Military Life

The military offers an exciting career that is full of challenges and opportunities. Although members sign up to be medical technicians or a materials management technician, before they are either of those trades, they are a soldier first. Basic Military Occupation training provides them with the knowledge and skills to be a soldier. A soldier signs up for unlimited liability, knowing that they will be moved to wherever the military needs them, and they will deploy wherever the military tells them. Military life is accepted and endured by the whole family and without their love, acceptance, and support it becomes very difficult to maintain. Let’s dive into the life of a military member and how postings, exercises, operations, and deployments take shape.

Watch Life in the Canadian Army (8 mins) on YouTube

Postings

A posting is a change in geographical location to a new base or unit. The purpose of military postings is to ensure that personnel are strategically positioned to fulfill their responsibilities and support the overall mission of the military. They often come with a change in rank, change in trade and include a host of new skills to learn. While postings can be an exciting time in one’s career, they are stressful and cause significant strain on the family. Spouses will often have to leave jobs or locations where there are plenty of job opportunities to move to more remote communities where fewer family services are available. Children are uprooted and moved to new schools, leaving old friends behind.

As described in the video above, after a recruit completes the basic military occupation qualification course, regular force members are posted to their first unit. This means that the CAF will assist the member with moving from their place of permanent residence to the base they are posted to. This initial posting will last the longest as they work through their initial trades training and qualifications. Postings typically happen from March to July and usually are based on that member being promoted to the next rank. A member can be posted to any base in the country where there is a position for them in the rank they are obtaining.

Postings out of basic training can last between two and five years for non-commissioned members and between two to three years for officers. Members who wish to rise through the ranks quickly can expect shorter and quicker postings throughout their career.

At the end of a military career a member may take their ‘last posting’, which entails them moving back to where their permanent residence was once located.

Training Exercises and Operations

Training Exercises

An exercise in the military is the act of practicing for a role in an operation for an extended period of time. An exercise can be anywhere from one week to six months (or more) in duration, but exercises are carried out within Canada or a peaceful country where there is no enemy threat to military personnel.

One of the biggest exercises in Canada called ‘Exercise Maple Resolve’ prepares Army brigades to deploy in the coming year. Held in Alberta it can last from anywhere between three weeks and three months depending on your trade and your involvement with the exercise and any follow on taskings that may take place.

Watch Defence Team News | 22 March 2023 (4 mins) on YouTube

Operations

An operation involves the organized movement of personnel, equipment, and resources of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) to a location, either within Canada or internationally, for a specific mission or operation. Deployments can vary in scope and purpose, including peacekeeping, combat operations, humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, training exercises, or support for international alliances such as NATO or the United Nations.

Before a unit deploys on operation there are check boxes that need to be completed to ensure that they are prepared for the coming task. Operations are held in geographic locations with all kinds of threat levels from the benign to the higher threat levels like Afghanistan. Operations in Canada are based around disaster relief like Operation Lentus (Op. Lentus) ongoing yearly operation that provides support to communities affected by forest fires, flooding, and other natural disasters in Canada.

Whether on exercise or carrying out duties for an operation there is an inherent level of exposure to threat across all taskings in the CAF. A list of current operations that are ongoing through the world for Canadian Forces personnel can be found on the Current Operations list from National Defense.

Watch OP Lentus (4 mins) on YouTube

Taskings and Career Courses

While operations and training exercises take the main spotlight for public affairs in the Canadian Armed Forces, they often overshadow the fact that military members are constantly away from home for other factors not related to carrying out Canada’s mission. When not preparing for deployments or being on deployment, members are working on:

• career courses
• occupational specialty courses
• engaging with the community to help move into the next rank

Career courses refer to structured training programs designed to develop specific skills, knowledge, and leadership abilities necessary for progression in a member’s military career. These courses are critical components of a service member’s professional development and are tailored to enhance their competence and readiness for higher responsibilities and roles within the CAF. These courses are courses such as primary leadership qualification, junior officer development, and more. They require the member to complete a distance education portion of training at the home unit and then an ‘in-house’ portion at one of the leadership schools across Canada.

Occupational specialty courses are a way for military members to gain other skills within the trade they work in. For Avionics Technicians this can be courses like high reliability soldering or night vision goggle repair, whereas for other trades it may be third line repair of engines and transmissions. Occupational specialty courses are carried out at specific units across Canada, resulting in a short duration posting from their main base, are often shorter than career courses and can be done only at specific times in the year.

Education in the CAF will be covered in more detail in module 2, giving a better picture of what is expected from military personnel and how these courses are broken down.

Attribution

Except where otherwise noted, this page was created by Jason Kerr and is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0