Canadian, Basic Up: Reloaded

[paul]

http://www.army.forces.gc.ca/land-te.../index-eng.asp

Basic Up: Reloaded follows the progress of four recruits from enrolment through thirteen weeks of basic training. The series is intended to provide an entertaining and informative look at the physical and emotional challenges of basic training and does not present a proportionally accurate percentage of time spent in the classroom.

The principal photography for Basic Up Reloaded was completed in February 2007. Since then, many changes to training methods and approaches have been implemented at the Canadian Forces Leadership and Recruit School (CFLRS). The changes reflect the on-going philosophy of Train to Succeed, which seeks to inspire, coach, train, mentor and motivate in order to ensure that recruits realize their full potential.

Haven't gotten through the 15 episodes yet, but it's interesting to see how other armies do it. It's almost day by day, not leaving huge chunks out like other shows have done before.
(FYI, first episode, very boring.)

[moonstomper]

Interesting watch. Can't believe you can join up as a recruit at 49.

[Jungle]

Interesting watch. Can't believe you can join up as a recruit at 49.

Yes; our CRA (compulsory retirement age) is 55. If a potential recruit can fulfill an initial engagement (3 to 5 years depending on trade) and the person meets the pre-requisites and meets all standards in basic trg, they are accepted.

A childhood friend took a different route when I joined, then decided to join a couple of years ago at 43. He is now with AD arty, and very happy.

There is a guy in our Battalion who joined as an Infantryman at 47; after Infantry trg, he went to Airborne trg and is now a Rifleman in Para Coy; he was in Haiti earlier this year, and is deploying to Afghanistan this fall.

[moonstomper]

Thanks for the info Jungle. Very enlightened policy I think.

Just been checking out the Canadian Forces information podcasts. I don't think we fully realise over here the extent of their involvement in Afghanistan or just how many casualties they've sustained. They deserve so much more credit than they seem to get.

[Jungle]

Thanks for the info Jungle. Very enlightened policy I think.

Just been checking out the Canadian Forces information podcasts. I don't think we fully realise over here the extent of their involvement in Afghanistan or just how many casualties they've sustained. They deserve so much more credit than they seem to get.

Thanks...

You probably noticed that recruits from the Army, Navy and Air Force are doing the same course, together. The course is taught by a mix of instructors from the 3 services.

The trg has a definite land flavour, but this is the purpose considering everybody eventually may have to do defence of a fixed point or site security, as these are basic skills.

After basic trg, Recruits are sent on service-specific trg (called Soldier Qualification in the Army) then on to trade courses. I'm not saying it's the best way to do this, but it's working out well for us.