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Join hosts Ryan and Jason on The Worst of the Best Podcast as they unpack the raw realities (and myths) behind military boot camp—perfect timing with global tensions heating up. Drawing from Ryan's 18+ years in the Canadian Navy (including stints as both recruit and instructor), they tease the surprises of basic training: from family contact rules to mental grit over muscle, "brainwashing" tactics, and why not everyone's a sharpshooter. Expect brotherly insights on teamwork, fatigue, patriotism, and how modern warfare has changed the game—plus their pick for the most off-base misconception that even caught them off guard.
Whether you're eyeing enlistment, a veteran nodding along, or just curious about the drill sergeant life (Full Metal Jacket vibes?), this episode mixes nostalgia, laughs, and eye-openers. Like, comment your biggest military myth or boot camp story, subscribe for more breakdowns (no push-ups required!), and share if it flips your view on service life. Drop a review—it helps spread the word!
Creators and Guests
What is The Worst of the Best Podcast?
Join host Ryan Rebalkin and his rotating guest hosts on The Worst of the Best Podcast, where they dive into the flaws of the best in pop culture and more. Covering genres like films, music, food, true crime, historical events, celebrity culture, and quirky societal trends, this podcast delivers a humorous, irreverent critique of the finest’s shortcomings.
0:02
welcome to the worst of the best podcast you wanted the best well they didn't
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freaking make it so here's what you get from Canada
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Ryan and Jason [Applause]
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[Music]
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[Applause]
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welcome to the worst of the best podcast I'm your host Ryan and with me today is Jason how you doing doing good brother
0:43
how are you good well this episode while the time of this recording is kind of
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timely as of not even 24 hours ago Putin has declared war legit attacks have
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happened President Biden has basically said hey Putin the Allies don't like this and blood is
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on your hands for this conflict really came out and said that a very bold statement by the president of the United States already taken over the Kev
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airport oh wow so they're moving faster than I can this is a real conflict Jason ier Canadian and Canada has entered the
1:16
conflict as well prime minister Trudeau has made his statements of course you can just Google that myself I'm a
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military member I'm in the Navy that's of interest to me of course because there are ships I believe it's hmcs
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Halifax I believe is leaving or has been told that they're going to deploy to that conflict and we're sending troops as well of course our military is small
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compared to the US however whatever or whatever our size as the military it's
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irrelevant we will still offer what we can what support we can that's what we do as Canada or any Allied Nation this
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is so fresh I haven't even researched other nations like Australia New Zealand Britain but I would assume every country
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will support this as allies to the US have you heard any different or I haven't really I just saw the headlines
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that it is in fact uh Russia attacks Ukraine this is not a news channel but
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just go ahead and Google of course the I'm sure by the time this is out it'll be very clear as to what is exactly
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happening yeah it's that fresh and what's crazy is is I remember the Rumblings the Rumblings have been around I'm like okay Putin's not going to
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really do this is he and yes he is he has and to say it's I going to say scary
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as a word to say it's not not something it would be an understatement I mean this is a big deal this is huge to
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declare war on a neighboring country is a big deal yeah The Ripping effects may
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be quite significant uh moving forward there's concerns now that China is going to feel more emboldened to take over
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Taiwan it's like kids in the playground man like oh yeah they're they're throwing punches to this why don't we just join the frey it's that mob
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mentality right when you're in a mob or a um hey let's make some noise too while everyone's distracted right
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well what happens in these conflicts Jason and this is very common through the world war Vietnam War Korean War of
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course 911 it's usually there's an increase in military activity of course and military recruiting people will feel
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using your word emboldened or encouraged or patriotic or whatever the words might be to say you know what I'm going to
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help out this cause I'm young I'm strong or whatever it might be I'm going to join the military that's great I'm in
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the military I think it's fantastic people join I don't think war is fantastic but think it's great if you want to help out join the cause Fight
3:33
For Freedom all the things you think the military is for for your country security then by all means it's it's a
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great job and a great Avenue for people to be employed and to serve their country and to serve their fellow men and of course we uh give our thanks to
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all the veterans throughout the world people have lost their lives to these causes throughout the world but before
3:51
you can start your job in the military you have to go what it's called boot camp Jason or basic training we've seen many movies like full metal jacket or TV
3:58
shows that show you what basic training or boot camp can be like of course it's sensationalized for the movies or for TV
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shows I've been through basic training of course and I actually got to teach basic training now I say basic training
4:10
because in Canada that's what we call it I don't know where it's called in other countries but I believe the US calls it boot camp it's the same idea so I have
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unique experience of going through basic training almost 20 years ago and being
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an instructor or a drill sergeant during basic training I just finished it a year ago and I did it for 2 years so it was a
4:27
really fun experience in today's to's episode we're going to go through these misconceptions about military training
4:34
or boot camp from the misconceptions of drill sergeants what boot camps are for
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things like that well we have listeners from all around the world on this show we do have listeners from Australia and the UK maybe some of them have actually
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served military I actually have some friends that listen to this podcast that are in the military so bear with me and
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I also have some recruits that I actually taught in basic training who listen to this podcast and I'm wondering
4:57
if some of them had some of these misconceptions before they themselves joined in fact I know many of my recruits did and we'll speak to that as
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we go through it because I would often talk to my recruits about some of their own fears or misconceptions about what
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they were going through live at the time so these are very true and very real misconceptions about boot camp and I
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would suspect these misconceptions are from movies watched a lot of war movies
5:23
growing up I would think that these misconceptions are from entertainment
5:28
yes I agree all right J you got number 10 the first misconception we're going to talk about is that there's no family
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contact allowed whatsoever but that's not true that's something I had not
5:39
thought of prior to doing this is the idea that you can't talk or communicate or interact with your family while you
5:46
are at boot camp but it isn't true there is limited contact and they do minimize
5:52
it it's typically like about a phone call a week to family or close friends
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they're able toite write letters I don't know if now they're able to do emails or whatever maybe you can speak to that
6:05
Ryan um when you go to boot camp or people go to basic training here in Canada is that an actual reality there
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is contact with family friends and what have you when I went through in 2003 I didn't have a cell phone or smartphone I
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mean cell phones were around but I didn't take a cell phone so I wasn't able to call my wife at the time via
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that way or text or anything like that however yes we did the phone calls at night and or on the weekends cuz there's
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payones where we slept at night in the building there's payones if we line up or take turns on the pay phone and say
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hey hurry up can I call my wife now and often I would actually keep my phone calls to once or twice a week that's it
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Monday to Friday you're pretty busy as a new recruit you're busy you're up you're up early but you're very busy throughout
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the day you're working right late till night and you're up again so there's very little time to really just sit there talk to your loved one or cuz
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you're wasting time not shiny boots getting your uniform ready you need right I would suspect then a lot of
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these phone calls and interactions with families more important to the families themselves and less important to you
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because you are quite occupied with what it is that you're participating in Fast
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Forward 18 years later I'm an instructor at the school so now I'm seeing it from the you know from the side of the instructors and with the advance of
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technology so every recruit has a cell phone and we do not take their cell phones away it's a new world and I was
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actually kind of surprised by that so they have what's called I can't remember you know it's only been a year since
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I've been there but I already kind of forget the times they're allowed to have cell phone time nightly each night so they'd have their cell phones in their
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possession we did not take them away we take them away on occasion I hate to use the word punishment that's um that's not
7:44
the word that we use there but what was it called again boy it's funny that we use these terms but you know you move on
7:49
to other jobs in your military career I forget the term but anyways so we take their phones away as a punishment if the
7:55
platoon doesn't do certain things that was very rare and we'd have to get like permission from like higher ups to take
8:02
it away for longer than two or 3 days type thing we as instructor could take away for a short period of time but anything longer than like 24 hours you
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would have to get permission Whole New World now with with cell phones and we kind of entrusted the recruits to not
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disobey when they're allowed to have their phones in their rooms at night but we know those were broken we know people
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were on their phones past and that's okay in the sense because that's just the world we live in that's the recruits we hiring these these kids are born with
8:27
the cell phone in their hand now right they're literally born with screens in their hands it's just the world we live in I think the military now has
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recognized that that if you want people to be recruited which is an issue at least in Canada I don't know about the
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states getting new recruits getting these young kids in the door you start telling them hey when you go to basic training you're not going to have your
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phone anymore they're not going to join so let me make this a public message to anyone listening in Canada yes you get
8:50
to use your cell phone in basic training but you're not using it while you're in class while you're out marching I'm just
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talking about your time at night basically when the instructors go home for the night type thing you know you're going to use it when you're going to use
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it there is a time aot of each day and so they can text whoever they want talk to whoever they want and they do and I
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think that does help with their mental health and I see nothing wrong with that yeah okay that's interesting good Insight is that something actually you
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were worried about going in this is actually something I had not thought of not having contact with the outside
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world when you said hey I'm going to sign up and I'm going to go to basic training did you feel at the time that
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your contact with the outside world would be completely shut off was that a concern so I went through again in 2003
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so I feel like it's like preg gooogle pre Facebook pre- smartphone so the idea of really not being so social media
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connected to the old outside world was it wasn't really a thought or a sacrifice per se you're just so busy
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again my wife at the time to call her daily would have been redundant I'm like okay honey I shine boots marched got
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yelled at did push-ups not going to go iron my uniform or whatever it might have been the weekly calls were just
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fine for me I was so Focus and it actually just helped me to be focused not to worry about other stuff I actually found it less distractive
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that's why I I think it's more important is probably more of relief for the
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people who aren't participating to hear from you than the other way around but
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knowing that you know these young recruits have access to that as you say probably just alleviates the mental
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health stress of being away from family whether they participate in that communication or not I don't know but my
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son went through my second son went through the basic training and actually he went through it just before I went and taught there funny enough speaking
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of cell phones of course he had his so he would actually text me every now and then his concerns or fears some of his
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misconceptions and I kind of cheated with him you know I'm like hey buddy it's okay it's just a game or don't worry about it or I'd give him the
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insights of he would tell me something that was said or done during basic training I kind of gave him some cheat codes so so there you go but the the
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cell phone for him was his support network to me and it helped him and he got through just fine yeah yeah cool so
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another misconception number nine is that every new recruit is big and strong and or you have to be big and strong to
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get through basic training well all they have to do is look at you yeah that's that's definitely true if I can get through it anybody can now in the states
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apparently there's a minimum weight requirement to a list I guess you know you can't be too too light you or you
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might have like some sort of bone disease or you're so light you know like carrying a backpack or break your back
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or something or I think sadly nowadays most people are not too most people are probably right
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unfortunately too heavy yeah at the end of the day though there is no requirement for size as a basic training
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instructor I saw all shapes and sizes and when I say kids I'll will often refer to the recruits as kids it's just
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our moniker we gave the new recruits call them kids cuz they're young in the brain when it comes to the military even
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though some of them could be as old as 50 when they join or as young as 18 so they all come in different shapes and sizes and that's great we want that you
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don't need to have super human strength i' also recommend you don't be overly weak the idea is is that you have
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teamwork and a lot of the things that you do you do together you want to be able to get through the program but as
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far as Feats of Strength that's not what basic train is about you are pushed to your own personal limit you're
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definitely uh challenged but you could have a guy who's very strong that can't jump the wall there's a 6ft wall that
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you have to leap and I was horrible at it so you know I'm actually a pretty in shape guy I mean I'm 46 now but when I
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joined at 27 I was still you know pretty decent shape I was never grossly obese or never incredibly weak I've always
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been a pretty normal strong nothing's really has challenged me physical fitness wise throughout my life and
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basic training was actually easy for me physical fitness I didn't have any problems with it but there's What's called the 6ft wall that you just a
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board wall and you just step on it you know you kind of get to it and you leap over you know grab and my upper body
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strength is horrible there's two things I can't do um you know the bars like monkey bars I'm horrible at that I feel
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like my weight to my upper body ratio is horrible yeah the monkey bars and the
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the wall now with the wall we also train to show how to help your body this is where the teamwork comes in we will
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train to this if you can't get over the wall yourself you're not alone and we show how to safely help somebody over
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the wall when you squat with your back against the wall put your you know hands in a cupping position and then they step on your hands you lift the guy over the
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wall the guy that can get over the wall by himself helps the guy that can't get over the wall so that's how you work around that's the teamwork so I suspect
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the guy that get over the wall he's the last one over the wall yes absolutely and that's what happens so when we go
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through the obstacle course which this is a part of that's exactly what happens is that okay who can get over the wall
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and yeah the people that can get over it on their own are pretty confident they can they go last and they help the people over and I was one of those
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people I just sucked that getting over that wall and I'm almost six feet tall myself but it just yeah okay book Camp
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is all about brainwashing now this is definitely something that comes from the
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uh from entertainment world where you go to boot camp and all they're do is instructing you to kill kill kill kill
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killing machine and you have no mercy or empathy for anybody or anything and I
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can kind of see maybe the wording brainwashing is a little extreme but
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there would obviously be things that they want to drill into you as to your
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purpose and the agenda at hand the significance like as you say if there's
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teamwork involved you know the importance of being a team player and all the
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but to suggest that it's a brainwashing exercise is probably a little bit extreme absolutely true yeah what you
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experienced I guess going back to you obviously having experienced it you're right about the movies and doing that
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you know kill kill kill we're here we're here to kill or this is my weapon this is my gun you know all this stuff again
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I can't speak to everyone's experience and I'm sure like Navy SEALS or these Delta Force I don't know like I'm just this is basic training okay this isot
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this we're talking about boot camp basic training the very minimal right yeah and let me explain something
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for to anyone that's not familiar with how the military Works especially here in Canada basic training is just what it
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means it doesn't mean that it's not overly difficult and it is basic but whether you're a cook or you're going to
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be an Air Force pilot you know I'm not trying to say that a Cook's useless in Air Force pilots the greatest thing no
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I'm just saying there's there's just different parts of your brain being used here that's all I'm saying I can't be a pilot and I don't also don't think I
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have the ability to be a good cook so the point is whether you're a cook or a pilot or an infantry gu or myself an
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operator on a ship we all have to go through the same basic training program that's the basic and then you move on
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from basic training to your trade schools and then you and then within your trade then you go to further
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qualifications within your trade but everyone starts at the bottom everyone gets yelled at everyone gets the push-up
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punishment all that stuff no matter what trade you are or job you are in the military you start a basic training okay
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the brainwashing part Jason the misconception is is what we do do to the
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recruits is we take what we call we take the civilian out of them meaning it is a
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different job you're not a civilian anymore you have literally signed on a dotted line this is what they have to
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understand it can be a part of a weeding out process I mean you have to have a mental toughness because physical
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difficulties don't just include your body it's a mental game as well and so
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as you go through these basic things where you are getting the civilian washed out of you there's a mental
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toughness that has to come along with that process you as a trainer or being a trainee in that process you're either
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going to help somebody go through that process and you also have to have the toughness mentally to go through that
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process and that change and realize that this is something very different than when you probably have ever experienced
16:53
before absolutely yeah the military is a unique entity people feel it right away
16:58
when they when civilians first walk into that door wearing their civilian clothes
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they're wearing the clothes they wore in the airport right and I will meet them as their instructor I really enjoyed this it's their first day when they walk
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in I love it I absolutely love it because when they walk into the building they have to start marching right away
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you you're not walking you're no longer civilian when you walk through those doors we tell them you swing those arms
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and they literally have put their bags down I tell them to open up their bags I search their bags for Contraband
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everything and I tell them to march they have to March every and I'm instructing them how to March I said when you walk down the hallways you're doing this you
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know arm straight and already you're yelling not screaming but I'm swing those arms get the bends out of the
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elbow you know you do that kind of talk right away their first day they're H and that's where the misconception of the
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brainwashing is no no no you're not working at Tim Hortons anymore you're not the gas jockey anymore you're not
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even a medical student anymore in University where it's all cozy and you're having little your little
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Starbucks coffee while you're studying your notes no no I don't care about anything that you've done in the past I don't care right now you're not walking
18:02
properly right away it's a shock and that's what they have to experience so it's not brainwashing but you're
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readjusting the brain that this is a different life you have to understand orders understand instruction you're
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part of a team you're no longer an individual there's a sense of a community we're all on the same page
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we're all doing the same thing we're all the same goals yes and there you go and everybody's an equal male female tall
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short fat skinny strong weak it doesn't matter at this point right now you don't even know how to walk properly in my
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hallway that's day one which kind of bleeds into number seven that boot camp is designed for recruits to fail well
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you spoke to a weeding out process and and it's true in the sense of not everyone not everyone can do it and
18:43
that's okay know your job to weed them out that's right they will weed themselves out exactly perfectly said
18:49
and this is what I would tell recruits especially the ones that are struggling and I would say to the recruits like just so you guys know this is a program
18:55
that I didn't create I didn't come up with these teaching plans I didn't come up with the schedule even I'm beholding to the schedule too the schedule is
19:01
created by people outside of me and all I do is take these little ducklings from place place as the drill instructor and
19:08
other staff would teach them first aid or what have you even like the repel Tower I didn't teach them the repel tower all these different areas that I
19:15
would just take them to it I'm like their guide their tour guide and I keep them in line and I keep them fit or I
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keep them make sure they make their timings and make sure they're in order make sure they represent me I rep
19:26
represent them we go hand in hand all that good stuff it's a lot of fun the point is though the weeding out process they do it to themselves and I would
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tell them that we as an instructor don't look for ways to get you out I want everyone to pass because it's actually
19:38
less paperwork for me having you guys quit or leave or fail is actually paperwork for the staff unless you're
19:43
complete uh dick you want people to have success again all we're doing is
19:50
redirecting your mind and body to a different job but however your daily job is nothing like this there'll be days
19:56
where you're so bored you know you're twilling your thumbs which is just like any job but this is just high energy
20:03
High Tempo now you might not like it I understand that it also pushes recruits to feel fatigued all that stuff because
20:08
there's times throughout your job you're going to be very tired you got to work through it but the point is it's not designed to fail you is what I'm getting
20:15
at it's designed to show you this is what the job can be like this is what you can experience at some points or
20:22
many points throughout your career depending on your job depending on your what trade you are some trades have more
20:27
fatigue than others absolutely that's what it's designed to do so if you say to yourself oof I don't like this and I don't ever want to experience this
20:34
fatigue again or I don't ever want to experience talking to or going through the chain of command again I just want
20:39
everyone to be equal all the time then yeah this job isn't for you that's the weeding out process is for you to say to
20:44
yourself I don't like the chain of command I don't like drill I don't like wearing a uniform I don't like being told that I'm going to be posted to this
20:51
place or that place or station as they say in the states okay that's the job and so this just opens people's eyes to
20:57
this is what my career could be be like but the program we want you to pass we want to fill those holes that we have in
21:03
the military we want you to pass but we also want people that want to be there yeah and they have to have a certain
21:08
level of maturity strength and all the rest because you do not want
21:14
underprepared people to be in that job either underqualified I'm sorry if I'm
21:19
talking too much no no it's is good Insight I I don't have much to speak of all of these things but I appreciate
21:25
hearing your your Insight because I can't really give as much as you can obviously well you're coming from the
21:30
angle of a civilian yeah civilian this is maybe some misconceptions you might have had for sure most a lot of these
21:36
are because of my experience with the military is through entertainment for the most part Full Metal Jacket platoon
21:44
you know we are not allowed to say those things what that guy said in that basic training opening you cannot say that
21:51
stuff at all to recruits you I'll get fired I would have gotten fired first day yeah yeah yeah so another
21:57
misconception and it goes along with some of the earlier ideas is that all
22:02
you are doing is physical training for you know your whole Boot Camp or basic training experience which is obviously
22:10
not correct there's a lot of different angles and experiences that you're going to have and it's not just physical I
22:17
would suspect there inclass training teaching you're not just doing
22:23
247 P90X or some training routine for for like the whole time this might come
22:29
as a relief to some and frustrating to others and I saw both sides of that to to some recruits there's some recruits where of course again as an instructor
22:36
call we call like team team exercises or something like that where we didn't call it punishment but like okay guys my
22:42
favorite thing I don't know why I'm good at it is planking horrible push-ups so as instructor any of my past recruits
22:47
they're going to be like oh rebul and I knew that about you or should have guessed that about you so I didn't do a lot of push-ups with my recruits I would
22:54
do planking because I could plank for two three minutes but people after 10 30
22:59
seconds they're just like they're all screaming they're like you can see their faces going red their butts sagging to
23:04
the ground and I'd be like come on guys I'm 44 years old and I don't even work out and I can do this forever that was
23:10
fun I would even push myself but the idea is is that there's some recruits who they get out they could plank for 10
23:16
20 minutes who knows some some of these recruits are so fit that you know sure and when I would tell them we're doing
23:22
another thing I like doing with squats I would do squats I would do uh and planking there was I remember this one recruit I I still see her face she was
23:28
just like this physically fit beast and she was of course kind of tiny so she had that talk about muscle to her
23:33
strength to body ratio she was kind of tiny but very strong like a spider almost you know she would love it when
23:39
it's like oh team punishment time she' like oh great I get my exercise in for the day twiddling my thumbs here I want to get more exercise you're right Jason
23:46
we got to learn we got to learn stuff there's some weapon handling of course drill oh drill takes so much time like
23:52
we got to teach them everything with drill now what that's where I come in for the most part the other instructors is teaching like about out turn and
23:59
marching saluting rifle drill you know all the stuff you see in those movies that stuff you have to teach how to do
24:04
the ceremonial stuff with so very basic there's stuff that we don't teach we only have so much time but how to March
24:10
properly and in unison all that stuff we're teaching over and over again so yeah if you just sit there and just did push-ups and sit-ups all day well that's
24:16
not the program you're right this is not a gym you're not coming to basic training to get in shape we really
24:22
encourage students to get the best shape they can before they come because it'll just be that much easier for because
24:28
like you said J there's just other things to learn first aid teamwork field exercises all that stuff so you're right
24:34
it's a busy program it's amazing how much you do in a short amount of time and physical fitness is not something we
24:39
do to get them in shape it's just something we do to motivate them and to keep them moving is highly highly
24:46
recommend you come in shape because we don't have time to get you in shape I always suspect people who have the
24:52
misconception that it's phys physical activity the whole time you're there may
24:57
not want to sign up because they would feel unqualified to participate if they
25:04
felt all I'm going to do is exercise or do physical work the whole time they go
25:10
like I'm not that person and then there'll be others who is who are like I am that person I'm a physical specimen
25:17
and that's something that I have a complete that's one of my you know strengths is to be strong and Physically
25:23
Active you might be scaring people off if they think they're doing that the whole time and then people who have the
25:28
conception that that is what they're doing the whole time that they'll think it's going to be a breeze if you come
25:33
sort of out of shape you'll get in more shape if you come if you come in really crazy in shape you're not going to get
25:39
in more shape there is a program within the Canadian military we do have physical fitness tests that people have
25:46
to pass and they take that while they're there it used to be when I joined you had to pass the test before you joined basic training but now they do it there
25:53
if you do fail that test they have a program while you're there it's kind of like a mini camp boot camp within the
25:58
boot camp where you're taking off platoon you're taking to this other platoon to people that there for like a
26:04
month they would just that's what they would do so if you kind of don't pass the physical fitness portion you're taken off the training program put into
26:11
this you're going to get in shape program because you you know you want to be there that's great when you're not quite in shape or physically strong to
26:17
pass the basic physical fitness exam that you have to have while you're there then they just work on that every day
26:23
boom boom boom boom and then they go back into platoon later on after they pass that so that just goes and and
26:30
helps take away the misconception that they want you to fail we give them so many chances and retests oh yeah let me
26:37
tell you retest drill retest we do everything we can at least in the Canadian military we want you to S
26:43
succeed and we provided everything we can but yeah even then some people just do fail out and that's fine nothing to be ashamed of I'm not a doctor you know
26:50
like you can't be everything right and Military is not for everybody yeah fair enough this kind of bleeds into number
26:55
five that a physically fit person won't struggle in boot camp so we kind of already talked about this so we won't
27:00
talk much more about this so yes you will still struggle in boot camp cuz like we said before there's mind things
27:06
that you have to do teamwork you get these physical fitness guys jock guys or girls and they think they're just the
27:12
bees knees and they figure out that they can't do knots or they can't iron their clothes or they can't do first aid or
27:18
who knows so physical fitness though a big part of your training it's also not a big part there's so much you have to
27:25
do you people have a hard time in the cold if you're there during the cold yeah you can bench 250 but you can't you
27:31
know your feet are freezing or the heat there's a lot of challenges Beyond be able to bench press something I assure
27:36
you and that's where the physical meets the mental so when you're out there freezing to minus 25 weather I don't
27:41
care how much you can bench press if I've seen a lot of Tears basic training so you got to have the me mental fortitude as well and I think mental
27:47
fortitude quite frankly is more important than the physical one sure all military recruits are highly patriotic
27:54
you think that that'd be a good place to start but I suspect not everybody that goes into the military are as patriotic
28:01
as we might think they are looking at this more as an Avenue of career
28:07
employment Financial Security for their future and not so much just because they
28:13
absolutely love their country that they're serving did you get that sense I
28:18
joined for the job it was 2003 I had two young kids I was a young married man with two young kids I was going to
28:24
school I actually took the police exam and I did fairly well well I uh passed
28:29
the police physical fitness exam Jason you were there actually for that you remember remember you watch me do that
28:35
it almost made me puke but I got through it passed the written test it's quite a fun exam and I did all the things you
28:41
got to do and then I got my first interview was the Delta Police and actually got my first interview and they actually said you're I was 26 at the
28:47
time they're like oh you know you have everything that we need but you don't really have any work experience we're
28:52
looking for now this again was 2002 or 3 and you know maybe it's different now I was like oh work experience you know I
28:58
just did normal jobs I was going to school I didn't really have any job job I guess at 26 I don't know what they
29:04
were thinking I needed but they felt so they actually one of the guys said well why don't you try going to the reserves
29:09
just for a couple years get the work experience and then reapply in a few years you know I went to the recruiting
29:15
center and I actually said can I just join the reserves and keep going to school type thing that I was doing and
29:20
just work on the weekends in the reserves and they convinced me you know the recruiter did their job why they just join full-time and do it for three
29:26
years instead of a couple years and then and then you'll have your work experience and then your first contract is over in 3 years and then you can just
29:33
honorable discharge go back to police well what happens is you get a big pay raise at your four-year Mark I hit my
29:38
three-year Mark and I'm like kind of comfortable my job already yeah and that's the thing I'm pragmatic but I got a steady job it's Medical Dental pension
29:46
and so I just signed on for my the rest of my contract so here I am 18 and a half years in me and you were so
29:51
patriotic that you would have done this for minimum wage yeah no no no but I will do whatever is required for for my
29:58
country of course I love Canada I love our freedoms and honor all those military members who serve past and present and future and I think I saw
30:05
that too as an instructor I would say the majority of the recruits didn't join because they Lov the country and there
30:10
were those who did and you would know it when they who they were and now that we have a conflict with Russia you know
30:17
there's a conflict happening right now in the world that's what I mean there probably be an uptick I would be not surprised to hear of some sort of uptick
30:24
both Canada and us maybe the other Allied countries I wonder I I don't know the data would have to be released at sometime but I wonder if there'll be an
30:31
uptick in recruitment because of the conflict I would say the majority what I saw yeah it wasn't necessar a though
30:36
they love their country they join because the military we see that movies ah K you got nothing going on you just
30:42
go join the military it's actually not bad advice if you're not too sure what to do with your life this is my recruiting to the Canadians if you're
30:49
not if you're kind of wishy-washy you're not too sure and you're physically fit and you're capable and you kind of don't
30:54
really know what to do just try it out you might like it and yeah it's a good job it's steady income you won't have to
31:00
worry about a paycheck but if you have a real dream or passion for something yeah then I'd also recommend you do that instead so yeah it's just not for
31:07
everybody all right so we talked about this briefly this is number three the basic training has gotten softer easier
31:12
over the years now I remember when I went through in 2003 I honestly thought Jason that I was going to be struck
31:18
physically struck by my uh instructors I truly believed that they could still hit me back then in fact I remember some of
31:26
my instructors at the time saying oh you're lucky you're lucky we don't get to hit you anymore so they they would
31:31
say that to me and so they're they're they're passing on the misconceptions passing whatever yeah again I can't
31:38
speak to Navy Seals I can't speak to these hardcore or the the same equivalents in Canada I can't speak to
31:45
how look have people been hit in the military or yeah obviously had they been struck by their senior instructors I
31:51
would assume so I never saw it and I never did it basic training itself that basic no
31:58
if someone right now today especially I speak to Canada like an instructor literally struck a student game over man
32:04
oh yeah it's huge no no I mean it's right up there obviously with sexual harassment you can't physically assault
32:10
people in fact we're even told I will say officially we're told we're not allowed to swear at the recruits oh
32:15
we're not allowed to name call or give them nicknames oh interesting yeah but the idea is it could be a form of
32:21
bowling or uh you deading degrading so yeah they just say no nicknames and
32:26
you're not allowed to call them names you can curse in the sense of while you're instructing but I can't you can't
32:33
say to recruit you f an idiot right not directed at them as an individual but
32:38
you could say if you're looking at their uniform what the f is this on your uniform you is it easier or softer
32:45
depends meaning it's a different world we're not World War I this isn't World War II it's a different Warfare It's
32:51
Modern Warfare and again it depends on your trade it depends on what is required of you I'm Navy I'm what's
32:57
called a soft element you know they call us soft you the Army thinks for soft which is fine I get three square a day on the ship I have hot showers I get it
33:04
it's a different job than the army guys digging trenches and out in the elements absolutely they're training above basic
33:11
training I can't speak to it I don't know what they go through for that kind of TR that's what I'm getting at like
33:17
these army guys when they leave basic training and they go do their trade training I I expect they're treated
33:22
differently than a sailor in our Fleet school you know we're we're inside of building learning got computer systems
33:28
and what have you it's different elements and different Warfare right has it gotten easier well the world's
33:33
different too is life easier the world is easier we don't have to do this to our recruits anymore there's it's a
33:39
different kind of War different kind of battle and if if you treated recruits like they did in World War Two so is it softer or easier maybe but it's
33:46
unnecessary to be that way the way it was then that's how I look at it the end day it's mental mental health punching a
33:52
recruit in the back of the head because they missed the target what does that do that's what I'm getting at it doesn't do anything for the recruit you're not
33:58
teaching them doesn't mean I haven't seen tears it doesn't mean people quit people still don't get through this
34:04
program it's still hard because people aren't passing all the time I think most people quit because of themselves and
34:10
not because of what was done to them exactly misconception here is that all
34:16
military servicemen are Sharpshooters so everybody's an amazing Firearms expert
34:22
because we see that in movies and TVs right X military he can do XYZ yeah yeah yeah yeah but since since most people
34:28
aren't participating in the Firearms type of career I would think most aren't
34:35
Sharpshooters hands up for Ryan I'm a I'm a terrible shot I am a I don't know
34:40
what it is I don't get it now look when it comes to the end of the day I don't know how good anyone's shot is In the Heat of battle for basic training level
34:47
you throw in the average person in the military whove only been through basic training they'll go on to be Cooks
34:53
operators on a ship or a clerk we all have the same basic training same weapon handling classes but you put us in a
34:59
firefight right away like of course we're all going to be yeah we're not used to a firefight that's not our job we don't do that and I like firing the
35:05
gun it's okay I respect the weapon completely I have a healthy respect for a weapon yeah some people really love it
35:11
that's great some people just love firing weapons I only will do it when I have to I have no interest in doing it recreationally or extracurricular
35:18
activity for it I respect people that can do a very good job at it and they're and they're excellent Shooters Ryan not
35:25
a great shot it's not my forte I do what I have to do to stay in the military but uh all right last one Jason drill
35:32
sergeants which was me or we called them in Canon instructors you know basic training instructors but we're drill
35:37
sergeant when we say drill that means we're actually literally teaching drill like I've said before how to march on Parade that kind of stuff uh keep your
35:45
room in order the ideas that were aggressive that were loud were abusive even calling them names uncaring
35:52
overbearing harsh at the end of the day a lot of these instructors are husbands wives fathers mothers themselves right
35:59
they're just people and we have a role to play and it was actually interesting to talking to some of my past recruits
36:05
when we were you know when they graduate basic training they're now a part of the family and you can shake their hand and
36:12
give them a high five and say JW well done they've messaged me on Facebook and stuff over over the last year bit saying
36:17
hey they say hey po call me Ryan we're Facebook friends you know you're in the military now you don't call me by my
36:23
rank in a Facebook message it's kind of weird you know like I'm not your instructor anymore might be a higher rank than you but we we're not even the
36:30
same element like you're in the Air Force I'm in the Navy like we're just we've met in basic training I was your
36:36
instructor at one point but you're you're just a person I'm just a person right there is a little bit of a role we play I'm obviously different with my
36:43
recruits than I am with my kids you should be I'm different with my recruits I am with my spouse so we do play a a
36:49
character so to speak but I think just like any actor I still draw on who I am
36:55
so I still am Fair I'm still what I think is nice or kind I actually cared about my recruits I
37:02
wanted them to do well I wanted them to succeed so i' Mentor them and that's the word I should say that we Mentor them
37:08
but I will say I worked with some staff that outside of work they weren't the nicest people they were kind of jerks
37:13
and so when they were drill instructors or yeah they were a little bit harsh because outside of their time as
37:19
instructor yeah they were kind of like that too you know they were like that to me you know like holy moly yeah so they
37:25
probably like to play up to the misconception to be way unnecessarily get the job done
37:32
to get what you wanted out of the recruits it was unnecessary to behave
37:37
that way yeah and I still see that of course this goes for any jobs I don't want people you know to think this is just a this goes for any job whether
37:44
you're the CEO or a manager the Nike shop you know don't be a jerk that's all I'm saying you can still train Mentor
37:51
help people understand what their job is that's what I try to do as a instuctor without being an a-hole about it but that's just me maybe some people felt
37:58
that's the only way to you could do it but it is a misconception for real because there are people that were like that and so I actually know people
38:05
personally who have left the military because of Bad Bosses well there is a stat the number one reason why people
38:13
leave any job it's not because of the work that they do or are asked to do it's because of management how they're
38:20
treated so let me speak to anyone my military friends listening be nice anyone who's listening who has a job or
38:25
a manager just be fair be consistent but you don't have to be a jerk I don't
38:31
understand anyways I I I don't understand I don't get it that's just me speaking I'm 46 years old and I have
38:37
seen people leave the military because not because of the like Jason said not because of the work not because of the deployments not because of the
38:44
training because of the toxic work environment and I think the military has this kind of unique breeding ground a
38:51
little bit more than McDonald's the people that want to be jerks they get a little bit more leeway because of the
38:57
rank system system and that's a problem that I really wish would get resolved all right well there you go those are
39:02
the 10 misconceptions about basic training or boot camp that the public
39:08
seems to have regarding those things and so Jason and I were talking well how do we pick the worst and I think the worst
39:14
would be the one that it's a misconception that I really didn't have or Jason didn't really have like meaning
39:20
like oh I so for example I think Jason for example thought at the very beginning like if he was told that
39:27
you're not a lot of contact family I think you would have said oh that that makes sense yeah absolutely that
39:33
wouldn't be a worst pick that's what we're trying to get so that's the opposite of the worst pick that's like oh that kind of makes sense but we found out that is a misconception so which one
39:39
Jason for you we'll go through the list real quick okay so here we go no family contact is allowed whatsoever every new
39:45
military recruit is big and strong boot camp is about brainwashing boot camp is designed for recruits to fail new
39:52
recruits will only do physical training a physically fit person won't struggle in boot camp oh all military recruits
39:58
are patriotic basic training has gotten softer easier over the years all military servicemen are Sharp Shooters
40:04
and drill sergeants are jerks so this is kind of tough I think for me I me I'll
40:09
start with this one I think for me the worst misconception the one is like really I I don't even know if I'd come up with this one as a misconception
40:16
because all the other ones are kind of believable even me reading them as being somebody in for 18 years I get why people thought but this one I guess when
40:22
I read this this one was like oh I never even thought this would be a misconception but I I kind of get cuz it happens in movies all the time but again
40:29
I never thought of it myself was that old military servicemen are Sharpshooters I think that's kind of a a silly misconception it's that's the one
40:35
I'm was gonna pick as well okay wow okay yeah it's funny I I get it it's a funny
40:41
Trope to use in movies and TV shows but I never even considered that would be what people would think yeah I mean it's
40:47
impossible to believe that anybody that goes through basic training or participating basic training is going to
40:52
actually be comfortable and proficient at shooting a gun right I mean we didn't
40:58
grow up with guns no so to go into basic training and have that you within a few
41:03
weeks be experienced enough to be a sharpshooter yeah that do I love that idea like but it's a great Trope they
41:09
use in TV shows and movies I'm sure we'll see it again he's an ex military member but I haven't touched a gun in 20
41:15
years but now is your chance to to fight back they pick up the weapon they're like they're so good at it yeah yeah I
41:21
love it all right well this has been fun I really hope my listeners have learned a little bit about both Canadian boot camp a little bit of May us boot camp
41:28
what it might be like I'm just speaking from experience if people who are instructors or have gone through this
41:33
experience experienc something different I hope you had a good time if you had a bad time I'm sorry to hear that you know
41:38
I enjoyed my time actually in basic training I I actually kind of experienced all the stuff you would experience the teamwork U
41:45
disappointments the long days the fatigue cold weather I had an instructor
41:50
he was short he was a short French Air Force Sergeant he was the cliche I hate to say it he was short bad temper on him
41:58
yelled all the time I was always disappointed in you but I kind of glad I kind of went through that you know and then when I graduated he was like hey
42:04
good job that was the role he was playing the role yeah yeah he had a job to do and he did it like he was like a
42:10
foot shorter than me he kind of scared me that's what I liked I kind of enjoyed that a little bit and know I've never
42:15
made any recruit feel afraid but that wasn't my role that's just not how I am right so I I drew from what I am but
42:21
yeah I enjoyed my basic training and I also enjoyed being an instructor in fact when I went through basic training I said to myself I want to teach this
42:27
I even knew then that I would want to do it and so 16 years later I got the chance it was really yeah great experience there cool yeah that was good
42:33
conversation right site yeah all right remember in front of every Silver Lining
42:39
there's a cloud and today it was all military servicemen are Sharpshooters thanks Jay thank you brother chat
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