What not to do - No excuse BMQ tips [Merged]

[SeaKingTacco]

Most of this is aimed at Officers:

254.  The troops eat first. Always. 
255.  You will always remember your first Platoon/Troop Warrant.  He has lots of good advice for you.  Learn to follow it.  By the way- even if you get bad advice and follow it, you, not him, are responsible.
256.  You are responsible for everything, good or bad, that happens in your troop or platoon from the second you take command.  You cannot ever delegate that responsibility. You should, however, delegate authority whenever appropriate.  It teaches trust.
257.  Mission. Men. Self.  Note that you are always last.  That's why you get paid the big bucks.
258.  Praise in public, discipline in private.
259.  Never raise your voice.  That is what your NCO's are paid to do.  You yelling just makes you look like a tool.
260.  Never dispense discipline when angry.  Ever.
261.  You will work late and come in early.  Get used to it.
262.  You are paid to make tough decisions under extreme pressure.  Do what you are paid to do.  Remember, a mediocre, but violently executed plan now is better than the perfect plan 10 minutes too late.
263.  If you don't know what to do, do something!  Chances are, once you get moving, you will figure it out. 
264.  By all means have a beer with your troops, on occasion (Your Warrant will let you know how often is reasonable).  Do more listening than talking.  Don't get loaded.
265.  Promote the welfare and the accomplishments of your troops, always.
266.  Your job is to motivate and train your troops to win battles.  You are not their buddy.  It is not a popularity contest. You are not there to entertain them.  If you slack off on them in peacetime, you will just get them killed in wartime.
267.  Ultimately- you are in charge and have the final say.  If things go great- wonderful.  Praise your troops.  If things go massively, disasterously wrong, EVEN IF YOU HAD NOTHING PERSONALLY TO DO WITH IT, you WILL accept all of the responsibility and blame no one, even if it means the end of your career.  That is why you get paid the big bucks and have a nice Mess, with leather chairs and table clothes.

for what it's worth...

 

[gaspasser]

knock off the bullshit

para, is this advice or are you telling us to keep on track here?

270.  If a buddy/friend tells you something in confidence over beers or drinks or coffee at work, and it's not something that will hurt or harm another person, or illegal, immoral or fattening;  keep it to yourself and be a good buddy/friend who knows how to keep his/her mouth shut. That's how rumours and bad reps start.


271. If you hear a rumour, do not pass it on!  If you're the nosey type, find out the Truth behind it.  If it's about a buddy/friend, let them know what's going on and find out the truth behind it.  Your friend should respect you more for bringing it to thier attention and not passing it around.  If your friend is having a problem, help them out with advice or seek professional help, or just be the shoulder to cry on.  Trust me, it all helps and no one is an island. 

 

[dutchie]

My advice?
1-Show up in shape. Everything is easier if you're not sucking wind all the time.
2-Use your ears twice as often as you use your mouth.
3-Try your best in everything. Realize that no matter how 'good' you are and despite your best efforts, at some point, as some time, you will be yelled at for a failure in performance. No-one gets through Basic without SOME 'Operational Guidance'. When this happens, try harder next time.
4-You are there to pass. You will be given ample opportunity to correct your mistakes/retest/etc.
5-There is no 'pre-BMQ' course. What I mean is this: The recruit that shows up without zero knowlege from this or any other website/resource has an equal chance of passing and doing well as one that memorized everything here. You don't need any 'tips' - you will be told all you need, when you need it. That is the job of your course Staff. In fact, you might be 'psyching' yourself out by overanalyzing it. Just let it happen and learn to enjoy it.
6-Bring what is on the kit list. Nothing more is required, but everything on it is. A second shave kit, if discovered, will only motivate your course staff to look closer for faults, which they will find. You cannot outsmart them.

 

[Island Ryhno]

The recruit that shows up without zero knowlege from this or any other website/resource has an equal chance of passing and doing well as one that memorized everything here. You don't need any 'tips' - you will be told all you need, when you need it. .

Uh, you mean people went to bmq before the internet? How did they ever survive?  ???

 

[dutchie]

Uh, you mean people went to bmq before the internet? How did they ever survive?  ???

Exactly....sometimes too much info is a bad thing.

 

[xo31@711ret]

...a leader knows he still has more to learn (no matter what the rank), an idiot thinks he knows everything...

...Anyone young commander given a position of authority who arrogantly ignores the advice of his NCO is a fool, for he jeopardices the mission and lives of his command...

...Every leader should seriously take counsel and advice of all his NCOs for they have knowledge & experience, yet the final decision/responsibilty is his/hers to make....

...do not give an order for which you yourself would not be willing to partake...

OFG (old f***guy)

711was031  just retired

 

[Michael OLeary]

OK folks, this thread has started to drift from it's original (serious) intent.  It's locked.  That will give paracowboy an opportunity to clean it up (don't whine if a post of yours disappears) and then new additions can be submitted through him, or he may open it up to a new round of entries.

 

[mechanic_chick]

Advice passed down to me :


If you do know ' alot ' , keep your mouth SHUT and help others. Become the greyman , don't stick out for anything. If your going to stick out for something , it better be for good.

 

[tankie]

What a good set of tips!, currently i am a Tp Sgt in an Army Training Regiment in Winchester (British Army) and i wish somebody would pass these tips onwards...wait a tic...that gives me an idea.

My tip to add to the pile is get a brush cut and use a glycerine soap ie Coal Tar ( no smell) cleans everything and i use it to shave...been doing it that way for 17 years why break the habit!

 

[LeonTheNeon]

When I did BOTC, we took classes on the CFAOs, and QR&Os, etc.  I fluffed them off.  I wasn't admin, what did I need that stuff for?

Here's my advice.  Pay attention in those classes!!!  Knowing how to look up administrative items is super valuable.

Second advice.  You will take a class on writing a military memo.  Pay attention!  The ability to request something through the CoC is vital!

 

[jmnavy]

If you're looking for something that is guaranteed to make bmq/botc easier for you, here it is: a sense of humor!  It's been mentioned before but it deserves to be said again; being able to laugh at the end of the day will make everything easier.  Learn to laugh at your mistakes.  There will be many, and they will be stupid (e.g., marching to class without boot laces because you decided to polish them at the last minute )

That being said; don't make fun of instructors or other recruits behind their backs.  It's cheap and shows a lack of imagination.  It's also counterproductive to the atmosphere of respect and teamwork that makes for a good platoon.

 

[Wright]

yeah, iron ur folded pile, ull get sick of doin that every nite, after they rip it apart, it is all a game, play the game with them, once ur platoon commanders inspection is passed, take it easy and remember. have fun, this is something that you will remember for the rest of ur lives.
As for the smoking, depends on ur instructors. buddy who started this topic must of had a shitpump platoon, or instructors that didnt smoke. cause we always heard smoke em if ya got them, and i had 2 ppcli instructors, an RCD instructor, a master seaman that was laid back, and an EME seal as a platoon commander.
i had a good platoon, right from the get go we were hittin some retarded timings, or very close, also all of our inspections were good, all  of the people that didnt pass them early on they weeded them out, like they were supposed to, unfortunately some people are still gettin through

 

[Mojo Magnum]

"THIS COURSE ISN"T OVER YET!!!"  I think we heard that line nearly twenty times on our last day at SQ training.  Now we are nearing the end of our QL3 course and we're all listening for it.  We know now that when you hear it, you're almost there

 

[Thaern]

I just finished my BMQ and SQ and as i promised in another thread here are some of the tricks i learned on my courses that helped and a few "tricks" that didn't go over so well.  Reading other posts i couldn't always tell if someone was talking about weekend bmq or full time summer bmq so to clarify i did my BMQ/SQ  as two back to back 1 month courses starting July and finishing at the end August.    Remember each course is different and some things that worked for me might not be such a great idea on your course. 

First here's what my dad (A PO1 or a warrent for us army types) said to me.  I can remember them all because at one point or another while being jacked up about something i would silently curse myself and think "if only I had remembered that -before- I ...".

1. Ensure your brain is working before you open your mouth
2. Ears open mouth closed, if you have a valid question raise your hand but remember rule #1
3.You know nothing
4.Be the "Grey man", blend in with the crowd, if your not blending you're wrong!
5.There are 3 things that will control your life: Timings Timings and Timings
6.Don't take it personal
7.Work with buddy / Help buddy out, it's not a competition, there is no winner, but there can be a whole bunch of losers

I can recall several times where before doing something i remembered these rules and stopped myself only to witness someone else do what i was about to and get jacked up for it.

Civi kit:
Most of this is gravy that you could do without but it will make things easier on you as a whole.

-as said many times before 2 shaving kits, this isn't just 2 razors its also: 2 Shaving creams, 2 soaps (with plastic soap boxes) 2 toothbrushes, 2 toothpastes 2 deodorants also on my course we needed to bring razor holders, the kind that come with non disposable razors like a mach 3.  Use one set for the first day or two and then leave it out for inspection, if they start doing hygiene inspections put the inspection soap in the wet box you used (dry off the wet box as much as you can, use common sense and didn't leave it half full with water).

-a waterproof electric razor for use in the shower.  Use the sound of a running shower to cover the sound of the razor, if you shave in the shower it gives you an extra few minutes in the shower and believe me i would kill for every second of a hot shower i could get.  (don't be a buddy f***er and make sure you don't hog the shower if they need it)  I never got picked up for shaving badly with an electric but during the first few days and for the major inspections i would use a new razor and some shaving cream over my electric.

- two pairs runners,  I was issued a pair of runners before i left so i brought 2 and used the issued ones all laced up and clean for inspection and my civi runners for pt as they would collect all kinds of "bird squirrel rat cat bat droppings".  As for this whole wet foam idea that's floating around i have no clue i did however change up once or twice after stepping knee deep into a puddle but that's just for comfort.

-Powdered Gatorade,  Bring lots, once other people know you have it they will want some too and its always a good thing to help buddy out.  We were allowed to keep this stuff but its clearly up to your NCO's on this one because we weren't allowed any other foodstuff. (that isn't to say we didn't sneak in chocolate or cookies but that's clearly contraban so do so at your own risk)

-Small first aid kit. I'm enlisting as a Medic (med A) so i thought i should prob bring along some basics and then i picked up a few other things that we needed as the course progressed.  Don't bother with tensor bandages and alike, the MIR will have that for you if you need it.  Things that helped were: Polysporin, Bandaids, tweezers, Isopropanol (rubbing alcohol but get a london drugs one that says Isopropanol and if your Sgt asks say it's isopropanol since the word alcohol seems to get it confiscated). Q-tips (also good for cleaning your rifle so bring lots and keep a few in your kit) Afterbite/stingstop, Solarcaine with aloe (its sunburn lotion, the aloe is extra gravy or poutine if you like that stuff)

-those little blue hospital booties,  you only really need  two pairs per room for the guys running around doing the mirrors and hallways but if everyone had them then you don't need to be extra careful when you walk around.  (don't wear them for inspection, don't laugh, it happened)

-Pipe cleaners and Q-tips,  Great for cleaning your rifle, they are supposed to give you pipe cleaners but we never got any.

-two more extra toothbrushes,  use your old ones here, one is for boot polish, the other for cleaning your rifle

-a nail brush, the stiffer the better, also for your rifle (butt plate/flash suppressor) but our room had 2 so we used one for the bottom of our boots

-lint brush,  Again you only really need one per room but if you bring one then you are sure to have one in your room and if you have a spare help buddy downstairs out

-Steel wool, For help getting the last verges crap out of your BFA and about 1000 other uses especially if your doing sq and get to play with the c6 and the c9.

-swiffer duster,  We just bought the refills for the dam thing and used our hand, also that way you can split them up so people can do last second dusting.

-laundry bag,  Its a green or white (or cadpat if you raid your local can-ex) mesh bag that holds all your dirty crap.  Then come laundry time you just throw it in the washing machine all inside the bag, then pull it out and drop it all in the dryer (you may want to take it out of the bag if your pressed for time as it drys slower in the middle).  Much much much faster than using clothes pins to pin everything together, that just sounds like a huge waste of time to me.

-A535, or any other warming muscle rub.  I used the sport ultra heat (orange thing that looks like deodorant)  which worked well but smells, we didn't mind it but some people might so you may want to consider getting an orderless one like bengay or something

-sport socks, made out of poly-something-something i cant remember off the top of my head but i had 2 pairs of cool max and 1 pair of Nike sport socks, look for socks that don't absorb sweat to wear under your woolies

-Gold bond,  Amazing, i had 3 by the end of it one of them the extra strength one for ruck marches.  Apply inside the boot,, then in your first layer of sock (careful it gets messy if you screw it up).  It also works great in the field for keeping your balls off of your leg and to keep feeling clean (might seem weird but hey its "personal body powder" not foot powder)  I think you can figure out on your own how to apply it.

-glade plug-in,  This was extra super poutine with a glass beer on the side, not needed at all but nice to have in a room with 6 sweaty smelly guys each with wet smelling shoes and pt gear, you could also argue that a clean smelling room gets a better inspection. 

This is a lot of crap to bring with you and i would be amazed if you found space for it all.  Most of it is stuff we picked up as the course progressed and by the end of it we had to throw stuff out because we had no room for some of it.

I'm sure ill remember other things as time goes on and ill post them as i remember or modify this one.  Good luck to all of you who still have yet to do their bmq and i hope this helps.


P.S. "If it goes fizz it does not go in your f'n Face!!!" (stay away from pop)

 

[Little Shu]

OK so I'm going to go to bmq, and from what i have heard i should bring 2 shaving kits, swiffer pads etc

now my question is, when we get there, wont the staff go through everything and see that i have 2 of everything for inspections and jack me up ? or should i get those additional supplies after i get there.

 

[Thaern]

Tough to say on that one, my instructors did go through everything and i did have duplicates of somethings and nothing was said however that may have just been because they weren't paying too much attention at the time.  For the most part they were looking for drugs, knifes, cell phones, mp3 players and alike (don't bother packing these things because even if you manage to sneak them in, getting caught red handed on a cell is not worth it).  Also like i said i did buy alot of the crap i had over the 2 months like my second deodorant.

 

[paracowboy]

bring it with you. Do you really think they'd care how many bars of soap or toothbrushes you have?

 

[SoF]

OK so I'm going to go to bmq, and from what i have heard i should bring 2 shaving kits, swiffer pads etc

now my question is, when we get there, wont the staff go through everything and see that i have 2 of everything for inspections and jack me up ? or should i get those additional supplies after i get there.

Now I was once one of those people being fooled into spending twice as much money to bring 2 of everything. ;D....It just isn't really necessary, atleast if you're Borden anyways; I don't know how the show runs in St.Jean. Just save your money and keep your things clean. Ex. No point in buying 2 shavers, just pop in a fresh blade before inspections. As for bar soap; I never used mine. I just brought a large bottle of liquid soap and kept it in my personal box; they never noticed until I ran out of room in my personal box and hid the bottle in my back pack, my instructor assumed it was baby oil for...well lets not get there. If you're still worried just rince the bar every now and then as a very picky instructor might notice the Dove logo on your soap in week 8. Bring a box of Q tips; you'll use them for cleaning your shaving cream as the cream gets in all the edges of the can, cleaning your weapon but avoid using it in the trigger mechanism, and so on. If you have more questions just pm me; have to get back to class. Oh and swiffer pads are a good idea, just buy the whole swiffer broom while you're at it, they're good for going over the floor just before an inspection but it's not a replacement for a good sweeping.

 

[patrick666]

Oh and swiffer pads are a good idea, just buy the whole swiffer broom while you're at it, they're good for going over the floor just before an inspection but it's not a replacement for a good sweeping.

That's true - swiffer pads are great for dust and hair but other than that, an actual broom is more practical for getting any amounts of sand, dirt and chunks of what-have-yous off the floor. I don't understand the whole buy two of everything - why start by taking the easy way out right at the beginning? It might take a little more time, keeping everything clean, but atleast you are keeping it clean and not just hiding the dirty ones.

Cheers,

Patrick

 

[SoF]

Ah yes "sand"...I forgot about that one ;D Those doing basic in Borden will really have to clean their floors. Sand will get everywhere, especialy after the confidence course, and wassaga beach. I find it best to rinse the bottom of your boots right after coming back from the confidence course before you contaminate your room. Clorox wipes are also very handy providing your will to hide them as they won't fit in your personal box. While we're on the subject of hiding things, there's plenty of good spots. Lets start with the risky places, in your backpack(They usualy check but if you're minutes before an inspection and you really gota hide something and you can't eat it, in the backpack it goes, try to shove it near the bottom and throw your binder and other things on top, I got lucky sometimes because they never reached into the bottom of the bag.) I found the gas mask carrier a decent place to hide stuff as it will be layed out right on your bed during an inspection so they might not think anything of it, now some instructors will check so be careful, also they may especialy check after the confidence course to look for sand. Now lets get to better hiding places, yourself. Your combats have alot of pockets, use them but don't abuse em. If your pockets are stuffed they will notice as I'v been caught doing this, but it's a good place to hide small last minute things like paper from your lint brush. Now the personal box is a grey area, put whatever your heart desires in there but if they check then you're screwed. They're not suppose to check your personal box but our instructors did. You can always hide things in your rucksack but they check their as well. If you have buddies in other platoons, who don't have an inspection at the same time as you, have them hold your stuff. You can also stash away your things in the common areas and hope the instructors don't check. I gota get back to class, an questions, im me, later.