News on the military ‘n myself

The last two months have been very eventful… and after 23 years of dreaming I finally made it happen. A slight incident cut it short officially by only two days but I’m making that up at the end of December on a weekend.  After that I’m hoping to get on my artillery course, all driving courses, and especially communications courses so I can get on those badass radios and do radio stuff.

Whilst on BMQ (L)… I experienced the awesomeness of IMP (individual meal packs) which are issued to the Canadian Forces.  Call me ridiculous but I loved them.  That may be that I was deprived of home comforts whilst in the field… nevertheless I now fully believe all my instructors when they say that out of all the western military powers in Afghanistan, we have by far the best meals.  Apparently the Yanks and British soldiers will always try to trade meal parts.  The bread in a packet rocks!  If you’re interested… you can actually buy IMPs from a surplus store.

I’m also glad that I did not join the British Army.  Not because of any perceived lack of dashing bravery, ruthlessness or competence… but because of the mere factor that our (Brits) squaddies bomb around Afghanistan in rag top Land Rovers, and their armour plates only cover their heart and not other vital organs.

Being a Canadian soldier I now have a lot of restrictions on what I can or cannot post on my website regarding the Canadian Forces particularly… so you might see the tone of my blog posts change somewhat.

One of our boys has passed away… Pte Kyle Whitehead from 3PPCLI passed away when his vehicle rolled on the Big River First Nation. What’s really uncanny is that his best friend ‘Sgt. Darby Morin’ from the same First Nation in Saskatchewan – passed away on the same day in Afghanistan whilst serving with the U.S Army.

According to this news story… the upcoming Olympics is pushing the Canadian Forces to the edge.  This article says that 4000 Canadian soldiers will be guarding the Olympics to protect all the heads of state.  That along with the Afghanistan mission and the upcoming G8 summit in Huntsville is testing the limits of our endurance according to this story.  My answer to that would be to quote one of my instructors on basic training… ‘We’re Canadian soldiers – we win!’.  I know one thing that would solve problems like this…  boosting Canada’s defence budget from $18billion to about $36billion to increase the size of our armed forces.

Horlicks, diesel, and the Army

I had a cup of Horlicks today for the first time in about ten to fifteen years.  It didn’t taste as great as it did when I was a nipper so I’m going to make another cup later.  The taste brought back a shitload of memories though.

A while back the petrol station clerk at Shell told me that instead of using those engine additives that you can get for $6 a bottle, just get 25¢ of diesel and pour it in your gas tank.  He said he’s told many people, and only about one percent of people believe him.  I took the risk a while back and didn’t regret it at all.  Before I took that risk, I asked Chris at the Toyota garage and he instantly said that it was good – diesel burns cleaner than petroleum.  So every three or four tanks of gas I dump in 25¢ of diesel and it keeps my engine running splendidly.

I applied to join the Canadian Forces Army Reserve… but I’m quite certain I’m going to join the Regular Infantry – 2PPCLI based at CFB Shilo.  It’ll suck big time being away from my children, but it’ll be a steady paycheck, a job which I can’t get fired from… but most importantly the example I wish to set for my children is that being willing to stand up and fight for what’s right, metaphorically or literally is something to be proud of and to be strived for.  I’m excited and afraid all at the same time.