# Drinking



## heed18 (21 Mar 2003)

Are you allowed to drink druing personal time at basic training?? What is the legal age for drinking on base?


----------



## SpinDoc (21 Mar 2003)

It depends.  Chances are on basic you are not allowed to drink alcohol even on weekends until they say you are, which is a toss up depending on the powers that be.

There‘s no change in legal drinking age from the provincial laws.  I would STRONGLY recommend against under-age drinking.  Course staff have a way of finding out. :-D  I have had to deal with underage drinkers... they had to go on Defaulters Parade.  Not fun, I‘m sure others can assure you.


----------



## nbk (22 Mar 2003)

We are, we are, we are, we are, we are the Engineers.

We can, we can, we can, we can, demolish 40 beers.

Drink rum, drink rum, drink rum all day, and come along with us.

Cause we don‘t give a **** for any old man who don‘t give a **** for us...


----------



## Korus (22 Mar 2003)

My father was a miner on the upper mamelute..
My mother was a hostess at a house of ill repute
They kicked me out at the tender age of 5 and never shed a tear..
So I said to ****  with them, and I joined the engineers!!


(Well, I‘m not a sapper, but I‘m a student gear on civvie street)


----------



## Deleted member 585 (22 Mar 2003)

Friendly FYI -- These two verses are sung before the previous, and will differ depending upon the version:

She said "I‘ve come a long, long way, the man will go as far, 
Who takes me off this god**** horse and leads me to a bar, 
The men who took her off her horse and stood her to her beer, 
Were a blurry-eyed surveyor, and a drunken Engineer. 

Godiva was a lady well-endowed there was no doubt, 
She never wore a stitch of clothes, just wound her hair about. 
The first man who ever made her was an Engineer of course, 
But an Artsy queer, on just one beer, once made Godiva‘s horse.


----------



## Veteran`s son (22 Mar 2003)

Thank you for posting the songs about the Royal Canadian Engineers!

I remember Dad reciting some of the words to the song that Korus posted and my sister recalls the song that NBK posted!

Did the Infantry, Armoured, and the Artillery have songs similar to those of the Engineers?


----------



## SpinDoc (22 Mar 2003)

I‘m not sure if those are military engineer specific songs, since university engineer students sing it with impunity.

Funny how a question about underage drinking turned into this...


----------



## Veteran`s son (22 Mar 2003)

Thank you for your reply, SpinDoc!

At the time I posted my message, I didn‘t know that these songs were sung by other Engineers.

Since my Dad recited some of these songs(He was in the Royal Canadian Engineers), I just thought they were sung by Military Engineers!


----------



## heed18 (22 Mar 2003)

thanks for all the info guys(or ladies names can be decieving)


----------



## stacy mogan (25 Mar 2003)

Just wanted to share my experience. A couple of weeks ago we were at St. Jean, Quebec during our trip to attend graduation. We stayed at a Hotel close to the base and on the friday nite, the limo‘s and taxicabs started arriving with recruits on their first weekend off after their fourth week in BT. They were almost all extreemely drunk and hauling huge amounts of alcohol out of the cars, checking into the hotel for a weekend of partying. I was quite disturbed as a mother to see some very young people with no supervision behaving in this manner. I understand the need to cut loose however, it was so bad that at 9 pm we had to find other accomodations as they were laying in the hallways drinking and smoking and partying up a storm.  I understand from the hotel staff that this is a regular thing. I spoke with a couple of the recruits who were very polite and told them to be safe, but I really did not feel like it was a good situation. I also thought about what sort of performance they would put in on the Monday morning following. My thoughts are that since this part of training is relatively short and intense I feel like they should not be allowed to leave base and drinking should be prohibited during Basic Training. So there it is...I am a Mom its my right to worry.


----------



## nbk (25 Mar 2003)

Just so long as they drink plenty of water the night before, they should be alright come Monday...


----------



## Korus (25 Mar 2003)

Until they really, really, really gotta go to the loo during morning inspection..     


(edited for spalling)


----------



## Jarnhamar (25 Mar 2003)

I think drinking is a pretty big part of military life (For better or worse).

Recruits are told they are not allowed to drink so the first thing they do when they have a chance is drink their face off. It‘s part of the whole culture. At the end of any corse theres always a course party where people feel they need to get blind drunk.

In one aspect though i think it‘s an excellent way to determine who is responsible and who isn‘t. Health and safty risks aside if a soldier can get so drunk where he forgets half the night but still has his instincts (or good buddies) and manages to get home and up and dressed for work/parade the next morning then you know you can count on him in a sense.


----------



## NMPeters (26 Mar 2003)

awwww geeeeeeez.


----------



## fortuncookie5084 (26 Mar 2003)

Well I think being allowed to have a few beers at the bistro in st jean during my gmt was a good thing.  However, this getting piss drunk business isn‘t on.  For one thing it reflects poorly on the Forces as a whole and CFLRS turning a blind eye to it means there‘s endemic apathy within the recruit school.  By all means, check out at the green desk and have a good time in town, but don‘t be stupid.  The mother above‘s message seems to be exactly what much of the Canadian public thinks of the armed forces.


----------



## stacy mogan (26 Mar 2003)

Hi me again...I guess what I was really trying to say is...if my son is EVER going to be in a situation where his life might be in danger ( ie like now in Iraq) I want him to be trained and 100%ready. I think that having their mental capacity diminished by a hang over on Monday can hinder that training. Those kids in the hallway at the hotel were talking about having to do the gas chamber the following week. Were they able to retain the instructions they were given? 
While he was training they had guys who stayed on base on the weekend and went to the bistro for a couple and they had a large group who went into town and stayed at the same hotel I mentioned and injected the sum of $21,000.00 into the economy of Quebec in one weekend. Obviously you are all big boys and girls but its only 10 weeks out of your lives to abstain in the interest of proper training. 
Thanks for listening.
MOM


----------



## Korus (26 Mar 2003)

But is that something that‘s caused by the CF, or by society as a whole? Young people like to drink. I‘ve seen my fellow high school and now university students get just as smashed (if not more) as I saw some of my army buddies get on my reserve BMQ.

Personally, I drink in moderation, I don‘t like being drunk, and I‘m deathly afraid of becomming an alcoholic, as I‘ve seen firsthand the effects of alcoholism. Lots of people haven‘t, or don‘t think it can happen to them.. It‘s all up to the individual.


----------



## Illucigen (26 Mar 2003)

I can say first hand that many of the recruits are simply out of control on their weekends off. As OCdts, granted some of us get fairly intoxicated, but for the most part, we were respected by the barstaff in st jean. Many a time it there has been stupid encounters between Recruits seemingly trying to blow of steam by starting an issue with Ocdts, or others in the bar. Ive had many talks with bouncers who have complained up the ying-yhang, and this is one reason why many bars in st-jean refuse access to Military Pers.

It does reflect badly, but since they are technically on leave, and are not being paid for the day, the forces has no right to restrict them, excluding anything criminal. Of course if CFLRS really wanted to do something... conduct charges are always something they could lay.


----------



## Jarnhamar (26 Mar 2003)

In Kingston the RMC students are by far worse then the signals guys. Mind you that may be because the sigs guys are already trained and not new recruits.


----------



## Cpt. Kap (31 Mar 2003)

I am nearly done my BMQ course have only just been allowed for the first time to have an hour off to go for a beer. That was without a doubt the best beer I have had in a long time, primarily because we as a course earned it. It‘s unfortunate that some feel that getting hammered out of your mind is the way to celebrate. I think that most of our recruits are close in age to 19 where drinking is still unfamiliar. I have a few years on most of the troopers so drinking is nothing new and secondly, I‘m pretty much useless the next day if I drink too much.

Besides that do you really want the troop next to you on the range to be so hung over they can‘t concentrate on the finer points  *Like where the muzzle of their C-7 in pointing?*


----------



## Pikache (31 Mar 2003)

If you‘re too hungover to do your job, charge.


----------



## Recce41 (31 Mar 2003)

Listen, drinking does not affect you, when its required. In all my tours, we have been a lil over. You sober up when rds come down. I spent a few days and nights in a bunker. With  my head as big as a the rds they were firing. My old man was drunk for most of his time in WW2 and Korea.  Yes if you cannot get up, you‘ll be died but. Who cares when your as drunk as a skunk. 
 When I first got in, fellas drank, and did their jobs. Now with the PC times, yng soldiers spend more time on the white box. Than out growing up.


----------



## Gunnar (31 Mar 2003)

Are there regulations in Canada against drinking at all, or are they against being unfit for duty?  I have heard a number of stories about beer being flown into troops on exercise while the American troops on the same exercise were expected to be dry.  As the environment is becoming more and more restrictive of such behaviour, I wonder if the rules have changed as well...?


----------



## portcullisguy (1 Apr 2003)

What‘s a shame is that people still feel they NEED to drink (and drink excessively) to fit in.

My BMQ course party was a perfect example of this.  At least one recruit was drunk BEFORE the party.  Behaviour was, on the whole, not bad, but several troops were unable to sort themselves out for the morning inspection (our grad parade was the next day), and had to be excused from the parade square in the morning.

A little water, a little Advil, they were good to go for the parade at noon, but still... there are limits.

Again, maybe it‘s the benefit of age, wisdom and experience, but I stuck to 3 beers that night, enjoyed myself, and was sorted out for the morning.


----------



## Illucigen (1 Apr 2003)

At RMC, in Kingston, you may find a few fourth years who have more training then your Sigs Privates.  They arent all technically "new recruits."

The difference there is that the university atmosphere, coupled with the other schools in the region, foster this need to go blow off steam during the traditional times (exams, march break, etc).

But it usually encircles the youngest of the group, and thanks to Ontario‘s fairly stringent alcohol laws and a concerted effort by the BGen at RMC to charge anyone underage, most of these kids have a much harder time getting alcohol.

Doesn‘t mean they dont though. I‘m 21, and like someone else mentioned, am already over the whole get drunk before, during and after puking rallies.  But its definitely a phase I thnk everyone has to go through, or they‘ll find themselves doing it at the big 30 and destroying their life, when it is no longer acceptable to be drunk all the time.

and Recce41... Oh boy. Times have changed, and perhaps you old boys all made it through a  little liquored up. But between you and me, I think you could‘ve probably doen the job at least a bit better sober. No?

I mean ****, DUI never used to be a big issue, but these days, car accidents are on the decline, and so are DUI charges...


----------

