How do the FCA work

[rod and serpent]

In the TA your are required to do at least 27 days including an annual camp each year. the day are tuesday night which.If you successfully complete your bounty requirements ie speed march, NBC first aid, LOAC there are others which escape me at this moment. Is this anything like the FCA do you get paid and claim travel. Can any one enlighten me .

[Big Al]

FCA only get paid for camp & courses and some weekends, we dont get travel allowance, we get a grat payment on camp varies with rank. You should attend 50% of training to be effective but.....

[DeV]

Is LOAC - Law of Armed Conflict?

You only have to do 24 hours + a 1 week camp to be effective in the FCA/SM

[rod and serpent]

Is LOAC - Law of Armed Conflict?

You only have to do 24 hours + a 1 week camp to be effective in the FCA/SM

Yes.

[Troddyn]

aa

[MINSTREL BOY]

In the TA your are required to do at least 27 days including an annual camp each year. the day are tuesday night which.If you successfully complete your bounty requirements ie speed march, NBC first aid, LOAC there are others which escape me at this moment. Is this anything like the FCA do you get paid and claim travel. Can any one enlighten me .

Some TA specialists units only have to do 19 days a year to qualify.

[bdr]

Trodyyn
just to clarify, you need 48hrs per year (01 jan to 31 dec) to remain effective.
you get 24hrs 'effectiveness' for 1 weeks full time service per year, ie annual camp. you do not get credit for any subsequent weeks. in other words if you do 6 weeks full time you it still only gives you 24 'effective' hours. the remaining 24hrs needed to keep you effective is made up from parade nights/ field days/ overnights ( 2/4/8 hrs repectively).
this means that to remain effective you have to do a min of
24 parades per year or[B] 1 week full time + 12 parades or any combination of fd's/overnights/ parades etc.

for those who do not have a full calender years service , lets say you join in september for instance, then you must achieve 4hrs per month until the end of the year to remain effective, ie 2 parades per month.

regards
Bdr

[Troddyn]

aa

[DeV]

From DFRs:

"... members shall be required to attend a min of 24 training parades, each of not less than 2 hours' duration, in each training year or the equivalent thereof in hours of training. Where, however, a member is assigned to An Forsa after 1 January in any training year (...), such member shall be required to attend, during the period from the date of his assignment to the 31 December in the same training year, a minimum of 2 training parades for each month of such period or the equivalent thereof in hours of training."

For purposes of above (from DFRs):
overnight camp / field day = 4 hours
paid security duties = 4 hours
7 day course of training / 7 day course of instruction / 14 days basic training = 24 hours (max of 1 period counted)

Overnight camp conisists of 20-36 hours of training with overnight accomodiation
Field day consists of 5-15 hours of training

Interesting - ??
Max paid training in 3 year period for officers = 220 days
Max paid training in 3 year period for reservists = 180 days
(these do not include time spent on security duties)

[Gunner Who?]

good info there kermit,
I see the dead hand of the PDF controlling the RDF in the small print. It jogged my memory again of the real politic of life. What happens if the effective strengh of a Coy/Bty/Sqn falls below the level at which the grant in aid is paid?. Well I can tell you that one of the previous regime the attendance rolls were errrrrrr modified, rations were accounded for , the grant in aid levels were achieved and the unit fund was duely embursed. In plain English if the real attendence levels are not happening then the paper world of "command and control" requires a paper army to exist and so it does.

[coffee]

FCA only get paid for camp & courses and some weekends

you get paid for weekends ?

[DeV]

Is the new R5 available on the net Kermit?

From the quote above all that has changed is the titles and wording.

[happenin]

we dont get travel allowance,

I heard somewhere that each company are allowed to register 2 cars for " offical rdf buisness" and claim fuel expenses for miles added up when on field days etc... open to clarification(as will probably happen)

[JAG]

Biting tongue, biting tongue, biting tongue, biting tongue.

Ngnndfhppwqplkjgghhshitshitshitshitshit I can't hold it any longer.

The FCA is a pile of crap. The gratuity depends on nothing except turning up for annual week long camp, despite regulations as to the attendance requirements. Sometimes it doesn't even depend on that- I managed to get paid for a full week that I didn't even attend, to my pleasure and surprise once. I have no fear of stating that because I have no doubt that the "official" record shows that I dutifully attended each and every day.

Bilocation being one of my lesser known talents.

Having passed the Potential NCO's Course, despite what I fully accept was a dismal performance, I can honestly say that I was utterly, utterly incapable and incompetent in being any part of a section, never mind leading a section as I was supposedly qualified to do. I did troop formations (arrowhead, diamond etc) once. The Irish equivalent of LOAC consists of something which is definitely restricted and would thus earn me a bollocking off the MODs, but basically defines when you're allowed kill people.

We wouldn't want the crusties getting hold of that.

The scary thing is, I counted (or more accurately liked to think I counted) as quite a good FCA soldier in the units I was in (otherwise the Pots Cse would, I presume, having been a lot longer in coming).

Except for thinking that and acting on the basis that rules are there for some purpose other than breaking and my belief that

Mantra begins

It is not a social club. It is not a social club. It is not a social club. It is not a social club. It is not a social club. It is not a social club. It is not a social club. It is not a social club. It is not a social club. It is not a social club. It is not a social club. It is not a social club. It is not a social club. It is not a social club. It is not a social club. It is not a social club. It is not a social club. It is not a social club. It is not a social club. It is not a social club. It is not a social club. It is not a social club. It is not a social club. It is not a social club. It is not a social club. It is not a social club. It is not a social club. It is not a social club.

Mantra ends.


Rant over. Hope it was as good for you as it was for me.

Ah- that's good.

Now, the qualification- I left the FCA three years ago, and was in corps units. It is possible that other units were much better, and that the units I was in have greatly improved. 7 Bn FCA seemed quite professional in their attitude and training (the little bit I saw- but they had the reputation certainly of being the best EBde unit- and allegedly weren't allowed run the pots course because their standards were too high) and individuals were motivated and hardworking. Maybe everythign I've posted about the FCA on this board is out of date and therefore inaccurate.

But somehow, I fcuking doubt it.

[Itchy]

Now, the qualification- I left the FCA three years ago, and was in corps units. It is possible that other units were much better, and that the units I was in have greatly improved. 7 Bn FCA seemed quite professional in their attitude and training (the little bit I saw- but they had the reputation certainly of being the best EBde unit- and allegedly weren't allowed run the pots course because their standards were too high) and individuals were motivated and hardworking. Maybe everythign I've posted about the FCA on this board is out of date and therefore inaccurate.

But somehow, I fcuking doubt it.

Personnally id like to see standards pushed higher aswell and from my experiance, for the most part, NCO's are good but it seems that as soon as the old FCA type senior officer/knob ends start moving on and good motivated people start pushing up the ranks it will be a drastic improvement...

That shite about units having too high standards to run courses etc. has to stop. On the the flip side people who cant run a course to save their lives should be severly horse whipped back into shape.

Bring on the BTC...so long as they run the shit out of ya and make soldiers fear the place ...