hello everyone!!!! im off to basic!!!

[cadpat]

hi there everyone well as of may 10th i have officially signed my 4 year contract for the Canadian Forces i leave for boot camp this Saturday the 21st so im wondering for anyone that has gone through basic hows it like? what do i have to look forward to? and any tips that will help me?

[jp1969]

Good luck bro! Best advice I can give you is straight out of the book "Lone Survivor". During BUDS Marcus Luttrell was told " Don't think about what lies ahead. Get through what you are going through at that moment. Stay focused on the task at hand." Now, I know SEAL training is a lot more intense than Basic but I think this advice will help and even though you are join Canadian forces, as an American I'd like to thank you for your service. You are a strong Ally to our country and you fight where we fight. Thank you.

[passthej]

hi there everyone well as of may 10th i have officially signed my 4 year contract for the Canadian Forces i leave for boot camp this Saturday the 21st so im wondering for anyone that has gone through basic hows it like? what do i have to look forward to? and any tips that will help me?

good luck, keep your head down, listen to your sergeant, and remember it only lasts for 26 wks,


ps, I forgot, basic is there purely to weed out the weak

[CSOR]

Good luck! wich profession are you going in?
And like Passthej told its only to get the weaks out so keep confidence in you and dont get bothered if your sergeant is always on you , hes testing you! :)

[serpa6]

Good luck on your Basic Training there Cad and the best advice is as JP has stated. Listen to everything that Your instructors tell you if you in a landfill and they tell you incoming you dive and hit that ground and bury yourself like a mole!! Everything they tell you to do is for a reason and in the end of basic they will tell you so. Remember they have been out there, they know exactly what combat is like and you will get simulated training but remember all that you have learned it, will come in handy in the military and in life's adventures Good Luck Cad Be safe
Serpa 6

[cadpat]

well thank everyone i really appreciate the support and the advice but if you guys are wondering im going in as a vehicle technician at first and do that for a few years so i can at least learn a trade then im gonna go ahead and see if i can try out for JTF 2 hopefully

[CSOR]

Thanks for your service !

[DefensorFortis]

First off congratulations on your decision to enlist, it's a great life choice. Second, I just got back from U.S. Army basic training so I couldn't tell you any specifics about Canadian Forces basic.

But what I can tell you is that you will be living with a group of strangers from different parts of your country for a considerable amount of time: just remember, if you want to be respected, respect your fellow recruits. I made sure to be respectful to my battle buddies while I was in basic and made sure to be an all around good guy. I did simple favors, we had to have a battle buddy every where we went. If a guy needed to use the bathroom for example, even if I didn't have to take a piss I'd go anyway with someone that had to just to be a good battle buddy.

I won over a lot of people's respect for that because I didn't treat people like dog shit, that's an easy way to make enemies. Also, contribute to your platoon and don't be the guy that tries to pussy out of everything by visiting the medical clinic almost every day, we had a guy like that, and we automatically lost all respect for him.

Just remember, if you need help with something don't be afraid to ask your battle buddies. I'd be stressed to the max with things and I asked for help and it really melted the stress away. You have all these battle buddies around you to help you out, if you sincerely need help go to them, there will always be someone to help you.

Try not to make yourself stand out in a negative way, your Drill Sergeants (or whatever they are called in Canadian Forces) will pick on you, call you names, yell at you, smoke you (make you do exercises, or just plain old embarrass you in front of your battle buddies. I brought negative attention to myself at times, not on purpose, but because I'm slightly uncoordinated (at PT there was one exercise I couldn't do right for the life of me, so the Drill Sergeants gave me hell in front of my platoon for that.) Sometimes you'll bring negative attention to yourself whether or not you intend to (like my example at PT) but you can decrease it by just listening and paying attention to detail and performing all your training tasks correctly. Also, don't do any stupid shit like bring in contraband, get into fist fights, or act like an ass hole to your battle buddies IN FRONT of the Drill Sergeants.

Make sure you maintain situational awareness at all times. I accidentally flipped off a Sergeant (he was training with us because he was changing his job from artillery to infantry). The Sergeant was picking on me because I was limping around (my foot was broken by the way) I flipped him off because I got so pissed. I paid for it by getting smoked. Another lesson to learn from this is control yourself and don't act on impulse, especially if you get pissed. It'll just lead you to no where.

If you see people in your platoon doing stupid shit, or if they have contraband, or they're doing something behind the Drill Sergeants back, report it. I don't care if people call you a snitch or a rat, you need to be a man and do the right thing. My platoon and the entire company for that matter would get smoked because people wouldn't tell the Drill Sergeants these things. It'll save you, your platoon and the other platoons from getting an unnecessary smoking session.

But the most important thing is: pay attention to all the details and have fun with it. Sure, it's going to suck balls because you're away from home, family, deprived of sleep and the foods you like. Just remember: this isn't the real Army, it's just basic training it'll be over soon and you can go back to what you used to enjoy (as long as what you used to enjoy isn't unethical and goes against your military bearing). If you have fun with what you're learning and the different training events, basic will go by faster, smoother and you'll pick up on the details of your training even better.

Good luck, have fun and make us proud at AC ;)