Autobiography Thread (merged)

[jswift872]

I had to write two, one for BMQ and one for SQ, they must like reading about me.... :

 

[ackland]

It's military beurocracy at it's best.   Your file from BMQ gets sent away to some mysterious place, and a brand new one is generated for your SQ.   Therefore, anything that had to be put in your BMQ file now has to be generated and filed in the SQ file.   Some things, such as data capture sheets and emergency notification forms can be photocopied, but the autobiography has to be done by hand, so you end up having to re-do it.

That mysterious place is the Archives. They stay on file for X number of years to be refered to if necessary. Ie you are getting charged and you back ground is coming into question. 

 

[Meridian]

Why in this day and age none of this is computerized mind boggles me.
Actually it doesnt.

A fellow student at school is a fairly high level Health Canada bureaucrat and he was saying that he is shocked at the amount of "oldtimers' in the public service that refuse to use computerised services or the full abilities of the technology we already have; let alone proactively seek out other (cost-saving, time-saving) ventures.

 

[ackland]

Why in this day and age none of this is computerized mind boggles me.
Actually it doesnt.

A fellow student at school is a fairly high level Health Canada bureaucrat and he was saying that he is shocked at the amount of "oldtimers' in the public service that refuse to use computerised services or the full abilities of the technology we already have; let alone proactively seek out other (cost-saving, time-saving) ventures.

We need to keep the originals for legal reasons. IE signiatures and to have the legal document when required. Most information in the CF is electronic and can be access that way. Class B info can not be stored on computer for securty reasons. All course file are protected B when completed.

 

[Meridian]

There are multiple legal alternatives for this.

Scanning is one. You can warehouse all the archival signatures if you really want for the 7 years.... but they shouldn't be required unless something goes to court. Otherwise, use the computer systems.

 

[freezi_girl]

Oh yes, the staff do. I'm a Course O for a BMQ course that just started, and let me tell you reading them can be quite entertaining. "Joining or starting my own Canadian spy agency", "join JTF2"(lots of this), "kill people", or "I like to torture small animals" are just some of the more memorable ones over the years ;D.

On a serious note, the bios to provide us with insight on troops, their backgrounds, interests, and how they think. You'd be surprised how much you can learn about recruits from them.

I did my first weekend of BMQ last week, and we all wrote our autobiographies, but everyone in our section (except for 1 person) had to rewrite them. Is it because it's going to be some kind of official type document thing. .. .... or just cause?
Thanks (ASHofCownsU)

4SYTH

 

[ackland]

I did my first weekend of BMQ last week, and we all wrote our autobiographies, but everyone in our section (except for 1 person) had to rewrite them. Is it because it's going to be some kind of official type document thing. .. .... or just cause?
Thanks (ASHofCownsU)

4SYTH

It's becuase either the staff felt that they were not writen neat enough or they they felt they did not get enough details. The autobio is for them to get an insight into your life so far and to allow them to sense any potential problems that may arrise form you life. Ie pregnant girl friend. drug problems and so on  so forth

 

[Observer23]

The autobiography is an exercise in literacy.  Your reading skills are tested by how closely you can follow the instructions in a written form.  Sometimes a candidate may be required to rewrite their autobiography because they failed to actually read the instruction (not because they can't read).  It is hand written to demonstrate penmanship and spelling (No spell checker).  It also helps prove that the member actually wrote it him/herself.  I've actually read one that was copied for another candidate.  The two candidates were brought forward and appropriately disciplined.  It was almost the same word for word however the guy couldn't keep his gender straight on paper.  Why an autobiography?  It is the easiest assignment that everyone can actually write to a limited standard.  â Å“What I did for summer vacation, â Å“ would offer to great of a difference of interpretation between members and staff.  Pte Hemmingway, E and Pte Simpson, B's opinion of what this assignment entails would be to broad to apply the same standard.

 

[Military mind]

you keep an electronic copy somewhere. That way if you take another cours (instructors usually ask an autobiography on every courses), all you will have to do is simply update your exisiting one.

thats the best advice regarding autobiography: KEEP A COPY OF IT !!! so you dont have to start from scratch on every course... 

 

[Jungle]

All career courses, up to and including DP4 (MWO course) require an autobiography. Get used to it...
Keep an electronic copy and update it before every course.

 

[48Highlander]

thats the best advice regarding autobiography: KEEP A COPY OF IT !!! so you dont have to start from scratch on every course...    

Sorry, but (if I remember correctly) the handouts that come with the course package specificaly state that the autobiography will be done in blue pen.  In other words, printouts or photocopies will be returned to you with instructions to write a new one.  Ofcourse, some staff may decide to make an exception, just don't count on it.

 

[Mischiefz]

I think they meant keep an electronic copy so that when your required to write one, you have it there to copy ( handwrite out....) without having remember everything all over. Good time saver imo

 

[TCBF]

When I was a Platoon Commander in St. Jean, I would ask nicely if any one had wisely decided to save me valuable time by pre-writing their biography.  Some would smile and say "Yes, Warrant!"  I would then collect them and make them all do it again by hand.  Why?

1.  Pressure - you learn a lot about someone when they write under pressure.

2. No time to edit.  Amazing.  I told another instructor that if we could take a 60 man platoons  of autobiographies and show the people of Canada what some of their youth went through - the reality of life - we would have a bestseller.  You know the first half hour of "Full Metal Jacket"? That is NOTHING compared to what some kids have gone through in their home lives before joining the Army. 

3. Penmanship, Grammer, general Literacy.  Indicators of future coping problems due to FAS/ADD/ADHD/sociopathic issues, etc.  The recruits of today are tomorrows RSMs.  We are already a semi-literate Army, we can't afford to get worse. At some point, It's just bad economics to throw good money after bad.  We have to cut our losses.  Sorry.

4. I would stay that night until ALL the bios were written, then I would take them home and read them.  I would re-read about a fifth, then re-reread about one or two more.  I would get to sleep about three or four, but, it had to be done. 

Tom

 

[Glorified Ape]

Anyone else need to write one and give it once you are at St-Jean?

Can I write it on a piece of paper or does it have to be printed from a computer?

Yeah, I wrote mine and they made me re-write it in hand a few days after I got there. It's a make-work project - don't take it too seriously.

 

[TCBF]

"don't take it too seriously."

You might not have to, but the staff sure will!  ;D

Tom

 

[Glorified Ape]

"don't take it too seriously."

You might not have to, but the staff sure will!    ;D

Tom

I meant not to stress over it too much. We all arrived with our auto-biographies ready and they had us re-write them to a different format (I believe just to mess with us).

 

[PPCLI Guy]

I meant not to stress over it too much. We all arrived with our auto-biographies ready and they had us re-write them to a different format (I believe just to mess with us).

Or to teach you how to follow instructions.  Someday you will go from a 23U to a 23A, and enforcing those kinds of demands will be your job.  Might want to start practicing now, as opposed to

don't take it too seriously.

Dave

 

[TCBF]

And, as I stated above, you learn a lot about someone who has to - under pressure - write a literate (+-) answer to a simple question, sans the aide of spellcheck, the guy beside you, Ma, etc.

Tom

 

[Glorified Ape]

Or to teach you how to follow instructions.  Someday you will go from a 23U to a 23A, and enforcing those kinds of demands will be your job.  Might want to start practicing now, as opposed to

It's quite possible they did do it for that reason. I'm just telling the guy not to stress the small stuff too much - it distracts you from concentrating on the more important things. Don't get me wrong, details are important and all, I just found that myself and alot of other people focused so much on relatively minor issues that we missed the big picture sometimes.

I'm not telling him not to take it seriously, just not to worry about it too much. I remember stressing about things in IAP that I realized later were really nothing to worry about. Of course they needed to be done, but their importance wasn't such that they should have been stressed about nearly to the degree that I did.

And, as I stated above, you learn a lot about someone who has to - under pressure - write a literate (+-) answer to a simple question, sans the aide of spellcheck, the guy beside you, Ma, etc.

Tom

We already had them written (typed), we just had to condense them and copy them into a handwritten format. Maybe it was for the reason you suggested, maybe it was because the staff wanted a shorter version given the number of bios they had to read, maybe it was to keep us occupied in our off time since we hadn't been issued kit and weren't being inspected yet.

 

[TCBF]

We actually read them and learned a lot, but I collected the typed ones FIRST.  With nothing to go by, a lot of back home truth came out.

Tom