MOC Weekend – Army Perspective
By: 24359 Stephen Paish (RMC ’09) – III
Some people claim that RMC is in its own bubble of isolation from the rest of the Canadian Forces. On March 28-29 all those who believed that view had their bubble popped for the weekend. The event was the annual MOC weekend that took place at RMC. The purpose of MOC weekend is to bring in officers from different areas of the forces and use them to give the cadets an idea of what is happening in their element and MOC.
For the Army the weekends started off on Friday night with a meet and greet that was well received by both cadets and officers. The RMC cadet mess set up a bar service in the field house and refreshments were served while cadets had the chance to mingle with officers who were in their trade. Many questions were answered in an informal environment which gave relief to some cadets (such as the revelation that artillery D.P. 1.1 will run two courses in Shilo and Petawawa.).
Saturday started with the stereotypical Army activity: PT. A short run around the peninsula followed by circuit training on the parade square started the day off right. After a short shower break the most important part of the weekend commenced. This was the individual MOC briefings. In these briefing cadets learned what training lay ahead of them, what jobs they could expect upon graduation, and the state of their respective trades. After the briefings the cadets were able to eat lunch with the presenters and more informal questions were answered.
The weekend concluded after lunch with a set of briefings on the overall state of the army. Doctrine, equipment, and leadership in combat were presented by a number of authorities on the matter and the cadets came away with a better understanding of what the army was doing and where it was going.
Personally I found the weekend to be very valuable. I will admit that sometimes I fall under the tunnel vision that RMC creates. MOC weekend helped enormously to widen the view of many cadets. Situations were created where cadets could get informal questions answered and many benefited from the opportunity. I view the weekend as a success in that it reminded the cadets there is a life after RMC and gave them a glimpse into what that life is. Something that is important for every cadet to realize.
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Workers uncover bones; Remains found near RMC likely those of member of British Navy from 1800s
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Dr. Jane Boulden, Associate Professor, of Politics and Economics at the
Royal Military College of Canada was awarded a North American Research
Linkages Grant 2007-2008 for North America: The Future of Cooperation
and the Weight of Military Traditions. This project will assess the
impact of post 9-11 institutional reforms in security cooperation in
North America, focusing on the new regional architecture of the Security
and Prosperity Partnership. It will explore the neglected dimension of
military traditions and cooperation among the three nations of North
America, as well as both external threat perceptions and each nation’s
perceptions of each other.
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