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Resigning commission to change nationality?

JRouslton

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What I am wondering is:

If an officer retired from active duty, and decided, for whatever reason, they wanted to become a citizen of another country. Would they have to resign their commission?

This is research for a story I am writing...
If this is in the wrong spot please move it.
 
Once someone. officer or NCM, is released from the CAF - and has no further commitment, such as in the Supplementary Reserve (which is a voluntary commitment following retirement/release) - then what they do afterwards is their own business, as long as it is legal.
 
Isn't a commission for life though? And therefore if you still hold a commission you can be recalled because of the oath of allegiance.
 
JRouslton said:
Isn't a commission for life though? And therefore if you still hold a commission you can be recalled because of the oath of allegiance.

No.
 
"Resigning a commission" is a bit of an anachronism. In Canada, one is enrolled in the military until one is released. An officer, after completing their initial basic training becomes commissioned and keeps that commission throughout his service. When he voluntarily releases, the commission becomes a moot point. No one asks you to "resign it". Mine's still hanging in a frame downstairs.

One point on terminology. You are using the term "from active duty" in a general sense. Canadians don't have "active duty". That's more an American term. Canadian soldiers are enrolled for "continuing, full-time military service" (i.e the regular force) and "other than continuing, full-time military service" (i.e. the reserve force).

During their careers, members may be involved in specific type of service. For example, under s 31 of the National Defence Act, members may be "placed on active service" by an order of the Governor in Council (ie the Federal Cabinet) in certain circumstances. For example, all regular force members are currently on "active service" for the purposes of Canada's commitments to NATO. The same for reservists when they are out of the country. In addition various members or contingents are "placed on active service" for various off-shore operations. This is quite different from the American concept of "active duty" which is more in the nature of our "continuing, full-time military service".

:cheers:
 
FJAG said:
"Resigning a commission" is a bit of an anachronism. In Canada, one is enrolled in the military until one is released. An officer, after completing their initial basic training becomes commissioned and keeps that commission throughout his service. When he voluntarily releases, the commission becomes a mute point. No one asks you to "resign it". Mine's still hanging in a frame downstairs.

One point on terminology. You are using the term "from active duty" in a general sense. Canadians don't have "active duty". That's more an American term. Canadian soldiers are enrolled for "continuing, full-time military service" (i.e the regular force) and "other than continuing, full-time military service" (i.e. the reserve force).

During their careers, members may be involved in specific type of service. For example, under s 31 of the National Defence Act, members may be "placed on active service" by an order of the Governor in Council (ie the Federal Cabinet) in certain circumstances. For example, all regular force members are currently on "active service" for the purposes of Canada's commitments to NATO. The same for reservists when they are out of the country. In addition various members or contingents are "placed on active service" for various off-shore operations. This is quite different from the American concept of "active duty" which is more in the nature of our "continuing, full-time military service".

:cheers:

Thank you. This is quite helpful.
 
Bazinga.  Violated one of the fundamental tenants of the internet... 8)
 
FJAG said:
One point on terminology. You are using the term "from active duty" in a general sense. Canadians don't have "active duty". That's more an American term. Canadian soldiers are enrolled for "continuing, full-time military service" (i.e the regular force) and "other than continuing, full-time military service" (i.e. the reserve force).

What about supplementary reserve force? Not something one generally enrolls for, but falls into by default on release.
 
Brashendeavours said:
What about supplementary reserve force? Not something one generally enrolls for, but falls into by default on release.

I've been out for a few years (and was never on SuppRes because I went from RegF to PriRes and then stayed PriRes until aging out) but I'm quite sure you have to elect to go SuppRes. That's especially true for the RegF because s24 of the NDA mandates that no one can be transferred from the Reg F to the ResF (or vice versa) without their consent and the SuppRes is a sub-component of the ResF. I'm not aware of any transfer from the PriRes to the SuppRes by default and am pretty sure that there isn't one.

:cheers:
 
Blackadder1916 said:
The English language is flexible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bo54wE_rJU

:rofl:  Okay. I feel better now.

;D
 
JRouslton said:
What I am wondering is:

If an officer retired from active duty, and decided, for whatever reason, they wanted to become a citizen of another country. Would they have to resign their commission?

This is research for a story I am writing...
If this is in the wrong spot please move it.

A little off topic but there are multiple cases of people applying to foreign militaries and having their experience recognized. The ones that I am familiar with are all Commonwealth. There are a relatively large number of former Canadian officers serving in Australia for example.
 
jeffb said:
A little off topic but there are multiple cases of people applying to foreign militaries and having their experience recognized. The ones that I am familiar with are all Commonwealth. There are a relatively large number of former Canadian officers serving in Australia for example.

Not in the UK, in my case at any rate. My previous experience in the CAF (RESO Phase 2 & 3 Inf, Abn Course, AWT etc) was helpful, of course, but they didn't recognize any of it and I started from scratch.

I didn't care as it was such a huge leap, in so many ways, that I was happy to start from the bottom rung again.
 
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