KTJ>
"I honestly think that we need to bring back the in your face, ball busting training regime
of the past. If these kids are as spoiled as we say they are then they need a rude
awakening if they want to serve beside me overseas."
If I am not mistaken from your posts, you have drawn a line between the members who
had BMQs "from the old days" and the BMQs of recent times and implied theres an objective
difference.
I can't agree entirely but I understand what Jungle is getting at. Whether you're on
deployment or performing day to day base work, you got to work with a variety of
people. You have taskings and stuff that must get done. Given the chain of
command, those in your section, and the members you have to work directly or
indirectly, these are the people you deal with to get stuff done. As the
military is very labour directed, the people you work with, their attitudes, their
ability to create and use teamwork, their ability to take direction and follow to
a conclusion with drive, purpose, and a sense of humor, basically defines how
we work together.
BMQ is just a 10 week course. You can take any recruit of any BMQ era and
we are all the same. We don't care what happens to us, we soldier on, and
only care about making it day by day until we can finish course and get the
he!! out of there. Pace sticks across the back of the knees are irrelevant. The
measure of a man, or that what you bring out, doesn't originate in BMQ
and doesn't stop evolving.
Its difficult to take the moral high ground. If the BMQ of recent times sucks
in your opinion, then how does the BMQs of the 1880s, 1930s, 1960s,
or the 1980s all compare? They're are not the same either. Canadian
military still soldiered on.
I'm not a 20 year member of the CF so I can't make honest comparasions of
members throughout various eras, units, and elements, but in my short career,
I've worked with some. I can honestly say there are members who are excellent
to work with and the jobs get done all through to the other end of members
I probably never hope to work with again whether I like them or not. I cannot
draw a BMQ line between them to say a tougher BMQ/era had any significant effect.
Another perspective might be to remember the members of your BMQ platoon,
how they were, and how they are now. Bringing a bunch or people together
with various characteristics; characteristics that are good, some that are
learned during the course, and those that aren't so good. The good and the
bad persist in everyone throughout their careers. The lazy, the competent,
the leaders, the teamplayers, the ones that persevere, all will find themselves
in some kind of "foxhole" at some point.