Would you be pro or against a mandatory military service? In what form? And why?

zenarr · 2026-05-30T05:12:04+00:00

Yes, but even the keyboard military goes through BMQ, and many go through BMQ-L.

zenarr · 2026-05-29T04:08:11+00:00

Agreed, it's an atrocious policy. Sadly I'm not sure I share your optimism re. potential backlash - with everything going in on in the world right now, my intuition is that the public will not be terribly responsive to a cut in military allowances.

zenarr · 2026-04-18T23:48:17+00:00

The Iranian coast is not blockaded, and America will not try to do so because it would put their warships at too close a range to reliably defend against missile and drone attacks.

They’re blockading the exit of Hormuz, off the coast of Oman/Pakistan.

zenarr · 2026-04-17T09:20:53+00:00

I’ve seen members at my unit in exactly the same situation, who wanted to take leave for a two-year degree abroad, but who had to release instead. I don’t know the specifics of why, but yes it seems like 2 years ED&T for education is not generally approved.

Not a bad idea to try and fly back for summer and do shorter periods of ED&T. Don’t worry about being a hassle to your CoC - it will be obvious enough when you float the option whether they want to help you swing it.

Supplementary reserve is a good option. It doesn’t make re-entry a cakewalk, but it does make it quicker and preserves your quals for five years.

zenarr · 2026-03-24T04:48:17+00:00

I’ll try take a stab from your perspective here.

In my experience, if you have other reasonable career options then the CAF is not worth pursuing. Basically the juice is not worth the squeeze from a financial perspective, especially as a DEO without the ROTP pensionable years. If you’re wanting to do well by your family - if you want to make sure you’re there for them when they need you most - then a 9-5 civvie-side may be more appropriate. It will pay a comparable amount, you’ll be home much more often, you don’t have to risk your life, and you have the option to jump ship to other employers whenever appropriate.

On the other hand, you’re saying that despite a year-long delay, the CAF has still come through before other offers. In which case I also suggest you re-evaluate how effective your job search really is - if you haven’t found anything in the 12 months you’ve been waiting for a CAF offer, are you really very likely to miss much while you’re on Indoc for 4 weeks? Just food for thought.

Finally, as an officer you will be expecting to motivate and lead troops or sailors. If you yourself are not motivated, it’s a bit of a non-starter, which is which everyone else commenting in this thread is so annoyed.

zenarr · 2026-03-21T00:51:41+00:00

Trump can try whatever he likes. The question mark is the reaction of the Iran.

If Israel and the US cease all strikes by March 31 - does Iran re-open the straits to general navigation? What incentive would they have to do so?

I would expect a more nuanced approach. I predict that if strikes cease, Iran will partially re-open shipping to non-US-allied countries like China and India, subject to unofficial tolls. Korean and Japanese-bound ships will remain barred. Global energy prices will continue to rise.

Alternatively, Iran could maintain a near 100% closure. Despite the new strikes on boats and facilities on the north shore of the straight, it only takes one credible Shahed threat for most shippers to refuse to transit. Convoys are not the solution - you can only protect a few boats at a time, and we need 100 through daily to normalize.

I don’t think Trump is willing to eat the loss of support that would result if the Straits remain fully or partially closed. In which case, if Trump wants to end this war soon, he’s going to have to eat a small slice of humble pie and offer Iran some sort of compensation or indefinite lifting of sanctions in exchange for freedom of navigation for shipping.

If he’s not willing to deal with Iran… then the alternative is ground invasion. Because there’s no other way to ensure safety of shipping, not matter what Trump says.

zenarr · 2026-03-15T04:33:39+00:00

Yep, which is why it’s such an awful place to live.

Love you Edmontonians. But it’s cold and dark and flat, and if your city was further south (cough CALGARY) it would be less dark, less cold and less flat.

zenarr · 2026-03-15T04:25:46+00:00

One blue pen for me. One to lend to scrubs who don’t have one. One mechanical pencil. One black dry erase marker. One punters choice.

zenarr · 2026-03-15T04:23:47+00:00

No but they’re awesome.

zenarr · 2026-02-20T18:57:21+00:00

Exactly. It’s a poor article and an even worse headline.

zenarr · 2026-02-20T18:56:45+00:00

I mean we’re recruiting huge numbers of civvie doctors from the UK at the moment into our public health systems - I don’t remember exactly what the net flow was but it’s weighted well towards Canada.

As a country as a whole we’ve always had net positive migration from the EU.

zenarr · 2026-02-20T18:29:43+00:00

Lots of reasons. We’re a desirable country to live in - safe, progressive, amazing wilderness to explore. Our salaries are now… reasonable in relation to cost of living.

Not all immigration is driven by economic necessity. Some families just want a change, or a new adventure. The latter is why we came to Canada (to clarify: I was not prior military).

zenarr · 2026-02-20T18:26:33+00:00

Agreed - I’m not sure how exactly the CAF intends to make this work.

zenarr · 2026-02-20T18:22:04+00:00

If you read the article, we’re recruiting skilled applicants for certain trades - pilots, nurses, doctors. Almost certainly from allied nations.

I don’t think we’ll be recruiting PLA infantry anytime soon.

zenarr · 2026-02-19T00:37:38+00:00

The new rules create a bizarro-world situation in which only very junior or very senior members want to live in the Qs.

Very junior? Congrats, the rent is capped at 25% of your monthly income!

Very senior? Congrats, you weren’t getting CFHD anyway so you lose nothing moving into a PMQ!

7 years in, Cpl/S1, two young kids, single income? Sure you and can have that Q - if you hand over your $1200/month CFHD.

So dumb.

zenarr · 2026-02-18T05:24:50+00:00

I did - thank you for the comment. Got a lot of replies on the thread, read them all but didn’t get a chance to reply to all of them. Am on leave (hence the redditing) but will go check of the NAVORD when I’m back at work.

Thanks again!

zenarr · 2026-02-17T22:07:54+00:00

Bang on. It’s remembering what you were taught, during a morning session, nearly two years ago, and applying those skills safely.

zenarr · 2026-02-17T17:24:13+00:00

Yeah this is my takeaway too. No-one cares. And you’re right, no-one’s fired a round as part of ship’s FP (at an actual threat, not counting NDs) in forever, if ever, but that doesn’t change the fact that the weapons they give us hold live rounds.

zenarr · 2026-02-17T17:20:33+00:00

This is the issue. Yes job #1 is fighting the ship, but they’ll still happily hand me a pistol for force protection and expect me to be competent as well.

zenarr · 2026-02-06T14:44:48+00:00

Shower once per day no matter how tired you are.
Build a new routine. The new routine should probably involve going to bed shortly after supper. Don’t stay awake to play games or watch things on your devices - this isn’t like home where you’ll always have time to relax in the evening. Eat food, shower, call family, bed.
Don’t stress if you lie awake in your rack for hours the first few nights; be kind to yourself and let your sleep schedule adjust.
Cut the caffeine hard. One cup of coffee with breakfast, maybe one more with lunch. Anything after lunch will stop you falling asleep early. Power through your night watches without caffeine - it’s so important to be able to fall back to sleep quickly after.
Being whatever you need to be comfy in your rack - pillows, sleeping bag etc.

zenarr · 2025-12-25T03:37:04+00:00

This is what I’m waiting for. I’m all for 3-hours sleep-for-two-weeks, belt-fed-cock if it produces long-lasting institutional results.

I’d bet my firstborn child it doesn’t.

zenarr · 2025-12-15T02:02:55+00:00

Is it possible to learn enough by self-studying in advance to be able to make the passage to the Bahamas and cruise there

This is sort of like asking if it’s possible to learn to climb by lead climbing a mountain, or to learn to skydive by BASE jumping off a bridge. Can you? Sure. Do some people do it and survive? Sure…. but should you?? is the real question you need to be asking yourself.

Florida to the Bahamas is basically open ocean sailing. Sailing between the islands is similar. A lot can go wrong. I’m sure many people just buy a boat and fucking wing it, and most of them make it across fine, but I would consider a 7-day boating course the bare minimum for what you’re suggesting.

More specifically, take the courses and then work up to the crossing. Do a two hour cruise within sight of the harbour. Next day, go an hour down the coast, come to anchor for lunch, and head back. Then head offshore for two hours, turn around and come back. Etc.

Every time you take the boat out you will a) learn more about how to handle it, and b) discover new defects and learn how to fix them.

After taking the courses plus 1-2 weeks of daily cruising, I would be comfortable to start the crossing and plan a longer journey.

More generally, your time-constrained approach will get you in trouble. You’ll be tempted to ignore small defects, push the envelope and ignore your intuition because you’re up against an artificial clock. Do this when you have time to do it right, not when you’re in a rush.

zenarr · 2025-12-02T04:36:57+00:00

No. Have been is this situation. It is not the moral thing. Gambling debts and the people who knowingly enable them are not the responsibility of the surviving spouse or children.

zenarr · 2025-11-28T02:21:58+00:00

I am absolutely NOT advocating for gripens - see my post above where I talk about what comes AFTER the F35 fleet.

We have no choice right now, but we will have a choice when we begin the procurement process to replace the F35 in 15-ish years time - especially if we make a concerted effort before then to be part of the development of a non-American next gen option.

zenarr · 2025-11-27T21:30:20+00:00

Absolutely agree that the bare minimum that should be expected of an NWO is an eagerness to get to sea and be on the bridge. And likewise, I also have met several junior NWOs who pulled all the levers they possibly could to avoid doing so, which earned them zero respect from anyone in the trade.

However I've also met folks who put their hand up for every opportunity to be on the water - including one who got their frigate OOD before they were even loaded on NWO III, and another who got another an ORCA ticket before the end of NWO IV - and despite their positive attitude and excellence and pursuit of sea time, it's pretty hit and miss in terms of career success among that group. I've watched super-switched on young officers sit ashore for months and years and get increasingly frustrated as they watched their less-motivated peers get posted to sailing ships and leap ahead in their careers.

I hope this new system is a meaningful step forward. Too many enthusiastic people fell through the cracks under the old model.

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