Anyone who attends university full time will tell you how hard student life can be. Balancing lectures, studying and homework on one hand and friends, parties and extracurricular activities on the other can consume all of a person’s time and energy, leaving little opportunity for anything outside of school.
Yet across the country thousands of students choose to spend what little time they have away from school serving their country in the Canadian Reserve Force.
One of these students is Taylor Jones, a combat engineer with the 33-Brigade Group in Ottawa. Jones, a second-year law student at Carleton and one of 7,000 Canadian students currently in the reserves, has been involved with the military for four years now, having joined when he was still in high school.
“I did it because I needed a job at the time and a recruiter came to our school and was just talking about the reserves,” Jones says.
He joined for a job, but from there Jones found that he, like so many others, had so much to gain from the reserves beyond a simple paycheck. The reserves offer students free skills training, a guaranteed job upon graduation from university or college, a paid annual vacation and full medical and dental benefits.
There’s another lucrative perk for students, which Jones says he is happy to have.
“You can [sign up] in high school and if you proceed with university they pay for university,” he explains. “I wanted to go to university so I figured I do that, get my act straight, get my marks better and get a paycheque while I was at it.”
Students attending college or university receive complete funding for their tuition, books and any academic equipment on top of their salary. This presents a chance for individuals like Jones to pursue academic goals without worrying about the financial burden university can put on many.
“I didn’t really care about much,” Jones says. “Then I joined and I’d say the army did set me on track.”
For anyone who might be interested in this path, Jones warns that isn’t for the faint of heart.
“I don’t recommend it if they want to have a strong social life,” Jones says. “If you participate in the military a lot and do your schooling, it’s going to take up the majority of your life.”
“Your social life kind of goes kaput.”
Jones explains just how serious a commitment it requires.
“With the course I’m on, we work all day; we wake up at 4:30 and go until 8,” Jones says. “By the end you’re too tired to do anything.”
That being said he acknowledges that for hardworking students looking to excel in and out of the classroom, the reserve offers flexibility, and is fair.
“It’s the only thing that I find where I can do schoolwork, and my job lets me do that,” Jones says. “If I need to do a paper they’ll let me get that weekend off.”
There are a number of paths that can be pursued after graduation in the reserves. As for Jones, he still isn’t sure exactly where his path will take him.
“I want to go to law school, that’s for sure,” Jones says. “I do want to do a tour actually, go overseas somewhere.”
“Right now is just law school, then from there go wherever.”
Life as a student and reservist may be jam packed and sometimes stressful, but Jones says the rewards are plentiful and he will have experiences that will last a lifetime.