Effects of the recruitment ban on the RDF

minidazzler

Poccington wrote: »

What are the areas that could do with some downsizing in the PDF?

They could fire you:D. That would save a few grand a year. Don't worry you can stay Mod, with the Coke and Hookers that go with it.


It was the DoD's and the MA's decision to halt Recruitment in the Reserves. Not the Dept. of Finance. Simple as. I viewed a Document yesterday where the Reserves are having money increased everywhere, except in Pay which is taking ~€1.2 million decrease.

It's not all bad. http://www.finance.gov.ie/documents/public%20expenditure/2009/rev2009latest.pdf Search for Defence and read on from their.

Poccington

minidazzler wrote: »

They could fire you:D. That would save a few grand a year. Don't worry you can stay Mod, with the Coke and Hookers that go with it.

If they fire me, you'd be seeing my mush on the front of the Irish Sun the following week

minidazzler

Poccington wrote: »

If they fire me, you'd be seeing my mush on the front of the Irish Sun the following week

Your now Quite Collette McBannon. Doubt they would tell your story on the front. Maybe page 17, in between the Agony Aunt and the Crossword.

strangeloop

Poccington wrote: »

What are the areas that could do with some downsizing in the PDF?

Off the top of my head, Equitation school for the cavalry - what do they bring to the defense of the country? How much do they cost? Military garrison for the Taoiseach..what do they do and for how much? Members of the defense forces or an bord snip could probably point to many areas which should be cut back on.

As greenarrow has said, people who are in the reserves would be there for the most genuine of reasons - to soldier not for money.

Local-womanizer

strangeloop wrote: »

As greenarrow has said, people who are in the reserves would be there for the most genuine of reasons - to soldier not for money.

But then thats no reason to cut back our full-time defence.As for the horse,I never liked the feckers.

There is duties in place that are there in the event of something happening,people find that to take,they see it as money wasted.As Poc has said on here,they have enough duties to be doing as it is without them being cut back.

I would start with cuts in the Dail before anything tbh,but then thats just me!

bat1830

Yes that is the date on the page name but this Q&A session is dated Friday 27th March. If ya proceed to the link it is there. No mention of Jan.

Sorry I should have made that more clear.

Oh and if i am infact mistaken i appoligize
Ah right well then thats that if its from DOD roll on 2011

goldie fish

strangeloop wrote: »

Off the top of my head, Equitation school for the cavalry - what do they bring to the defense of the country? How much do they cost? Military garrison for the Taoiseach..what do they do and for how much? Members of the defense forces or an bord snip could probably point to many areas which should be cut back on.

As greenarrow has said, people who are in the reserves would be there for the most genuine of reasons - to soldier not for money.

The Pony club isn't cav. They wear S&T collar badges. Irish Army cav have never used horseys. Only Iron.
The Grn MPs for Govt buildings are too small to even be a burden.

Oh and round these parts it's "Defence."

Hard Larry

strangeloop wrote: »

Off the top of my head, Equitation school for the cavalry - what do they bring to the defense of the country? How much do they cost? Military garrison for the Taoiseach..what do they do and for how much? Members of the defense forces or an bord snip could probably point to many areas which should be cut back on.

As greenarrow has said, people who are in the reserves would be there for the most genuine of reasons - to soldier not for money.

When I joined the Army I was 18 yrs old, I too volunteered and I give up plenty of my free time for my country. More than the average person would be happy with.

I joined the Army at the beginning of the Celtic Tiger years people said I was mad for joining as the money was crap.

The wages I get are a huge bonus but if you think I joined up for the money then you need to change that argument mate. Do you think when I get a detail off a superior the first thing I ask is "whats in it for me?" or "am I getting any extra money?"

Just because I get a wage for doing my job doesn't mean I wouldn't do it for free if it was made completly voluntary tomorrow.

This argument of the RDF being superior to the Army/NS/AC due to the time they volunteer IMO is uncomparable. I wasn't forced to put in an application to join and I wasn't forced to take an Oath to my country. I'm not forced to wake up at 0430 in the morning to get ready for a CIT, but I still do it. Do I want anything in return? Plenty but if I haven't got it in the last 10 years then its not going to happen in the current climate

bada-bing

minidazzler wrote: »

She's alright lookin too.:(

What the hell has that got to do with anything? God, this is the army you are supposed to be joining, not some fashion parade

bada-bing

minidazzler wrote: »

On the upside it leaves me free to do what/who I want without the possibility of my family finding out quote]

To do who you want?? you write things like this and you wonder why the rdf gets a bad name.. :mad:

Poccington

strangeloop wrote: »

Off the top of my head, Equitation school for the cavalry - what do they bring to the defense of the country? How much do they cost? Military garrison for the Taoiseach..what do they do and for how much? Members of the defense forces or an bord snip could probably point to many areas which should be cut back on.

As greenarrow has said, people who are in the reserves would be there for the most genuine of reasons - to soldier not for money.

The Horsey School isn't part of the Cavalry Corps. The amount of people pulling duties at Government Buildings is so small they're hardly a drain on the budget. So when you spoke of all these cutbacks being made, you couldn't actually mention any real examples... Good stuff.

Also, if I joined the Army solely for the money well then I'd be a very disappointed young lad. I dunno where you get this idea that the RDF are somehow pure of heart because they give some spare time to the DF.

bada-bing

bada-bing wrote: »

What the hell has that got to do with anything? God, this is the army you are supposed to be joining, not some fashion parade

I take it you're female.......... O_o

bada-bing wrote: »

To do who you want?? you write things like this and you wonder why the rdf gets a bad name.. :mad:

Erm, he's referring to the advantages of not having a brother serving with him in the unit. Methinks he was jesting. On both counts. Also he is male, and such behaviour is to be.......well..........expected.

*shrugs*

....

....


*backs away slowwwly from crazy angry lady.......*

minidazzler

bada-bing wrote: »

What the hell has that got to do with anything? God, this is the army you are supposed to be joining, not some fashion parade

I'm already in. Nothing major got to do with it, I'm an equal oppertunist:D.

Jesting obviously goes over your head. It's a mess. Innuendo is what make's the RDF great. Are you RDF? Ever been on a camp with RDF, they can be ALOT of fun.

bada-bing wrote: »

minidazzler wrote: »

On the upside it leaves me free to do what/who I want without the possibility of my family finding out

To do who you want?? you write things like this and you wonder why the rdf gets a bad name.. :mad:

The RDF Don't have a bad name for people getting off with each other on camp. In fact, before now I have never heard anyone complain about hearing that they do. It's what happens when you put a bunch of 17-22 year-olds together. Obviously not everyone. But a good few. Everyone goes to RDF, to some degree, for the fun. This is one aspect of the Fun. When all the work is said and done, the boys and girls have their fun.

segaBOY

minidazzler wrote: »

I'm already in. Nothing major got to do with it, I'm an equal oppertunist:D.

Jesting obviously goes over your head. It's a mess. Innuendo is what make's the RDF great. Are you RDF? Ever been on a camp with RDF, they can be ALOT of fun.



The RDF Don't have a bad name for people getting off with each other on camp. In fact, before now I have never heard anyone complain about hearing that they do. It's what happens when you put a bunch of 17-22 year-olds together. Obviously not everyone. But a good few. Everyone goes to RDF, to some degree, for the fun. This is one aspect of the Fun. When all the work is said and done, the boys and girls have their fun.

While that is the brutal honest truth you make it sound like a fun holiday camp which it is obviously not.

I mean a full fry for breakfast... bit of marching....full lunch...bit more marching...full dinner and desert...bit of hurrying up and waiting...kick about for PT...retiring to billets to get changed for a bit of subsidised drinking in the mess and all in a different town...and getting paid for it too...

Actually on second thoughts carry on.

minidazzler

segaBOY wrote: »

While that is the brutal honest truth you make it sound like a fun holiday camp which it is obviously not.

I mean a full fry for breakfast... bit of marching....full lunch...bit more marching...full dinner and desert...bit of hurrying up and waiting...kick about for PT...retiring to billets to get changed for a bit of subsidised drinking in the mess and all in a different town...and getting paid for it too...

Actually on second thoughts carry on.

It really depends on the type of camp though.

Recruit Camp - Lots of Marching and Classes. Finish at 6 get kit ready, all of 25 mins given how little kit we have for then. Go down to the Mess and hang out, maybe get a score if your on the ball.

Duties Camp - Lots of Duties little time to play.

Artillery Camp - Do the Job, Play away at night but be on the ball the next morning.

The Infantry Camp I did last year with my Unit and the Cadet School. - Work work work.

I like the Work work work mentality, but the fact of the matter is, it's not needed for most type's of camps because all drills should be perfect anyway. So it's just Get the Job done, sort out your kit, sort out anything else, then just relax.

I hate to say it's like a summer camp, but it depends on the type of camp really. Recruit camp is Basically the Gaeltacht with gun's. Just substitute the Mandatory Gaeilge with "Mandatory" drill and Dicipline. I use mandatory loosely though, given that in my recruit camp we had at least 12 people go on either LD or ED in the 2 weeks. Just in my Platoon. And it was by no means hard!!!

But this is getting off topic. I apologise.

greenarrow

I think that this recruitment "freeze" will be a good thing for the RDF for the following reaons:

1.) With less people about it will make it easy to identify who is to blame when things go wrong. And should lead to greater accountability in the RDF because I am led to believe that there is nowhere near the degree of accountability for people not doing their job/role as is the case for the PDF.

2.) It should see more concentration on training for the personnel currently there. Therefore, a better trained element for the DF to what currently exists as the RDF.

3.) You can get people up to a standard fitness level now. No excuse. And anyone who doesn't make the grade - out you go. Level 4 is easy to achieve.

4.) Possibly lesss competition for places on courses too, which should see more people doing more courses in the interim. And then becoming more rounded and trained accordingly.


I could be wrong on these points though, but its my opinion. Personally I think the entire org should be integrated though. Albeit, with proper syllabus and standards across the board.
Perhaps, now would be the time to implement that aspect of it?

bada-bing

I think you are right, now would be an ideal time to get rid of all the wasters, all the officers that can't run to catch a bus, all the people only hanging around for the cheap beer on camps, all the girls who wear their hair down and make up with the uniform .. cutting down the numbers in the RDF can only be a good thing if it means that more training can be achieved to a higher level. Perhaps annual training camps can be made more realistic, more similar to either two weeks of following a typical cadet school syllabys, or two weeks of a PDF recruit syllabus, with realistic timings and breaks (or lack thereof ). The benefits of this would be two fold; it would give people thinking of joining the PDF a more realistic expectation of what lies ahead; it would also serve to weed out any candidates who find it "too hard".
On an aside I have no problem with all the "boys and girls" having their fun if thats what they wana do as long as they arn't doing it in the back of a truck on the main square or anywhere else within earshot of my bedroom:rolleyes:

minidazzler

bada-bing wrote: »

I think you are right, now would be an ideal time to get rid of all the wasters, all the officers that can't run to catch a bus, all the people only hanging around for the cheap beer on camps, all the girls who wear their hair down and make up with the uniform .. cutting down the numbers in the RDF can only be a good thing if it means that more training can be achieved to a higher level. Perhaps annual training camps can be made more realistic, more similar to either two weeks of following a typical cadet school syllabys, or two weeks of a PDF recruit syllabus, with realistic timings and breaks (or lack thereof ). The benefits of this would be two fold; it would give people thinking of joining the PDF a more realistic expectation of what lies ahead; it would also serve to weed out any candidates who find it "too hard".
On an aside I have no problem with all the "boys and girls" having their fun if thats what they wana do as long as they arn't doing it in the back of a truck on the main square or anywhere else within earshot of my bedroom:rolleyes:

I could be wrong here, but do the PDF not repeat alot of stuff in Recruit training? given it is 6 months long? I know you can't possibly cut down the Recruit Sylabus for PDF down to 2 weeks. Thats why the RDF sylabus is totally different and reduced to 2 weeks. It's just Marching and Rifle Skills. With a little Discipline thrown in as well. Having only a few short breaks would be more suitable I agree though. On my Recruit camp I found the Breaks were way too long.

Oh, and to the second point, Trucks aren't parked on the Square in the Glen! I just hope your not in D lines!:D

Poccington

minidazzler wrote: »

I could be wrong here, but do the PDF not repeat alot of stuff in Recruit training? given it is 6 months long? I know you can't possibly cut down the Recruit Sylabus for PDF down to 2 weeks. Thats why the RDF sylabus is totally different and reduced to 2 weeks. It's just Marching and Rifle Skills. With a little Discipline thrown in as well. Having only a few short breaks would be more suitable I agree though. On my Recruit camp I found the Breaks were way too long.

Oh, and to the second point, Trucks aren't parked on the Square in the Glen! I just hope your not in D lines!:D

No, not much is repeated. Stuff such as Fieldcraft and Tactics is obviously covered and practiced as much as possible but with regards the syllabus itself, it's fairly full.

bada-bing

.. maybe I didn't explain what I meant there very well, I didnt mean cover the same syllabus only in two weeks:eek:!!! I meant follow a typical syllabus with regards to the amount of lectures, PT, cleaning of kit, cleaning of billets, cleaning of the lines, less breaks, and considerably less time spent in the mess:p!!
I think this would be really good for the organisation as it would be more challenging and more realistic.

minidazzler

Poccington wrote: »

No, not much is repeated. Stuff such as Fieldcraft and Tactics is obviously covered and practiced as much as possible but with regards the syllabus itself, it's fairly full.

That would still be impossible to chop down then. The RDF sylabus for recruits is grand at the moment for what it needs. If they could build in some fitness brilliant, if they could throw in an introduction to some skills great. But There is no time in it to put in much else.

Even though spending 5 days at the start "learning" to march is fairly annoying. Especially when my marching had been perfect for 6 months before Recruit camp, there were some people who had been in 5 months and couldn't come to attention properly!!!

If Mod 1 of the RDF Recruit sylabus was carried out properly then Mod 2 could actually have alot more fit into it.

I for one would love if they had enough PT that you end up fitter after than you were going in.

(saying that, I'm hoping I'll have done enough *before* I get there)

edit: any links online to the various fitness level standards would be well appreciated.

Local-womanizer

http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055548677&page=5

Great stuff there from Concussion in case you dident see it seaslacker.

I have one word, and the word is "Doh!"


thanks womaniser :-)

mercucio

strangeloop wrote: »

Off the top of my head, Equitation school for the cavalry - what do they bring to the defense of the country? How much do they cost? Military garrison for the Taoiseach..what do they do and for how much? Members of the defense forces or an bord snip could probably point to many areas which should be cut back on.

As greenarrow has said, people who are in the reserves would be there for the most genuine of reasons - to soldier not for money.

hmmm so these units could be dropped, equitation school has enhanced irelands rep further than the fca ever could and could you tell me what do the fca bring to the defence of the state?i would rather see the garda reserve and the fca dropped sooner than any of there full time brothers, it wouldn't hurt either orgainastion if there reserve element were dropped and save them sum money so maybe they could still recruit, so ask anybody would they prefer a full time guard or a part-time one and the same for the df, we all know the answer.

minidazzler

mercucio wrote: »

hmmm so these units could be dropped, equitation school has enhanced irelands rep further than the fca ever could and could you tell me what do the fca bring to the defence of the state?i would rather see the garda reserve and the fca dropped sooner than any of there full time brothers, it wouldn't hurt either orgainastion if there reserve element were dropped and save them sum money so maybe they could still recruit, so ask anybody would they prefer a full time guard or a part-time one and the same for the df, we all know the answer.

Nothing, there is no such creature.

It wouldn't hurt the Organisation dramatically, but it would have an effect, given the amount of Cadre that RTU with no post's for CQ's and such.

They would not be allowed to recruit even if the RDF was disbanded, recruitment is suspended by the Dept. Of Finance, not the DoD.

Personally though, I just couldn't care less if the Horsey lot stay or go. Mercucio, are you one of the Horsey boys by any chance?

mercucio

minidazzler wrote: »

Nothing, there is no such creature.

It wouldn't hurt the Organisation dramatically, but it would have an effect, given the amount of Cadre that RTU with no post's for CQ's and such.

They would not be allowed to recruit even if the RDF was disbanded, recruitment is suspended by the Dept. Of Finance, not the DoD.

Personally though, I just couldn't care less if the Horsey lot stay or go. Mercucio, are you one of the Horsey boys by any chance?

No mate, i'm 5th batt and theres not that much cadre staff!
But could you point out the need for say the fca and the gs reserve?

martinr5232

If you were 5th BTN you would know that there is no such thing as the FCA.

minidazzler

mercucio wrote: »

No mate, i'm 5th batt and theres not that much cadre staff!
But could you point out the need for say the fca and the gs reserve?

I never said there was a need for us, but it's nice to have us so that we can do various Duties in places where it would be better for the PDF to be on the Guns or whatever rather than doing guard duties. Among other thing's. It's not like we are that big of a Burden.

The GS Reserve, I don't see any need whatsoever for.


There are a fair amount of Cadre, If every Coy has 2 and there are at least 30 separate Coy's in The Southern Brigade alone, that's 60. But alot of Unit's actually have 3 or 4 Cadre Members.

There could be anywhere from 120 to 180 Cadre in the Country. And that's not even including Officers attached to RDF Units. That's more than a whole Coy of Just Cadre, most of whom are NCO's. RTU all of them, and try to find jobs for them!!!

Poccington

martinr5232 wrote: »

If you were 5th BTN you would know that there is no such thing as the FCA.

There's plenty of people in the PDF that still refer to the Reserves as the FCA.

mercucio

martinr5232 wrote: »

If you were 5th BTN you would know that there is no such thing as the FCA.

your right the pdf call them handbags or baggers or sandbaggers, you can take your pick from that, i'm in 6yrs now and beleave me friend they are not called the reserves or the rdf by members of the pdf, i was out with the reserve infantry unit in mckee a yr or so ago.

i was very impressed by there drills but 2 people went sick on a 24hr ex which was a shame, that let the side down a bit but i thought every job has the bad apples!!right?

well now we kicked into a route march with them (a platoon) my god, i have never seen such bitching and illdispline (oh by the way,we are in the glen, not some mountain,near the back gate going to the top of camp) 300meters into it people start falling out, nco's kick in, a fight breaks out between a nco and a pte, we stop it, then out of no where one lad throws a shovel and refuses to go on anymore so we tell him we are just going to the cook house (50m away r so) and then its over, he gets up and finishs!

even doing sec attacks with them you could here them bitching,back answering and just being d**kheads, disband them theres no need for them, i'm sure there is good people in there but ive met very few, my cs asked would i do another wkend with them,said no way, by the way is there any fca lads who rember that??what was the story with all that?you all seemed to h8 each other

I smell thread creepage.

Bit of a bitching about the RDF there mercucio. What's that got to do with the effects of the recruitment ban on on it? -_-

*apologies for the backseat modding*

minidazzler

mercucio wrote: »

your right the pdf call them handbags or baggers or sandbaggers, you can take your pick from that, i'm in 6yrs now and beleave me friend they are not called the reserves or the rdf by members of the pdf, i was out with the reserve infantry unit in mckee a yr or so ago.

i was very impressed by there drills but 2 people went sick on a 24hr ex which was a shame, that let the side down a bit but i thought every job has the bad apples!!right?

well now we kicked into a route march with them (a platoon) my god, i have never seen such bitching and illdispline (oh by the way,we are in the glen, not some mountain,near the back gate going to the top of camp) 300meters into it people start falling out, nco's kick in, a fight breaks out between a nco and a pte, we stop it, then out of no where one lad throws a shovel and refuses to go on anymore so we tell him we are just going to the cook house (50m away r so) and then its over, he gets up and finishs!

even doing sec attacks with them you could here them bitching,back answering and just being d**kheads, disband them theres no need for them, i'm sure there is good people in there but ive met very few, my cs asked would i do another wkend with them,said no way, by the way is there any fca lads who rember that??what was the story with all that?you all seemed to h8 each other

I couldn't give a sh1t what you call us. But that is your experience of 1 unit. And a Dublin Infantry Bn at that. RDF Infantry has a way of attracting walt's. While not always, there are a fair few of them. But that's beside the point, you have experience of 1 Unit and you think we are all sh1te. That has to be one of the most Narrowminded things I have ever heard.

The lads in the RDF Unit not getting on I can't understand though, or the lack of discipline, no matter how friendly I am with my NCO's in real life, while in Uniform it's to do what we are doing, no bitching, no moaning.

martinr5232

mercucio wrote: »

your right the pdf call them handbags or baggers or sandbaggers, you can take your pick from that, i'm in 6yrs now and beleave me friend they are not called the reserves or the rdf by members of the pdf, i was out with the reserve infantry unit in mckee a yr or so ago.

i was very impressed by there drills but 2 people went sick on a 24hr ex which was a shame, that let the side down a bit but i thought every job has the bad apples!!right?

well now we kicked into a route march with them (a platoon) my god, i have never seen such bitching and illdispline (oh by the way,we are in the glen, not some mountain,near the back gate going to the top of camp) 300meters into it people start falling out, nco's kick in, a fight breaks out between a nco and a pte, we stop it, then out of no where one lad throws a shovel and refuses to go on anymore so we tell him we are just going to the cook house (50m away r so) and then its over, he gets up and finishs!

even doing sec attacks with them you could here them bitching,back answering and just being d**kheads, disband them theres no need for them, i'm sure there is good people in there but ive met very few, my cs asked would i do another wkend with them,said no way, by the way is there any fca lads who rember that??what was the story with all that?you all seemed to h8 each other

I take it you are on about an Infantry unit out of Mckee if so could you PM me the details of this exercise.

When was it ?
Was it Integrated ?
What was the purpose of the exercise ?
Was it one company involved or was there personell taken from the BTN to make up this platoon ?

Not that I wouldnt believe you just I would like to find out for myself.

Poccington

Lads, take the penis measuring to another thread. This is about a Recruitment Ban, not how people perform on an Ex.

BigDuffman

Mercucio is right to broadcast his experience as I'm sure anyone in the RDF would advertise if they saw a PDF lads getting up to this ridiculous behaviour. That coy are an embarrassment to the organization.

How can the RDF expect to be taken seriously and having their existence justified when displays like that are common place.

Get rid of the shams and cowboy companies. The support of the PDF is viatl in order to get the training up to scratch which in turn will give the minister a reason to sustain and fund the reserve.

iceage

Cough, Cough, Collective constructive punishment, cough, cough. It can be a real incentive if it is applied in the right fashion.

(Does not entail essays or written meanderings of the what, why, where, who, when, reasons for the incentive :rolleyes:) In other words you were given an order, either STFU and do it or face the consequences. Simple really.

As far as the ban is concerned, there are plenty of guys out there at the minute who are gagging to fill your boots, I know a few of them and this applies to both the PDF and the RDF. Think on.

BigDuffman

Unfortunately collective constructive punishments dont work when applied to an entire organisation?:)

mercucio

martinr5232 wrote: »

I take it you are on about an Infantry unit out of Mckee if so could you PM me the details of this exercise.

When was it ?
Was it Integrated ?
What was the purpose of the exercise ?
Was it one company involved or was there personell taken from the BTN to make up this platoon ?

Not that I wouldnt believe you just I would like to find out for myself.

1/Around a yr or so ago, can't give dates
2/No idea
3/whats the purpose of any excerise!!
4/Again i have no idea

It was the platoon attached to the 5th (the best of that unit,:D)
I wasn't ds'ing on it so i don't know any details, i was just told your going away with the fca for the wkend, thats it, but as far as i know that platoon thats attached with the 5th only have done 2 excerises with the pdf ds'ing on it so i'm sure some out there can find the dates out,i don't realy care! I was just trying to show why i have a problem with the org and think that they shouldn't be allowed to recruit at all, even when the ban is over.

(now before people start lashing me out of it and telling me this and that i'm useing my ex to judge,the pictures i see on bebo of sum fca flutes and even that d**khead who has his uniform on gumtree for sale and i hear theres somebody on ebay as well,i don't know if there the same person but this reflects on the fca as a whole,thats my 2 cents and i'm very sorry to go off subject but please don't reply here if you want to reply back to this your more than welcome to private message me,cheers lads.)

greenarrow

Mercucio,

Just to educate you (and I am PDF too by the way) the FCÁ is called the RDF now. Has been for a number of years.

Your recollection of events and your opinion of the RDF shows how little you know of the organisation. And reflects on your level of professionalism to the black beret.

If you were a halfway decent soldier, you would be willing to offer your input to bring these guys forward, not put them down. I think your story is a tad far fetched in my opinion, but I wasn't there so I will have to give you the benefit of the doubt as to whether or not you are a walt or a bag basher for the sake of it.


In answer to your question, there is one purpose that the RDF serves. It allows people who are career minded and interested in pursuing a number of careers (DFB, Án Garda Síochana, prison service, ambulance service, PDF...etc.)
With extra points awarded to people at the interview stages if they have RDF service. So in terms of it serving a purpose, it gives a good grounding opportunity to people with their heads screwed on who are young and mature enough to go the right way about pursuing a decent career in life.


And areas where the DOD could make cuts- what about the manpower office? I would imagine that it is now "redundant" for the short term. At the very least it could be downsized while the recruitment ban is on. Which would save a handsome few pennies too.

Poccington

greenarrow wrote: »

In answer to your question, there is one purpose that the RDF serves. It allows people who are career minded and interested in pursuing a number of careers (DFB, Án Garda Síochana, prison service, ambulance service, PDF...etc.)
With extra points awarded to people at the interview stages if they have RDF service. So in terms of it serving a purpose, it gives a good grounding opportunity to people with their heads screwed on who are young and mature enough to go the right way about pursuing a decent career in life.

So the RDF in it's current form is ok because it gives people a hand getting into other jobs?

Oh lord.

greenarrow

Poccington wrote: »

So the RDF in it's current form is ok because it gives people a hand getting into other jobs?

Oh lord.

Yes and no to that point. What I meant was that it has an attraction for bringing in people of good character who are looking to go somewhere in life. And these people have a tendency to bring something to units they go to. And maintain a strong focus and proper attitude.

The downside to this though is that they are using the org as a stepping stone. So they are never there for a lengthy period of time to allow for a unit to keep hold of them and grow.

Its a common factor in RDF life from what I am led to believe. The RDF in its current form is not good enough if you ask me.
My opinion of it is that the entire mentality of it is to develop it solely around infantry (which is the nature of the DF) but its corps units are never given a look in. I know that we are not short of infantry in the PDF, but we are short specialists. And the DF is short on people in these areas. Whereas in corps units, its possible to find people more qualified than their PDF counterparts because they have more experience.
I am referring there to specialists such as engineers, EMTs, etc. because their civvie job allows them much better opportunities/experiences to enhance what they know and put it into practice.

A civilian doctor working in a Dublin A&E dept would have more experience than a PDF doctor would. Likewise a civilain EMT,a telecommunications engineer...and so on. The corps units in the RDF could compliment the PDF in some of these roles. That is an area I see the RDF in its current state as falling down, and I think a lot more investment from the bidget it is allocated needs to go here. As it stands, the corps units come second.

minidazzler

greenarrow wrote: »

Yes and no to that point. What I meant was that it has an attraction for bringing in people of good character who are looking to go somewhere in life. And these people have a tendency to bring something to units they go to. And maintain a strong focus and proper attitude.

The downside to this though is that they are using the org as a stepping stone. So they are never there for a lengthy period of time to allow for a unit to keep hold of them and grow.

Its a common factor in RDF life from what I am led to believe. The RDF in its current form is not good enough if you ask me.
My opinion of it is that the entire mentality of it is to develop it solely around infantry (which is the nature of the DF) but its corps units are never given a look in. I know that we are not short of infantry in the PDF, but we are short specialists. And the DF is short on people in these areas. Whereas in corps units, its possible to find people more qualified than their PDF counterparts because they have more experience.
I am referring there to specialists such as engineers, EMTs, etc. because their civvie job allows them much better opportunities/experiences to enhance what they know and put it into practice.

A civilian doctor working in a Dublin A&E dept would have more experience than a PDF doctor would. Likewise a civilain EMT,a telecommunications engineer...and so on. The corps units in the RDF could compliment the PDF in some of these roles. That is an area I see the RDF in its current state as falling down, and I think a lot more investment from the bidget it is allocated needs to go here. As it stands, the corps units come second.

Say you work in IT, would you want to go to Sigs and do IT work there as part of your Hobby?

I can't see the draw in doing your Job as part of your Hobby.

If there was a Job in the RDF where you Scan Tickets you can bet I would steer well clear of it, even if I am astoundingly good at it.:D

pmg58

minidazzler wrote: »

Say you work in IT, would you want to go to Sigs and do IT work there as part of your Hobby?

I can't see the draw in doing your Job as part of your Hobby.

I think it depends on the person, some would and some wouldnt. To a certain extent it probably depends on the qualification, for example a truck driver may prefer to be an infantry man rather than spending his weekends driving trucks, but a civvy engineer would probably find his job very different to that of an engineer officer.

minidazzler wrote: »

If there was a Job in the RDF where you Scan Tickets you can bet I would steer well clear of it, even if I am astoundingly good at it.:D

Yeah but even if you did, you wouldn't be qualified to do it without doing the course first! Seriously though, there must be merit in the DF recognising more civilian qualifications, wouldnt it save a fortune?

greenarrow

pmg58 wrote: »

I think it depends on the person, some would and some wouldnt. To a certain extent it probably depends on the qualification, for example a truck driver may prefer to be an infantry man rather than spending his weekends driving trucks, but a civvy engineer would probably find his job very different to that of an engineer officer.



Yeah but even if you did, you wouldn't be qualified to do it without doing the course first! Seriously though, there must be merit in the DF recognising more civilian qualifications, wouldnt it save a fortune?

I think that the DF would save a fortune in recognising civilain qualifications. In addition to saving an enormous amount of man hours and time, by merely exercising common sense.
I have never understood the point in saying that because someone has x qualification, because they didn't do it in the army its not valid. When the training consists of the exact same structure and the qualifications are the very same. (EMT IN CIVVIE STREET = EMT IN THE PDF, DOCTOR IN CIVVIE STREET = DOCTOR IN PDF, TELECOMMUNICATIONS ENGINEER IN CIVVIE STREET = TELECOMMUNICATIONS ENGINEER IN PDF...etc)

Its a redundant exercise, for the most part, to put someone through a course they have already done. And unprofessional not to acknowledge that they are capable and qualified to do the job too.


With regards the question of whether or not someone would be willing to do the same role in the RDF that they do in civvie street, I would say it is up to the individual concerned. There are IT engineers in other units apart from CIS in the RDF for example.

pmg58

Doctors are recognised by the DF (they dont train their own!) as are certain types of engineer, although I dont think this includes Telecommunications Engineers. Actually this has gone way off topic.

Donny5

pmg58 wrote: »

Doctors are recognised by the DF (they dont train their own!) as are certain types of engineer, although I dont think this includes Telecommunications Engineers. Actually this has gone way off topic.

Don't be silly! Sure amn't I only just off my 30 day Doctor's Course. Great craic, it was. Operation in the Glen, and everything:

greenarrow

Donny5 wrote: »

Don't be silly! Sure amn't I only just off my 30 day Doctor's Course. Great craic, it was. Operation in the Glen, and everything:

The blue things connected to the red thing...the red things connected to my wrist watch...uh oh.

Yeah I would agree that this topic has gone off topic...which is always the case with these things.

greenarrow

mercucio wrote:

My god i don't know where to begin!!
well 1st let me say its serving purpose isn't ment to be for the indivudial to get a good start at a job, its for the pdf, which it doesn't serve!!!ok!! so thats the biggist reason there, now listen up like a good chap the guards don't give extra points for the fca,i know this because my sister is one the rest i don't know about,now as for the manpower office, everytime ive been there,guess how many people are there 1,yes 1,(now im sure theres more but not much) wow that would save a lot of money,also there are 4,000 people in for the army in the easter brigade and they all have to be processed,think how many will be there when the ban is over!!oooh you haven't thought this through,ok manpower is back open,there you go you 4 ,deal with 10,000 people r 20,000 r even 30,000,also i'm a proud exmember of the 11th fld eng(fca)so yes i do know what there like,you come across as being young,IF you are pdf your one of them new lads that plays xbox live with your old bagger mates who dreamed of being in the army but then realised wow when i run i get tired but how come this doesn't happen in my games,so what unit do you belong to?

mercucio wrote:

Good lad with the name calling, i don't do the whole internet hardman thing, my ex is 6280 so excerise your 3 stripes,good lad.ooh and i'm on leave monday, i'm in tuesday.

I know a lot of people who hate the RDF (not me personally), but the thing they hate more are ex-RDF/FCÁ who seem to look down on their former comrades and forget that they once shared the same lines as them. And turn their backs on the RDF unit they once belonged to. They are also the kind of people who don't like to broadcast the fact they once wore a green beret too.
And I know of one or three in McKee Mercucio....So I am sure they will have a nice time finding out your "secret shame". How is that for exercising three stripes?

Poccington

Lads, we'll have less of the "Oh I'm gonna ring up your Unit cause I'm a certain rank blah blah blah" ****e that's going on here.

I couldn't give a **** if you're the Chief of Staff, it doesn't fly here.