Ubique

btw, how far do you plan to get as an infantryman in the RCDs? They are tankers. I will assume you wanted to say RCR.

Pettawawa. They have good training grounds. the base is old and wearing down. The town of pet is really boring. No night life, no excitment unless you like to fish and hunt a lot. The town of Pet is not 100 % pro army.Ottawa is only 2 hours away which is good.

Edmonton. (ive never lived there this is what ive heard. dont quote me on this) The base of Edmonton is newer better living quarters. The training grounds are good. The city of Edmonton is more exciting the Pet. Better night life, more things to do on a weekend, mountains close by, or the city thing. The city is really pro army. Not a lot of liberals out there!

Overall I think Edmonton would be better life style, less boredom, more options, it is cheaper to live there to, no Provinsial sales tax.

Do what you're told, when to do it and how many times to do it...

Watch all that you can see, select the best parts and put away the rest...

Above all, make the most of you're time; it's the only thing you'll own.

All the Best

Dileas Gu Brath

Read what he says again. He's not talking about where you're going to get the best deal on an apartment. He's telling you about how to live in the army. And that's where your real home is going to be, no matter where you're posted.

If I was concerned only with creature comforts and "getting the best deal on an apt" I wouldn't be joining the CF infantry now would I? I do however like to make a decision based on some sort of recce and I know virtually nothing of the west. Could be there is no difference in the nature of the PPCLI and RCR, but I don't know that.

What's you opinion on the nature of the RCR and Pettawa versus PPCLI and Shilo or Edmonton. Biased or not I'd like to hear them.

I'm not looking for general philosophy on army life, but facts and opinions on which to form a base for a decision, which could possibly effect how successful and effective Iam in my chosen path.
B.

I joined the PPCLI because it was based in the west where I wanted to live, had a battalion at the time in Germany where I wanted to serve, was a regiment I had exposure to as a reservist, and was the regiment of a number of officers and NCOs I had met and admired.

The PPCLI, the RCR and the Vandoos are all very good at what they do. However, you are right when you suspect that there are cultural differences between the regiments. In fact, there are very noticeable (and somewhat unexplainable) cultural differences between battalions of the same regiment.

I served in both Third and Second Battalions of the PPCLI and my personal feeling was that 2nd Battalion lived by the "work hard, play hard" philosophy. This sounded great, but it sometimes could get out of hand. 3VP, on the other hand lived by the "we have fun doing our job" philosophy. There, you were allowed to have fun at work. Both were equally adept at their soldier skills. Personally, I preferred the 3VP approach: I was good at my job and enjoyed doing it.

My sense of the RCR, having worked with many excellent officers and NCOs from that regiment: they are also very professional -- but they seem to display a more powerful awareness of history, and take their role as Canada's "senior" infantry regiment very seriously. Personally, I thought this made them (as a collective group, not necessarily as individuals) occasionally slow to adopt new thinking and changes to time-tested procedures. To wit: battle drills -- while the PPCLI were developing new section battle drills, the RCR (it seemed to me) were hoping not to have to give up "sections in line, forward march, left foot -- bullet."

Just one man's opinion... I'd be interested to hear thoughts and perspectives from RCR and Vandoos members.

[ 21 September 2001: Message edited by: towhey ]