Last two weekends

Well after these two weekends BMQ is officially over, sort of... I still have small party tasking to do to officially finish recruit training.
Anyway the weekend of the 7th of May we had navigation. Friday we got on the bus to head for Farnham, once there we had a ruck march to our Biv site, which was about 4 km. Once there I think we set up the hootches for the night and I'm not sure if we did anything else. We had a bug out at 0200 so we all got our kit together and got on the road. Everyone but me then went on a (I'm guessing here) 2-3 km ruck march. I had a chit which is why I did not go. Once they came back we once again set up our hootches and went back to sleep. At around 0330 I was woken up and at that moment found out I had sentry duty from 0400-0500.
0530 about ten minutes after I had gotten back into my sleeping bag we were told to get up. We marched back to the barracks and had breakfast in the kitchen, so no rations. When at the kitchen we discovered that the other course had slept in the barrack the night before. We thought that that was weak of them... Anyway we marched back to the biv and then got a few classes on nav. Then we started to do our day nav and that's pretty much what we did all day. Once it got dark we did our night nav, we got back to the biv around 2330 and went to ground. Surprisingly enough we got to sleep through the whole night which was really great!
Sunday, I don't remember what we did Sunday... OH well!!

The last weekend (May 13-May15). Friday we didn't do much there was nothing left for us to do really. We did nothing for a while and then started to practice for the grad parade. We got our camp cots set up and got ready to go to bed. One recruit was scheduled to do fire picket twice so I pointed it out, so they gave one of her shifts to me, I was a little pissed about that! I had picket from 0100-0200, so it wasn't so bad, we even got to sleep till 0600.
Saturday morning we all got our stuff ready got on the bus and headed for a civvy park where we would do cam and concealment. Once there we headed into the woods and got a few lectures on judging distance and using reference points. We then caned up got some grass and such on us and tried to sneak up on the instructors. As far as I know no one succeeded, the distance was probably about 300m and that's really long to do in leopard crawl. We got back on the bus and headed back, it was around 1200. We washed up a bit went for lunch and then started to clean our weapons and set up the parade square for the parade. We finished around 1600 and went to shower an change and started our course party at the restaurant, and then headed back to the mess.
Sunday was parade day but I wasn't there. Because I started the course late I hadn't done my SHARP course so had to do it Sunday.
And so that was the story of my BMQ and now on Tuesday I leave for Gagetown to start part 2 which is small party tasking and then its CAP, also in Gagetown. I will try to find time to write of my experience on those courses as well, but chances are the total of my experience will be added all at once after my course. Thanks for reading!!

Rain, Rain, Rain, and more Rain

This weekend was our first in the field, which kind of sucked since it was poring rain all Saturday and most of Sunday. Friday we didn't really do much we got our weapons and then hoped on the buses to Farnham. Once there we put our rucks in the barracks and went for an NBC review since our test would be in the morning. Our barracks only had 20 beds and we are 36 in our platoon so most of us slept on the floor. I got fire picket yet again.
Wake up Saturday was around 0500, we showered and got all our kit together. Then we went for breakfast which was nice since it was a real kitchen this time. After breakfast we got about 45 minutes for some last minute studying, at which point I realized that I knew all the questions by heart. We then started the exam which was really easy. We got our rucks out of the barracks and got ready for the march to the bivouacs. After a 1.8 km march we had a pit stop at the improvised shelter site where we learned how to make hootchies. After about 30 minutes we started off again on a 3.4 km march to the Biv site. Once there we walked around and then dropped our kit. We then got our rations for the rest of the day. We later started to learn how to us a shovel, pick axe, axe and machete, most of us already knew how to use them anyway. We had lunch and I discovered that rations are pretty good. And then it started, the RAIN. The Sgt gave us pyrotechnics demonstrations and we learned how were supposed to react to them. We later learned different ways of advancing, leopard crawl, kitten crawl, monkey run, that kind of thing. It had been raining for a few hours already so it was really disgusting to do that in the mud. We then had a course on bivouac routine and sentry duty I think, I was a little out of it so I'm not sure. We set up our houtchies before cooking our supper and then ate in our hootchies. After that we marched a bit and at that point I was really feeling the blisters I had since the morning march. The corporal who headed our march decided that we should walk through a knee deep puddle and so we all got our feet wet and were all pretty pissed about it. We stopped and were going to have a section competing in leopard crawl in the mud. I must of looked liked shit cause the Mcpl said that I didn't have to do it. So I sat there and looked at everyone and felt like I was going to be sick. When they came back one guy from our section threw out hi shoulder. After that the Mcpl took me back to the tents and said I was deteriorating, I just couldn't stop shivering and was probably gonna pass out soon. Once back at the tent I changed into some dry clothes and got warmed up in front of the stove. Apparently I got dehydrated and putting sugar in my canteen hadn't helped matters much. I slept in the tent and missed out on the bug out and the para flares during the night.
Sunday morning I came out and could barely walk because of my blisters, so I didn't do the march to the gas chamber. Once at the gas chamber we had breakfast and put some CLP on our already rusted weapons. Then we mostly sat around waiting for our turn in the gas chamber. I discovered that my gas mask leaks a bit since I could smell the gas with my mask on. I didn't say anything because I wanted to limit the number of times I went in. On the third time in we did decontamination drills. When I was decontaminating my face I put my mask back on and instead of exhaling I inhaled a nice deep breath of CS gas. Then I couldn't stop chocking, but after that we got out and it wasn't so back. The Mcpl was looking in threw the 2 way mirror and wasn't very happy that I didn't do my drill properly, but I did pass. We waited for everyone to go through the gas chamber and then hoped on the bus with our box lunches. We all ate and then we slept the rest of the way to the armoury, I think even the instructors slept. Once at the armoury we started to clean our weapons and after we brought them back. There was one problem, about 95% of the weapons weren't clean enough so they all got sent back to clean them. Mine was ok so I went with a few others to clean the parade square. Then a little more cleaning and without further incident we were dismissed.

Firing Range

I'd been looking forward to this weekend since we started practicing with the C7. Friday we didn't do that much, we cleaned our weapons a bit, did our push ups, and I'm sure we did other stuff but I can't remember. The one thing that I remember quite clearly is that for once I didn't get fire picket.
Saturday wake up at 0445 because we were going to Farnham for the day, we let around 0600 I think. A lot of people slept on the bus on the way. We had our usual breakfast when we got to the firing range. We were divided into three relays and I was in the third which meant I would have to wait all day before firing. We spent most of the morning just sitting around, though we did do some knots and cleaned our weapons, and also about a 30 min review on NBC. Then we got to go on the firing range... yay!!! We zeroed our weapons and got quite a few practice rounds before doing the test. I failed with 11/25 on my first attempt, but then so did about 20 other people. We were do to the retest after supper. Before the retest we got a review of the firing positions as well as a few tips such as using the sling to stabilize your weapon. We also got sand bags during our retest which was great. We had one more position to do to complete the test and the computer crashes and so we had to start again in the morning. We returned to the armoury and I'm pretty sure about 90% of the candidates slept. Once at the armoury we showered and cleaned our weapons a bit: we were in bed by 2230.
Another early morning although at least we didn't have to shower since we had done that last night. We left earlier than yesterday it was 0540 about when we left. Arrived in Farnham and again had our usual breakfast. We all went to redo our weapons test and I'm pretty sure everyone in three section passed that time. Then we got some more NBC review and cleaned our weapons the rest of the morning. We got box lunches which we ate on the bus on the way back to the armoury. We spent the rest of the day cleaning our weapons and then brought them to the volt. For the third weekend in a row someone lost their damn bolt! As it turns out another candidate had picked it up and put it in is weapon. Boy did we get a lot of shit for that. We had our gas masks on standing at attention outside the volt while they chewed us up. Myself and a few others were told to make sure the tables we had used to clean our weapons were clean. It was fine with me it meant we missed part of the yelling. We got about 20 minutes of marching and marking time, I happened to be the marker when we were marching and didn't here the Cpl command to mark time so I got a bit of shit for that. We then got dismissed and our section commander told us to practice marching with the rucksack since were in the field again next week.

Weapons Handling

I showed up on Friday half expecting a PO check on NBC stuff since that's what it said on the schedule, to great relief this test will only be in two weekends. We went to get our weapons and started practicing for our weapons test that would be on Sunday afternoon. At first we were practicing in the standing position, but then the Mcpl realized that the test would be done in the prone position. So we then went on to practice in the prone position, which killed all our knees and elbows. We set up our stuff and even got about 1 hour of free time. One of the course sergeants said that we all needed to start doing push ups every day since apparently we suck at push ups. So from now on every morning and every night we would do push ups, starting with 10 this weekend and increasing by 5 every weekend thereafter. As per every Friday night so far I got fire picket, it was from 0400 to 0500 so it wasn't so bad.

Saturday PT was a circuit in the shopping center parking lot. We did push ups, sit-ups, squats and jumping jacks and after each station we had to run around the four stations. Then we ran back to the armoury. We had weapons inspection this morning and we also had all our gear on including ruck sac. For the second weekend in a row it seems my ruck sack was not set up properly. The Cpl didn't bother to check if my weapon was clean and I was fine with that since I'm pretty sure it wasn't clean anyway. We spent most of the day doing more practice for the weapons test. We also threw in some mapping lectures in there too. We got about two hours of free time at night and got issued dummy rounds to practice loading our magazines for the test. I was expecting to get fire picket again tonight but the sergeant that was to schedule who was to be on fire picket first asked if I had done it Friday night, since I had he didn't give it to me again. Which was a great relief since if I had gotten fire picket it would have been 4 nights in a row.

There was no PT this morning because it was the Captain's inspection. I felt ready for this inspection because I had checked my weapon just before forming up and it was clean. When he finally came to me he chatted a bit about how I started the course late and such and he didn't even check my weapon, or my ruck sac, which I had fixed earlier. After inspection we took apart all our beds and stacked all our stuff as usual. We then wet of to, you guessed it, practice for the weapons test several more times before going to lunch. After lunch we started the weapons test. What was great about it is that it was done outside, and it was a really nice day. Because we are an Anglo section and some instructors only speak French we did our weapons test with our section commander and 2 i/c. I was one of the last two to do the test and got skilled on everything. I even got the best time in our section for mag filing, 36 seconds. The course sergeant gave us Ocdts a little practice for our summer course by giving us small party taskings. It was fairly easy, I just grabbed 3 people and went to sweep the parade square. After giving back our weapons, it seems there was a bolt missing again and we all had to empty our ruck sac, duffel bag, and barrack box so that the instructors could make sure none of us had it. It seems that one of the Privates on the SQ course had misplaced his bolt. With no further incidents we were then dismissed.
Next weekend is in Farnham and we will be on the firing range, now that's going to be fun!

NBC weekend

For those who don't know what NBC stands for it is nuclear, biological and chemical. I arrived Friday at the usual way too early time of aroung 18:00. Friday we got issued our weapons and also had a chemical agents lecture, pretty basic stuff really. Friday night as per usual I got fire picket, so far I have had fire picket every Friday I've been on this course.
Wake up 05:00 Saturday morning to the usual pt, although it was harder this time we did more crunches and push ups than the last time. Inspection was with the 2 Lt this morning and didn't go well at all as we did it with the rucksack and nearly half the platoon had fucked up rucks. We also had weapons inspected, and obviously we all failed. After failing inspection and scarfing down breakfast we got issued our NBC kit and got our gas masks out. We had NBC courses all day, we learnt how to put the kit on, how to do your business when wearing the kit and we also learned the timings for when we go in the gas chamber in a few weeks. The last classroom course of the day was maintaing the equipment and sanitation in the field, all very obvious stuff, like wash yourself and clean your combats. After that we got some practice for the drill PO the next morning. Honestly we really weren't timed but that's ok they were going to look at individual drill so it wasn't so bad. Because we all had crappy rucksacks the intructors showed us how it's supposed to look. They decided to show us three examples of three badly set up ones... unfortunatly one of those was mine. Since I was never shown how to put the ruck together I wasn't surprised that is wasn't done right. the instructors then gave us 30 mins to fix our rucksacks up, which we did. Saturday night, once again I got fire picket, it was worst because we changed the time and so got 2 hours less of sleep instead of just one.
Sunday morning came way too fast. Pt this morning was a ruckmarch in the parking lot. The instructors wanted to know if our rucksacks were now properly set up so it was a bit of a test. We did the drill test and every one past. Classes today consisted mainly of radio procedures. We learned to use the radio and during that class for some unknown reason people kept laughing and doing stuff they shouldn't so lots of push ups for that. We then did a bit of map reading and plotting and reviewed the last mapping stuff we did. To finish off the day we got a nuclear weapons lecture, what a positive way to end the day! then cleaning which really didn't take that long. We actually left on time too it was 17:00 when we got dismissed. After being dismissed I was told I needed to get a medium tack vest since I have a large and I can fit three of me in it. Only problem is there aren't any mediums at my unit, so I have to go to get one at Longue-Point.
I thought I could now go home and relax a little but apparently not. I started my car and noticed the engine light on and I thought to myself: just what I need a broken car! I continued on my way hoping it was nothing and near;y saled at a red light. I turned into a parking put the car on park and the it staled. Well at least I was in a parking lot... I called my dad and I did manage to get home without staling.

Tuesday March 22

We had our last pre course today, for the simple reason that well we started our course already. I am a little disappointed as I now have no more Tuesdays for which I'm scheduled to go into the Regiment. And besides I would have liked to prepare for the courses we are getting this summer, which are completely different than the one I'm doing now.

Anyway the Capt. that was giving us this course gave us a few tips and gave us a bit of a heads up on what is to come on our courses. After that we got into a bit of ethics with the Padre, that was quite interesting. After our time with the Padre we were supposed to get familiar with our equipment, however the Sgt that was going to do that with us was on exercise, so we didn't do that. Instead we continued our ethics discussion with the Padre. We then had a mess meeting which I didn't know about, and then the usual chatting in the mess afterwards.

I guess there is one good thing about not going in on Tuesdays, we get to relax during the week. This is especially important since we now have three weekends of training in a row. Thankfully I finish classes soon, and start exams but... At least I have the time to relax during the day, and study for exams of course.

The Corporals are back!!

There back... And it makes a big difference. Last weekend was slack compared to this one. I was told that the Cpl for our section was particularly picky/demanding but I guess witnessing it first hand is a world of difference. Anyway Friday we got issued our weapons and had a C7 practice. Basically all we did was review, so load, unload, make safe that kind of stuff, we also did field stripping. After that we did weapons drill: shoulder arms and order arms. It was fairly simple so we didn't have much trouble with it. Since we had our weapons we had to sleep with them, which wasn't all that comfortable. Once again I got fire picket, this time from 04:00-05:00 so at least I got some uninterrupted sleep.

Saturday we got up at 05:00 and per usual went out for the usual pt, running, some push ups and crunches. Had breakfast and I don't know if I mentioned this yet but it's actually really good food, now if only we had more time to eat it all. We did more weapons drill this morning (ground arms and take up arms) we had a bit more trouble with these than the previous one. Our timing is way off so I guess we need some more practice. Then we learned the prone position and did some firing as well. The prone position has got to be (on cement floors at least) the most uncomfortable position. After that we did more drill (without weapons this time) we did sizing which was very simple. We had a course on military law from the Master Warrant which I found quite interesting and he did keep me awake during the lecture so that is always a good sign. After diner we had a review for the PO 101 for which we had the test the next morning. I forgot to mention that I was section senior today, this is important only because we got in sh*t. Apparently one of the other sections decided to go to lunch and my section followed, when the instructors found us in the canteen they weren't very happy to say the least. So they brought us back to the parade square and we got to mark time for about 15 mink, but hey I suppose it could have been worse.

Sunday again we got up at 05:00 we didn't do any pt however, we instead got that time to study. In fact we didn't even have an inspection. After getting some time to study we did the test which everyone past and 4 people even got 100%, including 2 from my section, I got 93.3%. After the test we did some plotting on maps and map and compass kind of stuff, we also did this later in the day. We had more C7 practice again the same routine as before, but we also included the drills in the prone position. I had a really hard time loading and unloading in the prone position, partly because my tac vest is too big and partly because I need to strengthen my arms. We later did weapons drill outside which was nice because it wasn't as warm as inside. We did saluting with weapons and present arms or general salute. The general salute is I'm pretty sure the hardest drill movement so far, with a close second being saluting on the march. At the end of the day we returned our weapons and just before dismissal were told that someone did not return their bolt with their weapon. We all checked our pockets to make sure it wasn't us and didn't find it, and we weren't leaving till the bolt was found. As it turns out it wasn't a candidate but a Cpl who hadn't returned it.... They still made us march and do a bit of drill before leaving though. All in all another good weekend, learned quite a bit again, and I am looking forward to nest weekend when we start NBC training.