I've been asked to write about my Basic Training, as the obvious next step after my "Origin of the Soldier" piece. But to be honest, there is not too much I can say about the training itself, that you couldn't get the gist of from watching Full Metal Jacket.
However, there are 10 key principles that my 18-year old self learned during his 14 weeks in St. Jean, Quebec that you won't find in any war movie:
1. Lint rollers are the best way to sweep a floor spotless.
2. Combat photos of yourself are much less effective when taken in the laundry room.
3. At all costs, avoid admitting you're a virgin among any group of men.
4. It's not cool to go out on the town with your shirt tucked in.
5. It is not cool to go out on the town wearing your dogtags - it makes you look like an obnoxious army noob.
6. A shaved head is a dead giveaway that you are an obnoxious army noob.
7. Strippers in Montreal are not nearly as surprised nor impressed that you are in the army, as you may think they are.
8. Paying strippers more money does not correlate to their likeliness to have sex with you.
9. No matter how much you learn, train, and evolve - there will always be someone else who looks down on you. Find solace in looking down on others.
10. If you give it your all, you can erase your past.
