Winter BMQ

[prairiediver]

I was also told that when I went to basic many moons ago.  It wasn't covered.  I'm sure they will address all this at BMQ.

According to the link I posted above, you need 90 days service before you are eligible for LTA.

So with me starting BMQ on the 28th and the tentative date for Holiday leave being the 18th of DEc, that give me 83 days of service, so I wouldnt qualify and would have to pay full price, round trip from Montreal to Calgary and back or suck it up and find accomidations in Montreal or area for the Holiday leave? All to go back on possibly the 4th of January to do another 6 days of BMQ? None of this makes any sense.
And is a bit overwhelming having to deal with the logitics of this stuff and not having clear and definite answers.

How does the military expect people to just be able to focus on training with all these intangables to have to worry about?

 

[Nfld Sapper]

Yes

 

[PMedMoe]

So with me starting BMQ on the 28th and the tentative date for Holiday leave being the 18th of DEc, that give me 83 days of service, so I wouldnt qualify and would have to pay full price, round trip from Montreal to Calgary and back or suck it up and find accomidations in Montreal or area for the Holiday leave? All to go back on possibly the 4th of January to do another 6 days of BMQ? None of this makes any sense.
And is a bit overwhelming having to deal with the logitics of this stuff and not having clear and definite answers.

You wouldn't have to find accommodations in Montreal, I'm quite sure you could stay at the school.  At the holidays, there's these things called Service Flights, you might be eligible to apply for them.  Also, if you have LWOP (Leave Without Pay) prior to starting BMQ you may have the 90 days by then.

How does the military expect people to just be able to focus on training with all these intangables to have to worry about?

Guess what?  Often times in the military you will be on course or deployment and have other things to worry about; family problems, being shot at........get used to it.  This is minor stuff.

 

[prairiediver]

You wouldn't have to find accommodations in Montreal, I'm quite sure you could stay at the school.  At the holidays, there's these things called Service Flights, you might be eligible to apply for them.  Also, if you have LWOP (Leave Without Pay) prior to starting BMQ you may have the 90 days by then.

Guess what?  Often times in the military you will be on course or deployment and have other things to worry about; family problems, being shot at........get used to it.  This is minor stuff.

Ya youre right. I guess I better get used to it.

Does my time from being sworn in to BMQ count as time served without pay?

 

[Scoobie Newbie]

In St. Jean they are very helpful when it comes to Christmas leave because the whole school shuts down. They will even give you LTA if you have not been in the CF for 90 days on the condition that if you are released without completing the 90 days than you will be pay back the LTA.

The two things to always remember about LTA is it there to assist you with your travel not pay for it all, and always make sure you get your leave pass stamped.

 

[PMedMoe]

Does my time from being sworn in to BMQ count as time served without pay?

No.  Normally your service starts the day you leave home for BMQ.

See Lone Wolf's post.

 

[prairiediver]

Well, thanks for the info guys. It really is appreciated. Time off isnt a concern, but the Holidays coming up and throwing a wrench in the gears kinda stresses me out. I wish I could just go straight through and get BMQ completed and move onto the next step.

Please tell me things will make alot more sense and will be alot more clear once I get stationed after my training?

 

[PMedMoe]

Please tell me things will make alot more sense and will be alot more clear once I get stationed after my training?

Sorry, no can do.    Stop worrying.  Many have done it before you and we all made out okay.  :blotto:

 

[kemp1]

I'm pretty much just making this thread to ask if basic is going to be harder during the winter months?

 

[George Wallace]

I'm pretty much just making this thread to ask if basic is going to be harder during the winter months?

I suggest that you go and read this whole topic now.  I merged several topics on Winter Basic/BMQ training just for you.  Next time I'll just tell you to get off your butt.

 

[fischer10]

I'm pretty much just making this thread to ask if basic is going to be harder during the winter months?

Running in the cold is easier (condensed air and body does not sweat as much) other then that, I can see doing everything in the cold/snow more of an inconvenience then "harder". I am on BMQ from Sept-Dec and doesn't bother me that I'll be out in cold. It wont be harder or easier IMO.

 

[erik.hillis]

Ur topo adventure at Mt St Bruno will be more interesting, especially if you do it in mucklucks like this guy here.

 

[PegcityNavy]

With +38 degree day summers now with 99% humidity out east I can't see summer being very fun wearing heavy uniforms carrying all your kit. At least with winter you can bundle up, you cannot exactly strip down in summer.

 

[aesop081]

Running in the cold is easier

Clearly, you have never had to run down the old runway on the base in Edmonton.

 

[fischer10]

Clearly, you have never had to run down the old runway on the base in Edmonton.

No sir I have not! I was meaning on the lungs and body - running on ice/in snow is never fun or easy. Guess it would not be easy on the lungs/body if we have to run through snow haha, Oh well =)

 

[George Wallace]

Clearly, you have never had to run down the old runway on the base in Edmonton.

At the sounds of it, he has not really "run" in the cold.  No mention of nearly burning out one's lungs, means to me that someone really hasn't run in the 'cold'.  Perhaps a jog.  Perhaps the cold really wasn't that cold (-20 C). 

 

[fischer10]

At the sounds of it, he has not really "run" in the cold.  No mention of nearly burning out one's lungs, means to me that someone really hasn't run in the 'cold'.  Perhaps a jog.  Perhaps the cold really wasn't that cold (-20 C).

Where I live it is -20C or colder all through winter (Which can be from late October to March, even April ends up in the minus some times). I have ran/jogged/walked in the cold and colder then -20C. If you breath right you wont burn your lungs out - though I have done that, always nice to have the feeling like you swallowed razor blades.

None the less, running/jogging/walking in cold weather I find is easier, due to the condensed air - compared to running in +20-30C weather.

 

[George Wallace]

I'm not going to complain myself about running in the cold and the heat (within reason).  What really sucks is when the humidex is high -- which sways favouritism towards the cold.

 

[fischer10]

I'm not going to complain myself about running in the cold and the heat (within reason).  What really sucks is when the humidex is high.

Fully agreed! I have a question though (May prove to be completely retarded but), I am guessing the roads are plowed (obviously) and we run on the roads (assume from when I worked in CFB Shilo), will they ever make us run through the deep(er) snow? Haha

 

[Vimy_gunner]

Actually, according to this Kinesiology student and my prof your body will have an easier time performing while it's cold out. Main reason why is that when you eat or produce ATP (main energy source of the body) you automatically lose 40% of it to provide basic energy to make the body stay alive/functioning.  Oddly enough, when you workout in hot weather your body loses more water and requires more ATP molecules for hydrolysis to keep the body/muscles functioning well. So, in a sense as long as you don't catch hypothermia, it's better to exercise in the cold because you require less energy (mainly less oxygen and creatine phosphate moles) from the mitochondria to perform the tasks and replace ATP that otherwise are lost during the summer when it's +30.
I found that breathing is easier running during the winter and it takes A LOT more to become dehydrated. So while you're worrying about the first five minutes of bitter cold running outside in a t-shirt/hoodie or w/e, the people signed up for the summer BMQ are going to deal with a lot more exhaustion and dehydration issues at the end of the day that will be more uncomfortable than the cold you feel.  Just guessing that in BMQ they don't send everyone off to get a few ounces of water every 20 minutes

Hopefully your CO will know a little something about warming the body up prior to a hard run and make sure you do active stretches.  As long as you're warmed up and legs loose from stretching, the winter is always the best time to run. First five minutes running in 40 below sucks, but you warm up really fast
Guessing that if you go on deployment missions, running in the snow is not the worst ground you'll be walking/running over. I heard from a couple buddies who went to Afghanistan that walking in the mountains there is brutal on your feet.
We're Canadians, if you can't beat a penguin to the north pole, what good are yeee, lol.