mikewalker28 said:
I've got a quick question about the infantry, what do you guys do in your down time, paper work, help with training, lots of cleaning, all of the above ? I know you guys parade allot, but when your full time and not in combat what does the job require its soldiers to do during that downtime.
Question has been asked and answered many times in the infantry section of the forum. Things may have changed slightly since Afghanistan is coming to a halt. RCR might be different than PPCLI. For PPCLI it depends on what battalion and company you are with.
When I was attach posted to the 1st, it was to get ready for Afghanistan. I spent a couple months in CQ, learning the ropes there. Normally someone just fresh out of DP1 wouldn't be thrown into CQ. They asked for volunteers, no one put up their hand, so I did. Most of my time in CQ was issuing weapons for courses, handling return/issuance of company level kit, organizing everything (company had just been stood up). I also went through a few different driving courses.
I was then moved to transport as they needed some bodies who had driver qualifications. I took a couple more driving courses, and went on a bunch of exercises to train us for our role in Afghanistan.
Returning from Afghanistan, I went back to 3 VP after my attach posting was finished with the 1st. The first couple months were reintegration. After that we did some urban ops training, patrolling exercises, and winter survival. There were also people that were taking para for when the jump role switched companies.
I have no idea what the 2nd battalion life was like.
If you aren't on a course, you could be tasked to do any number of things. If there is an upcoming deployment, the focus is on that work up training. Pt in the morning. If there is nothing else for the morning, go and do more PT, or if feasible take care of personal administration. After lunch, if there is still nothing to do, go and do more PT. It keeps you out of sight, out of mind, and no one is going to begrudge you for doing PT. Just make sure you are actually doing PT, not lying on the bench having a nap or watching TV.
End of the day, you help clean up the lines, and every few weeks your company will get tasked with cleaning up the battalion lines. You may also be required to spend the night at lines on duty (answering phone, or driving).