00:00:00.000as 2026 continues and mark carney and the liberals now with the majority unrolling billions of dollars
00:00:10.520in new investment for equipment for the canadian armed forces we also have to take a pause and
00:00:14.820realize that not everything's going to be perfect and there's going to be mistakes along the way
00:00:18.540and some of that gear will have to be changed or tweaked or replaced to talk more about it
00:00:22.680as always thrilled to be joined by brian instead brian how are you i'm okay sir how are you good
00:00:26.680And this is, I think, exciting for a lot of people in the Canadian Armed Forces, in the CAF, that finally the government is stepping up a lot of new equipment, the new Colt Canada, the new assault rifles for the Army.
00:00:39.520That's long overdue, things like that.
00:00:42.280But there's also little things that maybe people watching this don't understand.
00:00:46.940Depending on what branch in the military, you need different boots, different gear to survive and thrive in your role.
00:15:50.860And usually people will sort of put that on and immediately recognize that.
00:15:54.020Like when you put on something that's crisp and new and nice or at least functional, you're like, okay, good to go kind of thing.
00:15:58.840But when you struggle to even with the basics of it and your stuff's falling apart, it's just it becomes very negative, like almost immediately.
00:16:06.460I've been following a few accounts and one of them is a senior officer at the main Canadian Forces Recruiting Centre.
00:16:12.340And they're cranking out as many as they can accommodate every week.
00:16:16.820And I know they're doing extra stuff in Borden and Meaford and other parts of the country.
00:16:20.880So I think when Prime Minister Carney makes the announcements, they're going to add all these members of the military.
00:16:27.040The K&R forces can only do as much as they have this infrastructure and capacity for.
00:16:31.980And I think that's part of what we're going to see the next little while, Brian, is not just the gear, but the housing and the place.
00:16:38.240They have to have a place to live and sleep while they're doing all this training.
00:16:42.160Yeah, the housing stuff is long overdue.
00:16:43.680And I chatted with Jim about this a couple months ago.
00:16:46.820uh where he brought up a bunch of really salient points of again nobody's expecting to live at the
00:16:53.560ritz when they sign up in the infantry no i think that's a pretty no i think i think that's a little
00:16:58.100bit far-fetched but you should be at least um not picking mouse poop out of your you know what i
00:17:05.280mean like yes like regularly it should again it doesn't have to be amazing but it has to just be
00:17:10.600enough like give them that sort of 70 80 solution if you have 10 guys in a room whatever you know
00:17:16.640know what I mean but if it's clean if it's hygienic if you know what I mean you're expected
00:17:20.840to maintain that because you'll be you'll be making your bed lots and and cleaning the floors
00:17:25.460and doing inspections and all that all that fun stuff but the housing thing is huge and there
00:17:30.680needs to be an improvement not just in the housing provided for your yourself and your family when
00:17:36.440you leave the base like that housing needs to be improved a thousand percent yeah but also the on
00:17:41.220base housing which is depending on which base you're in like in Borden you're going to do pretty
00:17:45.320pretty well maybe the best i've seen in trenton that kind of thing or if you're in um gauge town
00:17:51.220or petawawa like it's there's very huge differences in what you're going to experience
00:17:56.080and what you should expect depending on where you're at and i think that's the problem it
00:17:59.800should be relatively similar wherever you go that your the baseline you receive is going to be at
00:18:05.400least something that you're not worried about getting legionnaire's disease or some of the
00:18:09.260stuff that we were told what might have been a risk where we were and brian this is something i've
00:18:12.920I've, I've talked about for years, if only the government would have done just a little
00:18:17.160bit year by year, when it comes to equipment and housing and clothing, they wouldn't be
00:18:21.700scrambling as much as they are right now, because now they find themselves really racing
00:18:31.500It's like every time they do something, the first time they've ever done it is a running
00:18:35.040saying from, from anybody who's been in for a little bit, but I like what I'm seeing.
00:18:39.680I like what I'm hearing, but they're going to need to somehow put some kind of jet fuel on the fire that they're trying to light because they're going to need to scale this up literally thousands of percent to accommodate the folks they're trying to bring in and try to retain the people that are asking the questions.
00:18:54.620what am I doing here? Like, why, why am I still here kind of thing? Or do I want to stick this
00:18:59.140out to see? And I just, I'd like to see it happen because they should, they should have the fun,
00:19:04.360good, you know what I mean? Bonding memories that I, that I made and that I built and the
00:19:07.620friendships and the professional relationships that we, that I was able to experience.
00:19:11.140I think Brian, like there's such a high youth unemployment rate in the country right now.
00:19:15.520And the Canadian forces to say, Hey, we're spending billions and we want you,
00:19:18.900but what advice would you give to some 18, 19 year old, 20 year old young woman or man out there
00:19:24.580thinking about joining the military what what advice would i give a young person about to join
00:19:30.580the military um think carefully about what your expectations of the actual job will be type of
00:19:38.900thing like if you sign up for the infantry and you know what i mean you are not someone who likes
00:19:45.220going on long hikes or or or camping with guns or hunting and all kinds of weather yeah so like
00:19:53.860Like have expected and then work with what you're sort of there's like you can be an HVAC in the military, I'm pretty sure, or carpentry.
00:20:01.320So like figure out, you know what I mean, what is realistic within your skill sets or aptitudes and then write down.
00:20:08.740I think they make you list your top three choices and you don't always get your first one.
00:20:16.400And then and there's and like the support trades are absolutely essential to making sure that everybody in the rest of the military.
00:20:22.180because i think support is like at least half if not more of the people involved so like nothing
00:20:27.300happens without them so take pride in those roles as well like you're you're not you're in the
00:20:32.660background so you're not the tip of the spear so what like it maybe you realize after five ten years
00:20:38.020of being a log that you want to be an armored officer or whatever like you can always change
00:20:41.860later too so don't so plan for what you're going to do within your skill sets and aptitudes and
00:20:47.380And then, you know, I mean, put the time in, suck it up and push through like it's going to get better.
00:20:52.340The training in the beginning is rough and it's not always a blast, but it will get better and have sort of a plan B type of thing.
00:20:59.840So if this thing really is you found yourself not in the right spot, then pivot and do something different and see if it works out.
00:21:06.460Because I think there's a lot of young people in Canada who maybe get the wrong idea from Netflix and movies and that, that they're going to be in full metal jacket.
00:21:13.960But that's not everything that they're going to be going through.
00:21:17.380Yeah. If you join the infantry thinking it's going to be like call of duty and then you spend three months making your bed, like you gotta, you gotta, again, weather your expectations, uh, but you'll, you'll make amazing friendships and you'll, and you'll have incredible training that will translate in the civvy side.
00:21:33.040If you know how to articulate it on a resume, don't worry about that now, just suck it up.