he didn't, well, at least at the surface seem to be overly surprised or shocked to hear that from me (we was 031 as well, although a reservist).  For instance, I cannot recall my student number from Dal, a fact that some guys I went to school with, graduated with find amazing.  I have an idea, but...

I hope that answers your question.

Pro Patria.

Oh yeah, and btw, thank you both for your input, patience is a virtue when it comes to the the CF, I got that.  Thanks again!  Both of you.

P.S.  Oh, and I still have my RCR service medal, framed, and loads of pics.  Just gotta get used to no more lanyard now.   And yep, I would even go picklie if that would speed things up.  Just joking
P.P.S  According to the Polish Armed services, things would happen quicky for me, they just moved from a conscripted army to a purely volunteer force in January of this year.  I am told stuff would happen in a matter of weeks assuming that my physical and remainder of the application process went smoothly.

 

[ltmaverick25]

The recruiting process for people with former service, especially for those whose service dates back as far as yours often takes up to a year or more.  Unfortunately, the time you have waited thus far, is very much still within "normal" for your situation.  The best you can do is keep bugging them politely.

However, if they managed to locate your med docs as you suggest, your service number should be written in there somewhere.  Maybe pointing that little fact out to the recruiters will help save time if they havent already done so.

 

[LoyalRoyal4Life]

Thank you very much sir. (I take it you are an officer because of the lt prefix in your handle, if not, my apologies.

Regards,

R..

 

[ltmaverick25]

Thank you very much sir. (I take it you are an officer because of the lt prefix in your handle, if not, my apologies.

Regards,

R..

I am an officer, but the lt prefix in my handle was just something that sounded cool at the time, no relation to my job  ;D  No need to use sir on the forums though, besides, everytime I hear that I still turn around assuming the person was talking to someone standing behind me  ;D