Relax and Chill out!

[paracowboy]

I've posted this advice in any number of threads, but you guys still aren't getting it, so I'll try again.

RELAX.

You're getting yourselves all worked up and freaking yourselves out over stupid crap. How do I pass this? What happens if I fail that? How many people failed your Basic? Did they get shot? Are they dog food now? If I sprain a follicle, will I be re-coursed?

Your instructors are professionals who fully intend to see every one of you become little Privates in our special club, we got goin' here. If you show up reasonably fit, with the proper attitude, and LISTEN TO THEM, that is exactly what will happen. You will pass, and join our cheery ranks.

People, literally THOUSANDS of men and women have undergone this training before you. They have passed, and without this website to hold their hands, and give pep talks, and group hugs. Nobody sang "Kumbaya" with me when I got on the bus. My Dad shook my hand, said "Don't ever quit", and that was it. And I sit here, with looking down from the giddy height of MCpl. If I can do it, so can you.

Stop panicking, do your PT, and THAT'S IT. That's it. It's that friggin' simple! There's no need to read any secret books. There's no requirement to study before you go. Everything you will need to learn will be taught to you, with the necessary Standard demonstrated (and whatever "cheats" and "hints" are applicable).

Read my thread on Blisters, Shin Splints, and PT in the Training forum. It has several posts in it dealing with attitude. Now, for the sake of whatever Being you hold sacred (or profane, I'll swear by anything) RELAX.

Just some friendly advice. Feel free to ignore it. Most of you will, I'm sure.

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

That is fantastic advice, the only thing I knew in 78 when I did mine was that it was in Nova Scotia and if I passed I would be Artillery. No idea where, or to be truthful, what Artillery consisted of....and it was a great ride for the next 10 years.

 

[Sf2]

I'll offer a bit too that I've observed over my 10 yrs so far

ATTN ALL FORMER AIR/ARMY/SEA CADETS - do not go into basic training thinking you know everything there is to know from your 7 yrs of cadet experience.  Go to basic with an open mind and a motivation to learn.  Yes, you'll probably have shinier boots for the first two weeks, but do not go in there thinking you are better than everyone else because you can alreay do an about turn at the march.

It is critical that you arrive with a clean slate, with the skills you learned in cadets kept in your back closet for when you NEED them, not when you can USE them to make you think you look better.  Instructors can and WILL spot this a mile away, and will put you in your place fast.

Cadets is an excellent opportunity for youth to be exposed to the military experience, but it is in no way a prep-school for a military career - the two are on opposite ends of the spectrum.

Cheers all and good luck

 

[brin11]

I couldn't agree more with paracowboy!  I think most of you are WAY overanalyzing everything.  Its nice to have a heads up and some info about what you're getting into so that you can make informed decisions on trades, postings, etc.  When it comes to recruit training and what comes after though, he has given you excellent advice.  Listen, follow direction exactly and help out your buddies.  There's really not much more than that.  I have to echo the other posters as well, I had pretty much no clue what was going to happen to me when I got off the bus in Cornwallis.  It was a great adventure and more so I think because I was semi-clueless.  Here's one for you:  I was given a list of things to bring to basic training (like all of you have been) and I ran all over town looking for boot bands.  Of course, nobody had a sweet clue what they were and neither did I.  I had no one to ask and the world didn't fall on me when I showed up without them.  Nobody else knew what they were either!

Good luck to all.

 

[Ex-Dragoon]

Yes....I agree with the above and I offer theis gem that occured twicwe during my Basic....a cadet argued with our MS about a drill movement and an Ex Militia MCPL tired to take over teaching our weapons class because our Weapons cadre he felt were not doing it right. That cadet and the Ex MCPL never finished Basic.... So for those that like to disagree and argue with your instructors BMT is NOT the place to do it.

 

[paracowboy]

This post hasn't even been up for a full day yet, and I've already gotten a few "Yeah, but"s, and "What if"s.
There are none.
Trust us, we've been doing this for a very long time, now. Over 100 years. We got a system an' everything.
Really.
It's an ancient system, dating back to the Greek Hoplites. Most of the bugs are worked out of it by now. Honest.
The CF wants you to become Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen. Your instructors want you to succeed. Your success is our success, and it makes the CF, and Canada as a whole, stronger. You will be shown everything you need to know.
All you have to do is show up, try hard, never quit, and look out for your buddies.
That's it.
Literally hundreds of thousands of people have gone through the same thing before you. They made it. It's not impossible.
You have questions. You have doubts. Good, it means you're not an idiot. Only an idiot would not have second thoughts and doubts. Only a fool doesn't experience trepidation and fear.
I won't lie to you. There will be difficult moments.
If it were easy, it wouldn't be worthwhile.
But, it's not as though you were being set up to fail.
Quite the contrary.
Don't sweat the small stuff. It doesn't matter if you can't iron, or can't do 1,000 push-ups. You will be taught and you will be built up. You will be brought up to the Standard.
Don't worry about whether you can bring this, eat that, or whatever else is preying on your mind. It will all be attended to. You will be given everything you need to succeed. The only thing you have to bring, the only thing that cannot be supplied, is the will to succeed.
All you have to do is show up, try your hardest, never quit, and help your buddies.
We'll take care of everything else.
I promise.

Now go for a run.

 

[Slim]

Paracowboy's advice is sound so please DO NOT pm me with questins about hat I'm going to say.

If you have been a cadet, then I strongly advise you to not ever mention it during basic and the courses follwing it (they called it TQ3 in my day. God knows what it's called now)

"But why?" You ask. Surely the instructors have read your file and know all about you right?!

Right! Admitting that you were a cadet (or in the reserve for that matter) has nothing to do with experience, or keeness, or the colour of your socks, or how you make your bed...Its an attitude check. Plain and simple!

They (the staff) want to know which one of you little darlings is going to cause them the most grief on course. Sticking your hand up when they ask who has been in cadets (and they will) is a sure sign that you are full of cadet ideas and haven't been smart enough to realize that that part of your life is now over and its time to move on...These are also the people who WILL WITHOUT FAIL say something like "Well that's not how we did things at 2044 Arctic Mitten Squadron in Air Cadets!"

That the staff will not march you out into the freezing cold and make you do pushups anymore is only because they're no longer allowed to!

My advise is LEAVE THE CADET ATTITUDE AND KEENESS AT HOME! If they ask you where you learned drill you're better off to say that your big brother/sister taught you than to admit to being in cadets.

But, like paracowboy said, none of you will lsten anyway.

Have a good one

Slim

 

[Island Ryhno]

When I went to reg force basic, my Sgt pinned me as someone who had experience on the first inspection. He came flying around the corner, inspected the guy next to me, made him do pushups while he came to me. He takes one look at me, says "you have some military experience Pte, no?" What could I do, lie? I say yes Sgt, he then says "I will hold especially accountable for your buddies, you should know better." Great, he told me later that he knew because I had my combats done properly, as in boot bands, while everyone else was flopping around Disco Stu, Doh. Sometimes you can be keen without even knowing it.  ;D

 

[Pea]

While we're on the cadet topic. I totally understand what you are saying about not advertising I was a cadet, and not acting like I know it all. I will go with a clean slate and learn everything like everyone else. But, what about if I am in Island Rhyno's situation. If they can tell because I have something done right and others don't in the beginning, am I supposed to lie and say no I wasn't in cadets? I don't feel good about lying. Are you suggesting I also leave this out of my autobiography? I don't want to have extra pain caused to me because I admit I was a cadet, but at the same time, I don't want to be pinned as a liar.

 

[Slim]

I don't want to have extra pain caused to me because I admit I was a cadet, but at the same time, I don't want to be pinned as a liar.

Don't ever lie to the DS. If someone asks you a question then answer honestly and fully.

What I was getting at was not advertising it.

There is a big difference.

Slim

 

[Pea]

Don't ever lie to the DS. If someone asks you a question then answer honestly and fully.

What I was getting at was not advertising it.

There is a big difference.

Slim

Thanks Slim. I wasn't planning on lying, it's just not my cup of tea. I just thought I would ask what was truly meant, as some may have been confused about what the intent of the information was. I will just put 100% effort in, and if I get asked why I know how to do something, then I will tell them, but, I will not advertise.

 

[Island Ryhno]

If you just go and do what you gotta do, then you will not have to worry about it. There will be enough mouths going to off to attrack any "extra" attention from the DS that you will not be binned for being a good recruit!

 

[Slim]

If you just go and do what you gotta do, then you will not have to worry about it. There will be enough mouths going to off to attrack any "extra" attention from the DS that you will not be binned for being a good recruit!

Usually having a S**Tmagnate on the course is a good idea...for the rest of the students. It keeps the DS focused on one person and allows the rest of the course to go (relatively) unmolested.

 

[Pearson]

My 2 pennies.....(sorry to keep this thread off topic but hey...)

Instructors know or will know who was  in cadets/reserves period. Very easy to spot during your first formation, or group movement before drill is taught. "Hippity hop....mob...Stop!"

The recruit in this situation,(all recruits actually) will be watched to see how they interact with their peers. If the recruit in question is a good recruit, (when I say good, i mean hard working, team orientated, as opposed to "look at me.. I know everything!..), the instructors will monitor the recruit as any other and carry on. If the recruit is capable, the others on the course will seek that persons help with things that they are good at. Likewise, the recruit will find things during the course that they will have difficulty, and find help from the other recruits. (notice the team and the lack of I) 

On the other hand, if said recruit brings with him and displays the know it all, better than the rest attitude, he will find himself, just as any other know it all, better than the rest idiot,(yes even those with no prior experience) discovering that there are things you know because you have been taught them by your instructors, and there are things that you think you know.

The staff are there to teach you.....Learn from them.
What you learned in the cadets/reserves may or may not be the same as you are being taught. This is not a point to argue with the staff on your course. Just because you have past experience, does not mean your past experience is right/proper/current or safe.

The staff is there to train you, not fail you. You fail yourself. If this happens it will not be as a result of the staff trying to fail you. You are all there as recruits, expected to perform as recruits.

There are many horror stories of cadets/reservists being singled out and picked on. This extra attention is the same extra attention that any recruit (with or without cadet/reserve experience) in the same situation, displaying the same attitudes and performance levels will attract.

Examples that all who have gone through can relate to I'm sure.
Going back a few years, but, we had a reservist on our basic (Cornwallis 87), who thought his poop did not stink, barley made it through, not a good team mate for the first few weeks but he finally caught on. 
Another, recruit with cadet experience, again thought his poop smelled like roses,  during inspection, week one,battle school, '89 "What is it that gives you the right to have a PPCLI cap badge in your locker? You have not earned it yet.no one else has one.....(Every one grab your helmet.. push-up time), yet he did not clue in that this was not the way to act. This behavior continued despite the best efforts of the staff to educate the young lad. Re-coursed.

Go....learn...be a sponge....soak it up.... when someone wants your opinion or help, they will ask, just as you will ask others.

I was a former reservist entering Cornwallis....I followed the don't offer advice, unless asked track. It starts with your bunk buddy, and then goes from there. You learn to trust each other, support each other and beyond that, value each other.

If your bunk buddy is going elsewhere for assistance, you might want to rethink your behavior and attitude.

In closing.

You will have fun and LEARN. Not many people can look back on basic without smiling and laughing, even years later.

I guess it was more than 2 pennies worth...  ;D

 

[winchable]

I'm with them.

I'll add based on my own limited experience that it's best just to ride the wave on this stuff, that's most of the adventure, show up without a jackshite clue what to do and just go with it. It's quite a rush when things start to click in your head and you can actually contribute, but that won't happen unless you show up, with the blank slate and just give'r at first.


Or if you're still not listening,
The skip level code for BMQ is "up-square-triangle-select-L1-circle-circle-R1"

 

[Gunnar]

The purpose of Basic Training it to make civilians into soldiers, by stressing co-operation, leadership, and teamwork.  The military does this by creating an artificial environment of shared suffering based on shared needs and shared cohabitation.  If you already knew how to do each of the tasks they assign perfectly, you wouldn't be a proper soldier until you learned the rest of it...co-operation, leadership and teamwork.  Are your shoes perfect?  Great!  Why the hell does the guy standing next to you look like he shined his shoes with a chocolate bar?  Where were you?  Didn't you help him?  Why not?

So, in addition to questions about how to do X, Y or Z properly...you may as well ask what the correct method of cleaning a garbage can for inspection is likely to be...because the task isn't the goal...it's the process you go through.  And in that process, you learn co-operation, leadership and teamwork by doing a bunch of irrelevant little military tasks...which are only useful to you once you've proven yourself as a soldier, i.e., a good troop that they can rely on, who helps his buddies, uses his head, etc., etc.  Once they've molded you into a soldier, then all the irrelevant tasks you learned (well, maybe not cleaning garbage cans, per se) become more relevant, because now they're being done by a *soldier*, who needs these tasks done properly.  A civilian doing the tasks properly isn't doing them for any reason--he's not a soldier.

This is why you have to relax.  Because you can never get it right except by trying your hardest to fit in, and to help your buddies, and to never, never quit.

You can never get it right.  That's why they jack you up for all sorts of inconsequential things...to force you to think about doing your best, to focus on YOU, not the task.  So that you learn that getting it wrong is not a personal failure, but that failing to try to get it right IS.  So that you accept that the guy yelling about your crappy uniform (which you KNOW is PERFECT) is full of crap, but sometimes the cookie crumbles that way, and you KNOW you did your utmost, and that there's nothing more you can do.  Or when you know that your uniform DOES look like crap, because you spent a lot of time with the other guys getting theirs perfect...and that's what matters. 

And once those guys see that acceptance and understanding in you, they will let you be part of the club.  And some guys will just be jerks too...but that's life.

 

[Glorified Ape]

The only thing more obnoxious than "We did it X way in cadets..." or "I was XX in the cadets..." is "At RMC, X would happen..." or "We do it X way at RMC..." or "This one time at RMC..."

I don't know if the former-cadets-now-Ocdts with the "blah blah" tendency all put a tick in the "RMC" box on the application or whether it's just something bred into most people at RMC but the advice given to former cadets here goes ditto for any new Ocdts who'll be heading to RMC. When you get to your BOTC course don't mention RMC. Shut up about RMC - your fellow civi U-ers don't really want to hear about it (the glazed eyes and clenched fists should give it away) and especially not EVERY day. We realize that RMC has been/will be your life and we feel sorry for you, we honestly do, but don't tell us about it, now matter how strong the urge. We have better things to worry about... like how to cover a lease and rations on ocdt pay.

 

[George Wallace]

BTT

With the large numbers who have just received the 'Call' to BMQ, perhaps you should reread this thread and relieve some of your anxieties. 

Remember you are your own worse enemy - do not allow your Fear to defeat you before you start (anything).

 

[Sub_Guy]

Manage your time

Work as a team

Remember regardless of what you did before you are all on the same playing field, use your previous experience to guide others who may have no experience

I remember in our platoon we started out with 68 pers, 4 of which admitted to being cadets, 3 out of the 4 were very cocky, only 1 graduated in our class (34 grads), you don't need me to tell you what 3 didn't graduate in our class.  I assume that they finished in another platoon, but I didn't care to check up on them.

I went into BMQ as a base brat, I still had no idea what I was in for as the military was on the bottom of my list of things to do after high school, that quickly changed as I didn't feel like working in some bum job, I only had some college, I was running out of cash and the rest is history.  Funny even after I signed up my father said I hope you like drill, I replied what's drill, his response you'll soon find out, and that was the end of that talk.  I was so ignorant as to what went on in basic, here I was a base brat living in PMQ's all over the place, I would watch military parades, and I never even thought to ask what went into the prepping for parades, or how much time was spent practicing. 

My father's advice to me was "KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT"  "DO WHAT YOU ARE TOLD"  and "DON'T GIVE UP"  BMQ went by so fast it seems like a blur right now, but it wasn't hard at all, I couldn't do push-ups to save my life but remedial fixed me up good.

There were some mind games, but those are just games.... Example during one MWO inspection he emptied my locker onto my bed, then he flipped my bed........I didn't even get to finish off my little SN, Name, Trade, do you wish to inspect sir? spiel.....  His parting words from my area, were excellent inspection, well done, take note MCPL.....  I felt really good, and scared sh*tless all at the same time.....mindgames

Or having the guy next to me getting inspected and the MCPL kicks his trash can into my area, then he inspects me and I fail for having two trash cans.... Funny as hell, but again just games.....  BMQ is fun, and it is nothing to get stressed about. 

 

[paracowboy]

going by what I've read on some of the other threads, some of you folks have mis-interpreted my original post in this thread. If I ever gave you the impression Basic Training was going to be easy, then I apologize. Such was never my intent. I read through it, and my second post, and the responses to each, and nowhere did I find anything that would cause someone to infer that it was going to be easy.

Flat out: it isn't. It will be difficult. Everyone will find something challenging about Basic. For some it will be the PT, for others, the regimentation, and for others, homesickness. Many will apply such ridiculous amounts of stress on themselves, that they will burn out. THAT is the issue I am addressing here. Many of you are applying that stress before you even get there! By the time you actually see your Course Staff, you will have yourself worked to such a fever pitch, you will fall apart. So chill out. Relax. Enjoy the ride.

This is a grand adventure you are embarking on. A life-changing journey. It is to be embraced, not dreaded. All of you will be challenged. Some will find the challenges insurmountable. Others will thrive on them. Most will tolerate them, and go on to become capable soldiers, sailors, and airmen in the CF.

Again, if you have applied, or intend to apply, all you have to do now is work on your PT, show up, and never quit. That is all that is expected of you.
1) Simply work to get yourself into the best physical shape you can. Exceed the minimum standard required for application. It is the lowest level of PT expected of you. The better physical condition you are in, the easier the other aspects of Basic will be for you.
2) Always be on time. "On time" is 10 minutes early.
3) Always speak the truth. Any failure can be forgiven. Dishonesty will never be.
4) Help your buddies. You are trying to become part of a team. Individualism is useless to the CF. Teamwork is vital. Teamwork starts at YOUR level.
5) Never quit. Try your very best at all things. You will be shown the Standard. You will be taught how to achieve it. Sometimes, you will not be able to meet it, but NEVER QUIT trying. As long as you show that you have the drive to continue in the face of adversity, your staff will allow you to work towards your (and their) goal of turning you into a fully trained member of our club.
6) Chill out. Relax. They can't kill you. If they do, they can't eat your body. It's illegal.

If it were easy, anybody could do it, and it wouldn't be worth doing.
It ain't, they can't, and it is. It really is.

You can either try, or spend the rest of your life wondering.
It's your call.