Artillery Officer Merged Thread

[3rd Horseman]

Ah brings back fond memories of Guelph. You have all the info the boys above have directed you to so thats all good. I will give you a personal endorsement. 11FD Regt is a good Regt I enjoyed my 3 years there. The guns will let you do more things in a Army with your military future if you want. It allows you to be in other combat arms worlds and work there with more options to do more things even lets you be part of Navy and Air. On the negative side.....guns wont care about you once you leave the force, we have no close regimental family like the tanks and infantry. I joined the Guns and loved every min of it and had a very exciting and eventful military life all over the world doing things Infantry just dream of.
Join! dont look back.
  And Guelph is great town.....Im from Georgetown now Im way East living the dream on the coast.

Rags
3rd Horseman
   

 

[Wizmillion]

Hello CSouth,

I had done the following in preparation for my interview -

1. Info on the Internet - I went over all the material that was posted for the trades of my choice on the following websites -
a. www.forces.ca
b. www.forces.gc.ca
c. http://www.army.forces.gc.ca/land-terre/home-accueil-eng.asp
d. http://www.goarmy.com/
e. http://www.army.mod.uk/join/join.aspx
f. http://ftp.rta.nato.int/public//PubFulltext/RTO/MP/RTO-MP-055///MP-055-30.pdf
g. http://www.armee.forces.gc.ca/34gbc/entrevueen.pdf
h. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artillery
i. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Artillery
j. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_Care_Administration

2. Speaking with people in the trade -

For this I went to some of the local militia units. I told them that I was a Regular Force DEO applicant, however I'd like to know more about their job not just to prepare for the interview but to increase my knowledge base. I spoke with members of my family (who are ex and current officers in a foreign army). One of my trade choices was HCA. For this I went and met the administrator of a civilian hospital.

3. Books -

One of the books I invested in was "The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Artillery" by Ian V. Hogg. Before the interview, I had read this book twice from cover to cover.

4. Mock interviews -

I did numerous mock interviews with just myself and my wife. This helped me a lot on the actual day.

5. Knowing the trade, organisation and yourself -

This goes for any kind of organisation. The interviewer(s) will have only a few hours of time in which to interview you. Unlike your family or teachers, they only know you through the paper work that is in front of them - Reliability Screening results, forms submitted during application, degrees, CFAT and medical results, etc. The MCCs give you every opportunity to prove to them that you will be an ideal candidate. It is imperative that you know very, very well the trades of your choice, the CF in general and yourself.

6. Reference/ Commendation letters -

For the interview, I had taken along a folder in which I had kept my degrees, reference letters and commendation letters. (I had not been told to do so). For most of the questions that I was asked, I had a official letter to back the example that I was citing. The interviewers were very impressed with this. They made copies of all my commendation letters and placed them in my file.

7. Dress and deportment -

I had worn a suit for my interview. At the very least one must wear dress clothes with proper lace-up shoes and a tie.

Lastly, I am not a recruiter or a member of the CF. I am just an applicant. The above mentioned pointers stood me well, that is why I am sharing them.

All the best,

AGB.

Thank you for posting this, I had a similar question and I'm finding these resources very useful.

 

[seanm]

I'm am currently doing rotp for eme but want to switch to a combat role. What are the main cons of artillery compared to other trades. To me it looks very rewarding and I can't see any cons other then your ears. It would be as an officer.

 

[Bird_Gunner45]

I'm am currently doing rotp for eme but want to switch to a combat role. What are the main cons of artillery compared to other trades. To me it looks very rewarding and I can't see any cons other then your ears. It would be as an officer.

Instead of asking for the cons you should ask.for the pros.... you want a trade you love not one you don't dislike as much as other ones.

That said, the arty offers a wide range of technical and tactical opportunities. You can be field artillery and be on a gun line,  be a FOO/FAC, and be up front with the infantry. You can also go STA (surveillance and target acquisiton) and work with UAVS,  radars, or acoustic sound ranging kit. Finally, you could be AD (yes, it's still a stream) and work with radars and the airspace coordination centre (ASCC) . As arty , you can go to Shilo, Pet, Val Cartier,  or Gagetown. Arty offers, to me, the widest variety of jobs and experiences in the combat arms.

 

[seanm]

I have looked at the pros And haven't been able to find a con in my opinion. Is it true being on the gun line will cause you to lose hearing or do you wear ear pro?

 

[Bird_Gunner45]

I have looked at the pros And haven't been able to find a con in my opinion. Is it true being on the gun line will cause you to lose hearing or do you wear ear pro?

It can over time, but if you're an officer than you will spend most of your time in a CP and likely only a year or two on a gun line (in your junior years at least). As a FOO or BC you'll spend your time with the combat team and battle group (if you go into the field arty) so you'll travel in a LAV or dismounted. If you're STA or AD your exposure to a gunline will be very limited.

 

[dimsum]

can also go STA (surveillance and target acquisiton) and work with UAVS,  radars, or acoustic sound ranging kit.

While correct, I'll add that the Arty (and the Army in general) work with small UAVs (generally smaller than a Cessna 172, for example).  The larger ones (Predator/Reaper/Global Hawk), if we get them again, are likely to be flown by the Air Force.

 

[Just_A_Guy]

what is the difference between the two? And what exactly does an artillery officer do? where does the officer serve, in a headquarters, or on the field?
thank-you for listening

 

[mariomike]

what is the difference between the two?

This thread explains Artillery Officer.

For Artillery Soldier
https://www.google.ca/search?rls=com.microsoft%3Aen-CA%3AIE-Address&rlz=1I7GGHP_en-GBCA592&dcr=0&ei=ccUDWt2ZM-SKjwTw-I-IBg&q=site%3Aarmy.ca+artillery+&oq=site%3Aarmy.ca+artillery+&gs_l=psy-ab.3...19276.21393.0.24047.7.7.0.0.0.0.94.488.7.7.0....0...1.1.64.psy-ab..0.0.0....0.hMD6-4Y0FBQ

 

[Just_A_Guy]

do artillery officers (NOT including FSO's) stay with the big guns? ie. with the srtillery soldiers calling fire ON THE FIELD or stay inside with the computers? ???

 

[mariomike]

do artillery officers (NOT including FSO's) stay with the big guns?

If by FSO you mean Fire Support Officer, the Canadian term is Forward Observation Officer (FOO). Artillery officers in the FOO position or role do their job with forward units. Search the forums, their role and responsibilities have been discussed.

Google - site:army.ca FOO

Including this thread from yesterday: https://army.ca/forums/threads/116310.0.html

 

[Marchog]

A bit of a thread necro, but would anyone know what the typical dates are for artillery officer phase III training in the reserves? I'm hearing early May to late July. Would anyone be able to confirm this?

 

[Petard]

I'm assuming you're not talking about BMOQ, but just the Artillery officer training portion. It's now called DP 1.1, and attended by both regular force and primary reserve officer candidates. To account for the typical end of university final semesters, the general timeline is late May to July. There have been courses run during other time periods, fall and winter serials are unusual but have happened in the past

As you'll hear often on these boards, be sure you get current info from your unit on actual availability of a course and confirmation of course loading

 

[Marchog]

Right, thank you for the response. I'll figure it out from the regiment's ops (I assume that's who knows). The reason I'm only talking about Phase III (or whatever it's called now) is that I'm one of the dolts who figured he'd try to VOT/CFR while working post-university, so timing is the key factor.

 

[JwtNB]

Hey, just wondering if anyone has some pro formas that came in handy during their phase training they’d like to share.

Thanks

 

[winds_13]

JwtNB, I recommend printing your Recce Proformas (or Fire Plan Proforma, if on the FOO course) on "rite in the rain" (water proof) paper... worth every penny. Also, use a 0.9mm mechanical pencil, if not already doing so. I've never found need for any proformas or aide memoires outside of the standard ones.

 

[jimm]

Hi, can someone please tell me how long DP 1.1 is? At the conclusion of the course, would an artillery officer be considered fully qualified? Thanks!