Life as a first year cadet at the Royal Military College of Canada
Video / October 04, 2023
Transcript
(OCdt Rhea Panashtia) The military universities that we have here in Canada are made to be challenging. They push you to be a better version of yourself, and they do that through the four pillars.
(NCdt Jacob Gagen) The military pillar, the academic pillar, physical fitness pillar and there's the bilingualism pillar. In order to graduate here and get your commission, you need to be successful in all four of those pillars. On top of balancing your academics like a university would, you also have to balance those other ones. It'll always be a higher workload than any civilian university.
(OCdt Rhea Panashtia) And that's something you need to be mentally prepared for, to undertake that sort of demand and the stress that comes with said demand.
(OCdt Nicholas Morawietz) A lot of stuff to try to manage all at once. And then you have to prioritize everything, figuring out, what do I have to do first? Do I have to get my academics done? Do I have to work on my second language? Do I have to go to the gym for a bit, to work on my PT?
(OCdt Anna Sekyewa) When you sign up to go to a regular university, you know you're going to be a university student and that's all you're going to be. But I think, at RMC, the main difference is you are going to be an officer cadet at the military college. So, that entails a whole lot more, it's a complete package.
(OCdt Rhea Panashtia) I would say to prepare for a culture change. Because there is that fundamental difference between being a civilian versus being a military personnel.
(NCdt Jacob Gagen) In your first year, things are a lot more strict and they're a lot more restrictive. One of the main parts of that being your inspection standard is a lot more strict. That involves having strictly military blankets, military sheets, being made in a military way. With this, has to be perfectly 30 centimetres, this has to be perfectly 30 centimetres. This hospital corner here has to be a perfect 45 degree angle. Second, third and fourth years, they don't really have to do this. This is just a first year thing, kind of a bit of a test to make sure that you are ready for the college. Just a little bit.
(OCdt Nicholas Morawietz) You go from I'm from high school, I have my family to I have someone yelling at me to make my bed and everything for all day, for an entire month.
(OCdt Rhea Panashtia) It's a little scary at first, it's going to be. But you're not alone.
(OCdt Anna Sekyewa) We start out in first year in small flights of around 18 to 20 people. And you really bond with those people, those become the people that you only see for the first three weeks of your time here. Those become like your family.
(NCdt Jacob Gagen) FYOPs stands for First Year Orientation Program. You're put under extreme stress for a lengthy period of time, you're woken up at 5:00 in the morning. Inspections, multiple, multiple, multiple times a day. Lots and lots of physical training, it's a very stressful time. One of the most obvious things to have come out of it for me was the building of resilience. You've gone through such a very hard five weeks. Coming out of that, you know, you can say, oh, well if I got through FYOP, I can get through this.
(OCdt Nicholas Morawietz) It will test you. If you don't want to be here and you start to kind of question your choices a little bit, it is kind of putting you at a few situations where you might quit.
(NCdt Jacob Gagen) It kind of ties back into the pillars, especially the military pillar. For example, during duty hours, you must remain in uniform except for Fridays when you have the opportunity to go to classes in civilian uniform. There's a lot of old traditions we have here. One of them is Skylarks. Essentially, they are just pranks. That can be anything from covering the campus in your squadron's banner. That's a huge part of the school culture here and it has been for decades.
(OCdt Nicholas Morawietz) For me, I feel that the biggest benefit is helping me to not just prepare me as an adult but as a military officer. Where we will be in careers in a position where we're going to have to do a lot of that as well. A lot of juggling and planning and management. And a lot of this is helping to prepare us for our future.
(NCdt Jacob Gagen) The accommodations, quite similar to a traditional university. They all have their little differences between them. Right from the start, everyone who's been here for a while tells me that you get out what you put in. So, I found that to be very, very true. I'm trying to get involved as much as I can. I'm looking at all the clubs you can do, hanging out with my friends as much as I can.
(OCdt Anna Sekyewa) I feel like I'm getting an education. I sit down in class and I'm able to interact with my peers and my teachers, who really worked to push us and make us think. Because we're in such small rooms and we're with such small groups of people, we are able to work a lot harder to answer the same questions. Because you can't hide in the back, because there is no back.
(NCdt Jacob Gagen) I was surprised on how supportive the staff and the teaching staff also are. There's tons and tons and tons of support programs here for you to succeed. Because everyone here at the college wants you to succeed, no one wants to see you fail.
(OCdt Rhea Panashtia) You can also talk to the success center, where we are currently. It's a library where the success center is located. They help academically-wise, they help military-wise, it's quite literally the success center. The whole point of going to a military university is to be that well-rounded officer. It is to undertake stress and pressure and maintain standards that very well could seem out of reach at first. However, every single person that is here has the potential to achieve above and beyond those standards. Every single one. That is why they are here. They are here to learn, to develop and to become well functioning and high functioning officers.
(OCdt Anna Sekyewa) So, just because you don't feel all that settled or don't feel all that comfortable doesn't necessarily mean you're in the wrong place or you've made the wrong decision. Just give it some time.
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