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Reserve Weekend BMQ ( merged )

that's really neat. I'm going for my TIM day in Hamilton around Dec. 2nd, just have to confirm the date now. If all goes well I'll be a reservist of the Lincoln and Welland Regiment. Woo!

DLord
 
Slowmode,

  It sounds like you did your BMQ during the winter at Connaught as well. A question I forgot to ask the course staff over the weekend was if we would require to be issued our winter kit. There were some recruits that already had it, but was there ever a need?

  We got a good introduction to the windy/wet/cold weather beside the ranges during sunday mornings PT. It was a rather short run (3km) and with the pace we were at I never warmed up until about 3/4 of the way in. I think the only person that came prepared was the course officer (had his gloves, actual running pants and jacket, and tocque)

  I sure enjoyed the first weekend. Yet to be honest I didn't feel as though it met my standards. I know that BMQ is never going to be all "hollywoody", but I did expect a lot more discipline and punishments in the form of pushups, and even less sleep. I geuss that comes during week 2. Looking forward to being pushed.

the_girlfirend,

  I am glad that you enjoyed my little recount of the goings-on. Weekend two will surely be posted promptly while it is fresh in my head. Good luck with the process and keep your fingers crossed!

 
dredre said:
Slowmode,

   It sounds like you did your BMQ during the winter at Connaught as well. A question I forgot to ask the course staff over the weekend was if we would require to be issued our winter kit. There were some recruits that already had it, but was there ever a need?

   We got a good introduction to the windy/wet/cold weather beside the ranges during sunday mornings PT. It was a rather short run (3km) and with the pace we were at I never warmed up until about 3/4 of the way in. I think the only person that came prepared was the course officer (had his gloves, actual running pants and jacket, and tocque)

   I sure enjoyed the first weekend. Yet to be honest I didn't feel as though it met my standards. I know that BMQ is never going to be all "hollywoody", but I did expect a lot more discipline and punishments in the form of pushups, and even less sleep. I geuss that comes during week 2. Looking forward to being pushed

To Correct You: I did my BMQ in the summer a while back in Connaught. Though I did my SQ in the Winter and being a field oriented course we were outside most of the time there.

When You mean winter kit that can be a very loose term, Do you mean your Winter Gortex Jacket? Gloves? Polypropylene Shirts? Or Do you simply mean muklucks, white tarps? What I do suggest is ENSURE you have your gloves, and the liner for them. Also make sure you have your Winter Gortex Jacket, this will protect you from the harsh winds. Another thing is you might want to get long sleeve shirts from NDHQ, they come in extremely handy. As for the muklucks it really depends on the course. Some courses may wear them right when it starts snowing..some may not. During all of my SQ we never wore them...and you saw how much snow there was last year. If you dont wear them I suggest getting warm socks or your toes will freeze.

You have to remember your on a weekend course..it will differ A LOT from a full time course. The staff only have you for like 2 days and 1 night to do what ever they want with you. There main goal right now is to teach you to become BMQ qualified. This may mean less cock and more class room work. But I can assure you your only on your first weekend..you will have a big surprise for you on the second one. From what i've seen in the past staff like to keep the first weekend easy to get all the admin work out of the way. As soon as the second weekend hits your going to see a huge leap in stress.

Another thing you have to remember is you may be looking forward to being pushed but theirs probably a lot of peers in your course that dont have the physical ability to. Your only as strong as your weakest person. You may not find BMQ hard but others may..its really a situation that differs from person to person.

 
I am hoping to start my weekend BMQ course in January so this is very good information to have. Thanks and keep it up.
 
I'm glad to hear you appreciate the thread. Weekend two is coming up fast and I'm getting excited. However, I have noticed a general issue with acquiring kit that was missed on initial issue. Stuff like the long sleeve undershirts, thermal underwear (it's getting cold out), tactical vests, and what not. The seem to conveniently always be out of stock, or not allowed to issue it to me because they are 'operational order' only.
 
is the tactical vest issued to reservists, or is that just simply out of stock? Sounds exciting but everytime I go to confirm my Dec. 2 TIM day, they never answer the phone and I call like 5+ times a day...
 
Lincoln and Welland in St Catharines..

Funny how the main armoury isn't in the name at all
 
dredre said:
However, I have noticed a general issue with acquiring kit that was missed on initial issue. Stuff like the long sleeve undershirts, thermal underwear (it's getting cold out), tactical vests, and what not. The seem to conveniently always be out of stock, or not allowed to issue it to me because they are 'operational order' only.

This is something you will experience throughout your career in the reserves. Take it when you can get it, as it may not be available to you again. If you are entitled to it, get it. If you will need it soon (thermals, neck gators, etc) be sure to pass it up your chain of command. It may very well be on short order, it may only be going to the boys in the sandbox, but if winter comes and you don't have a coat, and your section commander did not know about it before hand, you'll be held responsible. If he's seen it coming for a few weeks, then he'll inform you of the appropriate action to take (I've seen weekend BMQs look more like a snowboard team).

Keep your eye on the prize.
 
@CSA 105

much obliged. i was merely inquiring to see, mayhaps he did not read the title as I did. I didn't know 31MP was pres, but will not forget now. Thanks again.
 
As promised here is my update for weekend two of BMQ

Night 1
Getting started out this weekend was a lot smoother than the first. There was a little bit of a mix up due to switching shacks around on us, but at least we are all bunking according to our sections now. The first night was actually pretty easy as far as everything goes. We got our bunks set up and for the most part we weren’t bothered a whole lot. The one big recommendation for everybody is to remember to bring along at least a half-dozen locks. I suggest having them all key-locks, except for one combination for the door. That way you and your bunk-mate don’t have to share keys. 

Day 1
We were up bright and early, as usual, for a better PT session than the first. We ran over to the big tent to do some circuit training, with stations for crunches, obliques, sprints, burpees, shoulder presses, push-ups, starfish, and high-knee jumps. I especially appreciated this type of workout over the last, because you get to work to your own potential. It is still important, however, to encourage the other recruits, and to keep the moral high. Another point on PT and weekend BMQ, is that it is crucial that you workout (run, do circuit training, lift weights, whatever your specialty) on your own time. The weekens are too short and far between to “whip you into shape” alone. Inspection that morning was focused mainly on our uniforms, but it turned out that we didn’t function well enough as a group for the general cleanliness of the shacks (hallway, bathrooms, etc.). We had a packed together lesson on drill, which seemed to rush through things a lot quicker than the week before (I personally felt that the timings kept on getting screwed up, and led to a gross misunderstanding of how to perform a certain routine). There were a couple major screw-ups during the morning and after-noon, which led to group repercussions. Due to the fact that we talked too much as a group, and too loud during breaks, our speaking privileges were revoked. Until told otherwise, we no longer can open our mouths, except for the course/section seniors, or unless we are spoken to by staff. As well, due to our poor performance at keeping step, making timings, and a few people not taking things seriously, we no longer have the right to wear our berets. That one hurt the most. Myself, I am always proud to be able to wear the beret. It not only looks good, but makes me feel important. So when the Sgt took that away from us I was disappointed. That evening, we finally got to meet our own section commander, and find out who he is. We also had our 1 on 1 interviews with the section 2ic, which was pretty relaxed. Some of the sections were given donuts or pizza during their interviews. We were not……

Day 2
Sunday was supposed to start off with a ruck-march. Due to the fact that only a small portion of their course had their tac-vests, we were not able to go. This seems to be a re-occurring issue with our BMQ. None of the recruits, except for the field ambulance crew, and those who signed on during the summer, are able to get tac-vests from clothing stores. So we were then supposed to go for a bike ride, that didn’t happen either. Instead we went on what we were told was a 5km run. It felt more like 2.5km or 3km. Inspection went over pretty smoothly again, we finally had our own section’s 2ic for it. Although he can be pretty tough, it seemed as though he had a hard time finding errors in the standard we were given. The rest of the day kind of sucked, as far as lessons go. We spent the whole day in the classroom for, as the course officer put it, “death by power-point.” However, we did start to get into more strenuous forms of punishments, which I personally enjoyed. The staff finally started to give us more push-ups to do when we screwed up (I was smiling on the inside). That’s another thing, is if you are getting on a course make sure you can do a good bout of push-ups and planks. The staff loves to make us do a set, hold the position, do another set, get up, get down, do another set….you get the idea. When we were packing up for the weekend, I got a good jacking. A couple of guys from my section mixed their gloves up, and one of them left his kicking around when everybody was already outside. Needless to say the course staff found out, they both came forward, the question was asked about how it happened. I said that the mistake could have been made because they were bunk-mates, and the good MCpl made a point of me not being able to hear out of my right ear for the next half hour.

 
lol, very nice. Sounds very interesting, can't wait. Not to sound like a complete psycho or anything, but when do you start learning about the C7?

I have Europe trip with my school on March break and just realised I'll be missing a complete weekend where I would be doing Basic, what will happen to me?
 
DLord said:
lol, very nice. Sounds very interesting, can't wait. Not to sound like a complete psycho or anything, but when do you start learning about the C7?

I have Europe trip with my school on March break and just realised I'll be missing a complete weekend where I would be doing Basic, what will happen to me?

Submite a memo, arrangments can be made.

On one that I taught on we brought the member in a week prior to "learn" the missed lessons or you may be brought up to speed on the next training weekend after your return. It all depends on the Course Staff.
 
From what I heard, and this is just word of mouth...we don't get the C7 until weekend 4. For us that means the first weekend in January. However, we will not be given a chance to fire the rifle until near the end of the course.

As for your trip, a whole weekend is a lot of instruction to be missing. I do not want to stress you out, but you should inform your COC as soon as possible by the way of a memo. If not, make sure you ask your course staff about right away when you get on course. They may or may not let you miss a weekend of training. So look into it and talk to your unit.
 
1 on 1 its realatively easy to catch up a candidate, trust me been there and done that.
 
im goin into my 4th weekend on bmq and we are getting the rifles then
 
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