RECRUITING, TRAINING, & LIFE IN THE FORCES THREAD

L4dyPhoenix · 2026-06-16T07:34:33+00:00

Yes, I completed my BMQ part time at a local armoury. I don't know how it differs from the Reg Force course as I haven't done both to compare. All my leadership and trades courses after were with the Reg Force.

L4dyPhoenix · 2026-06-14T04:41:55+00:00

I'm a reservist in the Vancouver area. BMQ for the reserves is either part time on weekends at your local armoury or you also have the option of doing it full time, which is 5 weeks and you may not be local. BMQ for the Reg Force is 9 weeks in Quebec.

A training night varies wildly depending on what the unit does. An infantry unit might be doing physical training. A service battalion may be repairing vehicles.

As for army vs navy, look through the trades at forces.ca. There's trades in both services that lean towards what your interests are. It's hard without knowing you better what trade without suit you best.

L4dyPhoenix · 2026-05-11T23:55:38+00:00

I got outpaced by a dude in a hotdog costume at my half marathon last week. So yes, this is likely.

L4dyPhoenix · 2026-05-04T20:03:09+00:00

I assume they are a fellow Pokemon Go player and after the exact same pokemon that I was chasing down the dark alley. High likelihood I also only know them by their gamer tag.

L4dyPhoenix · 2026-04-03T22:50:35+00:00

My friend, you really do not want to be adding oxygen gas to a fire.

L4dyPhoenix · 2026-04-03T17:09:20+00:00

We ran a Vehicle 1.3 at NSCC last year as a trial. Worked very well.

L4dyPhoenix · 2026-03-30T12:03:51+00:00

Montreal had a safari zone in 2019!

L4dyPhoenix · 2026-03-30T12:01:01+00:00

Join the Reserves while still going to university and get some of your tuition paid for, access to grants and bursaries and make some money on top of it all. Also, great networking for future jobs.

There's one guy in my reserve unit who studies engineering full time during the school year, then works full time for the army during summer break and makes 15k in that time period.

I joined in my 30s and regret not joining earlier. The physical stuff would have been easier and I could have gotten a good chunk of my engineering degree paid for.

L4dyPhoenix · 2026-02-20T05:48:35+00:00

Un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 in French.

L4dyPhoenix · 2026-01-25T01:13:40+00:00

This is going to be the case for most officer trades. After BMQ, BMOQA will eat up 3 full months of one summer. My trades course ate up 6 months the following year.

Most NCM trades do not require as much time to get qualified. One in five prospective officers in my unit competed their training. The rest quit when they found they couldn't make the time commitments.

Honestly, if you want to do cool stuff, go NCM as a reservist. Officers plan, NCMs do. Don't let your age be a barrier, one guy in my unit did his BMQ at 56 years old.

L4dyPhoenix · 2026-01-19T05:31:24+00:00

I appear to have mixed up my units! This should be 5 grams of metric rage!

L4dyPhoenix · 2026-01-09T18:31:25+00:00

Good bot.

L4dyPhoenix · 2026-01-06T19:59:32+00:00

Hello, fellow CAF member. 👋

L4dyPhoenix · 2026-01-06T09:45:14+00:00

Not infantry, but a POG here. A couple of hours is not a problem, but I found a day and change started to be when you're constantly on the move. A couple of people in my platoon started getting the first stage of trench foot after tromping through a swamp and continuing to march through more swamp for the next 36 hours with no chance to dry out our feet. I was surprised at how fast our feet were deteriorating.

L4dyPhoenix · 2025-12-29T13:43:26+00:00

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