The basics of basic:
Here's the psychology: The people put in charge of training recruits are there to MAKE SURE that you will be loyal to the military, and you will NOT report, or cause problems for, your superiors. THIS is why they yell at you. It's a test. They give you conflicting orders on purpose. If one of your platoon mates comes to you offering help or advice that seems too good to be true, like using hairspray on the bottom of your boots (which any dummy can tell would cause the ground to be sticky, and therefore attract dust bunnies on any surface you touch... especially in St. Jean) He's a plant. The military for certain DOES use shills in their platoons, and they regularly come as "replacements" for those that have failed. By the way, they do this so that they can skew the pass fail rate of their platoon... i.e. let's say 45 recruits were indoctrinated at the beginning of the course... and 20 fail for whatever reason, during the course. They will NOT count only 25 passes, IF 10 more are inducted into the platoon during the course... this counts as only 10 recruits failing. So they LOVE these guys that come in half way, and have already been indoctrinated heavily into the military culture... I am NOT saying that it is bad to force people to become time management experts... and even to force people who already are time management experts to choose between a bad situation, and a worse one. What I AM saying is that you should NEVER trust the guy sitting next to you. Take in the orders, and try to dissect what the instructor is REALLY saying during classes. They sneak these things in during death by powerpoint classes... So... not only do you have to pay attention to the powerpoints, and score well on the exams... but you also have to read between the lines... when an instructor is saying "Everyone should be raising their hands to answer this question", He's really trying to single out people who don't know the answer, so he can make a fool out of them for not knowing it. And if your hand is down, after him saying that... you're DEFINITELY going to get picked. You're damned if you do, and damned if you don't. This is not an endeavor for people with a combination of poor memory skills, and poor organizational skills. I keep a personal journal of every single interaction I have during the day. Not necessarily itemized by time, but just a general daily log of what happened... If you are bad at organizing, and bad at memorizing... this single tool will be your saving grace. So pull your blanket over your head and pull out your flashlight every night, and fill your journal with everything that happened during the day. I guarantee you, your superiors are NOT doing this. In doing this, you will be saved from any wrath that was intended for you... I guarantee it.
Trust me, officers do not like reading about how MCpls mismanaged time so that the troops had no time to eat... even in the Mega at St. Jean. This is your ammunition, and every single letter you lay down in your journal is like a bullet. In this respect, I promise you... the pen is mightier than the sword (or the C7A2 Automatic Rifle produced by Colt Canada). I am teaching you how to wag the dog here... and I guarantee you, this will not be well received by MCpls and above... and those who are hoping for a promotion.
You'll notice that those that can make a turd shine, will make it very far in the military.
You'll get used to receiving orders that conflict, or don't make sense, and then have to make sense of them yourself and pass it on to your subordinates.
You'll love it when you get to the point in your career that you realize that others are forced to respect you because you have a crown stitched to your chest... Some branches with leaves on them help to impose your authority too.
Having said this... keeping your eye on the prize, at the end of the road, when you finally look back and realize how badly you've been done in, is paramount to understanding the degree to which our national security in Canada matters.
The big picture is always more important than these little beginners tips that everyone seems to be so wrapped up in. Trust me, you can be the smartest guy or gal paper wise in your platoon in basic... but you can still fail. This isn't a podium test... there's always room for 26th place to rise to the top, if he or she has the right stuff... or even 45th place... which is rare, but you get my meaning