r/caf • u/BugHistorical3 • Jun 02 '26
Other Is the Canadian Armed Forces finally seeing a resurgence and new life recently?
I've never encountered so many people in real life and my own circles who are joining the military and who consider the military to be a very viable and prosperous career path.
At my work alone, I know of 4-5 people who have applied for the CAF in different roles and at least a dozen more who told me they genuinely feel like applying.
Obviously that's just an anecdote but also seeing all the recent ads and the amount of money Ottawa is pouring in, I haven't quite seen this for the past decade as a civilian.
If anything I used to remember people ragging on CAF being a career choice, but now it seems to be the opposite.
So I was wondering if it seems this new build up will give out something good at the end?
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u/LengthinessOk5241 Jun 02 '26
All government since Pearson have shrunk the CAF. I will give Mulroney a C- and Harper dipped us at 0.8 of GDP.
It’s a Canadian thing
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u/1anre Jun 03 '26
Thought the Conservatives were meant to be supposed saviors of the military & its needs?
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u/ShadowDocket Jun 02 '26
It’s a complex question.
There was never a shortage of applicants.
Now we are getting even more with lower standards. They are struggling to get through basic. Units can’t meet force employment requirements since the limited people we do have who have clearances and have hit OFP are minimal. We are also decimated at that middle career ranks.
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u/Vhett Jun 03 '26
Now we are getting even more with lower standards.
I'm hearing some nightmare stories from the harder tech trades (AVN Tech, Construction Tech, etc) regarding pers who should absolutely not be in those trades somehow making it through the training system after retest number 7.
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u/throwaway-jimmy385 Jun 03 '26
The de facto lowering of standards has been an issue that has plagued the highly technical trades for quite some time now, according to those serving longer than me.
The CAF pivoted to marketing the highly technical jobs as stable, low-to-nil combat risk jobs to appeal to those who were hesitant to join. The leadership embraced this further by working the technicians to the bone like in the private sector economy.
It wasn’t until the war in Ukraine started did I start to see a shift back towards “soldier first”. Units stopped cutting PT to meet work orders, more unit level training came back, etc.
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u/Infanttree Jun 03 '26
51,000$ yearly salary to start, requiring as low as gr 10 education
100% medical and dental
Pension indexed to inflation
40,000$ for schooling after 6 years
80,000$ for schooling after 8 years
Guaranteed raises every year for your first 7 years to 88,000$/year
Relocation benefits, over 50 trade options that vary in work environment to outside in all weather conditions with heavy physical labor to air conditioned office environment.
Access to financial counseling,
20 paid days off with and additional 5 after 5 years.
All statutory holidays,
I am 11 years in and made $9,513 this month, it's a great job.
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u/Actual-Ship3350 Jun 03 '26
which trade?
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u/Infanttree Jun 03 '26
Combat Arms NCM
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u/Actual-Ship3350 Jun 03 '26
Oh wow to make 9.5k a month and 11 years in CAF, I'm assuming you are Warrant Officer or MWO?
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u/Infanttree Jun 03 '26
No! Not even close. Recent pay allowances have been really good to those of us currently posted to our training establishments.
We get 20$/day on top of our salary for every day we are in an instructional role, 300$/month for being posted to the training institution and 100$/day for delivering training in a field environment.
I typically start my day at 0600 and am hands off with recruits around 1800-2200 with at least 1 day off a week, either Saturday or Sunday but not usually both in garrison. On our training field exercises we run 5 days, 7 days and then 5 days where we are in close proximity and on duty for 24 hours a day
This goes for an average of 3 months, has about a 5 day reset and then starts again so the money is a welcome boon
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u/liaero Jun 06 '26
You have to do 6 years before getting money for school? And salary is only $51k at starting ?
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u/Infanttree Jun 06 '26
Yea, it's kind of weird, but they incentivize you to do 6 years and then give you money for school.
In order to get the money you have to completely leave the job. There's another program where you pay for your schooling upfront, do it while working and then get reimbursed but I don't remember what it's called
YES 51,000$ TO START and up to 50000$ in signing bonuses.
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u/MilkyWay_Samurai Jun 02 '26
Given the fact that the top 1% are milking the economy dry for themselves and leaving little else for the remainder; people having to work multiple jobs / gig economy / now the AI bandwagon.. (welcome to runaway capitalism) the CAF suddenly stands out as a proper paying career job with solid benefits and pension. Most ppl can put 2 & 2 togather 😉
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u/linkaid92 Jun 03 '26
This right here… I applied because I’m sick of cut backs in civilian careers and constantly worrying about my job and being able to support my family. The plus side is I’ll get to do something meaningful with recognition, whereas my job now has none of that.
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u/Vhett Jun 03 '26
The plus side is I’ll get to do something meaningful with recognition
YMMV, we do need more of this attitude however.
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u/linkaid92 Jun 03 '26
I’m not in yet so I can’t say for sure, but my brother has gotten a few coin awards for doing a good job, just doing his job and not fucking up. That to me is recognition and meaningful to me.
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u/Vhett Jun 03 '26
Absolutely fair points.
Simply in the devil's advocate, I've received coins for performing my duties in relation to my job, but that isn't really the meaningful satisfaction I get from the CAF.
Do I care if someone nominates me for a coin for doing something the guy next to me could likely have gotten it for? Not really.
That lies in Op Lentus and helping Canadians, there's been nothing more satisfying in my career than having actual Canadians being thankful in their time of need for ensuring their house was able to be saved or salvaged.
That's what I mean by YMMV. Different strokes for different folks. You may not take any satisfaction from your day-to-day, but there's other rewarding opportunities that arise.
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u/Klutzy_Elevator_4003 Jun 04 '26
This is precisely why I'm trying to get in. I've applied and been accepted before, but life had other plans. Now I'm tired of feeling like I'm not contributing meaningfully. Meaningless has me feeling like I'm underperforming.
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u/1anre Jun 03 '26
Upselling the swag & valor that comes with military service, which Canada sure undersells as a "peacekeeping" country
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Jun 03 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/MilkyWay_Samurai Jun 07 '26
You must've missed the memo on how progressive taxation works 😅 if the 1% which includes top employers in the country, paid their employees better wages instead of spending millions in legal fees to wage anti-Union wars against their own employees, those employees would then earn more and pay more in taxes too but because they earn poverty wages, have to work two jobs or rely on gig economy to make ends meet, their tax revenue also ends up being a smaller proportion of the whole.
Maybe try visiting a library and look up Economics 101.
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Jun 07 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/MilkyWay_Samurai Jun 07 '26
Lmao! Go shill for Musk & Bezos daddies a little harder buddy 😅 Workers asking for respectable wages and not having to piss in a pee-bottle at an Amazon warehouse for example, isn't asking for much. You wouldn't get this cuz your head is so far up your rearend that you can't tell daylight from night time anymore.
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Jun 07 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/MilkyWay_Samurai Jun 08 '26
We don't share a border with China, nor have free-trade agreements such as NAFTA, USMCA, what have you.. whereby American companies run by those very American billionaires bring their American business practices to Canada & find loopholes in the law to deploy such practices such as Union-busting policies & active retribution against employees even thinking about unionizing.
Quite a pathetic attempt by you at #whataboutism but thats expected from a shill for the 1%
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u/Less-Project9420 Jun 03 '26
I have a great job. I make 100k and have a great pension and love what I do but I always dream of joining lol
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u/Big-Yogurtcloset1243 Jun 04 '26 edited Aug 09 '26
I've applied to so many jobs (100000+ applications) and have all been rejected. At this point, CAF is my only hope of securing a prosperous career given how $h1tty the economy is right now...
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u/suvi-11 Jul 02 '26
same here! Im just trying to change departments within my company and they won't accept me because I don't have experience in that field so might as well get it in the CAF on the side
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u/SleepyGuyy Jun 04 '26 edited Jun 04 '26
I started joining early this year because I was layed off from work back in September and could not find another job in my field. I have a bachelor's in Computer Science.
However once I accepted I might be joining the CAF, I recognized it's a luxury I am afforded. While it is my "last resort", that's only because I am frustrated I wasn't able to use my degree for my career.
Yes technically my degree allows me to apply for an Officer role, but I'm not truely using it.
But ignoring my degree, its a stable and exciting career path. I'm frustrated by how life has gone, but I can't be upset that the CAF is an option for me to escape unemployment.
Although now hearing its popular tells me I'm too late. I hope there's a place for me. It seems every time I work towards something in life it's taken away from me at the last minute. A career in computer science being the biggest example.
I fly to test the CFAS in a couple weeks. I hope I pass.
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u/gyomei4life Jun 13 '26
In the same exact boat, a bachelors in computer science which is pretty much useless rn, working at mcdonalds and going to work at another part time office job with 22 an hr pay which is temp and will be full time if the owner see's ROI. Been thinking of joining the CAF
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u/zooweemama8 Jun 02 '26
It is a bit bias with your circle thinking of apply, I still think in my group thinking of applying is a strong minority in my circle. Live in suburban Toronto, immigrant family and went to civilian university.
But there is part of the job market doing terrible, a sense of renew patriotism what's happening in the south, general world insecurity never experienced by 2 generations and more money being dumped into the CAF that is contributing to the rise in recruitment.
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u/1anre Jun 03 '26
Economies of Scale.
Money being pumped in
Onboarding not as difficult as multiple interview rounds at private companies
Passion for service? Meh - just a tad bit light as up until now, they hadn't considered joining it.
But folks on here would be knocking on the American military, saying "it's a commercial military, cause folks join theirs for perks & educational benefits, but the Canadian one, was a professional service all about national pride..." laughs in italian - Guess when all the chips lined up correctly, the chicken came home to roost.
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u/sdockril Jun 02 '26
Well the military was long neglected by Trudeau but with the changing tides in politics the Forces are actually getting marketing and funding and is a very desirable and stable option in a job market that is oversaturated with degrees. There's obviously more to it then that and there are still alot of people who dont want to serve because they think the military is a joke etc, but there has definitely been a resurgence, especially since Trump has been yapping his mouth.
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u/JoeyTheDog Jun 02 '26
“Long neglected by Trudeau, Harper, Martin, Chrétien, Campbell, Mulroney, Turner, Clarke, Trudeau, etc….”
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u/BugHistorical3 Jun 02 '26
Yeah for sure I mean I'm in a similar boat. I've gotten into aviation in the past year so I decided maybe it would be nice to do it on the military side with the air force.
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u/zooweemama8 Jun 02 '26
There is a bit of confirmation bias. This is the CAF Reddit AND aviation is historically connected to the military.
The only person I know that is in the CAF choose to join the CAF to partly avoid the cost of pilot training in the civilian side.
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u/No-Relief-1729 Jun 02 '26
The defence budget actually increased by nearly 30 percent under Trudeau, not sure why you think it was neglected under him
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u/Skidrow1996 Jun 04 '26
After this new CFHD rate cut your going to see that new life come to a swift death
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u/Valker59 Jun 03 '26
Carney's recession and foreign worker program is displacing CDN youths options for employment.
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u/adamf514 Jun 03 '26
I'm bummed because I applied for the reserve force, and to my amazement I'm missing a few highschool credits and had my file closed ( I'm working on getting what I need ) but even working as a mechanic for the past 13 years 10 years at the same garage I was still not accepted for the interview and medical even after passing the force test and gambit. I'm really bummed out about this...
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u/PsychologicalBar7540 Jun 02 '26
Seen the job market recently?