DAA said:
Yes, you can ask to speak directly with the CO but for someone undergoing initial occupation training, it's highly unlikely and the highest you might get to, is the OC level.
I hope what you meant to say is "the highest you might get to
before the issue is resolved is the OC level," which of course, I would agree with as these kind of things are generally fairly easy to deal with once someone with some actual authority to do anything is brought into the loop.
If you were referring to the CoC, however, just throwing the memo in the garbage, or the CO saying "don't care, sort it out OC," well, I'm sorry that your experience has obviously shown you some pretty poor examples of leadership.
DAA said:
By their own admission "I'm on my dp1 course and am suffering from some non immediate family deaths back home." If the death involved what is considered to be an "immediate" family member (ie; Mother, Father, Brother, Sister or spouses family member) the individual would probably have been granted Compassionate Leave already.
I'm also with EITS on this one on the use of "immediate family" member. It's not a bad rule of thumb, but luckily the leave manual leaves what is compassionate and what is not entirely up to the Commanding Officer.
EDIT: And perhaps the CO has already looked at it and determined it is not a significantly grievous situation. Who knows.
DAA said:
Once they start their DP1 training, they're pretty much committed to follow through until completion. When a "Request for Release" has been submitted, they will still continue their training while the release application process runs it's course. In most cases, the trainee comes to terms with the issues and carries on with their career in the CAF. The reasoning behind the delays are probably intended to allow them time to reconsider their decision to quit. This is not for our benefit but for that of the member.
I'm sure you can find many people in the CAF today, who tried or said they wanted to quit during their Basic or initial Occupation Training, received tough love or good counselling, stuck it out and are more than happy they did.
Cases such as this, tend to lead to a future application to the CAF. :facepalm:
While I wish our recruiting process was better, it's not, and we end up with people in situations where they feel trapped by the machine. I don't know the OP, I'd prefer not to pass judgement on his/her individual circumstances and provide them with the direction they need. If they are not fit for service, and re-apply, and we take them back, shame on us. If only the machine could look inward at its own incompetence sometimes.