It has been about a year that I formally started my application to join the Canadian Forces (CF). I am now a couple weekends into my Basic Military Qualification (BMQ) course, as any training is broken into courses. The courses are now modularized for Reservists as myself. When they are not weekend-only, as this Winter BMQ is, they are for 2 weeks at a time. The buffer time is variable and not concrete in any way. It could be a weekend, it could be a month. They do try to break the modules down with a 1 week buffer it would appear. Anyway, since itÂ’s not the Summer and no courses are offered for Reservists between Sept to December, my course that started on Jan 20 2004 is referred to as Winter. So how is Winter different from Summer and what is it?

Winter BMQ is the same as Summer in that they teach the same principles, the tests are the same, and the requirements to pass are the same. The only difference is that it is not all at once over a few weeks. It is spread out over weekends. Sometimes back-to-back weekends, other times you get approximately 2 weeks of buffer. WeÂ’re introduced to military life. This means culture shock. According to the Meriam-Webster dictionary, culture shock is a sense of confusion and uncertainty sometimes with feelings of anxiety that may affect people exposed to an alien culture or environment without adequate preparation. Okay, what that means in English, plain English is this: you feel out of sorts enough to want to just get the heck out and back to the world you recognize. My class, also referred to as the course or platoon, as we comprise the approximate number that consists of a platoon, 30-35 troops, has already had 5 candidates drop out, depleting our numbers to 33. IÂ’m already using lingo such as force depletion. It is amazing, simply amazing at how you can change how you operate. Yes, you, not they, are changing how you function. BMQ is not designed as school is, to single out the individuals and reward or punish them. It is not based on individual merit. Everything possible is team oriented.

You show up and leave in your section. I belong to “1 Section”. The number comes first. We were 9 troops in size but then we were depleted to 6; 3 of the 5 drop-outs were from our section. One went AWOL and two others voluntarily withdrew. However we gained a member from 4 Section just at the end. I already knew him by his face but not his name, though he does have a name-tag. I was getting into the group-mode, covering others’ butts because that’s what you do when you operate in a team. Someone leaves their note book behind in the lecture room, it doesn’t matter that they are even from another Section, you pick it up and drag it along and track them down. He was very grateful for my bringing it with me. We avoided platoon push-ups. Because we are all being groomed to be of the same caliber, we must all grow together. This means when push-ups are to be done, we all do push-ups. Such motivation is necessary when an individual stands out, such as being the sole person to have left behind their note book. It’s an excellent conditioning method. Anyway, he’s in our Section and what a fine section we are !;

I have bruises from slamming my rifle sight (it’s not a gun, “a gun weighs a ton”) into my armpit while doing drill. Drill is fun. It is more fun than it used to be when I kept on making lots of mistakes. As my Section Commander, a veteran Sergeant (Sgt.) would say, “Wildman, your personal drill is atrocious!” I’m going in on my off day when the reservists meet at the Armoury where we practice to have someone help me with my personal drill. The only thing holding us back from graduating with a perfect score is ourselves. The instructors are there to help us improve ourselves 24/7. If I have any question, on matter how lame as there is no such thing as a stupid question, I can call my Section Commander, the Sgt, at home, at any hour. He is that dedicated to us. With that kind of dedication, how could you not want to make them proud?

The days are long. We operate about 18 hours a day and sleep about 6, if you are lucky. I wonÂ’t be lucky next time. As on the first night, 1 Section pulled Fire Duty. We stand watch at night, guarding the door and doing security sweeps through the building. This includes shutting doors that are open. I think some of the course staff go around opening doors I swear. Of course that does keep us on our toes. WeÂ’ve been trained on what to do in case of a fire. And we will be tested on it. Which meansÂ… yah. So anyway, I pulled the first and second-last shift. 11:30pm-12:30am and 3:30-4:30am. WeÂ’re up at 5:30am. Considering we were writing essays during that time frame too as there is little to do unless youÂ’re doing a sweep, I was wide awake. I could barely sleep and most certainly couldnÂ’t sleep in that last hour before we were to be woken up. Then we scored out physical evaluations again. I came in first for the running, by seconds, and promptly went to throw up. Fortunately we are fed after Physical Training (PT). By the time lunch rolls around at about noon or 1pm, youÂ’ve had a full day of work. It is non-stop. You might get a 5, 10 or even 15 minute break while trainers change Power Point slides or instruct you to go fill your water canteens before showing up for more drill. But smile because you only have 10 more hours to go before you might sleep, and do it all again.

In Summer BMQ, this would be back-to-back for a few weeks. This can be seen as harder, and physically it definitely is. Your body has less time to heal. Perhaps they don’t push you as hard, but I doubt it. However with Winter, you get to go home for a week or two. You get to become a civilian again. A couch potato. Suddenly you’re going through culture-shock every weekend or so. You don’t exactly adapt as quickly at all. At least in the Summer you’re in a routine of waking up at 0530 hours in the morning. It’s no longer detrimental to your sleep! Winter BMQ will finish in April. For Officers and Officer Cadets, like myself, this courses is referred to as BOTP 1. Basic Officer Training Program #1. BOTP 2 is next (duh). But it is only 5 days long and done back-to-back. It will be held several times in the Summer and I hope to take the first one. After BOTP 2 I get to take my CAP-R. You’ll notice the military LOVES acronyms. This does improve note-taking. However the benefits of this time-management tool can become lost if you’re stuck trying to figure out just what you’re talking about! CAP-R stands for, if I remember correctly, Common Army Practice – Reservists. The CF used to train all Officers as Regulars instead of Reservists. Now Reservists don’t get ALL the training, but most of it. It is 5 weeks, broken into modules. After that comes whatever Trade you have entered. If you were a Medic, you’d go into learning all about that trade. In Communications? Ditto. I’m in Infantry. This is 9 weeks, broken into 2 week modules. However because BOTP 2 and CAP-R accumulate 6 weeks training plus weeks in between as buffer, with the additional 9 plus buffer to be taken the latter training, my Trade training must wait until next Summer. This is a bummer because I won’t be employed with the CF except for 6 weeks, broken up through the Summer. This will make having a civilian job extremely difficult if not impossible. That’s gonna suck for $$$.

But that’s your quick intro to BMQ. I’ll let you know how the rest of it goes. Right now moral is high, and that is good. The Sections play a game called “The Best Line”. It’s where we compare what the best line we’ve heard to come out of a staff member’s mouth. The winner from last week, “It isn’t Rocket Surgery!”. Heeee. We have the platoon mascot Skrippy. He’s a 4L can of apple sauce. He was adopted by 4 Section and they kept him on fire duty. I’m giving him a Transformer gun if I can find one big enough, to be his rifle, 3 Section is making him a uniform and 4 Section is making him a buzz-cut head out of foam. We cleared it with our staff first. They gave us strange looks. Honestly it will be lots of fun.

In short, BMQ is a mind game. They try to make you quit, scare you off, give up. Sgt. Inyourface made it known to the whole platoon that I didnÂ’t have what it took to be an officer, that IÂ’ll be eaten alive in Gaugetown where they get trained in their trade. And that heÂ’s going to make sure heÂ’s there just for me. And that heÂ’s happy IÂ’m going to be an officer because, as we all know by now, the officer is first to set foot on the battlefield, leading the troops, and last to leave, making sure they all get out. Which also means, as he pointed out, that IÂ’m the first to get shot.

Seriously though, itÂ’s lots of fun! Though it isnÂ’t for everyone. I donÂ’t recommend it to anyone, you have to choose it and try it out for yourself. Any questions, just comment them here.