The Canadian Forces: A dog or pony show, because there isn't the budget for both.

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Internet VFW > The Canadian Forces: A dog or pony show, because there isn't the budget for both.

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Simkin: May 18, 2007; "He says he's going to be number one!"

Fire Above posted:

Or if you hate your knees, sense of self worth, any sleep regime, back, ankles, and health in general, join the infantry.

On the plus side, you do get to shoot a lot of things (even if the majority of the time in training it's just blanks.

40% finished IODP1.1 - I ... I thought I knew what sleep deprivation was, but then I ran into the defensive module, and my mind was bloooooown. Wednesday morning through the next Wednesday afternoon, and in there somewhere was a stretch of six days with less than two hours accumulated sleep (taken at your own peril, no less). Still, I'm kind of pissed off that I didn't have any hallucinations like some of the guys. :catdrugs:

# ¿ Jun 19, 2010 00:36

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# ¿ May 16, 2024 02:20

Simkin: May 18, 2007; "He says he's going to be number one!"

Wait, which serial are you on? I'm on 1001, and still alive and kicking. FSO is going to be rad, so I'll make sure not to post any photos of us shooting each other with simunitions to make you jealous.

# ¿ Jul 19, 2010 22:49

Simkin: May 18, 2007; "He says he's going to be number one!"

Oh, trust me, I'm going to be taking every possible opportunity to kick doors. Being the big guy on the pl doesn't hurt. I enjoyed the bit on urban ops during CAP enough that I started thinking how awesome it would be to be part of an ERT, so that's been sitting in the back of my mind as a fallback career. Still, they don't get to be deployed to as many interesting parts of the world, and will never, ever operate under a 429. :black101:

# ¿ Jul 20, 2010 00:48

Simkin: May 18, 2007; "He says he's going to be number one!"

Hahahahaha.... Hope you're enjoying cleaning other people's rifles. I know I am.

# ¿ Jul 20, 2010 01:06

Simkin: May 18, 2007; "He says he's going to be number one!"

acumen posted:

This explains a lot.

Truth be told, it wasn't that hard, they just made drat sure that you didn't get much sleep. It's the course that has fueled my dislike for most officers just on principle. The warrants are what make the course bearable.

IODP1.2 starts for me in September, which means I could be badged by February. :toot:

The point still needs to be made, though. If you're thinking about becoming an Infantry officer, don't. You will hate your life.

# ¿ Aug 10, 2010 01:10

Simkin: May 18, 2007; "He says he's going to be number one!"

The triumph of hope over experience?

# ¿ Aug 11, 2010 00:59

Simkin: May 18, 2007; "He says he's going to be number one!"

Don't let Tuyop get you down. Enjoy the poo poo out of basic, because training only gets more serious after that. The shitpumps will never be completely weeded out, but the percentage does slowly decline. Don't try to calculate your hourly rate of pay or you will die a little inside.

Where are you going through basic?

# ¿ Aug 14, 2010 14:40

Simkin: May 18, 2007; "He says he's going to be number one!"

The only responsible place to spend all of your money in the St-Jean area that doesn't involve Montreal, is in Marysville (I think that was where the peelers was).

$2.41/hr isn't so bad. We made the mistake of doing the same calculation when we were on an 8 day field ex with 6 straight days of no sleep. :smithicide:

I'm not sure how it is in the other branches, but I know that being on course as an Infantry officer, I ended up spending ~$60 per week on stuff for the course, including foodstuffs, boots, clothing, etc. I wasn't spending the most on kit by a long shot, either. Some of the stuff they really should issue to you as necessary kit - Neos (or gortex socks) for pretty much any course in Gagetown aren't gucci, they're loving mandatory.

# ¿ Aug 14, 2010 19:05

Simkin: May 18, 2007; "He says he's going to be number one!"

Personally, I just went with Neos, but those have their pros and cons as well. Either way, you always need to bring a shitload of extra socks, and at least one extra pair of boots to the field. It's not just a sort of useful thing to bring, it's absolute necessity.

# ¿ Aug 20, 2010 18:45

Simkin: May 18, 2007; "He says he's going to be number one!"

Elgar posted:

Tuyop, Simkin. I'll be seeing you guys on the 1.2 interation starting in Nov. I'm a retard and failed my 1.2 this summer so I'm with you guys in the fall. Woo. You guys better not be weirdos.

Oh as for the Int thing that was being discussed earlier. Int is closed. I have a friend trying to transfer to Int and she can't get in. Yes Infantry NCM is closed as well.

Tuyop bombed out of 1.1, so it's just going to be me on 1.2. How many of you guys didn't make it through to the end of course?

# ¿ Aug 20, 2010 18:46

Simkin: May 18, 2007; "He says he's going to be number one!"

Noice. I believe plans were being hatched to figure out tiedown points for a barbeque and travel fridge, such that any patrol base would immediately turn into a tailgate party.

It was a lot drier this summer from what I've heard, but there were still a few days where you had no opportunity to avoid being soaked - you either got it from above, below (gently caress you, I'm not following you through all those cattails, ffffffffuuuuu), or from just soaking wet fields that we were patrolling or doing hasties through.

How were the DS on 1.2? We bonded with (or at least liked) all of the warrants on 1.1, but not always so much the officers. Maybe if they weren't just dicks the vast majority of the time that they were with us...

# ¿ Aug 20, 2010 20:08

Simkin: May 18, 2007; "He says he's going to be number one!"

^^ It's been that way (the not having anything to make life suck less) for all of my training, but I imagine there's a few perks of being in a LAV that would just be a pain in the rear end to try to deny to us.

# ¿ Aug 22, 2010 07:03

Simkin: May 18, 2007; "He says he's going to be number one!"

Yeah, I took what pitiful two days short they were giving me and burned 4 annual to gtfo New Brunswiick. Not really looking forward to being on PAT under Capt.youknowwho, but oh well, it won't be for that long. Maybe I'll even get the chance to see the dentist for my first time in my military career.

# ¿ Aug 24, 2010 17:41

Simkin: May 18, 2007; "He says he's going to be number one!"

Hahaha... Glad to see I broadened your horizons a bit. I've actually been looking into OT'ng to MPO as well, but they've been shooting everyone down as far as transfers go for the past little while (okay, for as long as I've been in Gagetown). I'd also be interested to hear from someone with actual experience as an MP officer as to what the job entails.

# ¿ Aug 24, 2010 20:54

Simkin: May 18, 2007; "He says he's going to be number one!"

Samu posted:

Guys I got qualified on the C7 and I think my dick is at least an inch bigger now. Is this normal?

Just wait until you get to do some live fire with a C6. You'll be drilling holes in the ground when you go prone. :swoon:

# ¿ Aug 28, 2010 18:50

Simkin: May 18, 2007; "He says he's going to be number one!"

I hated the 203 all course long, until the last week, when we moved into live fire platoon attacks, and they started issuing us ammo. Sure, it was just chalk rounds, but then again, we're just shooting at mannequins. I plowed through 3 bandoleers (18 rounds) in a bit under 5 minutes, and by the end, the hand guard on the 203 had actually separated (the glue melted :v:

). Then again, everything's more fun when you actually get to shoot it, rather than just humping it around for the sake of weight.

# ¿ Aug 29, 2010 20:32

Simkin: May 18, 2007; "He says he's going to be number one!"

^^ Also, mortar and Carl G. :suicide:

# ¿ Aug 31, 2010 12:01

Simkin: May 18, 2007; "He says he's going to be number one!"

Hey, if that means replacing the lovely coffee crystals in my IMPs with a (by then) warm, flat, can of Keith's, sign me the gently caress up.

# ¿ Aug 31, 2010 17:42

Simkin: May 18, 2007; "He says he's going to be number one!"

Yeah, I can't speak about what it's like in regiment, but during the training, it's been pretty light in terms of people loving each other over. Hell, we didn't even intentionally gently caress over people that we really wanted to see kicked off course (and were later told that was exactly what we should have done by our course staff).

# ¿ Sep 1, 2010 15:53

Simkin: May 18, 2007; "He says he's going to be number one!"

Honestly, the only people on course (barring a few, scattered examples) that I really wouldn't trust with anything other than a pair of safety scissors, were the francos. Now watch as cruel fate laughs at me and I am assigned to the 22nd instead of 1 or 3VP. :smithicide:

# ¿ Sep 3, 2010 05:45

Simkin: May 18, 2007; "He says he's going to be number one!"

I think SLT used to be mandatory for junior officers after a certain stage of training, and now it only pops up for certain trades (like PAFO). The option is still there, I believe, but it has to be slotted in somewhere around your actual trade training.

# ¿ Sep 3, 2010 16:33

Simkin: May 18, 2007; "He says he's going to be number one!"

^^ Or he's covering up his inadequacies as a soldier and a lover. :ssh:

# ¿ Sep 4, 2010 05:23

Simkin: May 18, 2007; "He says he's going to be number one!"

Well, maybe you should try to catch infantry support weapons with your back. :laugh:

# ¿ Sep 6, 2010 19:57

Simkin: May 18, 2007; "He says he's going to be number one!"

Just think, if you ~~gently caress up dp1.1 again~~ play your cards right, you could very well end up as a ~~corporal~~ able seamen. :laugh:

# ¿ Sep 10, 2010 01:15

Simkin: May 18, 2007; "He says he's going to be number one!"

A DEO term of service is likely going to be more like 5-7 years (mine's 9 and that's nothing special), so just a heads up on that. I mean, christ, the training alone will take you at least a year and a half, even without any sort of breaks between courses.

That said, I don't really know what you'd ask him. Maybe ask if he'd have been happier staying a career captain? :laugh:

# ¿ Sep 13, 2010 14:19

Simkin: May 18, 2007; "He says he's going to be number one!"

Did the 10k last week - is NB just so keen that they hold it a week ahead of everyone else? :confused:

# ¿ Sep 19, 2010 18:49

Simkin: May 18, 2007; "He says he's going to be number one!"

Slippery posted:

Huh, you guys have a specialty code for "sex murder pilot?" I bet they get a lot of applicants

It's actually a lot broader than that - we don't have the funds to specialize as much, so the category just allows anyone to train up on any of those three disciplines. Sure, they're not as good at any one particular thing - some are better at flying, some are better at the sexing, but we make do with what we have.

Just don't ask what the broad categorization for infantry officer is. :ssh:

# ¿ Oct 22, 2010 11:38

Simkin: May 18, 2007; "He says he's going to be number one!"

Aaaand ... now I know who you are.

Not like you're missing much with 1.2 at the moment (or at least today). We had one captain explain to us today what his trade used to be able to provide to the infantry (Air Defence Arty), but no longer is tasked with, no longer has the equipment to provide, and will actually cease to exist as a separate trade in short order.

Today's take-away lesson: armoured senior NCOs all have comical moustaches, engineers are just like us, but apparently need rest, and arty officers don't do anything other than stitch together ROVER clips to make a 20 minute long war porn video, set to System of a Down. :gibs:

# ¿ Nov 4, 2010 23:00

Simkin: May 18, 2007; "He says he's going to be number one!"

Well, that's good to know someone's learning it, because they sure as poo poo don't bother with teaching any CQB/unarmed stuff to Infantry officers.

No, having a bear pit where the DS stand around and place bets on the candidates doesn't count. :crossarms:

# ¿ Nov 7, 2010 14:18

Simkin: May 18, 2007; "He says he's going to be number one!"

I hope he still had a marker with a reflective vest ahead of him.

# ¿ Nov 8, 2010 14:08

Simkin: May 18, 2007; "He says he's going to be number one!"

Yeah, it does work pretty well for normal non-military stuff.

Plus, maybe you're just too loving lazy/cheap to buy a civvie backpack. :confused:

# ¿ Nov 9, 2010 22:53

Simkin: May 18, 2007; "He says he's going to be number one!"

Fraser CDN posted:

Heck I wonder if I will see him in his tilly hat or parka soon or even better, having his dog tags hanging outside his shirt.

DAOD 135.8, Sub paras a thru f give you explicit permission to punch anyone in the junk that walks around with their dogtags hanging out.

The rest of that poo poo, meh. I use the bivvy bag loving all the time camping, because it is the best bloody thing for motorcycle camping.

# ¿ Nov 10, 2010 02:45

Simkin: May 18, 2007; "He says he's going to be number one!"

Honestly, I think cock is as good a term as any, as you can make a backronym out of it - as tuyop put it - plus, it nicely encapsulates how you're getting hosed in the rear end by people with authority over you.

I wouldn't really count ruck marches as cock, other than perhaps that last one on grad day. Being drunk for it was probably the right thing to do, all things considered.

I do think that the staff must have a great deal of fun just thinking up retarded poo poo to get students or subs to do while on course. Whether it has merit towards the course or not is entirely accidental.

# ¿ Nov 22, 2010 03:34

Simkin: May 18, 2007; "He says he's going to be number one!"

Samu posted:

Not everyone in the combat arms are big dumb retards, there's a lot of smart and decent guys who just happen to like buying brand new ~~sports cars~~ trucks and banging hookers.

That's a pretty accurate way of summing up the people in the combat arms.

# ¿ Dec 11, 2010 03:35

Simkin: May 18, 2007; "He says he's going to be number one!"

30 minutes? drat. I guess that's why everyone starts gravitating towards the cult of crossfit, with such small time allotment. At least 25mm ammo cans and sandbags are reasonably easy to fit into a weight routine (albeit a light one).

# ¿ Dec 16, 2010 09:34

Simkin: May 18, 2007; "He says he's going to be number one!"

Slippery posted:

Logistics IS a combat arm

Ha. Maybe in your Army.

# ¿ Dec 25, 2010 10:40

Simkin: May 18, 2007; "He says he's going to be number one!"

I just finally received my first posting message, on this, my second to last week of DP1.2. Looks like I'm going 1VP. Anyone have any info on that particular battalion?

# ¿ Jan 27, 2011 11:22

Simkin: May 18, 2007; "He says he's going to be number one!"

I was told to draw winter kit, and have been told sweet F.A. with regards to why, other than "you'll be heading North." Just wondering if it's going to be Advanced Winter Warfare, or ...?

Also, as this will be my first time in Battalion, I have no idea what to expect as far as the character of the place goes. I've been told that it's a pretty tight knit group, or at least more so than 3VP.

Any places/people I should see/strenuously seek to avoid?

# ¿ Jan 28, 2011 01:22

Simkin: May 18, 2007; "He says he's going to be number one!"

Wicked. I'm coming in on the officer side of the equation, so not too likely to end up in anything resembling barracks. Good to know about the operational tempo, I didn't really get any read on what stage things were at there, other than 'not work-up training.'

If you're starting Monday, I'm guessing I'll probably show up and just immediately be shipped out to wherever everyone's gathered, as my COS date is 7 Feb. I've got a fair bit of snivel, but the Sorrels sound like a good idea, as the mukluks can only do so much.

I'm not terrible at paperwork and organization, but I'm certainly no rock star, so I guess I'll fit right in. :v:

# ¿ Jan 28, 2011 02:19

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# ¿ May 16, 2024 02:20

Simkin: May 18, 2007; "He says he's going to be number one!"

Morristron posted:

good intel

Thanks for that, I'll make sure to keep as much of that as I can in mind. I still don't know what position I'll be filling - whether it be platoon commander or something a little less glamorous - but I'm certainly looking forward to the challenge. As a lowly Lt. I won't exactly have much latitude for making changes, but will strive to not just be some shithead officer that can't be bothered to do his job properly. The other two guys that will be accompanying me to 1VP as well are likewise competent and motivated.

Good to know that about the Adj, our staff had talked up that position as being one generally inhabited by people who would be just as happy to see you dead (or at least someone that you should strenuously seek to avoid).

# ¿ Jan 29, 2011 17:04

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