- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 110
My grandfather transfered from the Royal Navy to the Canadian Navy back in the 50's and was always telling me stories about him and "The guys" as they were on 18 month deployments with NATO and such. I joined Air Cadets when I was 12, being a huge aviation enthusiast so I could get a chance to fly and meet people with the same interests. My second summer away from home I had a run in with the MP's due to a certain mooning incident that doesn't need to be elaborated on (but I chuckle writing this). Our divisional PO (I was at HMCS Acadia playing Trumpet) came into the barracks afterwards and asked who had done it and I stepped forward and said I did. Didn't hesitate or lie about it because A) I knew I did it and B) they were only going to find out anyways. I was RTU'ed and had a black mark on my record.
When I got back to my unit my CO hauled me into the office and started reading me the riot act and when he asked me why the hell I did something that stupid. I answered "It was a bad judgement call. Am I sorry I did it? Yes. But at the same time I'm proud that I came clean and could admit it." He told me that I was destined to be a corpral until I left the unit.
Luckily there was a new Sea Cadet unit opening up down the street and I transfered over since I had this "Bad rap" as being a retard and a screw up and when I went into the new CO's office he asked me why I transfered and I told him. He sat and thought for a moment and told me about how he screwed up as a new officer and how he wanted good cadets with experience to lead the new Corp. Within the year I was a DPO with 20 cadets under my charge, started and led a marksmanship team and when I was 17 was one of two cadets sent from Nova Scotia to attend the Medical Assistant course.
I got to return to Comox for a second summer as a staff cadet and learned even more leadership skills before returning home from my last summer course. I finished my last year and a half as Coxswain of a corp that went from an original 60 cadets to 200. When high school starting to come to a close I applied to the forces but suffered a broken hand two weeks before my PT Test from a Hockey game. I was overzealous in clearing the crease which resulted in a scrap. I still attempted my PT test but my discomfort was apparent and I was failed on the spot.
I spent the next two years in university and again found myself as part of a small team on the University Paper staff. I was the sports editor and got my first taste of being a leader in the “real world” and came back the next year to be the editor in chief of a paper with over 5000 copies per week.
Unfortunatly before I could start third year student loans started to screw me around and my grandfather became very sick and I started working full time at night to pay for school and be home during the day with him. The week before he died he told me all of his navy stories that he didn’t want my grandmother to hear and I was laughing tears with him. At his funeral I met over 20 people that he had served with and they started to share stories and I decided that I wanted to join the forces to have that comradeship practically on the spot. What other job was there where you could have that type of friendship? So I went to the recruiting office a few months later and dropped off my application and am now waiting for my medical.
When I got back to my unit my CO hauled me into the office and started reading me the riot act and when he asked me why the hell I did something that stupid. I answered "It was a bad judgement call. Am I sorry I did it? Yes. But at the same time I'm proud that I came clean and could admit it." He told me that I was destined to be a corpral until I left the unit.
Luckily there was a new Sea Cadet unit opening up down the street and I transfered over since I had this "Bad rap" as being a retard and a screw up and when I went into the new CO's office he asked me why I transfered and I told him. He sat and thought for a moment and told me about how he screwed up as a new officer and how he wanted good cadets with experience to lead the new Corp. Within the year I was a DPO with 20 cadets under my charge, started and led a marksmanship team and when I was 17 was one of two cadets sent from Nova Scotia to attend the Medical Assistant course.
I got to return to Comox for a second summer as a staff cadet and learned even more leadership skills before returning home from my last summer course. I finished my last year and a half as Coxswain of a corp that went from an original 60 cadets to 200. When high school starting to come to a close I applied to the forces but suffered a broken hand two weeks before my PT Test from a Hockey game. I was overzealous in clearing the crease which resulted in a scrap. I still attempted my PT test but my discomfort was apparent and I was failed on the spot.
I spent the next two years in university and again found myself as part of a small team on the University Paper staff. I was the sports editor and got my first taste of being a leader in the “real world” and came back the next year to be the editor in chief of a paper with over 5000 copies per week.
Unfortunatly before I could start third year student loans started to screw me around and my grandfather became very sick and I started working full time at night to pay for school and be home during the day with him. The week before he died he told me all of his navy stories that he didn’t want my grandmother to hear and I was laughing tears with him. At his funeral I met over 20 people that he had served with and they started to share stories and I decided that I wanted to join the forces to have that comradeship practically on the spot. What other job was there where you could have that type of friendship? So I went to the recruiting office a few months later and dropped off my application and am now waiting for my medical.
