2 1/2 Months to go, and here it begins

Melting snow and dog droppings can only mean one thing...



It's not quite mid April yet, and I'm getting ready to start at Ceremonial Guard next week. The 2008 Public Duties season is going to bring with it many changes, but even at this late date in the process, what those changes are and how they will affect us are yet to be seen. But before we can even contemplate the changes to the public duties, we need to get to that phase.

Many don't realize that Ceremonial Guard is:

1. Made up of trained Canadian soldiers, some are musicians, with some basic military training, but the rest are soldiers, many of whom have served on overseas tours in places such as Afghanistan and Bosnia, to name a few;
2. Ceremonial Guard runs training courses for the soldiers it employs, many take a BMQ (Basic Military Qualification) while others take a PLQ (Primary Leadership Qualification), and some years there is more specific trade courses given, such as the SQ (Soldier's Qualification) or the IPSWQ (Infantry Platoon Support Weapons Qualification)
3. Doing the ceremony on Parliament Hill or the Sentries at the National War Memorial or Rideau Hall is not easy and takes quite some time to get everyone up to speed.

During this first phase, we'll be running a few courses, the PLQ for soldiers that have been chosen to be placed in leadership positions, and BMQ for those that are new to the Army. Once this phase gets done, we'll move onto the Drill training that will teach everyone their jobs while on parade.

So starting next week, the instructors (myself included) and other staff, will begin getting ready to teach those courses, we'll make sure we're all working out of the same books, and as ready as possible for the unexpected that always happens.