Hello Soldiers

[Novie]

:threat: Hello all. I am new here and just wanted to introduce myself. I am an ex-soldier, infantry from the West Nova Scotia Regiment, Bravo company. I was doing some internet surfing when I discovered this site...I must say it is very well done. I am looking forward to discussing anything and everything with some of my fellow soldiers. I have read many of your posts and I am glad to finally be back in my own environment. I have been "away" for six years now and lately I have found an urge to get back into grunting. For anyone who is thinking of joining the Canadian Army...do it! You have no reason not to and your experiences will help and follow you throughout life. Ok guys and gals, I just wanted to introduce myself...I have, so you all take care.

Special hello to the following...if by chance you may be on this site:

Cpl. Rick Mosher...I hear you own a tattoo shop in Windsor N.S., long hair and all! Hope business is well. Bosnia makes a man strange...not like you weren‘t strange before. I pictured the tattoos but the hair?...Take it easy brother.

Cpl. Lisa Barry...what are you doing? You don‘t like the Army. PPCLI treating you well?

W.O. Brad Paul...I seen you in Calgary once on a C-train but you went to ground before I could say hi...you were always my idol. Do you still have that problem with your heart stopping after a 40 of rum? Hope all is well with you. signed LeBlanc

W.O. Ron Lawrence...Hows it going buddy? I am coming back to Nova Scotia soon and you will be the first to get ye ole‘ "Vodka Blastin"! Some told me you like Coke.....?

Cpl. Blank...hope you have shrunk. It‘s not fun pushing an ogre around when your only 5 9.

Cpl. Chris Smiley...what the heck? I heard you were married with 6 kids. That‘s one per year since I last seen you! Good job. Pass the pepperoni...fire team buddy my arse!

Cpl. Nicole Hunter.. I still dream about you.

Lt. Bobbit.. I will never forget you taking a hit for me at that bar brawl in Legends down the valley. I have never spoke rotten of an officer since.

Col. Asselin...If you haven‘t retired by now, you should.

Cpl. Asselin...I still owe you one. You better hope I get Alzeimers, cuz I am not forgetting.

Cpl. Cook...the coolest supply clerk ever. Love to hear what you are up to cookie.

Sgt. Hunter...Seen you at the Calgary stampede riding a bull!...or was that you?

Sgt. Hunter...(Sgt. Hunter‘s lady)...I still dream about you.


I could go on and on but....I have had my fun.

*Salute*

 

[Doug VT]

Marc you big weenie! WTF, you‘re no infantry recce, you weirdo. Didn‘t you know that Mike Bobbitt runs this site? Brad‘s been out of the army for quite a long time, I‘ve been looking for him too. There‘s a lot of us old West Novie‘s kicking around, all over the place, there‘s about 10 that I can think of just over here right now! Anyways, drop me an email sometime, it‘s in my profile.

 

[Novie]

Doug Vantassel is that you??? Your email is not in your profile. Email me man. My email is in my profile. If this is who I think it is... write me back bro, I can almost hear your schoolgirl voice.

grrrrrr.

 

[Doug VT]

Man, are you that dumb? My email is that little envelope that‘s on each and every one of my posts.

 

[Jungle]

Where did the Recce stuff go ??? Talk about getting caught trying to pose as something you‘re not... It‘s a small Army, be careful !!!
Welcome anyways, and good luck on your re-enlistment...

 

[Novie]

Your right Jungle. I am a poser. So now I am gonna come clean. People don‘t call me Marc anymore. My new name is Marcy. Ya guys, I finally did the operation. It was a complete success. The next time you see me you‘ll be buying me drinks and asking me for my phone number. I did it for my country, I did it for the guys I used to shower with.

xoxoxoxo

 

[Jungle]

You‘re funny... I like that. You‘re a dumbass; With the attitude you demonstrated so far on this board, lying about your credentials and now acting like a clown, you should think twice about re-enlisting.
If you were serious about Soldiering, you would not have lied about your past. Now that you did, you should have explained to everyone WHY you wanted us to believe you were a Recce Patrolman. You see, we get tons of Sniper, Pathfinder, JTF-2 operator posers here... usually they don‘t last long.
Instead, you decided to act like a teenager. Says a lot about how mature you really are...

 

[Novie]

Take it easy jungle. I‘m only kidding around. It‘s just my nature. Everyone who knows me...knows who I really am. I apologize if I have offended you somehow. I have read past posts, I understand you get a lot of 1st class Royal Canadian Sniper/demolitions experts. I have been known in the past as a "recce pig run" expert. I understand this is not an official trade but I used to have a lot of fun doing it. You guys remember "Regimental Rose", ya I did some recon there but I never had the guts. Now as for my credentials, I realize my military experience does not even come close to your years of service but yes I was a grunt...I am not now...I can lay claim to being a good shot, Doug can vouche for me. I still have my top shot trophy and rifles and crown hanging high above the bar in my rec room, (I like to call this room my Jr. ranks). But honestly thats about it. No tours of duty, No medals or ribbons, No JTF-2 courses. Just a lot of respect for those who have served and those who still serve. As for the clown part, I am a clown, I love humour...it‘s what gets us through the day sometimes. I‘m here to make friends Jungle, not enemies so I hope you understand.

 

[Jungle]

Too bad you never get a second chance to make a first impression...
In the future, when trying to be funny, I suggest you use the appropriate smilies in your posts or insert "LOL".

 

[Joel85]

Easy there jungle. It‘s a forum site, not an officer‘s mess. This site is designed to help people like Marc. As for first impressions, well know one really cares about your first impression about Novie. Take a pill.

 

[noneck]

Novie, you mentioned a name that I haven‘t heard in 10 years...Rick Mosher. We served together in C-Coy 2VP in 93. My buddy Tony would dearly like to get in touch with Rick and had hoped to see him in Winnipeg last year for the C in C Commendation parade. If you can provide me with any means to contact him, telephone # or the name of his store I would greatly appreciate it. Please e-mail me at noneck11@hotmail.com if you have any contact info. On another note, anyone know how to get in touch with Mike Jarrett?

Cheers
Noneck
One of the Seaforths

 

[muskrat89]

I doubt Jungle spends much time in an Officers‘ Mess - well, no more than necessary

 

[Novie]

ya Noneck, Rick was a favorite of mine...still is. I‘ll email ya and let ya know. I actually can see him running a tattoo shop, considering. It‘s long long hair that I can‘t picture at all. And I‘m sure you know, Rick is a **** of an artist. It‘s been so long...It‘s funny how we leave the military, go our seperate ways and after awhile reflect on the times we had and wonder...what the **** is the other guy doing????

Take care

 

[Derek White]

How interesting reading this even though it is a year old. Brad Paul does live in Calgary and is married,,, finally,,this summer 2004. Kirk Blank is a postman in Halifax,,,reg force. I   live in New Brunswick and being out of the reserves for nearly 10 yrs now have on alot of occaisions meet many of my trench mates in my travels on ferries, airports etc.

Well, lets see,   I work for the Atlantic telecommuncations company, Tim Johnson is now reg force Navy,,,,at sea alot,   Tracy Hardiman just had twins, Ken Caldwell is airforce in Greenwood,,,,,,I could go on and on but just wanted to make a post so,,,,Semper Fi to all.

Oh and I bet I can get you in contact with Mike Jarret if you are still interested.

 

[the 48th regulator]

jungle,

man oh man, I am sure he did not mean to offend anyone, maybe he did a recce or two in his time, and kinda fancied himself a patrolman.

Take it easy on the guy I don't think he meant to insult all the macho men on this site.

tess

p.s I ain't going to bother with smileys or LOL to provide help in finding my sarcasm either.

 

[jasper]

There's alot of names in here I have not heard in a long time. Always neat to read, and hear what others are doing. LeBlanc, six years huh? You on parole now?  .........just kidding....relax. Wouldn't want you getting upset. Although you were always really easy to get going............later... D Cook

 

[#1 Chief Clerk]

Well well Marc, glad to hear you're still dreaming about me, I'll have to let Sgt Hunter know so he can kick your butt.  :-*

Cookie - if you're still out there let me know.

 

[WO_PAUL_WNSR_85-97]

Where do I even start?  Well Marc it is your post that is many years old and I am not sure how many people will still review it.  The other day one of my employees was on this site and came across the name Brad Paul.  He asked if that was me!  I could not believe it and as I read, I saw so many names.  My apologies to all that have tried to contact me over the years.  It has been 9 years since I left the West Novies and never really told any body why, and I kept myself separated from all of for various reasons.  In August 1997 I was getting ready to check on the troops very early in the morning.  If I can recall it was around 0200.  For the first time in my twelve years I refused to get out of my warm sleeping bag.  In the morning at breakfast with the sun just starting to heat up Gagetown, I decided to leave the Militia.  I firmly believed in an old saying; "let a soldier stand, he will stand; let a soldier sit down, he will sit down; let a soldier lie down, he will lie down; so keep the soldier running."  Well I lied down and could not get up; I could not get motivated to soldier on.  It had been 3 years since the Medak Pocket with 2PPCLI and I had enough.  It was not PTSC that caught up with me.  I could not stand the limited training that had deteriorated over the years.  Even my Infantry 6B that I took with the regular force was not up to my standards that I believed we needed to continue to keep a strong army.  I was also struggling with some physical problem.  I have pretty bad circulation problems and can not handle the cold any more.  I had found in the last year that I avoided riffle ranges or when I ran a range I just would say that the limited ammo was for the troops and that I did not need to fire.  The truth was I could not hold a riffle any more.  Knowing that in September back in Aldershot I was to make a choice.  Get ready and go on my MWO's course or take my commission and hopefully go on my Captain's course.  I knew I could not do either to the best of my ability, so within 3 weeks I was out and on my way to Calgary.

I have been living in Calgary for the past 9 years and been in business every since.  The reason I stayed completely away from all of you was that I was not going to be tempted to figure out some way of hiding my problems or take a desk job.  Which is totally ironic since I am a complete desk jockey now?  When I first moved to Calgary, I could see the Calgary armories from my balcony.  It took everything to just now go over and sign up again. 

Well, the reason I writing this post is to one again apologies for not staying in contact.  I have just read the book by Carol Off "The Ghost of Medak Pocket".  I highly recommend it to anybody that wants to know what went on with 2PPCLI in 1993.  I have completely come to terms with the fact that I am a civilian now and certainly miss being in the infantry.  I have been out now for almost as long as I have been in, and over the last 9 years have built my civilian career up.

I currently have a CPP designation (Certified Professional Purchaser) and a business degree with a major in accounting.  I will be working on my CMA (Certified Managerial Accountant) and then go for my masters in business.  I work full time and go to school at night.  I am a senior manager at Alggin Metal Industries and have worked in the past at GE Energy, Gold Ray and a few other companies.  My primary role is to make the company more efficient and profitable with new processes and system software.  That is why I am out here in Calgary so that none of you could see me sitting behind a desk.  I love my new life style.  I am married with a little one on the way due in June 2007.  I have really picked up golf in the last couple of years and enjoy the 8-4, five days a week environment.  I also realized many years ago, that even though the military pays a reasonable salary, I would never, even at the highest ranks, be able to make what I make now and will continue to make for the rest of my business career.

I want to welcome all those who want to contact me and want to thank Marc for having this really hold post.  I certainly hope someone will continue to review this post and contact me.  I will also try to search and contact as many of you as possible directly and look forward to staying in contact and finding out if you are still in or what you have going on in civilian life.


Sincerely

Brad Paul

 

[GUNS]

Happened across your post, which mirrors my military/civilian experience. Have to ask you this, " Do you still miss it ".

My wife finds it hard to understand why a family man with three grown kids and a successful career still hangs on to his military background.

I can never come up with a suitable answer, all I say is, "its deep inside and it does not want to leave."

Sorry for butting in on your post but it tapped into a something that has been with me all these years.

 

[scooterjones]

Novie, you mentioned a name that I haven‘t heard in 10 years...Rick Mosher. We served together in C-Coy 2VP in 93. My buddy Tony would dearly like to get in touch with Rick and had hoped to see him in Winnipeg last year for the C in C Commendation parade. If you can provide me with any means to contact him, telephone # or the name of his store I would greatly appreciate it. Please e-mail me at noneck11@hotmail.com if you have any contact info. On another note, anyone know how to get in touch with Mike Jarrett?

Cheers
Noneck
One of the Seaforths

  Why yes dude, Mike was living down the street from me in Morinville, saw him a couple of halloweens ago, but not since