Hate to resurrect an old portion of a post, but I definitely know what you mean when you talk about, shall we say, "less than impressive" first impressions.
For a little background, I am 18 years old and live in Alberta and am currently in the process of applying for going in to be a pilot (finished my CFAT, medical, interview) and am just waiting for Aircrew selection. I went for my CFAT appointment in Edmonton, Alberta later last year and all I can remember was how much I was stressing about having every form filled out perfectly, and being 30 minutes early to my appointment, even dressing to impress (despite no formal guidelines for that particular appointment, as I'm sure you're aware), and so on and so forth.
So I show up and am stressing over this test, and about 45 minutes later I saw another applicant, around my age, waltz in with his camo sweatpants, ratty work boots, and his head shaved, which I assume was his technique for convincing the recruiter to hire him on the spot :facepalm:
Basically this guy had shown up with none of the required forms to write his CFAT, let alone his ID and I'm at least 60% sure that he was on some kind of substance at the time of arrival... But hey, maybe he was trying to relax for the test I guess? ???
Anyways, luckily for him, the wonderful Cpl. had given him new forms to fill out and allowed him to write the test anyways, and his fate was left in the hands of his own intelligence, even as scary of a thought as that may be ;p
I think it all depends on who you end up dealing with at the recruitment center, some recruiters probably have different policies and levels of magnanimity than others, so I guess you occasionally might get lucky.
As far as your progress is going I would like to congratulate you, I understand how frustrating it can be at times!
Sounds like you are well on your way to a successful and fulfilling career in the Armed Forces.
Hope some day we may cross paths, and all the best wishes to you at BMQ and beyond
Cheers