Basic Training was Tough
Heroes Remember
Basic Training was Tough
Everywhere you went you had to double. It was six months
basic training and I mean it was hard.
Interviewer: In what way?
Well, you had to double all the time, you were going through
drills all the time. It was...
Interviewer: What kind of drills?
Field drills, out camping overnight in the bush chasing
each other around, all that kind of military training.
Interviewer: So it really wasn’t specific to the navy then, it
was just general?
Well, that was the navy’s headquarters for basic training.
Yeah.
Interviewer: What were the other fellows like that you were with?
Our division was, well, we were the top division in the whole
training. We all got along good. I mean, people from BC,
all over Canada. You’re all together.
Interviewer: And what were the officers like?
Some were good. Some were absolutely out of this world.
Oh, they’d make you double around at night time in your shorts in
the winter time. It was horrible. They'd come at two o’clock
in the morning and out you go and there was nothing you could do
about it. But it was good experience, I tell you. It
learned you to follow orders for one thing and it learned you
discipline for sure. I mean we had some good times, but basic
training was very difficult.
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