Quote:
Originally Posted by Tcoat
It is not a "requirement" here and any degree will help but for decades now, to get any position in the Canadian Forces, you stand a better chance with a degree. When I say any position I truly mean any! Right down to your basic infantry grunt a minimum of some community college will help bump you up the list (not necessarily get you in right away but just move you up the waiting list). The higher the position the more applicable the degree should be. I doubt that a Political Science degree would help much here if trying for any form of "technical" trade up too and including pilots and aircrew. It is important to keep in mind that you could have more pilots, aircrew and techs in one carrier task force then we have in our entire military. I can not stress enough how radically different our two countries are in their approach to military staffing.
Now, I could be way off base as I haven't sat in the Recruiting Officer position for about 15 years but it has been that way since the early 80s and I doubt it has changed much.
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I'm going to weigh in here just to validate some info. To enter into the DEO program (direct entry officer) yes you will need a degree from a university or college for the Canadian forces however they "generally" don't care what that is. Granted your chances of getting through training with a degree in basket weaving will be lower. There are two other options for entering as a pilot where you don't need a degree:
ROTP: regular officer training program, where you go to a military college (4years) and complete your trade training (3 more years).
CEOTP: pretty much the same thing but a specialized program to accelerate the process to 4 years total (degree and trade training).
I've worked in the recruiting centre for a short time and the degree will check off a box to say you've got it and your interview with the counsellor will decide if it's applicable to your trade choice. So for us Canadians at least there a few options if you want to fly in the forces, and previous flying can be anything from zero to full commercial, they'll take everything into consideration as you go through the process.
More to the OPs point, I did a ground school course simply because I wanted to have more background info before joining my program in the Forces (no flight experience). Even that though made me realize just how much (a ludicrous amount) I'd have to pay to get my licenses privately. Keep that in mind when you decide how you want to be able to fly. It's very expensive if not covered by programs, scholarships, etc. If the passion is real enough, just make sure you budget well enough so you don't get screwed halfway through.
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