I found my military experience a big help going into Depot...I also found my troop immature and wanted to 'divorce' my troop on many occasions. They didn't care about drill at all, they wanted to spend more time getting in extra driving than shooting :
and basically blew things out of porportion that anyone in the military would have taken with a grain of salt. Such as hating to polish their boots and then getting upset that they got LA the next morning for not having shiny boots (suck it up, stay up an extra fifteen minutes, so you won't get your precious 8 hours sleep and give your boots a once over...)
I wasn't in the best shape going in, clearly I passed the PARE going in, and I passed it coming out, I worked my ass off while I was there. But at the same time, there were some SUPER fit guys who were all about me me me and didn't have trouble when we got a punsish...wait, no, corrective behvious PT class and hated it when the troop got yelled at due to slow run times....then again, they were also the ones who we picked to have the first interals put against them...
Depot is what you make of it. And remember, it's only six months of your life. Go ALL OUT for those six months, and you'll have a career you'll be able to do endless things with.
If you volunteer, if you work your ass off, if you spend time getting to know your troopmates as well as the crim code, you'll get that much more out of it. It's 24 weeks, and you live week to week. Being in week 2, week 24 seem sooooo far away. Being in week 18, week 24 seems even father away. The last week, wearing red serge for Pass out, Reg dinner, number ceremony, it flies by and I wish I could have slowed it down and enjoyed it more. When you're on noon parade and the heat is taking the shine off your boots, just think of how many other Mountie's stood on the parade square, stared at that Chapel, walked past A Block....THAT's just as imporant about Depot as the mid term and the final, and the quals and the PDT scenarios. Join for the right reasons....anyone can be a muni, but not anyone has what it takes to be RCMP.
I've know several Sgts in the reserves that's didn't make it in. They thought they knew everything, had what it took to be a cop. Sure they did. A Cop. Not a Mountie. One didn't pass the RPAT one didn't pass the polygraphy. So when me, their little female clk says's she's going to Depot....not exactly a great reaction. But it's all about what YOU make it.
Blackhorse, love the name