Category Archives: School
12 Weeks
So it has been 12 weeks since I sent my medical appeal to be deemed fit for duty. I have yet to hear anything other than that my file has been sent to the Aerospace and Undersea Medical Board in Toronto. This was after 6 weeks of it being in Ottawa at the Recruitment Medical Office in Ottawa.
So a little update on the where I stand right now for ROTP. I will not be accepted this year because I missed the March 15th deadline to be put on the merit list for review by the RMC council. I know this because April 5th was the day that all ROTP applicants were informed that they were accepted to be a member of Canadian Forces and will be attending either RMC or their civilian university of their choice.
So what this means is that I still have a red flag on my file until it has been reviewed by the AUMB and then sent back to the RMO’s office and then sent back to the CFRC here in Kingston. Once I find out either way, I have two steps to take. One is to talk to the Ombudsman if I am once again deemed unfit for duty, or see about transferring my ROTP application to the Ottawa CFRC for next year.
Right now my plans are to attend Carleton university for first year Computer Systems Engineering and then see about getting into the CF next year and have them pay me back for my first year. Right now it’s just a huge waiting game that I am getting tired of playing. I will not give up hope that in the next 5 year to be an officer in the Canadian Force.
RMC/Civ U update
Right now I am in a holding pattern while the NHQ reviews my medical files to see if I am an acceptable candidate for pilot and to see if I am an acceptable candidate to be a member of the Canadian Forces. If they deem me acceptable for both, I go to Trenton to do some more testing. A weeks worth of testing to be exact. I don’t quite now what I will be doing in Trenton, but if I get past the one week and am part of the 50% that pass I go onto more testing in Toronto to see if I am eligible to become a pilot in the Canadian Forces. If at any point I fail the testing at Trenton, at Toronto, or I am deemed unsuitable to be a pilot, then I just have to go back to the Recruiters and change my desired careers.
At this point, if my primary choice was MARS officer, I would have to wait until the RMC council meets in January to see if they will accept me to RMC or to a Civ U. But since I applied as a pilot, I have to go through some more testing. I love testing. 
I am hopeful that I can get through the testing in Trenton and Toronto without to much of an issue so I can pursuit my dreams to be a Tactical/Maritime Helicopter Pilot or a Transport Pilot. I am going to give it my all in hopes that things will work out.
I have also made some small changes to my application as I have had some time to think about things. At first I applied to have Civ U as my primary choice, but I now know that what I really want is to attend RMC. The friendship and discipline that I would gain from the experience would be life changing. I know that I will be at least 4 to 5 years older then most Officer Cadets, but I am OK with that. I know that we are all there for the same reason.
I have not heard anything from the people I put down as a reference for a background check, so I don’t think it has gotten to that level yet. I am hopeful to hear something soon as I really need a change in my life. This position I am in is just sucking the life out of me.
Military application process
So as most of my family and close friends know, I am applying to be an officer with the Canadian Forces. I have been dreaming of doing so for a number of years, but my weight has been an issue with me applying. I knew there was no way I would be in good enough shape to even pass the initial physical least of all basic training. So since I have over come the weight issue, there is nothing holding me back from pursuing my dreams and becoming an officer.
Today I went to the local recruiters office and picked up a Regular Officer Training Plan (ROTP) application package and have been filling it out since about about 2pm today. I have also been doing some reading and other things in the middle as to not get too overwhelmed with it all. But I must admit, I hate writing the same thing out three times.
So far I have managed to fill out most of the forums, trying to remember where I have live and worked for the past 5 or 10 years and trying to find 5 people that have known me for at least 5 years that are not family is hard since I have moved so often. I think I have the 5 people, but I still need to contact them to make sure that they are willing to be a reference for me.
I’m hoping to get all the forms done and handed in by the end of next week so I can start the application process early just in case. They do say the sooner I get my application forms in, the sooner I can take the aptitude test and if I fail it, I have to wait 90 days to take it again. I took the practice test they sent home with me and I made two mistakes that were because I was rushing and two other mistakes because I got confused by the wording but I was able to figure out afterwards once I knew the answer. So 4 wrong out of 19 is not bad, but not good either. I really want to get at least a 90% or higher to make sure I am going to be well qualified to be a candidate for the ROTP.
Right now I am emailing my uncle, who is a Lt.Col in the Signals branch of the Army with my response to why I want to go to my first choice of institutions. I am really hoping to get some good feed back from him as I feel there is something missing or that I might not be on the right path with my answer.
I really hope that this all works out for me because I have finally realized that I want to wake up every morning and wear a uniform that I makes me proud to be a Canadian and know that I am doing something important with my life.
College Newspaper “Nomad” article – Who is Mark Wood?
Here is a recent article I wrote introducing myself to the student body at St. Lawrence College in Kingston. I wrote the article for the NOMAD so that the students could find out who I am and a bit about me since I am the Director of “The School of Computer and Engineering Technology and School of Skilled Trades and Tourism”. (Man they need to change the name to something smaller.)
Tall, brown hair, brown eyes and a wonderful smile. These are only a few of the things I have to offer. I came to Kingston in 2003 because at the time my mother had separated from her husband. I had just gone threw flight training at the Moncton Flight College and earned my powered wing with cadets and my private pilots license with the government of Canada. I took a year off to earn some money for my future at College. I finally quit once I was accepted into the Computer Networking and Technical Support program. This was going to be the best two years of my life. That was until I lost interest in my third semester. Since I only had one more semester to go, I decided that I needed to stick with the program and graduate with distinction. And that I did. In 2006 I graduated from the CN&TS program with distinctions.
During my last semester, I decided that there was another path I wanted to take in order for me to further my growth with technology. I wanted to take the Computer Programmer Analyst program. So I enrolled in to the CPA program and was automatically placed into the second year of the program because the CN&TS course and the CPA course have the same first year (apart from one or two courses that I have ended up doing). I am currently in my last year of the 3-year CPA program. I am currently working for the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care down beside the Live Venue Entertainment Center (LVEC) or what every they have changed the name to now.
Once I graduate from the Computer Programming Analyst program, I plan on moving off to Ottawa and looking for a job in either one of my fields. Hopefully finding something with the government. For now I am going to place my focuses on being a great student director and getting another diploma with distinctions. Thank you for electing me as your student Director of the School of Computer Engineering and Technology and School of Skilled Trades and Tourism.
