More sailors needed for Canada's warships

This is what happens when the CF focus' on only one aspect of the service. We have plenty of new toys for the army, but next to nothing for the navy...

I'm split between joining the navy or the army right now. Articles like this make me want to join the navy among others (like doing exercises around Hawaii). In the navy I'd want to be a NESOP which is one of the red trades.

I think the CF needs to sell the navy better. When I tell my friends that I'm thinking of joining the navy I get one of either two responses: 1. Canada has a navy? or 2. The navy is gay.

Hmmmmmm......Army vs. Navy Sleeping in ditches vs. a warm rack every day, eating those ready to eat meals vs. food prepared by Masters with their chef papers, being deployed to Afghanistan, or some other shithole that is all sand and stone filled with people that want to kill you for helping them vs. a cruise to Hawaii, Australia, Fiji, Hong Kong, Singapore........hard choices.

Yeah, army all the way.

Yeah, army all the way.



Maybe if I joined the navy all those years ago my knees and back would feel alot better now than they normally do. Forget it, I'd rather live with the pain than be a Navy plug!

The Canadian Navy, unfortunately, takes most of its cues from the Royal Navy and Ihear it from a few folks that the CN kinda sucks because of that. I'l skip a lot of details but it's a culture thing. The US Navy (while not where I'd personally hang my hat) is noted as being a pretty cool place to be because it's easier to move up from the ranks to become an officer, enlisted folks get treated better, and the pay and benefits for the US guys far and away outstrips the pay for Canadian equivalents.

Just sayin.

I don't know if its such a bad thing that Maritime Command has much in common with the RN. The Royal Navy is one of the finest maritime combat forces in the world bar none has a history longer than that of most modern countries, over 300 years.

Yeah, army all the way.



Maybe if I joined the navy all those years ago my knees and back would feel alot better now than they normally do. Forget it, I'd rather live with the pain than be a Navy plug!
Psh Pain is just weakness leaving the body! (Just for Bart.)

Tricks, you've been hanging around with Jarheads far too much!

Saturn656 - the Royal Navy has a miserable reputation for taking care of her personnel. That's not something to be proud of nor is it something you want to emulate.

I've never heard by word of mouth, or in the news, of Canadian sailors being mistreated.

AFAIK, the Canadian Navy does not have a miserable reputation for taking care of her personnel.

I WISH I have been hanging around with Jarheads too much!

Hey Bart you are very misinformed!!!

I am a MasterSeaman Marine Engineer Technician currently at sea off the coast of Hawaii for RIMPAC and I will tell you something

I make $81000 a year with pay and allowances, and considering the value of our dollar I make a lot more than most of the US Military.

We may not have all of the social programs that the Americans do but the pay is a lot better, the ports we go to are a lot better, we are allowed to have ALCOHOL, and our living conditions on ships are so far ahead it is pathetic. Junior Ranks get treated a lot better as well as most of us are better educated, the class system we inherited from the Brits is slowly going away and we are very closely aligned with US on a lot of our policies. I could tell you more but I would be crossing the line on some security issues.

CHEERS

Sorry to disillusion you Bart but we haven't taken our cues from the RN since the late 1940's's when the Mainguy report came out. Granted our tradition and heritage is from the RN but the rest of the Canadian Navy is just that, Canadian.

Although I do agree with you that in the American Navy chances for promotion are quicker than in the Canadian Navy but that's due to a couple of reasons.

A much larger Navy, Promotion Board and exams. In the Canadian Navy promotion is based almost strictly on Performance Evaluation Reports which are then submitted to merit boards who are supposed to read between the lines and give people rankings on a promotion list. This system while good, isn't always a true indicator of knowledge and leadership abilities.

I guess the perfect system would be a combination of PER's, Exams and Boards, but other than the engineering trades needing boards for tickets and tickets for promotion we seem to be stuck at actually giving promotions based on the PER's.

As for the other things and after spending my entire adult life in the RCN, I have to agree with Stokes.

If you ever get the chance to get aboard a Canadian warship I'd advise you to do so, it'd be enlightening.

When I went to my cousin's wedding a couple years ago, we got a private tour of the HMCS Calgary, and have never been on a warship before that time, I was in complete awe of it.