Anybody in the Canadian Forces?

Mischief007

Mischief007

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I was just wondering if anybody here or knows anybody that is currently in the Canadian Forces. I'm specifically looking for some information regarding the first 3 months after being sworn in. The first 3 months are in the Basic Military Training.

Thanks
 
Canadian Aircraft carrier:

HMCSJeanChretien.jpg



( I know someone posted it before, but I couldn't resist).
 
Well, I think Canada's army is relatively small, but I'm sure there's gotta be some people in the CF.





:rolleyes: @ myself
 
I have an old friends who joined the reserves... What did you want to know? How difficult the training is?

From what I understand, it involves waking up early, doing LOTS of exercise (he was in fantastic shape when he got back) and learning all the basic military knowledge such as marching and ranks and stuff. He said you don't even touch a weapon for the first 3/4 of it.
 
JipJopJones said:
I have an old friends who joined the reserves... What did you want to know? How difficult the training is?

From what I understand, it involves waking up early, doing LOTS of exercise (he was in fantastic shape when he got back) and learning all the basic military knowledge such as marching and ranks and stuff. He said you don't even touch a weapon for the first 3/4 of it.
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Pretty much the routine and how demanding the Basic Training is. I've gotten myself into a lot better shape but there are people out there trying to scare me out of it.

What you just said helped me out as well since that's what I figured it was since they really do want you in shape in the Forces.

Thanks
 
The way I saw it was he was in decent shape (thin, works out once and a while, eats right) and when he came back he was in really good shape. I think, as long as you are prepared to put your best foot forward and not give up during hard excercises... it'll be all gool
 
JipJopJones said:
.... He said you don't even touch a weapon for the first 3/4 of it.
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:D we got our weapons on the 3rd day (thats in finland) and fired it @ -35c temp 3 days later.
Afterwards the gun was white, as it was black when we went to shooting range.

Thou it was only modified ak-47 :p, and i don't remember much else of it.
 
From what I've heard from friends, its pretty tough, almost akin to the RCMP's Depot training. Canada's army may be small in terms of raw numbers, but they're often regarded as some of the best in the world, at par with the Germans, and better than your basic US grunts.
 
JipJopJones said:
The way I saw it was he was in decent shape (thin, works out once and a while, eats right) and when he came back he was in really good shape. I think, as long as you are prepared to put your best foot forward and not give up during hard excercises... it'll be all gool
Click to expand...

klutch said:
From what I've heard from friends, its pretty tough, almost akin to the RCMP's Depot training. Canada's army may be small in terms of raw numbers, but they're often regarded as some of the best in the world, at par with the Germans, and better than your basic US grunts.
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Thanks guys. At least I know what to expect. I exercise daily but just basic stuff. I'm not thin but I weigh about 148 lbs and am 5'6 so I know I could do it as long as I try my hardest. This is a big change from a year ago when I weighed quite a bit more.

Again, many thanks for the insight :).
 
The usual bit people miss is running with a 40LBs pack on. You need to toughen up the skin on your shoululders, back and feet (some use urine - I kid you not, my brother was in for 9 years) as well as get some practice running carrying substantail weights.
 
Cobol74 said:
The usual bit people miss is running with a 40LBs pack on. You need to toughen up the skin on your shoululders, back and feet (some use urine - I kid you not, my brother was in for 9 years) as well as get some practice running carrying substantail weights.
Click to expand...

Not surprising. Batters in MLB that don't use batting gloves are regularly seen urinating on their own hands to toughen the skin.
 
According to wikipedia, the Canadian army has 62,000 active personnel: ranked 55th in the world.

China, USA & India are 1st, 2nd & 3rd.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_active_troops
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_federations_by_military_expenditures

To the poster, what's your trade (job)?

Full-time or part-time? (if so which Reserve unit?)

Are you Officer or non-comissioned?

Officers do IAP & BOTC (initial assesment phase & basic officer training camp) for 13 weeks.
Non-comissioned members do BMQ (basic military qualification).

For non-official infomation, goto http://www.army.ca/

Cheers!
 
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Maybe I can shed some light on the subject of basic military training seeing as I graduated from it two weeks ago. :p Basic turned out to be more intense than I was originally anticipating but it was pretty simple to adapt. Overall getting through the day was pretty easy. A typical day for me was wake up at 4:15ish, go outside for physical training, classes/appointments/special training in the morning, more of the same in the afternoon with maybe some study time thrown in, getting the dorm cleaned up after dinner and lights out at 9. There was never anything I felt like I couldn't do and even though it was tough at times I never regretted my decision to join. Our training instructor (drill sergeant for you civilians) was tough when he needed to be but he did open up as a person every once in a while. I'm very glad I was assigned to him over any other instructor.

For me the hardest part of basic training was just being cut off from everything in the outside world. Although it was sort of nice to get away from all that for a while and concentrate on what I was doing. We did a lot of cool stuff too like the obstacle course, firing ranges, and having to take our gas masks off in a room filled with tear gas. The training changed me as a person and I know it's all for the better. My confidence and work ethic are all very much improved.

One thing to keep in mind is that my air force training wasn't as physically intense as what the army puts it's people through. I'd say it was about 80% mental and 20% physical. And of course each branch and country will do things differently so your mileage may vary.

As for now I'm in technical training and so far it's so much nicer. College is a good comparison since it's a very similar atmosphere. I share a room with one other person, not 57 like before. Now I'm able to make more decisions on my own rather than being lead around by the hand. I love it here so far.
 
Danny Tran said:
According to wikipedia, the Canadian army has 62,000 active personnel: ranked 55th in the world.

China, USA & India are 1st, 2nd & 3rd.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_active_troops
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_federations_by_military_expenditures

To the poster, what's your trade (job)?

Full-time or part-time? (if so which Reserve unit?)

Are you Officer or non-comissioned?

Officers do IAP & BOTC (initial assesment phase & basic officer training camp) for 13 weeks.
Non-comissioned members do BMQ (basic military qualification).

For non-official infomation, goto http://www.army.ca/

Cheers!
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Current job: IT (starting this week at the GM plant here locally)

Definitely full time

I'd be going for Non-Commissioned member in the Navy as a Naval Electronics Technician or Naval Communicator.

IT is pissing me off and I hate being told I'm the best but then no extras given to me. As an example, I'm on a 3-month contract and it keeps getting renewed. It seems like they don't want to hire me full time even though they don't want me to leave. Nothing but positive things about me but they just don't show it.

KaJuN
Yeah I read your little story earlier. Thanks for your input as well KaJuN.
 
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Congrats KaJuN, awesome to see you graduated!

Anyways, I was watching a documentary on Marine boot camp on the Military Channel (which rocks btw), and that tear gas room looked like some nasty shit. Getting packed 50 wide into a room like you're about to be gassed concentration-camp style, and when you come out you're coughing up snot and shit out of your nostrils.

Good luck with your technical training (what field are you btw?), and any future endeavours.
 
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Danny Tran said:
I was asking about your military trade actually. But yeah Navy is cool.

Like so many people will tell you, realise that when you sign up full time, you will be there for a couple of years and not necessarily in a town you like.

You can search and read up various threads on BMQ to get ready:

http://forums.army.ca/forums/index.php/board,36.0.html

Happy reading
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Thanks for the link. Yeah I don't have a military trade. I know the first few years will be not my favourite but in the end I think it will be the right decision.
 
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Backdraft said:
Congrats KaJuN, awesome to see you graduated!

Anyways, I was watching a documentary on Marine boot camp on the Military Channel (which rocks btw), and that tear gas room looked like some nasty shit. Getting packed 50 wide into a room like you're about to be gassed concentration-camp style, and when you come out you're coughing up snot and shit out of your nostrils.

Good luck with your technical training (what field are you btw?), and any future endeavours.
Click to expand...

For me the tear gas room wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be and I took a big lungful of the stuff. After I got out I was caughing a lot and my whole face felt like it was covered with really strong aftershave but after about 5-10 minutes everything was good. The penicillin shot in the butt on the other hand, oh man! :|

Right now I'm in technical training learning how to work on C-130s. I'm still excited that I got that job and I can't wait to start really diving in and getting my hands dirty. I should also be finding out where my first base will be here sometime soon.
 
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