Posted by Muppet from Canada on April 15, 2021 at 09:09:48:
In Reply to: Re: So why aren't they doing this NOW with reservists? posted by Greg Wool on April 15, 2021 at 00:32:10:
As for increasing manpower in other respects, yeah...I do believe that is the point.
NCO's and Officers...why do you think the CF is top heavy? Even the militia units used to have more Officers and Snr NCO's than normally would be needed for the number of Ptes/Cpls. If push came to shove the plan was that the senior positions which required the knowledge and experience would already be in place and the guys who were doing the mob training would be down in the Pte ranks. In my mind this is also the reason that there is the big pay jump (or used to be prior to the latest pay raises which have shrank it somewhat) between Pte and Cpl. If a QL3 private hits the road it's not the loss of training and experience that a QL5 Cpl is. You would also see greater reliance on Cpls as Jnr Ldrs than you do now where the rank is primarily just a pay level.
Poorly trained and inexperience troops do take proportionatly higher casualties but since the Govt (and Cdn public) isn't willing to shell out the bucks to maintain a decent manning level of the Reg Force this is the price that would have to be paid.
Why aren't they doing this now with the reservists? I would hazard a guess that if there ever was a General Mob you'd be seeing a whole bunch of promoting going on. We have the time (although maybe you don't) to take the 12 weeks to make you a rounded Supply Clerk or Gunner so that when we no longer have the time you're ready to lead the guys who haven't got the "complete" training.