Change of Command Parade.

Well last week we spent some time practicing for this parade, monday we had a dress rehearsal, and today was the actual parade. It went really well. Due to the fact that I've been bored outta my mind in Borden I volunteered to be a Division Commander. They only needed two people and I wanted to be one. Not sure when this picture was taken, but it happened sometime monday. You'll have to follow the link if you wish to see it, because some paper owns it.

http://photos.thebarrieexaminer.com/mycapture/enlarge.asp?userphoto=0&image=17461961&thispage=1

Bang creation 101

Seeing how's it new years eve, dad and I figured we could set up a fire work display. This morning Megan and I went to pick out some fireworks and dad provided some more as well as the needed wire to light them all off in sequence.

We built them on two platforms which we will link up together once we get to the launching platform. We are pretty confident that the whole thing should work perfectly but if it doesn't you can just blame it on Megan(my fiance). She assured us that it should work out. Finally we tested some bottlerockets that we taped together... Dad figured it would light best with a blow torch. The sound doesn't work for some reason on my computer but hopefully it will here. If you pay attention carefully you'll notice one of them going off right by dads face... ENJOY

P.S. We did not harm any black Subaru SUV veh in the making of this video...

P.S.S. Mum I used your car to hide behind incase things went wrong.

Thomas and Megan news...

Well Christmas vacation was loads of fun. I spent until dec 27th in Mississauga with Megan and her family. They really spoiled me big time this year.. I got a really nice TV from Megan and a great surround sound system from her parents. Along with some gift certificates and movies from others. I sure scored big time. But I'm not the only one. Megan got spoiled with a new stupid leafs jersey, and some perfume "Lamb by Gwen Stefani". On dec 27th we left Toronto to come to Kenora. this being my 44flight and megans 1st it made for an exciting trip.

When she went to go to the washroom I prepared my suprise, and got a lil nervous.... When she came back she didn't notice me acting funny but then I just asked her. "MARRY ME"..... She was distracted by the great view. Not sure if that means me or the cool clouds. Needless to say she was crazy enough to say yes... So here she is....

Welcome home...

Well I'm finally away from the evil Gagetown land. This past weekend I enjoyed a relaxing time with Megan and her family. We went and did alot of xmas shopping. I finally got my birthday presents from her, they were great even if it was a lil late. Also she made me a great ice cream cake. On saturday I went and booked my new tattoo appointment. I'm getting a dragon. It will cover my right forarm and tricep, up to the shoulder and on finish on my chest plate.. Its gonna look sweet once its complete.

For everyone that didn't get to try the cake... Here Megan is showing you how great it looks.

9 Days in the field complete.

Alright well the last nine days I've been in the field and boy what a trip its been. I'll try to tell you all that happened, its pretty crazy. So we went out on thursday, during the day we got out introduction to trenchs, were we would spend alot of time at first. We had a meeting later that night and reheasals with the major for a Company attack. This was pretty cool seeing how 50 feet above us there was live fire being shot. You could see the tracers. Really gave an impression that you were involved in a battle. The attack took place early friday morning. We woke up at 3 am and started to prepare, the attack was initiated at 7. All went well I didn't get killed but after the attack hell began. It started to rain... HEAVY RAIN. And it didn't stop for about 8 hours. So now my cloths are soaked, luckly the 250$ rain gear I bought held up to the task(its more then just rain gear). So after sitting in the rain all day, we got the privaledge to man the trenches all day. At 8pm we were told that we could now go down to 50%, which means half of us can sleep at a time. So 4 hour shifts in the trench, and the best part is that we have wet cloths on, and it dropped to about -10.

That night was not fun. I'll not lie, me and bradshaw were huddled up close, trying to stay warm. We took turns on the C9 so that one of us could duck down out of the wind. Finally we had a great idea to start a fire in an ammo can that we had. Great idea except the only dry stuff we has was garbage.. So we burnt it and the smoke that it created destroyed us. We were coughing and having trouble to breath. That night I thought what the hell am i doing here more then once. It was a low point thats for sure. One point I had trouble breathing and stopping from shaking, but luckly bradshaw took care of me. I'll tell you thats not something I wand to experience again.

Sat and Sunday we stayed in the trenches at day then at night we were allowed to sleep in the tents. But all day we just stood around doing nothing just looking out into the open, then out of the blue enemy forces would come attack us. Such a boring time that was.. It felt like the excersice would last forever.

Sunday night we finally started doing out recce patrols. That went really well, we went on a 8 hour patrol then returned and some of us got some rest. The other 4 guys in my group were lazy so I ended up only taking 1 hour sleep every 16 hours. I was able to keep my spirits high knowing that I was taking care of the other guys by allowing them to sleep. Troops come first thats what we are always taught. So I was able to keep my energy level at an all time high which confused alot of people knowing how lil rest I took. I went out of my way to help as many people with there patrols, and stuff, not only to keep warm, and busy, but it gave me a purpose. A reason to run my ass off, and not let sleep take the best of me. Finally it came for me to go on my patrol and sure enought my group (troops), took care of me now.. They made me my dinner and told me I HAD to go for a nap. 1.5 hours rest which I wished i didn't take, because it messed with my system. Too much sleep. So this all lasted until wed night.

Wed night we moved to the urban ops base, where we set up our tents and got some sleep. Me again I got only 2 hours cause I went out on a patrol for someones retest. But I had lots of fun on the patrol. Thursday it rained all day, and it was freezing cold. We did urban ops stuff all day then at 4 we had the night off. We were all cold, tired, and upset that our tent was all muddy and had alot of water. So what did I do. I recruited Bradshaw to join me and we collected pine bows for over and hour. We lined the tent bottom with them which kept the warmth in and helped keeping the water from getting us wet.

So all in all, I had a great time. It was hard mentally and physically, but I've learned that when things get tough I'm able to forget about my needs and look out for whats best for the group. Which is more then others can say lol. Some people really shut-er-down.

OH yeah finally one last story. One night for dinner we were told that two flares would be shot up in the air and then 50% of us must RUN hard and fast to get out dinner. So we get there and we get a plastic bag with three meat skewers(the sticks kept making holes in the bag and didn't help), rice, corn and gravy if we wanted... I chose no to have the gravy. Some people even put there cheese cake in there. So one you have your bag of food, you put it in your pocked and RUN your ass off back to the trenchs so that the next guy can go get his food.

So thats it for now... :D

Survived 5 Days

Well I'm back from the field now. The 5 days that we spent there weren't that bad, other then constantly being cold. The mornings I would wake up and my gear would all be frozen and frost over everything. I would wear between 3 - 5 layers of clothing each day. The mornings were the worst part of my days. One night it rained all night, made for one miserable night. The days were fun, we'd do roughly 5 - 6 attacks each day. The terrain was miserable imagine a field full of heavy thick bushes, and more tanks track ruts then one could imagine. Running over this terrain was fun. Sure enought my ankles and knees are rather hurting right now. But whatever doesn't kill me will only make me stronger.

I came back last night and spent most of the day today cleaning all the mud off of it. 5 loads of laundry and crubbing alot of things and most of it is finally done. Well the best part is on thur we get to go to the field to get all dirty again. This time going for 9 days, should be alright.

Well thats all for now.. I'll catch up more later.

Section Attack week.. Time to be a killer again.

Well Gagetown still sucks. Looking forward to leaving and counting down the days.. well I'm not but Megan Keeps me well informed of how many I have left. Lately things have been a lil crazy around the shacks all cause one guy went out drinking when he shouldn't have and he showed up for work drunk still. Not sure if you remember me telling you about a guy that did this during basic but yup its the same guy. Luckily after a day of getting yelled at and getting "jacked" Megan has been there to cheer me up. Its amazing how supportive she is ... who would think that I would find a girl that would put up with me lol.

So I'm sure that once I am outta gagetown life will get about a million times better. Looking forward to xmas finally bought my tickets so its official, Megan and I are flying into Winnipeg on Dec 27 and leave Jan 7th.

As for other news we are going to the field this week, Its section attack week.. So time to hunt down the enemy and impose our will on them by shooting blanks at him. We had practice today and I was the 2IC, people were a lil suprised how loud I can be. Also I'm rather good at controlling the fire that is being sent towards the ass hole shooting blanks at us lol. My favorite line is "Bradshaw (my best friends and fire team partner) open up that C9 and blow that ass hole away". It was loads of fun and really looking forward to this week. 5 days of hell cold hell but should be good. Also yesterday we got to build a level 3 trench, it was kinda fun to make, and I'm sure that next week me and Bradshaw will have fun making one that we will live in for 9 days.

Well just to end this post of with a lil fun. On Oct 30th our SGT told us we had something new to add to our morning inspection. Each section had to carve a pumpkin and have it ready... I didn't really carve at all cause I figured it was a waste of time. But it was still pretty funny seing the other courses being yelled at, while we carve away. Oh and just a side note.. that man in the left of this picture that's my fire team partner Bradshaw, and that old man on the right... Yup he's is old.. 55 years old and still kicking enemy ass. Just goes to show you're never too old to do something that you want to do.

Update from Gagetown.

Well as you all should know by now I'm no longer in Borden. I moved to Gagetown for a 10 week course which I was suppost to start on Sept 17. Once I arrived I was then told that I'm not starting until Oct 1st. So the great news is now I'm stuck here until Dec 7 :(, but once I"m done here I then go back to Borden to spend Xmas with Megan and her family. I'll then be coming to Kenora to visite dad and Susan. Should be exciting.

Gagetown is pretty boring these days. Theres not much to do and every day we have PT and inspections. The PT is pretty crazy, today I did a combination of 75 pullups/chinups, 150 push ups, 225 squats, and around 2 Km in running between all this. Was quite difficult but managed to complete it all in 27 mins. Hoping that by the end of the course I'll be able to do it in under 22 mins. Shouldn't be that hard to improve it with the rate that were doing our PT. Lately the staff has run out of things for us to do after inspections so were told to just go label our kit, or do our personal admin. So here I am in a coffee shop paying bills, bloggin and other stuff that I call my personal admin :D.

Well that should be all for now.

Hello from Borden.

Well as most of you know I've finished my summer courses that i was taking in Quebec. Currently I'm living in Borden, waiting to start my next course in Gagetown NB. Rumour has it that I'll be starting on Sept 9th. When I arrived in Borden I was allowed to take some vacation so I decided to use up 7 of my days to see Megan ( not my sister my girlfriend)

We did a whole lot of fun things.. medieval times, wonderland, wasaga beach and finished it all off with the weekend at her cottage with her family. It was great to have some time off work and even better knowing that i was being payed for it. but coming back to work sucks.. well thats it for now I'll post more hopefully and let you know whats up.

Hello once again.

Hey everyone. Well its finally a nice long weekend for me and I'm here in Toronto visiting Megan. Its feels so nice to get away from the base. Things seem so normal and its nice not having to march everywhere. This weekend I'm going to Megan's cottage with her family, should make for a nice relaxing Canada day.

As for training, we've finally finished the first course that I'm taking this summer(IAP). On tuesday we begin the BOTP, and that will last 6 more weeks. Two of which are in the field with no sleep lol, and one week that is all drill practice for our grad parade. So time will fly by quickly and soon enought I'll be an officer. I'm not too sure about the dates for grad yet but our staff said that we should know within the next two weeks. So I'll get that to all of you asap. As some of you have already heard, this past week I had to move to the other end of the base. Our officer just felt like getting us to move. So now I live in the ugly green sector. Thats where matt lived and boy does it ever suck.. Before i had my own room, could shut my door when I wanted and had privacy... Now I have none. Just a big room, with a 4 foot wall seperating everyones hole, and no privacy at all ..... IT SUCKS>.

well thats it for now... I'll do my best to hopefully get some pictures for my next post.

Hello from training

Hey there everyone. Well I figured seeing how I have the weekend off, and not going to Montreal I would take some time to update you all on what I've been up to. Well each day I wake up around 4:30 and 5, and either go running, or start preparing for our inspection. I spend all my day in class, either Drill, leadership, TOPO, field training, or PT. With the very lil sleep that we are getting, it gets kinda hard to stay awake alot of the times. But somehow our bodies have adapted to it. Each night we are up studying, cleaning, or preparing for the next day. For the most part I'm doing really well in the course. My leadership, drill, tests, and all that I'm getting great marks, but unfortunitly the morning runs, and the ruck sack marchs are getting a lil hard for me. But I'll keep on going. Well Time is almost out on this computer so I'm alive and well. I hope to update you all more.... Miss you all.

Thomas Cain

Good Weekend.

Well this weekend has been one that I will remember for a while. I had sat and sun off, and both days I got to do something that was loads of fun. Sat night me and Megan went to We Will Rock You. You'd better all know what this is and if you don't I'm sure you'll figure it out by looking at the title. Imagine a whole theater (Canon Theater) packed full of Queen fans there to watch a performance that is based on the wonderful music of Queen. As I expected the fans were old and young, me I was surrounded by old people, who were singing there lil hearts off. What a night.

Then last night (sunday) I not only saw the leafs get kicked out of the playoffs :D, but also I was at a raptors game. Now I've come to one conclusion about basketball.... ITS BORING. Honestly its much like baseball, without Beer, its no fun. So what did we do we drank. It was a fun night, especially because the whole night was payed for by Jack Astors. Well thats it for now... Time to get ready for the move now ....

Leaving...

Well its official, I will be a member of the Canadian forces. As of Mar 21st I will be a full member, and Apr 21st I catch my plane going to Quebec. My basic officer training course will take place apr 23 till Aug 10th. Should be lots of fun :)

Not a fun night... Worst feeling ever....

So yeah last night was a real experience that I never want to go through again. Started off like a normal night. Watch some TV, talk to Megan for a while, get ready for bed then finally sleep. I'm not feeling too well, I'm losing my voice. At about 1:45am I wake up to and hear the fire alarm going off. Now for those who have ever lived in an apartment building this happens all the time. You hear it probably once a week. So I try to just ignore it and go back to sleep. But something is different about this one. Could it be the fact that I can't get back to sleep, or could it be the fact that the body was starting to shack slightly. So finally i hear sirens and alot of them. I get out of bed open my bedroom door, and instantly smell ALOT of smoke. Knock on my roommates door, wake them up, and we all decide to get out of the building. Outside there are alot of people waiting, but not the amount you would figure if the building was on fire... Some people hear an annoucement that the fire was on a certain floor and people were told to stay in there apartments. While I'm outside I counted 14 fire trucks, like 5 cop cars, 2 ambulances, and 1 news station. Finally after things are dealt with. Its now 3am. We are told things are safe and we may return to our beds. Everyone still wondering exactly where this fire took place... We walk up the stairs, get to the 4th floor and realize that the apartment 2 doors away from our is scorched.... We see a few firefighters, ask them if all is well, and they assure us we will be fine now.

So back to bed, couldn't fall asleep for a while. Not a fun feeling waking up like that in the middle of the night. So yeah thats my story.

Medical and Interview....

So yesterday I went to the recruitment center to have my medical done. Other then being color blind, all things are good. So now I got my medical 2 fit.... whatever that means.. Now my records go to Ottawa and they will clear me medical 3 fit.. Something like that.

Today I had my interview. All things went well, tones of silly questions, and a few not so silly ones. But once that was all done we had a talk about my options. He told me that not too many people apply for 'Signals Officer', and that I did really well on my aptitude test, and interview. He said that unless 4 Einstiens (sp) walk in and apply then I should be receiveing a job offer.

So what do I do now..... I wait. He said that in March they are selecting what people they are gonna hire, and I should hear back from the as early as April 1st. So the waiting game begins.

Thats my news... Pretty excited.

Military Update.

My aptitude test that I wrote on the 29th went really well. Next step is only a couple weeks away. On Feb 14th, I have to go in for my medical and on the 15th I have my interview. They didn't have any days soon that I could do both so I figured just take the first two days I can have. Getting excited about it, hopefully I can be hired on by summer. I would love to finally start something. As much as I'm having fun with my friends and work at Jack Astor's, I can honestly say that I'm sick of that place.

Well thats it for now.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Please be aware that I am currently messing around with my blog... I'm trying to customize it the exact way I want it. This will take some time, due to the fact that I am having fun fooling around with the code. Please be patient it will be pretty rad once I'm done.

Update to my exciting life.

Well this week I've finally received my suprise that my chef has been promising me for a couple weeks. The suprise was new cutting boards... Seems like it shouldn't make for a good suprise, but these new ones, don't have a 2inch lip, which made it hard for a couple of us smaller people to reach the high stacks of plates. So now I can easily reach them all, makes working during busy times alot easier. If funny how such a small thing will makes things easier for the select few of us that are short. Now all the taller guys make fun of us.

If you all haven't read dads post about him partying alot, well yes I did get a call from him. It was rather funny. He started by letting me know that he is on a boat, thats in the sea. Also they have a huge balcony. I suggested he throw stuff off it, but Susan told him not too. After that he started telling me about a turtle. What was so special about the turtle.... It was swimming. I will admit that from all the drunken phone call from Megan, and Hilary, I think Dad's may have been the funniest ever

Yesterday I had the day off work. It started crappy because I had to do 3loads of laundry. But after that I went to meet Megan at her school (Humber College - same campus that Megan "Cain" went to). Then went to dinner at the Mandarin. I ate so much, and the food is so good there... I want to go again, but next time I'm gonna eat more until I'm sick. So yeah thats the excitment in my life.

A little update.

Well as you all know I've submitted my application for the military. I've received a call back from them and on Jan 29th, I am going in to write my aptitude test, and do some more paper work. Atleast the process is started now. I'm excited and hope that things will work out with this.

Nothing else really exciting going on.

Let me introduce.

Well last week, I went on a date. Things went absolutly amazing. I could not ask for a better first date.. Started out with lunch, then play pool, then coffee, then a movie, followed by dinner.. So yeah that went well. Today was my second date, and was even better then the first.

So Ladies and gentlemen..... Let me introduce Megan Korn... She's my girlfriend.