I thought I'd add to the thread since my 'OpSec vs Daily routine' comment kinda killed the thread.
What is life as an infantry soldier like?
Well, the 'infantry is unlike any other job' is a statement said by a lot of people. It is both true and false at the same time. That saying 'jack of all trades, master of none' can be applied in that the infantry are frequently tasked out to do anything. We drive vehicles (VehTech), haul things on our backs (packmule), sort out things into neat little boxes/piles in order to keep count of it all (SupTech), call in indirect and CAS fire (Arty FOO), dig treches or other forms of defenses (CbtEng'r), maintain a fitness standard and teach others how to do the same (PSP), a lot of paperwork (RMS Clerk) and all of the infantry specific tasks.
The textbook definition of the infantry is to 'close with and destroy the enemy, in any terrain and in all weather conditions'. Therefore you will do training in all these terrains. This means that if it has been raining for hours or days, you still will be expected to go for that patrol, or dig the trench, or whatever your task may be. Being that we are in Canada, we love our winter training. There are many nights I have gone to bed and woken at 3am due to intense shivering. I have been in all weather for -60C to +60C, so if you are coming into the infantry, you can expect to be in any weather between those two temperatures.
When you are in garrison, life is different. PT every morning followed by 'the rest of yoru day'. Sometimes you have a training plan where you are supposed to be learning a specific task. Sometimes you will be on course. Other times, they will create work for you to do which seems quite mundane when you first get in. 'Count the camnets...again', 'stack those pallets in groups of ten', or 'clean out those LAVs'. The most common one that you will grow to highly dislike is 'go clean weapons' which you will be told to do so many times that you grow frustrated due to the weapon already being clean. My suggestion at this point is to go to some crevice on the gun and look for caked on carbon that is so shiney that it looks to be part of the gun itself. Without a clean and fully operational weapon, you can't do your basic job - be an infanteer.
There will be many frustrating events in your career, but never consider them to be 'bull***t'; think of them as things that build character. You may be slated to go on tour and then find out you are not. That same thing may happen with courses. People you view to be a 'pump may get the courses your wanted before you or get promoted before you or even be your leader. I personally had a huge problem with this when I was a private. There is one thing that brought be solace though - there are these kinds of situations even in the civilian world. So my suggestion is that when you are getting the shaft in your job, suck it up and push through. Your hardwork and actions will be noticed in time and you will be viewed upon in a better light if you have pushed through and not let things bring you down.
I see that it appears I have highlight nothing but bad things in the infantry and that is all the job entails. If it was nothing but bad, no one would stay. If your do not get the gucci courses or the good go's at things in your job, the #1 reason why the infantry (I will expand this to the combat arms as well) is the best place to be is because of the people. The people are what makes the infantry great. You are all predominantly alpha-males (if you do not start off in an alpha mindest, you will develope into one so that when you return to your civvy buddies, you see the change in yourself). Consider this in a way like chess. In chess, you only get better by playing against people better than you; in the infantry the same applies. The sort of people you befriend become friends and colleagues that are so good that you consider them your own family. You will learn to trust these comrades with your own life because at the end of the day, they trust you with theirs. There are not too many other jobs where you can ask your partner to 'watch out' while you duck off into the woods to poop in a bag in the middle of the night. Not too many places of work will have a coworker give you his ranger blanket because you are freezing out on a winter exercize when you know that he'll be that much colder without it. With all the above negative things that I pointed out, you know that your buddy has also done the same thing. It's that sort of comfort that you are not alone which makes any of it bearible at the worst of times.
