C
cameron_highlander
Guest
Disclaimer: in no way am I suggesting that the CF become a 'candies and rainbows' type of organisation.
We've all been there, walking around wearing that infamous 'cornflake' on our berets (or whatever was worn before that system came into place). And we all went through basic and (this is more to the reservists) had to endure parading with your unit wearing this cornflake and taking all the unecessary flak that came with it.
In the reg force, you basically stay in the training system from BMQ to the end of your trades training, your always around fellow recruits wearing the same headdress, in general. But in the reserves, often you go do you BMQ/SQ in the summer and then have to wait another year to do your QL3, and in many units this means wearing and training in your cornflake. Or, if your doing your BMQ on weekends, you parade with your unit (again, on a unit to unit basis) on parade nights.
Now, I understand that on your basic, your instructors can be jerks, thats what they do. Make sure you can hack the military life. No problem there. But what I take issue with is when (again, this is mostly a reserve problem) you parade with your unit wearing the cornflake and are treated like shite by everyone else simply because you don't have the regimental headdress yet. Get jacked up every 10 feet, get yelled at when you go to the QM for a legit reason, or the BOR, or anywhere else. Everytime its "who sent you up here recruit?? your not suppposed to be here". And when you explain ypur situation, again, your just brushed off because you are a recruit. Why do people feel the need to be jerks to recrutis for the sake of being jerks, when your not on course time. Same goes for PAT platoons, I've read stories on this board of PAT troops and Ocdt's being jacked up all the time, even one or two stories that speak positively of this practice. I understand that if your walking down the road, and see some Ocdts or recruits who have bad blousing, buttons undone etc, you stop them and correct them. But do walk around looking for a cornflake or RMC badge to yell at, thats unprofessional and makes you wonder what elese you should be doing with your time.
This does not always happen, some reserve units are great at including recruits in everything. But I have seen enough and been treated like this enough (to the extent of getting yelled at by the Adj. for going up to the BOR to try to sort out my pay, even when I was sent up by my superiors, and the reason was simply because I had on a beret and cornflake, he didn't think recruits should go around trying to get paid, heaven forbid) to wonder if we have a sub-culture of jerks in the CF. There is a difference between being on course, and walking around on a parade night getting pissed on because your still a 'maggot'. Pretending recruits don't exist in a unit until they finish QL3, is, in my opinion, rediculous. Obviously, recruits aren't as well trained, qualified or have any TI, but still, what do you loose by including the recruits as much as possible as opposed to using them for verbal punching bags?
We've all been there, walking around wearing that infamous 'cornflake' on our berets (or whatever was worn before that system came into place). And we all went through basic and (this is more to the reservists) had to endure parading with your unit wearing this cornflake and taking all the unecessary flak that came with it.
In the reg force, you basically stay in the training system from BMQ to the end of your trades training, your always around fellow recruits wearing the same headdress, in general. But in the reserves, often you go do you BMQ/SQ in the summer and then have to wait another year to do your QL3, and in many units this means wearing and training in your cornflake. Or, if your doing your BMQ on weekends, you parade with your unit (again, on a unit to unit basis) on parade nights.
Now, I understand that on your basic, your instructors can be jerks, thats what they do. Make sure you can hack the military life. No problem there. But what I take issue with is when (again, this is mostly a reserve problem) you parade with your unit wearing the cornflake and are treated like shite by everyone else simply because you don't have the regimental headdress yet. Get jacked up every 10 feet, get yelled at when you go to the QM for a legit reason, or the BOR, or anywhere else. Everytime its "who sent you up here recruit?? your not suppposed to be here". And when you explain ypur situation, again, your just brushed off because you are a recruit. Why do people feel the need to be jerks to recrutis for the sake of being jerks, when your not on course time. Same goes for PAT platoons, I've read stories on this board of PAT troops and Ocdt's being jacked up all the time, even one or two stories that speak positively of this practice. I understand that if your walking down the road, and see some Ocdts or recruits who have bad blousing, buttons undone etc, you stop them and correct them. But do walk around looking for a cornflake or RMC badge to yell at, thats unprofessional and makes you wonder what elese you should be doing with your time.
This does not always happen, some reserve units are great at including recruits in everything. But I have seen enough and been treated like this enough (to the extent of getting yelled at by the Adj. for going up to the BOR to try to sort out my pay, even when I was sent up by my superiors, and the reason was simply because I had on a beret and cornflake, he didn't think recruits should go around trying to get paid, heaven forbid) to wonder if we have a sub-culture of jerks in the CF. There is a difference between being on course, and walking around on a parade night getting pissed on because your still a 'maggot'. Pretending recruits don't exist in a unit until they finish QL3, is, in my opinion, rediculous. Obviously, recruits aren't as well trained, qualified or have any TI, but still, what do you loose by including the recruits as much as possible as opposed to using them for verbal punching bags?
