# Anyone here ex-CF?



## stratovani (Jul 1, 2007)

I was in the Canadian Forces way back in the unified days. Did my Basic in Cornwallis (like almost everyone else), 11 Platoon, Course #7331. Did some time in CFB Kingston and CFB Borden, where I took my Supply Tech course. Eventually posted to 25 CFSD, Montreal. got out in '76, around Olympics time. Seems like a lifetime ago now (which it was), but now all that's left are the good memories, and even those are starting to fade.


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## Hamm Guitars (Jan 12, 2007)

I'm not ex-cf but I do have connection to it. I was a military brat and two of my brothers are/were in the military.

I run a (non-profit) CAMPVets (Canadian Association of Military Police Veterans) with one of my older brothers (www.campvets.ca).

My Grandfather was killed in France in WWII shortly after he was transfered to the South Alberta Tank Regiment (from the Halifax Riffels).


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## simescan (May 15, 2007)

Hamm Guitars said:


> I'm not ex-cf but I do have connection to it. I was a military brat and two of my brothers are/were in the military.
> 
> I run a (non-profit) CAMPVets (Canadian Association of Military Police Veterans) with one of my older brothers (www.campvets.ca).
> 
> My Grandfather was killed in France in WWII shortly after he was transfered to the South Alberta Tank Regiment (from the Halifax Riffels).


My hat is off to you and your family,...specially your grandpa...


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## Ripper (Jul 1, 2006)

yep, I am ex-cf - - Ex coelis


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

Not CF myself, but another airforce brat. I grew up at CFB Chatham, NB. My dad was an aeroengine tech. I have great memories of growing up in the PMQs.:smilie_flagge17:


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## djem (Sep 14, 2006)

Ex reg. force infantryman here. Did my basic in Cornwallis in '85 (8572), Battle School in Petawawa and stationed with 2nd Battallion Royal Canadian Regiment in Gagetown, NB. Long time ago now.


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## dwagar (Mar 6, 2006)

my son is in the reserves right now, when he finishes university (this is his last year), he's going reg force.


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## Crossroads (Apr 23, 2006)

not CF but work for a defence contractor located on base at CFB Trenton. Always had respect for the CF but have a new found respect and admiration after working with the guys/gals.:smilie_flagge17:


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## Ripper (Jul 1, 2006)

dwagar said:


> my son is in the reserves right now, when he finishes university (this is his last year), he's going reg force.


What branch/trade is he looking at going into?


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## oldtelehacker (Jun 25, 2007)

*Cornwallis 1969*

Course 6925 Fraser Barracks. Got a discharge 6 mos. later from CFB Clinton Radar and Communications School. While I was at Cornwallis, I saw a band at the Social Center called "Purple Haze" with a guitar player named Bubs. Every musician I've every met from the East coast since, knew Bubs. I think he was originally from Truro,and last I heard, he'd passed. If anyone could give me more info on Bubs, I'd appreciate it, he was one of the best players I've ever seen.


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## djem (Sep 14, 2006)

oldtelehacker said:


> Course 6925 Fraser Barracks. Got a discharge 6 mos. later from CFB Clinton Radar and Communications School. While I was at Cornwallis, I saw a band at the Social Center called "Purple Haze" with a guitar player named Bubs. Every musician I've every met from the East coast since, knew Bubs. I think he was originally from Truro,and last I heard, he'd passed. If anyone could give me more info on Bubs, I'd appreciate it, he was one of the best players I've ever seen.



I remember when we got our first passes to go out drinking during basic at Cornwallis. Think it was week 4 or so. I think the only place we were allowed to go was the 'Green & Gold'. It was a much, much different army back then.


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## stratovani (Jul 1, 2007)

djem said:


> I remember when we got our first passes to go out drinking during basic at Cornwallis. Think it was week 4 or so. I think the only place we were allowed to go was the 'Green & Gold'. It was a much, much different army back then.


Yeah, I remember drinking Moosehead beer and checking out the girl recruits at the G&G. There weren't too many good-looking ones back then. I wonder if things have improved in that department?

Does anybody remember Duty Week? I was assigned "great" duty. Me and a couple of other guys got to sweep the Drill Hall for a week straight! Unfortunately I still remember it.


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## oldtelehacker (Jun 25, 2007)

*Wets*

IIRC in 69,about week 4 we were allowed to go to the wet canteen for beer, but the card that allowed you entry to the Social Center was confiscated at the bar for the evening so ya couldn't get juiced up and then hit the Social Center. Also, I think the ratio of male to female recruits was about 3 or 4 to 1. The ladies were all good looking by about week 8. 
BTW, you get 30 guys out for their first legal drink, visualize a barracks awash in puke.


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## Wild Bill (May 3, 2006)

*Can this be done?*

I've always wondered if there are logistics available to make this idea possible:

Donating beer to our troops!

If I went down to the James Street Armories here in Hamilton with a case of beer, could they arrange to send it to Afghanistan?

If a LOT of us showed our appreciation with a case of beer, could our system deliver it?

Maybe someone currently active could advise...


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## Guest (Aug 9, 2007)

I not a *CF*'er, but I am proud of all
our Ladies and Gentlemen (past and present)
serving for our freedom. Thought I'd share
a coupla' pic's that came my way. This bird
is currently flying in Afghanistan.



















My (and many other's) thoughts are with you.


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## Hamm Guitars (Jan 12, 2007)

I don't know about beer (it's wotha shot I guess), but I know that there is a group of guys that periodically are looking for stuff to send over. The last one I heard of was chocolate.



Wild Bill said:


> I've always wondered if there are logistics available to make this idea possible:
> 
> Donating beer to our troops!
> 
> ...


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## NB-SK (Jul 28, 2007)

I was in RCA (4AD) in the 90's.


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## NB-SK (Jul 28, 2007)

djem said:


> I remember when we got our first passes to go out drinking during basic at Cornwallis. Think it was week 4 or so. I think the only place we were allowed to go was the 'Green & Gold'. It was a much, much different army back then.




Oh, I know. I felt like a schmuck for having doubled my weekly workout sessions 6 months before signing up. I grew up hearing my dad's stories about being dropped in the middle of nowhere with a compass, a map, and a cup of stale rice for sustenance (he joined a few years after the Korean War).


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## oldcountry310 (Jun 12, 2007)

I was a "meat-head".Got out in '65 while posted at Chatham, N.B.(God I'm getting old).


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## Hamm Guitars (Jan 12, 2007)

oldcountry310 said:


> I was a "meat-head".Got out in '65 while posted at Chatham, N.B.(God I'm getting old).


Have you ever been to CAMPVets (www.campvets.ca) ?


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## djem (Sep 14, 2006)

laristotle said:


> I not a *CF*'er, but I am proud of all
> our Ladies and Gentlemen (past and present)
> serving for our freedom. Thought I'd share
> a coupla' pic's that came my way. This bird
> ...


And who exactly is flying this?

Just to set the record straight, this is a Russian-built Mi-24 HIND helicopter owned and flown by the Hungarian Air Force. It is strictly a display vehicle and used for air shows only.

Being a reg. force infantryman during the Cold War, we were taught to visually ID U.S.S.R. equipment rather quickly. HIND and HIP helicopter gunships are very nasty and you would not like to be caught on 'business' side of one.


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## Wild Bill (May 3, 2006)

djem said:


> And who exactly is flying this?
> 
> Just to set the record straight, this is a Russian-built Mi-24 HIND helicopter owned and flown by the Hungarian Air Force. It is strictly a display vehicle and used for air shows only.
> 
> Being a reg. force infantryman during the Cold War, we were taught to visually ID U.S.S.R. equipment rather quickly. HIND and HIP helicopters are very nasty and you would not like to be caught on 'business' side of one.


<sigh> I thought it was too neat to be true!

If it had have been Canadian, it would have been painted up like a seagull. With the same level of armament...


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## Guest (Aug 10, 2007)

Wild Bill said:


> <sigh> I thought it was too neat to be true!
> 
> If it had have been Canadian, it would have been painted up like a seagull. With the same level of armament...


Yeah..me too. It was e'd to me.
Thought I'd share it, that's all.


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## djem (Sep 14, 2006)

Wild Bill said:


> <sigh> I thought it was too neat to be true!
> 
> If it had have been Canadian, it would have been painted up like a seagull. With the same level of armament...


If it were Canadian, it would have been some other country's obsolete equipment that our government had paid top dollar for.

:wink:


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## NB-SK (Jul 28, 2007)

djem said:


> HIND and HIP helicopter gunships are very nasty and you would not like to be caught on 'business' side of one.


I was in air defence. Those are obsolete. We had the gear to take several of those out before they were anywhere near us in the early 90's. Heck, we could even zoom in with our cameras and look at the crew (kind of useful if you want to take out the highest ranking officer).


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## Ripper (Jul 1, 2006)

NB-SK said:


> I was in air defence. We had the gear to take several of those out before they were anywhere near us. Heck, we could zoom in with our cameras to see the pilot and crew member's faces (kind of useful if you've got one missile left and you want to take out the highest-ranking officer).



Those ADATS were pretty cool stuff. Still not sure why they did away with all the Air Defence Batterys and the Air Defence Regiment. But, alot of things happened to really disillusion alot of people in the forces.


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## NB-SK (Jul 28, 2007)

Ripper said:


> Those ADATS were pretty cool stuff. Still not sure why they did away with all the Air Defence Batterys and the Air Defence Regiment. But, alot of things happened to really disillusion alot of people in the forces.


As far as I know 4AD is still around, but yeah, when you read the history of it, it gets pretty confusing. They've shuffled a lot of people around. I've also met a lot of people who were forced into early retirement before they were even 40 when this was being done. Disillusion is one way of putting it.

I've read somewhere that they were 'upgrading' the ADATs to be wheel-base vehicles.


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## Ripper (Jul 1, 2006)

NB-SK said:


> As far as I know 4AD is still around, but yeah, when you read the history of it, it gets pretty confusing. They've shuffled a lot of people around. I've also met a lot of people who were forced into early retirement before they were even 40 when this was being done. Disillusion is one way of putting it.
> 
> I've read somewhere that they were 'upgrading' the ADATs to be wheel-base vehicles.


4AD is still around and there is the 1st, 18th and 58th but those are reserve units. They sure have peeled them back. I can remember when there was a battery out in Shilo, but it's long gone now too. 

I had heard from a couple of guys that they have been playing around with ADATs on a non-tracked vehicle but don't know where they are headed with it.


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## djem (Sep 14, 2006)

NB-SK said:


> I was in air defence. Those are obsolete. We had the gear to take several of those out before they were anywhere near us in the early 90's. Heck, we could even zoom in with our cameras and look at the crew (kind of useful if you want to take out the highest ranking officer).


Sure, but we know it always doesn't work that way. Can't speak for the 90's, but during my reg. force stint in the 80's it was something we were told to fear. Back then, all we had on infantry level was the Javelin, which I understand has been discontinued.


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## NB-SK (Jul 28, 2007)

djem said:


> Sure, but we know it always doesn't work that way. Can't speak for the 90's, but during my reg. force stint in the 80's it was something we were told to fear. Back then, all we had on infantry level was the Javelin, which I understand has been discontinued.



Yeah, I'll admit it's quite unlikely that the ADATs would be used for anything else but protecting an airfield and other key installations. The only infantrymen who would benefit from it would be the ones protecting the ADATs.


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## djem (Sep 14, 2006)

NB-SK said:


> Yeah, I'll admit it's quite unlikely that the ADATs would be used for anything else but protecting an airfield and other key installations. The only infantrymen who would benefit from it would be the ones protecting the ADATs.


You hit the nail right on the head. From what I recall, the only support we'd call in would be air or field artillery depending on the situation and in the event of a surprise attack, we'd be left to fend for ourselves - look for cover, keep your head down and pray.

For whatever reason I along with a few others were given a 'SECRET' security clearance and were briefed that if there was a conflict with the U.S.S.R. (back in the cold War days) we'd be deployed to a very northern part of the world to defend a certain mountain pass for a period of 24 hours. That's it. Whoever was left would be reintegrated. I was graded as a marksman and wondered if that had something to do with it.

24 hours...lol. The good old days.


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## NB-SK (Jul 28, 2007)

djem said:


> You hit the nail right on the head. From what I recall, the only support we'd call in would be air or field artillery depending on the situation and in the event of a surprise attack, we'd be left to fend for ourselves - look for cover, keep your head down and pray.
> 
> For whatever reason I along with a few others were given a 'SECRET' security clearance and were briefed that if there was a conflict with the U.S.S.R. (back in the cold War days) we'd be deployed to a very northern part of the world to defend a certain mountain pass for a period of 24 hours. That's it. Whoever was left would be reintegrated. I was graded as a marksman and wondered if that had something to do with it.
> 
> 24 hours...lol. The good old days.


I was also granted a Secret clearance. We needed it because of the codes that we would have had to enter by hand in order to synchronize our frequency hoping radios with others in the event that they became somehow damaged. Ironically, we couldn't use the radios' hoping capability because it would have disrupted TV and air traffic control frequencies. So, basically, my clearance was as useless as yours.


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## stratovani (Jul 1, 2007)

Speaking of Secret clearance, while at CFB Kingston back in '73 I got to know a few guys (at the local bar, of course!) whose trade was Communications Research. They told me that, essentially, all the Com Research guys did was cycle between Kingston (for training), CFS Alert and CFS Inuvik and listen for Russian ICBMs coming in over the horizon. And since obviously nothing was ever detected (Thank God!) it turns out that Com Research was probably the most boring trade in the CF. But these guys were world-class beer drinkers! After all what else is there to do in Alert or Inuvik, especially when it's winter and dark for months straight? I remember them telling me that even the Base Commander could pack 'em down pretty good!


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## djem (Sep 14, 2006)

stratovani said:


> Speaking of Secret clearance, while at CFB Kingston back in '73 I got to know a few guys (at the local bar, of course!) whose trade was Communications Research. They told me that, essentially, all the Com Research guys did was cycle between Kingston (for training), CFS Alert and CFS Inuvik and listen for Russian ICBMs coming in over the horizon. And since obviously nothing was ever detected (Thank God!) it turns out that Com Research was probably the most boring trade in the CF. But these guys were world-class beer drinkers! After all what else is there to do in Alert or Inuvik, especially when it's winter and dark for months straight? I remember them telling me that even the Base Commander could pack 'em down pretty good!


Our old CWO told us that when you go up there you become a) a chain smoker b) an alcoholic or c) both.

What else is there to do...lol.

Ever hear the joke about about the guy up north and the three tent challenge?


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## oldcountry310 (Jun 12, 2007)

Hamm Guitars said:


> Have you ever been to CAMPVets (www.campvets.ca) ?


Very interesting...thanx.


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## NB-SK (Jul 28, 2007)

stratovani said:


> Speaking of Secret clearance, while at CFB Kingston back in '73 I got to know a few guys (at the local bar, of course!) whose trade was Communications Research. They told me that, essentially, all the Com Research guys did was cycle between Kingston (for training), CFS Alert and CFS Inuvik and listen for Russian ICBMs coming in over the horizon. And since obviously nothing was ever detected (Thank God!) it turns out that Com Research was probably the most boring trade in the CF. But these guys were world-class beer drinkers! After all what else is there to do in Alert or Inuvik, especially when it's winter and dark for months straight? I remember them telling me that even the Base Commander could pack 'em down pretty good!


My dad and I had a very interesting conversation with an old guy on the subway in Seoul last time he came to visit. The old man started talking to us, curious about what country we came from. When I complimented his English, he replied, "Oh, you're too kind...but you should hear my Russian and my Chinese. Especially my Russian. I'm fluent in Russian." Turns out he was retired from the South Korean air force. He had spent decades eavesdropping on Russian, North Korean, and Chinese air force radio communications.


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## Guest (Sep 24, 2007)




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