# Kyle's Take On BMQ (For all those waiting to leave...)



## MedTechStudent (15 Nov 2008)

Hello, before I left for BMQ I was in here all the bloody time.  Now that BMQ is over and I have come to waste away the days on PRETC in Borden I will get right back to it I suppose.  To new members, this site is a great source of info if you're willing to take the time to read it.  

So, how is BMQ you ask>?

Week 1 is miserable, all you do is push papers and stand there in your civi cloths looking like idiots while others march smartly around you.  They throw 70 strangers into a floor together and tempers begin to flare quick.  Your instructors are not TOO hard on you because your just a bunch of FNGs, don't worry that changes real quick.

Week 2 is more of the same, accept now your properly dressed idiots walking around and getting screamed at and jacked up.  Now I don't even remember what I was learning in week 2 but you do a LOT of classroom sitting with slideshows and not falling asleep is very difficult.  You will get your first PT and Inspection and you will be miserable at it.  Your timings will be impossible to meet and eating becomes the best time of the day.

Weeks 2 - 4 are pretty much all the same accept on week 4 you finally get the hell out of the MEGA and go to Ottawa so you will all LOVE that, including the stop at Tims on the way.  Oh heaven.

Friday week 4 you get your Cap Brass if you pass your Drill Test which almost everyone does granted that you are not all completely useless.  I saw ONE platoon wearing 5s without their Brass and did feel quite sorry for them.  Now if you have been super good (unlikely) or your instructors and just merciful then you will be let out for your first weekend out.  It will be magical, trumpets will sound, angels descend from the clouds and so on.  BE GOOD or else your in big trouble come Monday morning PT.

In my platoon, someone stole some pants and as a result we got to go running with the Company Commander, this would have been fun if not for the fact that he was 6'8 and took strides the length of a soccer field.  Keep your guys out of trouble, if you know they are in the wrong, tell them or else you will all be paying for it!

Week 6 you get your rifles, dear god there were some guys I did not trust with the thing but oh well.  Week 7 will be ALL weapons and drill classes, its tiring but you're sure as hell gonna know your stoppages. 

Week 8 is exams, weapons exam, drill test, Topo exam....they are all pretty basic as long as you have been paying attention in class and can remember the information.

Week 9 is first week in the Field, you live in the barracks and just spend the day outside, its a lot of fun and you do your 13km march then dig a trench in under 6 min after doing the fireman's carry.  Try not to stress about this, my platoon had a 5'1 120 pound woman who finished the march no problem, but then again she was just sweet in general.

Week 10 is CBRN (gas gas gas) and you will spend all of it in class and practicing putting on your suits and surviving in a contaminated environment.  Its bloody hot.  Friday you do the gas chamber which is a lot of fun, then you get to go shower all the crap off your skin and have it burn your eyes.

Week 11 SUCKS, no lie.  You live outside in little tarps and there is NO escape from the cold or wind or rain or snow.  You do Topo from 8am till 11pm and a couple of our guys got hypothermia and had to be taken out of there.  Then that same night all our shelters blew away or were flooded and we had to go sleep in the gym.  We upgraded to 10 man tents after that night.  You will get VERY LITTLE SLEEP due to all the duties, raids on your camp, classes, and patrols and sentry jobs that have to be done all through the night.  Its a great learning experience but it sucks.  The only thing your gonna want when you get back is food, and sleep.  PS you won't even be allowed to leave the base that Friday night, your ordered to stay in and take it easy.  That however does NOT stop you from going down to the Bistro and getting loaded, so I don't know why they do it, but hey.

Week 12, you do missions and simulations ALL day, 4-5 a day and they all last 4-5 hours.  Do the math on how much sleep you will be getting eh?  One of the missions you will do is "FOB Security" where you just stand post at various positions in the camp and keep watch for the enemy.  Or you work the gate and keep tabs on the vehicles going in and out (usually driven by your instructors going to Tims for lunch, curb your hate into something productive).  The final simulation is super cool with lots of flares and artillery sims and grenades going off and gas everywhere.  THEN you get to leave and it feels pretty damn good.

Week 13 is parade practice all week, with lots of ADMIN (the process of kicking your ass out of CFLRS and to your next posting)  Your instructors are all pretty relaxed and friendly and on your grad day they will be in that Proud Parent mode.  Its an amazing feeling to be done after the grad parade, personally I was my platoons commander for the parade and my PO had a talk with me after that was pretty moving.  You will feel so happy just that you have made your instructors proud cause as much as they are hard on you, you will respect them and love them for it by the end.

So here I am, at Borden after my 13 weeks, if any of you guys have any questions, I'm fresh out the door so I can most likely give you a pretty updated answer.  Feel free to message me.

Cheers everyone, Kyle


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## Niteshade (16 Nov 2008)

This should be made a sticky.

Nites


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## Snafu-Bar (16 Nov 2008)

Well it's nice to hear an "opinion" on BMQ i don't really think it garners a sticky nomination. It's not pertinent to MY ability to get to or through BMQ.

Cheers


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## Eye In The Sky (16 Nov 2008)

MedTechStudent said:
			
		

> Week 11 SUCKS, no lie.  You live outside in little tarps and there is NO escape from the cold or wind or rain or snow.  You do Topo from 8am till 11pm and a couple of our guys got hypothermia and had to be taken out of there.  Then that same night all our shelters blew away or were flooded and we had to go sleep in the gym.  We upgraded to 10 man tents after that night.  *You will get VERY LITTLE SLEEP due to all the duties, raids on your camp, classes, and patrols and sentry jobs that have to be done all through the night*.  Its a great learning experience but it sucks.  The only thing your gonna want when you get back is food, and sleep.  *PS you won't even be allowed to leave the base that Friday night, your ordered to stay in and take it easy.  That however does NOT stop you from going down to the Bistro and getting loaded, so I don't know why they do it, but hey.*



I thought I'd just take a moment to explain why you are not allowed to leave right after you get back from Farnham that Friday.  The first part I bolded is the reason why.  You get very little sleep.  You are CBd (to base, not your floor/room) that night for a reason.  How many people would shower/clean up, feel great, jump in their cars and head off down to the road to....Ottawa, Kingston, etc etc.  It is done for safety.  Your safety and the safety of others on the road.  Its pretty much SOP these days for troops coming out of the field, atleast on course.  Maybe you were at the Bistro doing arm curls but you won't run into Auntie May when you doze off for a second if you were behind the wheel.  After you've refreshed yourself at the Bistro, you then get to head to your quarters and kip out for the rest of that night.  I believe it is 0600 the next morning you are free to go?

Congrats on finishing BMQ!


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## slowmode (16 Nov 2008)

Grats on completing your BMQ

Just a side note: *All BMQ's will differ, you can NOT expect yours to be exactly like his. Especially for the reservists out there*


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## MedTechStudent (16 Nov 2008)

Eye In The Sky said:
			
		

> Maybe you were at the Bistro doing arm curls but you won't run into Auntie May when you doze off for a second if you were behind the wheel.  After you've refreshed yourself at the Bistro, you then get to head to your quarters and kip out for the rest of that night.  I believe it is 0600 the next morning you are free to go?
> 
> Congrats on finishing BMQ!



Ha ha, yes thats a very good point.  No I didn't book it down to the Bistro I slept for about 15 hours straight.  And yes its 08:00 yours allowed out the next day.  

Cheers, Kyle


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## Armymedic (16 Nov 2008)

pm sent
>


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## RTaylor (17 Nov 2008)

Yeah, I remember your course being rained out in Farnham lmao....R0179E or R0180E ? Im R0182E

Week 11 is much harder than week 12 IMO, you get more sleep but more COCK (Confirmation of Comback Knowledge). Week 12 was alot of fun.

What made it hard for me is having to do RFT before course....6 extra weeks PLUS that time in PAT platoon with the whiners and crutch commandos of CFLRS.

Dear god no matter how good a shape you think your in (read my old posts) get out and start exercising.


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## Eye In The Sky (17 Nov 2008)

RTaylor said:
			
		

> What made it hard for me is having to do RFT before course....6 extra weeks PLUS that time in PAT platoon with the whiners and crutch commandos of CFLRS.



So, despite the fact that you were in RFT and PAT, you are looking down on people who were in the exact same subunit of CFLRS that you were?   

Pot/kettle.


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## PMedMoe (17 Nov 2008)

Eye In The Sky said:
			
		

> So, despite the fact that you were in RFT and PAT, you are looking down on people who were in the exact same subunit of CFLRS that you were?
> 
> Pot/kettle.



Nice, I want him watching my back.......NOT!


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