“Flight! Are you ready for your ruck sack march?”
“Yes, sir!”
“Be honest!”
“No, sir!”
Sergeant Larry Keagan prepared 20 course candidates on Basic Military Qualification 0283 for their July 19, 2018, eight-kilometre march, just another milestone in the 10-week Air Reserve BMQ being offered for the first time at 5th Canadian Division Support Base Detachment at Aldershot, Nova Scotia.
The BMQ is a milestone in itself, being offered away from the regular BMQ program at Saint-Jean, Québec, and led by 14 Wing Greenwood, Nova Scotia, and lodger unit instructors. “We're trying to grow the forces,” says Major Russ Payne, the 404 (Long Range Patrol and Training) Squadron operational flight commander seconded to lead this BMQ. Regular and Reserve Force recruits typically attend BMQ in Saint-Jean, Québec, which can train about 5,000 people annually. “That's not enough,” he adds.
The Royal Canadian Air Force looked at the Canadian Army's intake training, offered at multiple locations across the country; 14 Wing, with a large Air Reserve component, is piloting this BMQ with two senior officers and a technician from the wing, staff from 14 Construction Engineering Squadron and several of its flights, and an instructor from Gagetown, New Brunswick. There are course candidates from throughout the country, ranging in age from 18 to 51.
“This BMQ will be proof-of-concept – that we can do this successfully,” Major Payne says. “Maybe down the road, we…
Continue Reading This Article At The Canadian Armed Forces Website
