# Basic Life



## Baskin (20 May 2004)

what happens at basic?( after the training)

do we get free time? days off?
hows the food? do we cook it?
laundry? whats the deal with that?  do we do it?

Is there internet? or just mail?
can we make phone calls?

any information on anything of this type would be greatly appreciated

also once you get sworn in what does that make you?
is it private or what?

any terminology and what they mean would be nice too.
                             Thanks...


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## RJG (20 May 2004)

Read the FAQs. No you don‘t cook your own food. No Internet, yes mail. Of course you can make phone calls it‘s not prison.


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## stukirkpatrick (20 May 2004)

doing a search will answer all of your questions = in garrison your meals will be provided, but in the field you will learn to use the coleman stove and heat tabs to cook your ration meals or you can just eat them cold - but Coleman stove use in winter is very important.


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## Bert (20 May 2004)

Baskin, check out this site:

 http://salh.jfahy.net/


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## GrahamD (20 May 2004)

Ya that‘s a good link, 

I have it on my favorites list.  It‘s one of the best resources for "inside basic training insight" that I have been able to find.
Obviously I don‘t have any way of knowing how accurate all that information is, but it all pretty much SEEMS to make sense, and sounds a lot like other informtion I‘ve heard.


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## soon to be infantry (21 May 2004)

And ya, you will be able to use the internet, RJG get your facts straight, or dont answer for the 100th time.


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## LilMissChicky (22 May 2004)

Hiya there, I‘m home for the weekend from St Jean. Onto Week # 6 already Hoorah!
Anyway I‘ll try to answer your question as much as possible and as best as I can... Here we go...
Originally posted by Baskin:

[qb] what happens at basic?( after the training)[/qb]
Well first you register your name at the green desk to let them know you‘ve arrived. After that it‘s all up to you and your platoon on how well you guys are willing to work together! It‘s all about teamwork, teamwork and more teamwork. 
Treat your fellow platoon members like brothers/sisters. You get to know them pretty much like a family, respect each others and the bonds that grows from it is unbelievable. You‘ll get to know what are each other weakness and strong point and you gotta make the very best out of it. 
You‘ll do push ups, squats and Mark Time (drill move) till the cows come home. You‘ll be tired like never before as your day starts at 0530 and doesn‘t finish till 2300 and it‘s jam packed of classes of all sorts with evenings spent on shining boots, cleaning your cubicle, ironing your shirts and doing your station duty. 
Everything is at a fast pace in there, no room for lazy people that wants a free ride. Your feet will be sore at first as you‘re on them all day trying to break-in your new combat boots while doing drill, marches, etc... 
So much to do in so little time but it has to be all done and the only way to get it done properly is teamwork! They throw stuff at you that hardly can be achieved by yourself, they know that and that‘s why they do it too. It‘s all about teamwork and more TEAMWORK!    

[qb]do we get free time? days off?[/qb]
You are CB for the first 4 weeks, that mean confined to base. You‘re not allowed to wear your civvies till your indoc period is over and it‘s all about earning the platoon priviledges for that weekend like Canex. You‘ll have classes on Saturday as well and the time "off" on Sunday isn‘t really off as you want to get your kit/cubicle/floor ready as much as you can for upcoming inspection and to study up on your notes for upcoming tests anyway, so don‘t count on time off for the first month.  

[qb]hows the food? do we cook it?[/qb]
The food is more than ok! Breakfast has a awesome choice of cereals, muffins and usual pancake breakfast and toast and scramble eggs, etc... Lunches: There‘s a sandwhich lineup with salad bar you can have or "homemade" warm meal ready. The soups are really good. Dinners, same thing: Usually 2-3 choice (warm meals)and salad bar and to kill for cookies ehehheheh

[qb]laundry? whats the deal with that?  do we do it?[/qb]
LMAO Yeah you do it and trust me you‘ll be challenged at first to get it done so everybody has clean clothes for the next day. Each floor house about 25-30 recruits with 2 washer and dryer. 

[qb]Is there internet? or just mail?
can we make phone calls?[/qb]
Yeah there is internet but very slow dial up connections. 1$/15 minutes There are at least 3 pay phones in each stairways/elevator halls. And yes you can receive your mail everyday like home. 

[qb]any information on anything of this type would be greatly appreciated also once you get sworn in what does that make you?
is it private or what?[/qb]
What it makes you? Hmmm in plain old english, as a Pte (R) you are right at the bottom of the food chain    You gotta prove and show you are there to give nothing else but 200% of yourself at all time. 
There‘s lots to learn, specially if you have no military background or previous exposures. Your platoon, your pride, your country. Lots of work and dedication and perseverance is needed, never ever give up. 
Fitter you are to start with, better start off you‘ll have. There is 10 floors in St Jean and you can‘t use the elevator so you‘ll get plenty of cardio vascular type of workout... And before I go, *NEVER* aim for minimum standards *NEVER!!!!!* 

[qb]any terminology and what they mean would be nice too.
                             Thanks... [/qb]
You‘re welcome


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## soon to be infantry (22 May 2004)

Great post Roadrunner!!.


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## 48Highlander (22 May 2004)

The internet question depends on where you‘re doing your basic training.  Since Baskin is from Niagra Falls, if he‘s going reserves he‘d probably end up in Meaford, in which case I can guarantee he will not have internet access unless he has an exceptional need (eg. registering for university courses online).


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## soon to be infantry (22 May 2004)

Is Baskin not going reg force?


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## 48Highlander (22 May 2004)

He didn‘t specify


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## K. Ash (22 May 2004)

Great post Roadrunner. I‘m goin Aug 2 so I‘m trying to figure out everything I can.

Again, Thanks.


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## Baskin (23 May 2004)

right you are,
meaford i go..
and yes res


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## jswift872 (23 May 2004)

thx, that helps me out to as i am almost ready for basic training


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## Bert (24 May 2004)

Roadrunner> "hows the food? do we cook it?
The food is more than ok! Breakfast has a awesome choice of cereals, muffins and usual pancake breakfast and toast and scramble eggs, etc... Lunches: There‘s a sandwhich lineup with salad bar you can have or "homemade" warm meal ready. The soups are really good. Dinners, same thing: Usually 2-3 choice (warm meals)and salad bar and to kill for cookies ehehheheh"

Roadrunner may not have come to it yet but there
is the possibility you may have to "cook" and
it better be right.

During BMQ field exercises, a lucky few will 
be given the duty of "cook" to prepare water
in the morning or night and cook the IMPs.
Its a matter of putting the packages in water
but the Staff will have fun with it.  

Our Pl Comd would say he‘d want "Hungarian
Goulash" and get some unlucky sap to boil up his pouch.  The recruit would bring the meal to the
Pl Comd and then would bark at him that it wasn‘t hot enough.  So the recruit would have to bring it back for re-heating.  A few minutes later,
back goes the sap and the Pl Comd would holler
"Whats wrong with you! This isn‘t cabbage rolls! Go back and get it right".  It was hilarious.  

Another tangent to this, is what the recruit eats during the first week on BMQ field exercises, doesn‘t come out.  It might be the
recruits‘ anxiety of first field exercises, fire-team partners and C7s, and the pace is so fast that ppl can‘t ... go.  Lets just say the log is stuck up river somewhere.  The weekends are spent in the relative luxury of St-Jean washrooms.  Alot of hilarious go-hut stories.


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## LilMissChicky (24 May 2004)

Good Morning Bert,
My apologies, I should‘ve been more specific on the issue and should‘ve mentioned the cooking is done for us until we go to Farnham on Week # 8-9. Once there, it‘s more a matter not to burn-dry the water we‘ll be boiling our ration packs in    
I‘m on my way back to St Jean later this morning and before I go (This is for all the "Soon to be BMQ Candidate"), take advantage of the DND‘s website (info outside the firewall) like QR&O‘s, DAOD‘s, CFAO‘s, etc. Read up on stuff that peaks your curiosity as this info will be the rules and regulations you‘ll have to live by once in. Keep up on physical fitness and an healthy eating habits as well.
Good luck to all still in the application/ waiting process.

Cheers,
RR


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