Summer Basic Officer Training (Reg Force)

[ProPatria05]

I am in the PRes and am transferring to the Reg Force (painfully slow). Since I only have the Reserve Basic Officer course (no phase training), I must do all 4 phases of officer training (which includes Basic).

I have been told by the Recruiting Centre that summer Officer Basic courses are reserved primarily for ROTP (RMC) candidates, and are not available for DEO officers. However, an ROTP guy I know who was in St. Jean in July 2001 says there were DEO guys there.

Anyone have any GOOD information on this? I don‘t know if I can wait until September to start!

 

[Zoomie]

Here‘s the scoop Murph.

Summer BOTC courses are primarily reserved for the Mil-Col pukes. There are so many of them and they must complete Part 1 of BOTC before heading off to Kingston or where-ever. There have been BOTC courses run at Borden during the summer, this was for the DEO types. Personally I would reccomend taking the September course. You will be commissioned by Dec 16, head home for Christmas and come back in the New Year for Language training.
If you go during the summer, you will be caught up in the frantic Mega life that exists when there are that many courses in house. Conversely, if you start in September, by the time the next summer comes along, you will be a Commisioned wanker, who gets to eat in the Officers‘ mess and really enjoy the summer in Quebec. St-Jean is a nice area, with nice local fauna (read: Women), besides there is nothing better than Montreal in the summer.

Good luck, don‘t be in too much of a hurry to spend a year in Quebec.

 

[humint]

That sucks! I was told that I wouldn‘t have to do BOTP over again when I transfered to Reg (and, like you, all I would have under my belt would be BOTP-R and, possibly, CAP-R). The last thing I want is to do BOTP and CAP all over again.

To be honest, I have no idea what would actually happen (re: taking BOTP all over again). You have one story while I‘m getting two different stories from my recruiting centre and my OPS-O.

Definitely let me know how is works out.

 

[ProPatria05]

Zoomie

Thanks for the info.

I‘m actually hoping to avoid the 2nd language training - my French is pretty good, and I am doing some brushing up on it as well. If this works, I will likely do Phase 2 (CAP) starting in Feb, and then Phase 3 starting in May (Infantry - I forgot to mention in my post). According to the literature, Phase 4 is only offered during the summer months, which means I will have to wait until the following summer (2005) to complete training.

This is why I was hoping to get into a BOTC course this summer, so I would do Phase 2 in the fall, Phase 3 over the winter, and Phase 4 next summer (2004) - all training within one calendar year. If I don‘t get in until this September, I will have almost a whole year between Phase 3 and 4, where I will be fully trained to do ****-all.

ALSO - you refer to a "year in Quebec". Not sure what you mean by that -- all Army/Infantry training after BOTC (assuming no 2nd language) is in Gagetown. Do you know something I don‘t?

 

[Zoomie]

Most DEOs haven‘t a smeck of an idea what French is, mind you where Quebec is...

That is why I say a year. If you attend all 33 weeks of language training, you will be at St-Jean from Sept ‘03 til August ‘04. Pretty close to one year.

The only way that you will be able to by-pass the language school is to get tested while still on BOTC. Your vocal ability must be up to conversational/functional french. If not, it‘s off to school for you and all the others (like Moi).

Take it from a real pro when it comes to being trained to do sweet jack all. I transferred to the Regs in Oct ‘99 and I am still undergoing basic MOC training... I won‘t be MOC qualified (thus promotable) until at least Feb 2004. That is 4 years 4 months after joining up!!

Don‘t worry though, all my buddies on course with me are Captains in the RCR right now. One of my course mates was in Afghanistan as a Platoon Commander with the Picklies.

 

[ProPatria05]

Ahhhh...I checked out your profile and see that you‘re a pilot. I have heard the horror stories about your training (or lack of it - availability, that is). I don‘t think I would last that long. Good luck with the rest of it.

Thanks again for the info. And I am going to pass that g**d*** 2nd language test before my BOTC is over!

 

[Illucigen]

*annoyed at mil-col pukes remark*.

Anyway, DEO‘s do often join the BOTP courses offered in the summer, but only for specialized reasons, yours may be one of them. Most of the time the BOTP DEOs are done out of summer, for the reasons mentioned above, as RMC Senior Cadents require BOTP before entering the college.

ROTP junior cadets (those who did a prep year at Old CMR in st jean) do however start basic courses earlier, ie end of may and I believe some DEO‘s add on to that as well.... All depends on numbers from what Im told.

 

[ProPatria05]

Illucigen

With respect to your comment that my reason for wanting to get on a summer BOTP may be a "specialized reason", do you have any suggestions for making a case with the Recruiting Centre, or with the Selection Board, as to why it is to both my and their advantage to get me into a summer BOTP course?

It is to their advantage, as they will have a fully qualified platoon commander one year earlier, by moving my BOTP up by a couple of months.

My experience has been that things will simply happen as they will happen, regardless of how much you try to assist people (including recruiting types) in making things happen quicker and smarter.

If there is some avenue in which I can make a "pitch" for getting loaded onto a summer course, I am very interested.

 

[Illucigen]

From what I understand, very little has to do with what /you/ do, but it is more or less up to someone at Borden to figure out on his/her own that it would be an excellent idea for you to do BOTP in the summer.

They have their reasons, however for keeping certain groups together without adding new groups... Team building being the biggest one....

I really have no idea about how to request it...

 

[Tyrnagog]

What is a typical day during BOTP? I know, I know.. it changes from week to week.. but thinking back, what would you say you did on a typical day? What kind of schedule did you have?

 

[Illucigen]

Really...

you could always check out www.cflrs.forces.gc.ca

In the Joining Orders it gives examples of a typical day.

 

[rolandstrong]

I didn‘t know that 90% of the officer candidates were female (at least that is what the photos suggest) :blotto:

 

[Tyrnagog]

I got that impression too...

Thanks Illucigen.. answered all my questions!

 

[Illucigen]

Np, obviously, the JO‘s listed there will also tell you what you will be bringing (or not bringing, as the case may be).

But those JO‘s are a little out of date (Last year), there may be updates.... I dunno.

 

[Illucigen]

I also like how in EVERY picture they are standin around smiling.

*Hey, Im gettin into a ****ty pool for the fiftieth time, I wanna sleep, but Im still smiling!*

Gah.

 

[Gunnar]

Maybe you could sue the government...."I went through the course, and I didn‘t feel like smiling! That‘s false advertising! And there weren‘t nearly enough cute chicks either, just some old guy who wanted to do something nasty with my skull..."



(never been thru the course myself, what with being a civ and all)

 

[humint]

What the F!

When did the CF become Mc CF -- smiles are free, and do you want fries with that! That CF officer school website looks like a freakin‘ McDonald‘s commercial for God‘s sake! What the heck is the CF selling?

Don‘t get me wrong, I think smiles and cute chicks go a long way, but I‘m wondering where the heck they all are. They sure aren‘t in my regiment!