Recruiting: A two-year commitment... from you, and from us

Combat intelligence is an exclusive military trade, one requiring more training than many of the others. While the number of intelligence specialists in the Canadian military is growing, it is still small... only a few hundred across Canada. All our members must qualify as trained soldiers first, as well as Intelligence Operators. Where a person joining a reserve unit can generally be trained to a basic skill level in 1-2 years of part-time employment, soldiers wanting to be Intelligence Operators require two to three. As well, because our skills are in demand on every foreign deployment, we are specifically looking for new members who are able to commit to an overseas deployment at some point in their future, and train with that deployment as their goal.

Air patrol, Haiti (image: CF Combat Camera)

Much of our training must be conducted outside of Toronto, at other army bases, and presently runs only in the summer periods. For this reason, army reserve training is ideal for people about to enrol or enrolled in a local post-secondary institution (university or college), are presently between careers, or work for an employer that recognizes the value of military reserve service.

Our commitment to you is this. If accepted for military intelligence training prior to Nov. 30, we will undertake to offer you substantial full-time employment for the next two consecutive summer periods. At the end of that time you will be trained as a Canadian Forces Intelligence Operator (Military Occupation Classification: R111). In the first year, you will learn the skills of basic soldiering (navigation, marksmanship, drill) and additional training in a military trade other than intelligence, such as armoured reconnaissance. In your second year, you will be trained in intelligence collection and processing, making you a fully qualified member of the trade, and potentially suitable for overseas deployment as a member of an intelligence team. Candidates who excel through their second year with us may then be selected for further training as a non-commissioned intelligence analyst, and a third and subsequent summer's employment. In between, there are ample opportunities for additional work on a part-time basis on weekends and evenings at our offices in Toronto.

Unlike other part-time youth employment, all the money you earn in a summer, you can keep: your food, room and board are paid for by the Canadian Forces while on training.

New Intelligence Operators are first trained as collators, the database managers who handle incoming data, and structure and manipulate databases for the use of analysts. They also conduct research, using everything from classified documents, to satellite imagery, to the internet. In addition to the skills particular to intelligence work, an intelligence operator is a vital part of the fighting team, and must be able to fire a weapon, march long distances, put up a tent, and navigate cross-country.

Once you are proficient at managing data and researching, you can apply to work as a non-commissioned analyst, supervising the processing of data into intelligence able to be passed on to relevant users, or apply to become an intelligence officer. Officers focus on dissemination, in the form of written reports and briefings, to support senior decision makers. With promotion, there also come supervisory responsibilities, with officers and NCO analysts overseeing and giving taskings to other intelligence operators.

After your initial training is complete, you can continue your involvement with the intelligence branch for years, if you wish... working overseas occasionally with the Canadian Forces, or here at home to develop future generations of soldiers. Our unit members come from all walks of life: from police officers to business people. For many people, reserve service can become a useful supplemental source of income, and a break from everyday work. And if your career requires you to move, there are currently reserve intelligence units in Ottawa, Halifax, Montreal, Winnipeg, and Edmonton you can join.

Employment in intelligence is also valuable in the civilian world, providing you with training and experience that can lead to careers in fields such as: information systems, journalism, advertising, security, law enforcement, database management, foreign service, research, corporate security, corporate intelligence, geographic services, translation, teaching, market research, or library science.

Reserve Intelligence Pay and Benefits:

Canadian reservist non-commissioned members are paid by the day (more than 6 hours) or half-day, not hourly. Starting rates are $71.38 for a full day, and $35.69 for a half-day. In garrison conditions (working at the local unit office on nights or weekends) this translates to roughly $10 an hour. Pay rates rise with experience: a reservist promoted from private to corporal (which generally occurs after two years service and the completion of all requisite training) earns $104 a day.

In addition, Canadian reservists receive a number of other benefits. They include:

a. Temporary Duty/Field Operations Allowances: Reservists who are required due to a course or training event to occupy an accommodation other than their own residence overnight (such as a barracks) are considered to be on "TD" status and receive an additional $17 per night allowance. This also applies to field operations, where you are away from permanent facilities: in this case it is considered a "Field Operations Allowance" instead, although the actual rate is similar.

b. Premium in Lieu of Leave: Summer and other short-term contracts (Class B) service longer than 30 days include a certain number of days of paid leave, in addition to the days actually worked. All reservist days worked during the rest of the year, and any class B contracts shorter than 30 days, receive a 9 per cent added premium, to cover the leave time you would otherwise be entitled to taking.

NOTE: These additional premiums and allowances combined can have a significant effect on a reservist's pay. For instance, an entry-level reservist working a weekend out of doors, in addition to being entitled to 2.5 days (Friday night to Sunday) pay ($178.45), could also receive two days field operations allowance ($34) and an additional premium in lieu of leave ($16.06), for a total before taxes of $228.51.

c. Education Tuition Benefit: Reservists pursuing full or part-time studies in a Canadian post-secondary institution in a course leading to an initial baccalaureate degree can be reimbursed each September, for courses successfully completed in the previous academic year, receiving 50% of tuition and mandatory course costs to a maximum of $2,000. The total lifetime benefit available to an individual is $8,000. new members may claim all courses taken during the entire academic session in which they enrolled, as long as they complete their required basic training by the following September, and remain on effective strength.

d. Retirement Gratuity: Reservists who serve a minimum of 10 years service are entitled, when favourably released from service, to a lump sum payment of 7 days pay for every years served, at 50% of their current rate of pay. After 20 years service, that goes up to 100%, to a maximum of 30 years attendance.

Interested? Email us at recruiting@2intcoy.org.

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Starting out: a beginning Intelligence Operator's course and pay progression

YEAR 1: up to 85 days training and exercises:

• Basic Military Qualifications (BMQ)
• Soldier Qualification Training (SQ)
• Military Occupational Training (DP1)

First year average salary: up to $6,000, plus allowances and benefits.

YEAR 2: up to 60 days summer training and exercises, plus 30 days average part-time service Sept-Apr:

• Intelligence Occupational Training (DP1 Int, DP2 Int)

Second year average salary: up to $6,400, plus allowances and benefits

YEAR 3, and beyond:

Analyst stream:

• Junior Leadership Training (PLQ)
• Analyst training (DP3 Int, DP4 Int)

Officer stream:

• Basic Intelligence Officer Training (BCT Int)

Transfers from elsewhere in the Canadian Forces

2 Intelligence Company is always interested in hearing from members of other Canadian Forces trades interested in transferring into our unit. Trained non-commissioned members of other military trades, if accepted for occupational transfer, can be loaded directly on a QL3/4 Intelligence course, which are run consecutively each summer at CFB Kingston, Ontario, and can be qualified for overseas deployment in the intelligence trade within one year. Contact our recruiting NCO at .... for more info.

The Intelligence trade has limited officer-stream positions, and reserves the majority of those for commissions from within our ranks. As such, there are presently only extremely limited opportunities for serving Reserve force officers to transfer, and no positions for civilian officer applicants.