BMQ Regular Force 2005 - 2017 [Merged]

[Repcal]

Just got my call today Can't wait to see you all there!

 

[Timmyk]

When you not even in basic and and your girlfriend dumps you for joining. Already feeling the effects of the grunt life.

 

[Warpig666]

Honestly the days are long. You're busy pretty well 18 hours a day (sleep 2300-0500) with something to do
But in the blink of an eye it's friday and you're getting your new number.

I'm seven weeks in thus far and I still remember getting off that bus and bring terrified of the new begining lol

One you're there you'll understand the expression 'slow days; fast weeks'

 

[messupdude]

Awesome! Congrats! how long did it take to get a response that you are in? Also what is the pay like

They gave me an offer a month before the training date. As soon as they called I said yes immediately as soon as they introduced himself.

 

[messupdude]

Hi Everyone,

I'll be joining you all as well on the 25th. In another thread I said the 23rd but that is just the date I am to report to St-Jean.  I live just outside of Montreal so I'll be getting a lift there from ol' mama-bear.

My understanding is that we are to arrive on the Saturday before 2000hrs, roam around like a bunch of newborns and MAYBE get some sleep.  Sunday, it sounds like we do more roaming around, get acquainted with one another and later in the day get some instruction on what will happen at 0500 Monday morning. I bet that whatever it is, it's gonna be awesome.

Looking forward to meeting you all! I added myself to the FB group so once I get the OK I'll post a little something.

Cheers guys I'm stoked!

You arrive at the airport and get picked up at the 2 times. If you miss it or have flight delays or miss your flight you call them and they'll send a guy out to get you. As soon as you arrive you get split into your platoon and sit in a classroom. You stay there until the majority of people have arrived.

After your split off you get a small briefing and end up getting your basic kit to get you through the day. Canteen, day bag, and temporary ID card. You'll receive your sheets, blanket, and pillow when you make your way up to your bed. The day typically ends at 0100. You get up at 0500 and start your day or earlier if you're unlucky and end up getting a fire drill like me.

After that training starts and the long road to your career begins. Stay tight with each other and always help each other. Your platoon is only as strong as your weakest person unless they end up wanting to be babied the whole course which is a different story.

 

[jbrownsoldier]

I'm set to attend BMQ on February 8th!

 

[Vell]

Seeing as there is only one new English BMQ beginning on February 15th (and one in French, R0137F), I just wanted to see if anyone else here besides myself will be in the same platoon (R0138E) and perhaps introduce ourselves.

As for me, I am a 34 years old man from Winnipeg, MB but have been living in Japan for the past 10 years and lived in Vancouver and Saskatoon before that (go figure, a man with severe wanderlust has an interest in the CAF  ). I have a wife and two young children. I have been in the application process for more than two years but will finally be heading off to BMQ in February to begin my career as a ATIS technician. If you find yourself really bored you can read a more detailed background here: http://milnet.ca/forums/threads/116555

I look forward to meeting my fellow platoon mates as we will be working very closely together for the next three months. After all, we have to have each others backs right? See you all there (or none of you if no one else reads this lol).

 

[codykube90]

Well got all my information all confirmed see you all there.

 

[Okanagan Guy]

Seeing as there is only one new English BMQ beginning on February 15th (and one in French, R0137F), I just wanted to see if anyone else here besides myself will be in the same platoon (R0138E) and perhaps introduce ourselves.

As for me, I am a 34 years old man from Winnipeg, MB but have been living in Japan for the past 10 years and lived in Vancouver and Saskatoon before that (go figure, a man with severe wanderlust has an interest in the CAF  ). I have a wife and two young children. I have been in the application process for more than two years but will finally be heading off to BMQ in February to begin my career as a ATIS technician. If you find yourself really bored you can read a more detailed background here: http://milnet.ca/forums/threads/116555

I look forward to meeting my fellow platoon mates as we will be working very closely together for the next three months. After all, we have to have each others backs right? See you all there (or none of you if no one else reads this lol).

Hey Vell! I got the call a couple hours ago! Feb 15 BMQ! Glad to see I won't be the oldest there!! lol. I'm 33 year with a 4 year old boy. Maybe they'll stick us oldies together and go easy on us!  :

 

[Vell]

Hey Vell! I got the call a couple hours ago! Feb 15 BMQ! Glad to see I won't be the oldest there!! lol. I'm 33 year with a 4 year old boy. Maybe they'll stick us oldies together and go easy on us!  :

My boy is 4 years old as well (my girl is two). Small world eh? Physical demand, mental acuity, psychological strain, I don't think any of those things will compare to the difficulty being away from wife and kids for so long but we do what we need to do for our family and country right?

From what I understand, if you speak English as your primary language, we will almost certainly be in the same platoon since there is only one new one starting on that date. What trade did you get offered?

 

[Okanagan Guy]

My boy is 4 years old as well (my girl is two). Small world eh? Physical demand, mental acuity, psychological strain, I don't think any of those things will compare to the difficulty being away from wife and kids for so long but we do what we need to do for our family and country right?

From what I understand, if you speak English as your primary language, we will almost certainly be in the same platoon since there is only one new one starting on that date. What trade did you get offered?

I'm going Infantry. When I read the sentence in yellow above... I honestly thought you were talking about the kids! lol

Yes English is my only language.

And you do this for whatever reason you need to.. I guess just remember that reason when an NCM who is probably younger than you and out ranks you, is yelling at you telling you that you suck at folding your shirts! haha. I would expect our challenges as "older" guys will be different from the "younger" guys & girls. But we'll all have challenges and we'll face them together! I'm just pumped there's gonna be another dad who can keep me sane when I'm missing my kid!

I'm assuming that a lot of the offers with Feb 15 start dates went out this week. So when we get some more people responding we should do a private chat or FB group or something.

Oh and one more thing... Shotty the bed by the window!!! lol

 

[Vell]

I'm going Infantry. When I read the sentence in yellow above... I honestly thought you were talking about the kids! lol

I kind of was lol. I was reading people talking about the strain of things like having to go to bed at 11pm and get up at 5am and here I was thinking to myself 'I can sleep 6 hours uninterrupted most nights while on BMQ?! That's great!'. But you are right, we certainly will likely excel at certain things while struggling a little more at others that are better suited to the younger folks (and people with different character profiles), but since we will all be working together as a platoon, we can hopefully play off each other's strengths.

 

[Okanagan Guy]

I kind of was lol. I was reading people talking about the strain of things like having to go to bed at 11pm and get up at 5am and here I was thinking to myself 'I can sleep 6 hours uninterrupted most nights while on BMQ?! That's great!'. But you are right, we certainly will likely excel at certain things while struggling a little more at others that are better suited to the younger folks (and people with different character profiles), but since we will all be working together as a platoon, we can hopefully play off each other's strengths.

:nod:

 

[Vergy]

My recruiter contacted me this Thursday past and said I have a 85% chance of receiving a job offer for the Feb 15th BMQ so "expect things to come quickly". I am 22 and also Infantry. Fingers crossed!

 

[Okanagan Guy]

Hey that would be nice to have a fellow infantryman! But I'm a little confused. You've made one other post on here staying you went through bmq in 2013. See below. Was it that much fun you want to do it again?

Nice to see a lot of you all on the forum but just keep in mind that just because you all start on the same day, you might not be in the same platoon. In 2013 when I started BMQ I met a lot of people on here who started the same day as me but when I got over there I only seen 50% of them and that was for our 5 minute lunch breaks which our instructors made sure we were always late for which ment we were always late for everything else.. but it was all fun!

 

[Vergy]

Back in 2013 I quit, not gonna sugar coat it, I simply quit. Looking back I could see that I was not mature enough to be a part of the Military.

 

[mrjasonc]

I'm going Infantry. When I read the sentence in yellow above... I honestly thought you were talking about the kids! lol

Yes English is my only language.

And you do this for whatever reason you need to.. I guess just remember that reason when an NCM who is probably younger than you and out ranks you, is yelling at you telling you that you suck at folding your shirts! haha. I would expect our challenges as "older" guys will be different from the "younger" guys & girls. But we'll all have challenges and we'll face them together! I'm just pumped there's gonna be another dad who can keep me sane when I'm missing my kid!

I'm assuming that a lot of the offers with Feb 15 start dates went out this week. So when we get some more people responding we should do a private chat or FB group or something.

Oh and one more thing... Shotty the bed by the window!!! lol

You two will be fine. I went through BMQ in 2014 at 32 with 3 kids and a wife. Back then it was a 14 week course. I am not going to sugar coat anything, being away from your family sucks and that's factual. But it is what you do with the suck that will determine how do. Yes there will be younger guys and gals that will "out muscle" you, however as an older crowd you will be leaned on to for the other things, like folding, ironing, or even how to wake up on time.

As far as instructors being younger then you telling you that you suck. Well that's something you are going to have to get used too. For the ATIS Tech, that will end at grad for BMQ, for the infantryman, well man, BMQ will be just the tip of your iceberg, so get used to it and settle in.

I guess my point is, at your ages you should have a pretty good idea of your strengths and weaknesses already so start working on those. The days are long but the weeks fly by. It was like that for me in BMQ and then my DP1 for Combat Engineer. Try not to get hurt but push as hard as you can and it will all come together.

Good luck to you!

 

[Vell]

Nice to see a lot of you all on the forum but just keep in mind that just because you all start on the same day, you might not be in the same platoon. In 2013 when I started BMQ I met a lot of people on here who started the same day as me but when I got over there I only seen 50% of them and that was for our 5 minute lunch breaks which our instructors made sure we were always late for which ment we were always late for everything else.. but it was all fun!

Often there are multiple new platoons beginning at the same time, but this time, on the 15th, there are only two, R0138E which is an English platoon and R0137F which is a French one, so without getting actual joining instructions we should be able to guess what platoon we will be in based on our primary spoken language.


Joining Dates and Corresponding Graduations Dates (If Not Re-coursed)

January 25, 2016 - April 14, 2016,    R0129E, R0130E, R0131E & R0132E
February 1, 2016 - April 21, 2016,    R0134E
February 8, 2016 - April 28, 2016,    R0135F & R0136E
February 15, 2016 - May 5, 2016,    R0137F & R0138E
February 29, 2016 - May 19, 2016,    R0139F, R0140E, R0141E & R0142E
March 14, 2016 - June 2, 2016,    R0143F, R0144E,R0145E & R0146E
March 21, 2016 - June 9, 2016,    R0147E & R0148F

http://www.forces.gc.ca/en/training-establishments/recruit-school.page

Darn, if our graduation date was just one day earlier we may have been all able to graduate in storm trooper suits instead.    [

 

[Okanagan Guy]

Yes I've heard the infantry have it given to them. I know there's a reason for it... Well, most of it. Lol

It is what it is. And I'd prefer be trained to the max rather than have a more relaxed environment so if we were ever deployed, we'd know we were capable of handling some tough times.

I say that now while I'm watching football in a comfy house!  :

 

[Vell]

My recruiter contacted me this Thursday past and said I have a 85% chance of receiving a job offer for the Feb 15th BMQ so "expect things to come quickly". I am 22 and also Infantry. Fingers crossed!

I hope that turns to 100%, my fingers are crossed too. Not gonna lie, I think it will be a boon for us to get some insider tips from someone who is not a 100% confused civvie like me. How many weeks did you stay in until?