By: Tanner Rhoads

 Placement Background, hours and training conditions, 3 – 5  CF jobs and opportunities, 6  Qualifications 7 – 8  Field Exercises 9  Tied Courses 10 – 12  Likes and Dislikes 13 – 14  Q&A 15

 My placement was at the Martin Leo Troy Armoury on Chippewa street.  Had many employers of various ranks  Canadian Military has been fighting since 1867.

 For the majority of the course we worked 8:30 till 5, Monday-Thursday.  We went away for a few weekends as well and we also went for a 3 and a 6 day field exercise.  The one thing that was a big downside was that if the course screwed up one day they would keep us over night which was always exhausting.

 The working conditions within the military are very rough.  The military works in all weather throughout the day and night.  Some days sleep is very limited  Yelling and physical punishment happens very often.

 There is and endless amount of jobs within the military.  As many people know the military is divided into 3 categories Army, Navy, and Air Force  I chose to go Army because I love being in the field more than anything  There are many jobs within in the army, I chose to go infantry because I enjoy, shooting guns and throwing grenades and such.

 The co-op course was split up into two courses BMQ and SQ.  The BMQ course was mostly basic military skills. I learned a lot about what our role is within in the military and what's expected form us.  The BMQ was lots of drill practice and lots of work with the C7 rifle.

 The SQ phase was pretty much a blast.  SQ is a trades course so it is technically only for infantry soldiers but almost everyone takes it.  This part was very fast and lots more field work.  In the SQ phase we learned about the C6 and C9 machine gun as well as grenades.  During the SQ PT was also a lot harder than in the BMQ  The SQ phase also contained two field exercises

 The first field exercise was fairly easy. It was 3 days long and we just learned navigation  The second field exercise was probably the hardest thing I've done in my life.  We were in the field for 6 days and working pretty much 24 hours a day. I think in the whole week I got about 3 hours of sleep but the learning experiences in the field were endless.

 History – Throughout the co-op you learn a lot of history about the military things such as rank structure, important battles etc.  Gym – My co-op obviously got tied to gym from all the physical exercise we do.

 The first week or two of co-op there was lots of classroom work about military history.  They drill the information such as rank structure into your head non - stop  They go into the history of weapons and when they were used.  We learned a lot about significant time periods within the military

Rank Structure Private Recruit Corporal Private Master Corpral Sergeant Warrant Officer Chief Warrant Officer Master Warrant Officer

 Gym at co-op is referred to as “PT” (physical training)  Monday and Thursday mornings is always our set PT days  Usually we will go for a run or a ruck march  We also get lots of punishment PT. I don't think there was one day where we did not have any PT  The staff at co-op always have the most unique ways to punish the course

 Tons of learning experiences  Lots of hands on work  Good group of friends  Good physical work  Staff was awesome  Made some cash  Got Fridays off

LLong hours PPhysically demanding VVery hard discipline