Best trade for advancing in ranks

[Jarnhamar]

Legionnaire,
Lots of applicants get their sights set on officer right away because officer>troop. You're going to generally get treated better and paid more as an officer, but there's also a lot of responsibility flying your way at the very beginning of your career. And small mistakes are often treated as very big ones.

If you decide you want to be an officer make sure it's for the right reasons. The right reasons aren't more money and because you get promoted faster. There's not much more obnoxious in the military than someone, officer or NCO, who just cares about getting promoted fast. You'll find when people recognize that, and they usually do, they'll go out of their way to make you look bad. Or punch you in the face.

As for what trade you should take. Take something you think you'll enjoy. Your time is priceless, if you spend 15 years doing a job you hate then that's 15 years of your life you'll never get back. 15 years of hating going to work. If you love doing a goofy job that doesn't pay well and you don't get promoted fast, that's 15 years of loving your job and being happy every day. That's priceless man. Write down your hobbies and stuff you like doing then compare it to different jobs in the army.

 

[legionnaire007]

I'm truly thankful for everyone's input, it is a big, life-changing decision so I might as well take some time to reflect and choose what's right.

Well, follow your gut. Apply for Armour Officer and see where it takes you. If you find after ten years that you've peaked (or worn out) you could then transfer to something like HCA (several colleagues have done that) or Intelligence, using your Cbt Arms experience as a baseline.

Would you say it's harder to get into Intelligence "off the street"?

Legionnaire,
Lots of applicants get their sights set on officer right away because officer>troop. You're going to generally get treated better and paid more as an officer, but there's also a lot of responsibility flying your way at the very beginning of your career. And small mistakes are often treated as very big ones.

If you decide you want to be an officer make sure it's for the right reasons. The right reasons aren't more money and because you get promoted faster. There's not much more obnoxious in the military than someone, officer or NCO, who just cares about getting promoted fast. You'll find when people recognize that, and they usually do, they'll go out of their way to make you look bad. Or punch you in the face.

As for what trade you should take. Take something you think you'll enjoy. Your time is priceless, if you spend 15 years doing a job you hate then that's 15 years of your life you'll never get back. 15 years of hating going to work. If you love doing a goofy job that doesn't pay well and you don't get promoted fast, that's 15 years of loving your job and being happy every day. That's priceless man. Write down your hobbies and stuff you like doing then compare it to different jobs in the army.

Absolutely agree, thank you for pointing this out. Which army job would you say is goofy?



Hope you all have a great Sunday!

 

[brihard]

Legionnaire,
Lots of applicants get their sights set on officer right away because officer>troop. You're going to generally get treated better and paid more as an officer, but there's also a lot of responsibility flying your way at the very beginning of your career. And small mistakes are often treated as very big ones.

If you decide you want to be an officer make sure it's for the right reasons. The right reasons aren't more money and because you get promoted faster. There's not much more obnoxious in the military than someone, officer or NCO, who just cares about getting promoted fast. You'll find when people recognize that, and they usually do, they'll go out of their way to make you look bad. Or punch you in the face.

As for what trade you should take. Take something you think you'll enjoy. Your time is priceless, if you spend 15 years doing a job you hate then that's 15 years of your life you'll never get back. 15 years of hating going to work. If you love doing a goofy job that doesn't pay well and you don't get promoted fast, that's 15 years of loving your job and being happy every day. That's priceless man. Write down your hobbies and stuff you like doing then compare it to different jobs in the army.

One of my PRes infantry buddies spent a number of years trying to figure out what he wanted to be when he grew up - PRes Inf Sgt taking whatever Cl Bs he could scrape up. He ended up CTing to the regs as an image tech and basically does the travelling military photographer gig. He sees to absolutely love it, and he basically keeps getting sent where cool stuff is being done that's worth photographing. One of those guys who seems to really have life figured out now.

 

[daftandbarmy]

I'm truly thankful for everyone's input, it is a big, life-changing decision so I might as well take some time to reflect and choose what's right.



Would you say it's harder to get into Intelligence "off the street"?


Absolutely agree, thank you for pointing this out. Which army job would you say is goofy?



Hope you all have a great Sunday!

No job in the Army is goofy.

The longer I served, and the more I saw of the Army (and other parts of the CAF) outside of my own job, the more impressed I was about how much cool stuff there was to get involved in.

 

[Furniture]

No job in the Army is goofy.

The longer I served, and the more I saw of the Army (and other parts of the CAF) outside of my own job, the more impressed I was about how much cool stuff there was to get involved in.

I think more people need more exposure to what people in the CAF do outside of their trade/element.

Some of us are lucky, and get to spend a bit of time in each element, but many end up with a very myopic view of the CAF based on their experiences.

For anyone joining who wants a broad view of the CAF I think Image Tech is perhaps the best way to see everything. They do all the cool stuff, but only for a few weeks/months at a time usually.

Another great occupation for seeing all three elements is Met Tech. In my 20 years I have spent months deployed with the artillery in Kandahar, years on an airfield, and the best five years of my career on ship.

@legionnaire007 Spend some time looking at careers in the CAF both NCM and Officer. See if anything in particular seems interesting, then ask on these forums for real world experiences from those in that career field. On this site you have hundreds of years worth of experience to draw from, and most of us aren't so bad to deal with.

 

[stoker dave]

One of the reasons I joined the Navy was my desire to travel. In my short career I visited: Hawaii, Samoa, Fiji, Australia, New Zealand, up and down east and west coasts of Canada and the US, Bermuda, US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Gibraltar, Italy, Suez Canal, Djibouti, United Arab Emirates and probably a few more places that don't spring to mind.

 

[daftandbarmy]

One of the reasons I joined the Navy was my desire to travel. In my short career I visited: Hawaii, Samoa, Fiji, Australia, New Zealand, up and down east and west coasts of Canada and the US, Bermuda, US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Gibraltar, Italy, Suez Canal, Djibouti, United Arab Emirates and probably a few more places that don't spring to mind.

.... but did you need badges on your arm to remind you, or were the (nightclub) bills enough?

 

[legionnaire007]

Once again, I must thank everyone for their input, you guys are great! As of now, I feel I will apply for Intelligence/Logistics/HCA based on my experience and your advice.

And

One of the reasons I joined the Navy was my desire to travel. In my short career I visited: Hawaii, Samoa, Fiji, Australia, New Zealand, up and down east and west coasts of Canada and the US, Bermuda, US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Gibraltar, Italy, Suez Canal, Djibouti, United Arab Emirates and probably a few more places that don't spring to mind.

When it comes to the Navy, I would definitely go for it if I wasn't a family man now - I used to be a seaman before and loved it. What do the Canadian ships do in all these ports ie. why does the Navy go to all those places?

How much of the ports do you get to see, how much time would you have to explore?