Across the country Canadian Forces Army reserve units are opening their doors to the public on Saturday as part of a major recruiting effort.
7 Intelligence Company, the reserve intelligence element for the National Capital Region, is looking for recruits to become military intelligence professionals.
One of the company’s vehicles is in downtown Ottawa on Saturday at Cartier Square Drill Hall, 2 Queen Elizabeth Street as part of the Canadian Army’s reserve cross-country open house that day. Recruiters will also be at the DND Blueprint 2020 Career Fair, at the Diefenbaker Centre, 111 Sussex Drive, on Wednesday, Oct. 17. Company personnel will be on hand at both events to talk to area residents interested in the military intelligence profession about part-time and future full-time opportunities.
Company commander Major Bruce Rolston says his 80-strong army company are mostly reservists who hold intelligence analyst positions across the government, including many parts of the Department of National Defence, and also choose to work part-time to select and train the next generation of army intelligence operators. “Our training and reputation gives our part-time personnel excellent options for transition to full-time employment in the intelligence sector,” he said.
One of five reserve intelligence companies located in major Canadian cities, 7 Int Coy began its 25th year of existence in 2018 by amalgamating with the new Canadian Army Intelligence Regiment, the army’s combined regular and reserve force intelligence unit. 7 Int Coy also maintains a high-readiness full-time intelligence support team for deployment domestically or overseas in support of the Regular Force.
In August, that team of Ottawa personnel deployed to British Columbia to work with the Canadian Forces response to the forest fires in British Columbia.
“With this first operational deployment for this new full-time team, its members join the many reserve intelligence personnel from the National Capital Region who have previously deployed overseas to support Canadian military operations, including Afghanistan, the Middle East and Eastern Europe,” said Rolston, himself a veteran of Afghanistan.
While normally keeping a lower profile for operational security reasons, 7 Int Coy is currently actively recruiting for new part-time intelligence operators as part of the Army’s initiative to increase the Army Reserve and in response to last year’s Defence Policy Review which called for both for more intelligence personnel and a stronger role for the reserves. The company’s bilingual team of recruiters are attending several career-related events in the Ottawa area in the next few months with the company’s new Intelligence Support Team vehicles. Such a vehicle is a mobile information management and processing centre outfitted with computers and communications equipment, that has been deployed already on several other domestic operations.
Members of 7 Intelligence Company plotting and analyzing reports during training in Petawawa in March 2017.
Both photos courtesy of 7 Intelligence Company.