Aug 7th BMQ update live from St Jean!!!

[Sparkplugs]

Hey all! Finally got to use a real computer for a few minutes here. Ok.

Week 1. Admin stuff and psycho marching. We march everywhere. If you're on base, you're marching.  Not as bad as I thought it was gong to be.  The instructors yell at you all the time, so it's like Full Metal Jacket, except with a french accent.

Week 2: PT PT PT and more PT. Never done so many pushups in my life. It's crazy.  But fun.  Having a platoon of 60 people pushing you makes you do things you never thought possible.  Starting to go crazy from living on a floor with 15 girls though.  Too much estrogen in one place, hehe.

Week 3: PT and obstacle course and stuff.  Obstacle course is by far the most fun thing here, it's amazing.  Dangerous too, so you have to be careful, but so much fun.  I love the 20foot high cargo net.  And running across the bridge, you have to scream your war cry all the way across, it's awesome.  I'm loud, hehe.  I'm the loud little one here.  And one of my sergeants told me I had a big butt, so we have fun with that.  I was on an obstacle, the 9 foot wall, trying to get over, and I couldn't get my leg over it, so he says, "swing that big butt over there, Saindon!  So now I'm Big Girl.  Hah.  5 feet tall is not a good height for a nine foot wall, but now I get over it all the time, even with all my webbing on.  Week 3 is also the week of first aid training.  You do lots of it, but the tests are easy.  Come to think of it, all of the written tests have been pretty much cake.  It's nice because I don't have to worry about the academic stuff, just keeping my head above water in PT.  I'm not last, but I'm down there.  I'm just not built to be a runner, hehe.

Week 4: I don't really remember, except that it was a good week, and we got our cornflakes, which was cool.  I was surprised at how proud I was!!  We also did a 5 km rucksack march, with about 80 pounds of gear on.  It was cool.  My feet are in good shape, which I'm really happy about.  They're important, because we stand all day ever day.  We do at least a ocuple hours of drill a day, which I enjoy.  If it's not PT, I'm having fun.

Week 5: GAS CHAMBER. Got to put on full gasmask gear and go in the gas chamber. If you end up beathing in any gas, and you're female, it's messy. Anyway, I didn't breathe, it was so cool. It was hard to breathe in that mask though.  They make you do exercises in the mask as a confidence test.

Week 6, which I am just starting. WEAPONS. Got my rifle today, her name is Samantha. C7.  I like it. Pain in the butt to carry around though.  We'll be learning to clean and strip them for inspection next week.  So only 2 more weeks before I head off to Farnham.

Now for the gossip. I am in the beginning stages of pneumonia. Don't know how, but I cough all the time and I have to numb my throat before I am swallow anything. It sucks. The doctor asked me how many days I wanted off, and I said none. I'm chugging through it.

I got my first weekend off last weekend, and I'll tell you what, this military hotel discount is amazing. I got a $400 a night suite at the Sheraton in montreal for $100 a night.

We have a couple of boys who are here to play soldier... running around excited to kill people, but most of us are pretty level-headed.  Lots of navy in my platoon.  There are more airforce and navy than army, and way more east coasters than anywhere else.  I've missed the internet, and my truck, but that's about it.  I'm the only female who hasn't had a breakdown yet, mostly because I don't have anyone at home to be missing.  We started with 60 people, and are now down to 52.  We had 2 people VR, and 6 people are out from injuries, every one of them from the obstacle course.  Our sister platoon has lost 18 people already.  We're a good group.  We have a lot of fun and for the most part, we all get along really well. 

Everything is hard when you're doing it, but never seems that bad later on.  The easiest thing we found here is to just shut up and do what you're told.  Don't question the instructors.  And when you're jacked up for something, just accept it and move on.  When they make you scream at your socks because they're not folded properly, go to town.  "STUPID SOCKS, I HATE YOU, WHY CAN'T YOU EVER DO WHAT I TELL YOU TO?!!"  And be aggressive.  Don't just say "Private Saindon, 822, AVN, 514, ready for your inspection, Sergeant!"  Scream it!  March like a soldier, don't be sloppy, and keep your combats and boots clean.   You'll get yelled at anyway, that's all part of the game.

I'm enjoying this so much.  People had me so scared before I left, but it's not as bad as I thought it would be.  I sleep well and night, and the shacks are suprisingly comfortable.  I like my wool blankets.  I like my boots, and my combats too.  I feel professional in them.  I also feel proud.  We went to the war museum in Montreal a couple weekends ago, and we had tourists wanting to take pictures with us.  It was pretty nifty.

When I get to Borden I'll likely be waiting on a PAT platoon for a couple months for my course to start, so I'm going to try and make it home for my town's Remembrance Day parade and a visit to the local air cadets.  I miss those kids of mine, hehe. 

So 5 weeks down, 6 to go.  I am so excited.

Hopefully all is well here, I miss this place!  Mods, if this is in the wrong spot, let me know.  I wasn't sure where to put it so I stuck it here.  Be well guys, I'll try and update some more later on.    

So yeah, 28 platoon, hoo-rah!

 

[navymich]

Good to hear from you Spark!  Keep up the good attitude, you're pretty well 1/2 way done and then out of there.  And use any downtime you have to take care of yourself too.  Pneumonia can kick you in the a$$ and keep you out of commission.  Stay strong and as well rested as you can.  Keep us updated when you can, and I'm sure all of this information will help other recruits too.

 

[Fredster]

Currently on week 7 of BMQ at St. Jean, and I can vouch for the above account.  Lots of yelling, insults, physical training, other forms of mental and physical stress.  Since coming here I learned how to eat a meal in five minutes, shower in 10 seconds, and do pushups with a rucksack on my back.  Never in my life have I had to push myself so hard to meet someone's expectactions, and so far I am damn proud of what I have achieved.

The teambuilding skills are amazing.  I've worked with teams before so I thought I had good teamwork skills, but they really push it to the limit here, to the point that you almost can't survive doing anything on your own.  Learn how to rely on your buddies and learn how to help them out when they need it.  Learn how to get your crap together as a group, you'll be eating, PTing, and even showering together.  Screw up too much, and you'll get punished together.  An individual can make the entire group get punished.  That's how it works around here, and if you stick by those rules you'll do great.

Another thing is aggression.  Whatever you do around here has to be done with conviction, aggression, and confidence.  You gotta know your stuff, and you gotta show it to your instructors.  Whatever you're doing, do it right and do it loud and that way you'll slide by without being noticed.  The instructors pick up on people who look sketchy or uncomfortable, so look strong and proud.  Everything you do around here has to be done without fear and with full conviction.  They ask for 150%, so give it your best shot every time.

Time management is a big one.  I realize now that I used to be lazy.  Around here you can't let things sit around and not get done.  Work on your kit, work on your buddy's kit, work on your station job, study your notes.  Don't sit around thinking "I'll get it done eventually".  You can't afford to wait to get it done, and your instructors make sure you know this.  If you work hard and get your stuff done properly and on time, your instructors will give you a break and say you did a good job.  Then you can relax and take a breather.  You really have to earn your freedom around here, and that's an important part of the learning experience.

 

[MikeL]

....GAS CHAMBER....

*Gas Hut




Anyways good stuff, good luck on the rest of the course.

 

[fielder]

When do you find out if you get time off? My boyfriend is in platoon 28 and he has been out in the woods all the time! Maybe your group has been performing a little better than his!   

Congrads on making it this far! You're a better woman than I am!

 

[SoF]

Sounds like you're having a great time. The weapons will be a pain as you'll be cleaning them all the time, get a box of q-tips to help with the cleaning. As for being sick, everyone gets sick on basic; it's the combination of living with 50 or 60 people and never having time to wash your hands before a meal.

 

[navymich]

...and never having time to wash your hands before a meal.

And that is completely disgusting!  You're not doing yourself, or anyone else for that matter, any good with habits like that.  I'm not there, and haven't been there, to know the routine, but there's got to be something set up to take care of that.

 

[Sparkplugs]

We don't always have time to wash anything before supper.  There are so many platoons stuffed in here right now, you're very fortunate if you have 5 minutes to stuff your face before you're kicked out of the mess.  Pretty crazy, but only one week until we go to Farnham, so I'm looking forward to that.  Oh, we do carry around a whole lot of hand sanitizer, because there really isn't any time to use for hygeine before lunch and supper, so we sanitize like mad. 

Had my first drunken Bistro night last night.  It's cool though, because if you've had more than 2 drinks, you can use the elevators!!  Which is nice, because I pound up and down 5 flights of stairs multiple times every day.  Springroll has it worse, hehe, she has to climb to the 10th floor.  Yeah, the Bistro is fun.  We watched Full Metal Jacket, yet again, and drank far too many beers. 

Sorry I called the gas hut a gas chamber, hehe, I forgot that it's the "Confidence Chamber" now. 

I have so many awesome pictures, I wish I could upload them here.

Oh, and last night I got to meet techie and some other people whose handles I can't remember at the moment.  I've seen ArmyDave around (can't miss him) but have yet to say hello.  SigOpDraco is on my platoon, but I haven't ran into any of the other Aug 7th people yet, they might all be on the sister platoon.

Monday we have our CO's challenge, which is going to be fun.  We've got one guy who can run like the wind, it's insane.  And a couple who can pump out pushups like nuts.

We've been doing rifle drill all week, which is nuts.  This C7 is way too big for me, I have bruised shoulders from shouldering and ordering arms.  I had to get the butt shortened so I can actually shoot the thing.

I have a nice bright yellow #7 on my chest now, it's a proud thing. 

Still having fun, and trying to get my lungs back in shape.  The good thing, NO MORE PSP PT CLASSES!  WOOOO!  No more "standing position..... CHANGE."

I think the hardest thing so far has been trying to get along with all of the people on the floor.  Too much estrogen is insane.  Some days we're ready to kill each other, and it's always over stupid things, like who didn't clean the chairs in the laundry room or who used the 'display toilet' that we don't use, stuff like that.

The yelling is frequent, but usually it's hilarious.  I get yelled at all the time, but it's usually for laughing at something the instructors say.  "Stop smiling Saindon!!"  I had to be a dead man on the obstacle course the other day.  I bashed my knee and crumpled over, and they wouldn't let me get up and finish, so I just had to lie there and play corpse while everyone finished. 

Once the instructors get to know you, they're great.  They'll make jokes and stuff if you behave and try not to screw up too much.  We've got a 5'2 airforce sergeant, who is just awesome.  He's my section commander, and we have so much fun with him during inspections.  He's an ACS tech, so he's been giving me lots of advice on my future AVN career.  I've also heard that the PAT wait in Borden in insane.  Hopefully I can get a good course start date once I'm done here. 

Anyway, I'm being summoned to go watch a movie, so I must run.  Ciao, all, and I will try to update again soon!!

 

[fielder]

Nice to hear people get to enjoy themselves a little there! I was worried....

 

[Sparkplugs]

Nice to hear people get to enjoy themselves a little there! I was worried....

We're trying, hehe.  We try our best, anyway.  Sometimes it gets crazy up on the floors and we're all laughing like loons.  Fun times though.

 

[belka]

We had 2 people VR, and 6 people are out from injuries, every one of them from the obstacle course.  Our sister platoon has lost 18 people already. 

That obstacle course was a complete waist of time and someone always got hurt on in. Hey, lets send in 40y old women (nothing against that, just telling what happened) that joined to be a traffic tech, yell at them to hurry the f*ck up, then spend more money and time on her when she breaks her leg.  : After that incident in week 5, no one on our platoon went on that course and on the one in Farnham. /rant
 

When I get to Borden I'll likely be waiting on a PAT platoon for a couple months for my course to start, so I'm going to try and make it home for my town's Remembrance Day parade and a visit to the local air cadets.  I miss those kids of mine, hehe. 

PAT platoon in CFSATE was more of a metal challenge then it was in Basic. Even when you get on your AVN course, you will see just how bitter everyone is, and there have been quite a few VR's, not because the course is difficult, but due to the BS that goes on there. I'm sure for those who went through there know exactly what I am talking about.

Anyways, good luck with the rest of your basic and in Borden. Just remember when you are in Borden that it is NOT the same thing that does on in your Squadron. 

 

[Springroll]

Hey Sparkplugs!!

Great update and very accurate!

I am currently going onto week 5 and am loving it, but that obstacle course I could do without. Pulled my abductor muscles on it last week(OUCH!) Techie, Rory, ArmyDave, Cansurf and a few others from here are all on my sister platoon, so we tend to hang out after work and on the weekends....talking about an army.ca outing now that we all can venture out on the weekends. I see HL everyday down in the cafeteria.

Anyways, now that I am able to use the comps, I will try to post some updates to.

have a good one, everybody!

 

[SoF]

And that is completely disgusting!  You're not doing yourself, or anyone else for that matter, any good with habits like that.  I'm not there, and haven't been there, to know the routine, but there's got to be something set up to take care of that.

It is disgusting Mich but it's the truth. Lets say you have 15 minutes to eat, you can "choose" to leave the line and go wash your hands than upon re-entry into the line you see  another platoon of 60 has swooped your place in line; you just lost 5 minutes off your lunch. It's worse in the field, you actualy eat a small portion of dirt with every meal; I like to call that the dessert. ;D

 

[JDMCRX]

You in borden yet.

I was a AVN tech there in borden. If you have any questions feel free to ask.

So how did you like the field.

J

 

[Meridian]

That obstacle course was a complete waist of time and someone always got hurt on in. Hey, lets send in 40y old women (nothing against that, just telling what happened) that joined to be a traffic tech, yell at them to hurry the **** up, then spend more money and time on her when she breaks her leg.  : After that incident in week 5, no one on our platoon went on that course and on the one in Farnham. /rant

Your rant is misplaced.  The "confidence" courses are meant for just that... to build confidence, and it doesn't matter if you are going to be a traffic tech or a JTF-2 Operative next week, because for the rest of your career you will be soldier first, even if in practice it really only ever ends up being theoretical.  Plus, the training benefits are, (from what Ive been told having done all of the courses at St Jean/Farnham several times both on and off formal courses) much more than just "teaching someone army stuff".  Its all about showing someone what they can do, and what they can get over (see "obstacle") if they put their mind to it.

I recognize people get hurt here, and that definitely needs to be minimized. But so should the weak physical status of many of the people getting to that stage...  at any rate,  it always had GREAT motivational value for other candidates and I included,  ESPECIALLY for those "weaker" ones who never thought they could do it and got through it (thanks, in part, to the "encouragement" of DS AND all the other candidates.)

Edit to add:

Sparkplug:  Thanks for the updates; its fun to read the BMQ-side of things; I have a buddy who is on IAP right now...  keep it up!

 

[canadianblue]

That obstacle course was a complete waist of time and someone always got hurt on in. Hey, lets send in 40y old women (nothing against that, just telling what happened) that joined to be a traffic tech, yell at them to hurry the **** up, then spend more money and time on her when she breaks her leg.    After that incident in week 5, no one on our platoon went on that course and on the one in Farnham. /rant

Soldier first. I'm a Signal Operator, and I was one of the members of my course that got sent to a ComCen right off that bat doing what the old Tel Ops did. As far as I'm concerned, its just as important now as it was in Basic to maintan basic physical fitness and retain what was learnt in Basic and brush up on it from time to time so I don't lose it. As well not doing the obstacle course because someone got hurt is complete BS, you should keep on going. So far in my short career the most pride I felt from being in the military was in Basic knowing what I was able to do when I put my mind to it with reference to the obstacle course, bayonet fighting, yelling, sleep deprevation, whatever.

 

[JDMCRX]

Yeah the obsticle coarse was fun we had one guy fall and break his arm. But the job must go on. I noticed that day alot of the guys learned to work as a team. Cause some people were stronger at different things. the wall , the under ground tunnel. Its all part of the game

 

[Meridian]

Yep, obstacle course was a huge team-builder on both courses I was on.

 

[Sparkplugs]

The obstacle course, or "confidence course" was a blast.  It was fun pushing myself to see if I could do it as fast as the guys could.

I have just graduated basic training!!  YAY!  Had my grad last thursday, and now I'm sitting in Borden, literally, for training.  My course is far in the future.  Grad was pretty good, not as long as I thought it would be, which is awesome.  I got top marksman for my course, which was also pretty cool. 

I'm really happy about the way basic went.  Even though we were an 11 week course, our staff managed to sneak us in some bayonet training.

In Farnham there was lots of rain, lots of cold, and hardly any sleep, but it was so much fun.  I was course senior in Farnham for the hootchie week and the UN camp week, and it was a blast. 

However, I am glad it's all over.  I'll keep all of you updated with what's going on in oh-so-exciting Borden.  Anyone else here?

 

[canadianblue]

The only place I ever enjoyed being section senior was in the field. I loved the field in Farnham.

As for Borden, the highlight of my three months there was ripping out some carpet at the Ranger's building. PRETC is one of the most incompetent places you will ever end up being a part of.