Autobiography Thread (merged)

[Fogpatrol 1.0]

Anyone else need to write one and give it once you are at St-Jean?

Can I write it on a piece of paper or does it have to be printed from a computer?

 

[D-n-A]

Yea, its done in both the Reg Force and Reserve.  All the ones I've done had to be printed by hand, since we didn't have any computer access, I would assume its the same everywhere.

 

[AlphaCharlie]

On my weekend BMQ we just had to have them in the next weekend, and i'm almost positive they didn't read them.

 

[ark]

Unless they have provided you with a paper to write your autobiography, do it on a computer and make sure you keep an electronic copy somewhere. That way if you take another cours (instructors usually ask an autobiography on every courses), all you will have to do is simply update your exisiting one.

 

[Andyd513]

I didn't even change bases, instructors, or anything between courses and they still made us write 2 seperate auto-biographies. All we did was eat, drink and breath basic for 4 weeks and we had to rewrite the exact same thing for the exact same people. So, judging by that I'm assuming you'll be writing an autobio quite often in the military.

 

[Pencil Tech]

Ark is absolutely right. They've wanted on o evry course I've been on and because they always get you to write it out by hand I've always done it from scratch each time. One of these days I'll make a copy of one!  :

 

[Pte. Bloggins]

i'm almost positive they didn't read them.

From what instructors have told me, the whole purpose of the autobiography is so that they could get a general picture of the candidates in the first week of course before actually getting to know them (ex. family life, education, etc.) Also it helps staff know of any potential issues that could come up throughout course (ex. kid being born, etc.)

 

[Bob the builder]

You have to write an autobiography? What exactly did you guys right about? Any details would be awesome.

I got given a piece of paper with everything I needed to include.  So hopefully that happens everywhere.

 

[Da_man]

Whats the point of those things?  Im sick of writting autobiographies

 

[D-n-A]

Whats the point of those things?   Im sick of writting autobiographies

From what instructors have told me, the whole purpose of the autobiography is so that they could get a general picture of the candidates in the first week of course before actually getting to know them (ex. family life, education, etc.) Also it helps staff know of any potential issues that could come up throughout course (ex. kid being born, etc.)

 

[Northern Touch]

Oh lord, I think I wrote 4 of them on my BMQ.
The intial one.
Then a neater version.
Then another one which are Sec. Cmdr specifically asked to be a story, somethign interesting that actually "gripped" the reader.  Ex. One of my buddies started off by writing about the car accident he was in
Then a 4th one since the PLt. Cmdr needed "real" autobiagraphies.
Then one for my lighter because it fell out of my pocker during push ups and was found by a MCPL who decided i should write a biography for the lighter as well.

 

[rounder]

Northern touch... you got screwed man. Let me guess you were in C Company during this years ARC.

PS, I'm a section commander and LFCATC standards makes you sign them after you read them. To be honest I skimmed over all of them and then if a problem arose with that candidate I'd re-read it. And they must be done by hand.

 

[PARAMEDIC]

firstly can you start on your biography before you head out to bmq , just so that you can add the military life when you get there and are asked to produce one.

secondly how long do they actually want it to be, coz im guessing if it were a 200 pg paperback wouldnt really have a lot of people reading it.

thx

 

[rounder]

This is right from the LFCATC web sight


ASSIGNMENT - AUTOBIOGRAPHY

1. In an effort to become better acquainted, it is asked that you write an autobiography of approximately 200 words or more of your life to date.

2. The autobiography will be treated as CONFIDENTIAL and will be read only by those officers involved in your training.

3. It is designed only as an aid in assisting your course staff in getting to know you.

4. Listed below are a few of the points you should consider in writing your autobiography:

a. Pre-School:

(1) Place of Birth,
(2) Number in Family, and
(3) Rural or Town.

b. School:

(1) Sports played, awards won,
(2) Type of School (separate, public),
(3) County or town,
(4) Organizations belonged to and positions held, i.e. scouts,
cubs, cadets, student council, and
(5) Final grade attained.

c. Family member's occupations and accomplishments.

d. When did you leave school and for what reasons?

e. What were your parents, brothers and sisters feelings about your decision to join the Canadian Forces?

f. What made you decide to join the Reserves?

g. What are your career ambitions in the Canadian Forces?

h. What is your Military Occupation Code (MOC) i.e. Infantry, Armoured, Cook etc, and why did you choose it?

j. What do you expect to be your ultimate accomplishment in the Canadian Forces?

5. Please write clearly.

 

[rounder]

Remeber it must be blue ink  double spaced on 8 1/2 by 14 paper... Print it neatly... don't fold it... make it presentable... like a resume

 

[PPCLI Guy]

To be honest I skimmed over all of them and then if a problem arose with that candidate I'd re-read it.

Skimmed them?

 

[rounder]

Skimmed them?

    Just to make sure that there wasn't anything in there the Padre should know about. I find it more effective to read them once you know the faces of the candidates.

 

[Greasyoldman]

On every course you do nowadays, BMQ, SQ, DP1, JLC, CAP, Phase, whatever your flavour is, you will have to write an autobiography with criteria dictated from the course staff. Usually it's just a personal history with reasons why you joined, and what you plan to do with your career. ANd yes, your course staff will read (they're actually quite amusing). It's to give the staff an idea of who they are teaching and who to look out for. If someone has had a troubled past for whatever reason, they may have to be watched a little more carefully then others. Your autobiographies should be placed in your course files. At the end of your course when you sign your course report, have a look through your file, and you should find it on the left hand side near the bottom of the stack. If you wrote 4 biographies, and only 1 is in there, then the staff was just cocking you for their own amusement. It happens. When I was a new recruit I had to write a biography on a nickle found under my bed. He was a Russian Paratrooper who defected to Canada and wanted to join the reserves. I had to carry that nickle (the staff marked it so I couldn't replace it if I had lost it) around in my pocket for weeks, and if I was asked where he was, I had better be able to produce him... now when I see a candidate with a dust bunny in the palm of his hand held out for inspection, I can't help by smile.

Ty

 

[Sharpey]

In a nut shell...

Princinple of Leadership: Know your Soldiers and promote their welfare.

Autobiographies are used for instructors to get to know their candidates and help understand them. And of course (shhh) sometimes to get a bit of a chuckle. (ya' know, all the Sniper and JTF2 hopefulls)

 

[Highland Laddie]

On my weekend BMW we just had to have them in the next weekend, and I'm almost positive they didn't read them.

Oh yes, the staff do. I'm a Course O for a BMQ course that just started, and let me tell you reading them can be quite entertaining. "Joining or starting my own Canadian spy agency", "join JTF2"(lots of this), "kill people", or "I like to torture small animals" are just some of the more memorable ones over the years ;D.

On a serious note, the bios to provide us with insight on troops, their backgrounds, interests, and how they think. You'd be surprised how much you can learn about recruits from them.