All went to plan apart from a small hiccup with the medical. I had some minor high frequency loss in my left ear, which I already knew about based on my last UK military hearing test. I still made H2 (H3 is the minimum for Veh Tech) but the examiner (Army WO) asked me to have another test when I'm back here and fax him through a copy. He said that their machine is new and he wants a second opinion to make sure that the result is right. He said that even with the hearing loss I passed the medical with no issues but the final decision always rests with the OC in Ottawa. I've managed to book a hearing test for Monday afternoon so I'll be able to get that back to him ASAP, which shouldn't delay things too much.
The eCFAT (aptitude test) couldn't have gone any better, which was a massive relief, although I did think it was miles harder than the practice stuff. I nearly ran out of time on the first 2 sections (Verbal Skills and Spatial Ability) but I'd cracked section 3 (Problem Solving) with 13 minutes to spare. I was the only one doing the test on Tuesday, which was a surprise; I guess that's a reflection of the lack of places available in the CF at the moment. My interviewer (Navy Lt) was more than happy to tell me I'd scored 57 out of 60, which apparently puts me in the top 99.9th percentile (that was a turn-up for the books). I needed 35 to pass entry as a Vehicle Technician so no worries there. At the end of the eCFAT there were a load of psychology questions to answer but those weren't against the clock and weren't pass/fail - I think they're designed to wheedle out whether you're a closet gun freak/terrorist etc.
The interview was very straightforward and a bit of a disappointment (in a nice way). I'd boned up to death on all things CF and I was ready to spout off a plethora of facts and figures about the First Defence Strategy, deployments of the Navy, composition of the 3 Mechanised Brigades etc, etc. As it turned out, he didn't ask me about any of it. He concentrated more on the mandatory stuff like what non-prescription drugs I'd taken (a resounding nil on that front) and then he just went through the motions asking the questions off the sheet. We did have a nice offline chat afterwards though, which was useful to pick his brain.
I wasn't flying until Wednesday night so I took a drive right up to Wasaga Beach and all round the Barrie area. I managed to get hold of my recruiting Captain and I drove up to CFB Borden for a face-to-face 20-minute chat (would have been longer but he was due in a meeting). He's a really nice bloke and it was great to put a name to a face after all this time. He said that he hopes to give me my T&Cs for my job offer by January, which coincides with our PR landing trip (3 - 13th Jan) - I'll keep pestering him on that one and I said that I'd drive up to Borden and collect them myself. I need to keep things rolling because I'm more than aware that I'm lucky to still have an offer. The picture he painted is bleak to say the least. He's got 1/2 a dozen trades that are fully recruited already this year (Veh Tech being one of them). He's reserved me a slot but even that is putting him over the numbers. Fortunately, I'm the only foreign Veh Tech on the books so he doesn't think it will be too much of an issue. He did warn me however that he doesn't make the rules so nothing can ever be guaranteed. The only time I can breath easy is when I'm taking the Oath, which is why I'm going to keep myself in the spotlight and keep pushing my case until that happens.
So there we go, another hurdle done and dusted.
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