There are some pointers I havent seen given elsewhere on this site that I think are relevant for guys heading to kapooka to take note of:

Firstly its not meant to be fun there, no matter how much you think you will enjoy it, its meant to make you feel like shit. There are plenty of instructors that if they think you are enjoying something will go out of their way to make sure your day is ruined. Just accept that fact and do your best.
Never, under any circumstances mention this site or tell an instructor something you learned from here. If you hear instructors talking shit about SF and you realise they have no idea and you actually know the facts do not correct them. That goes for any subject not just SF. Your input is never welcome unless asked for, and even then very few instructors ever want to hear new facts from a recruit.
It is important to understand that to the army and eveyone in it, you start at zero regardless of what you know or have done before joining. No one cares if you were a pro surfer, a doctor, an artist or a bum before day 1 week 1, all that matters from there is what you are like at doing what your told.
Recruit training is not hard and you know that fat reject that barely past the bfa that is always in the shit and you keep having to cover for him and help him as he is a total retard, well guess what: He's I have the vocabulary of a bogan who dropped out in year 9 pass and end up outranking you in 2 years. Thats the army. If your looking around in disgust at the 'touchy feely, OHS, equal rights, no racial comments' attitude of the army thats supposed to be about making men hard then your not alone, but get used to it. The army's changed and its not about training for killing anymore its about keeping pen pushers happy.
If you think a lot of the stuff that you do in the army sounds fun, like shooting, platoon attacks, going bush, digging in think again. A lot if stuff you do in the army should be fun but its not. Between OHS, dumbass instructors, rules made to protect that retard next to you and plain old repetition the army takes the fun out of most things that would normally be a blast. Having a guy breathing down your neck critising your every move takes the enjoyment out of even the best activities.
Be humble, if you get an instructor offside they will begin to scrutinise you and notice a tiny mistake you made when the guy next to you made a bigger one. You wont fail but your life will be a harder.

Take note of prinsess' attitude on this site. It is typical of army. Digrar is an excellent mediator who helps guys and does not let an idiotic comment fire him up, he has protected many here from the more typical thoughts and comments the average AJ would make reading this site. Princess on the other hand is the typical angry enlisted guy that thinks time in and gongs are more important that brains, fitness and experience. Many guys are bitter after 10+ years of army life and while they have accepted they will never take that sniper shot, assault that hill or defend the trenches as was done many years past (and by some more recently), they still think they are better than you and dont like to see young hopefulls do well.

I know princess is not dumb. And mate I know your not angry either. Also I would like to state for any guy in a battalion (its probably even harder for pogo's) to have the balls to say 'fu$ck you!' (and it is a f*** you to a lot of people you have to deal with) 'im doing selection takes balls and I respect anyone for doing it. From that day on many people will assume you think you are better than them and try to make your life harder for it. Guys watching you train will think 'hey i can go faster than that, what makes this guy think he has what it takes and i dont?' Unless you were clearly head and shoulders above the company then you will get some support from your mates but mostly a lot of negativity and many with rank at your unit will not be thinking 'good on him for giving it a go' they will want to see you fail and dislike you trying, taking it as some kind of personall insult to them.

Now guys like princess with time and rank already know exactly how its going to be taken and they also know if they fail what will be waiting for them so trying out is no small thing. They also know that maybe their training will get fu$ked around by some poohole O that uses his rank to make life difficult. But they want it and they do it, and for most its a one way journey pass or fail cos going back to your battalion with your head down is not a happy thing for the guys that fail.

So meantime I know you have that over your head right now Princess and if you get angry I know why, but Im still going to smash you for it if you trip up, cos thats the army way and i know youll do the same to me.

Well guys I have just bought myself a new laptop and have had a spare couple of hours. What I am about to write is by no means gospel, but just my take on how to get the best so to speak out of your career in the forces. Feel free to shoot down any points I make or just plain add you own. This thread is mainly directed to the guys trying to get in or that have recently got in.

First and foremost guys don’t get disenchanted if you don’t get in straight away. There seems to be some wait these days with the recruiting process. I don’t know what the exact problem is so I won’t delve into it to much. What I can say is Rome wasn’t built in a day either. Just remember there are thousands of others out there going through the same things you are. Stay focused and don’t get disillusioned.

Once you have been given the nod and you do start your recruit training there are a few valuable things for you to remember.
1. Don’t volunteer for anything, the reason being you will get noticed too much and your mates will probably think you are a suck.
2. I think Digrar has said it a few times be a grey man, the quiet achiever.
3. Don’t gob (well at the start anyway) Once you get settled at your unit yeah go for it but just remember with every action there is a reaction. Take from that what you will.

Mateship/camaraderie guys is what builds the best units. If not for any other reason not to go jack, do it for your mates. Don’t let them down. Drink with them also it’s the Australian way.

Don’t talk shit, no one particular likes someone who consistently dribbles the proverbial. If you don’t know something, ASK!!!!! There is no point having to a job/mission and something goes wrong or you had a particular task to do something and when it comes time to do it you answer “oh I really didn’t understand what was going on there”. No such thing as a stupid question guys only stupid people who don’t ask them!!!!

If you are going to do something do it properly? Why?? Because if everyone did stuff the way it was supposed to be done things would run a whole lot smoother. Which leads me onto planning. If you have to plan a road move, mission or simply a PT session, DO IT THOROUGHLY!! Remember the 7 P’s guys. Proper planning and preparation prevents piss poor performance…..

Use you initiative guys. If you don’t agree with something say so. If you have a better plan of attack say so. Learn to think for yourself. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Just don’t make the same one twice. Learn from them.

On the same hand don’t be a know it all. Whoever said you learn something new everyday was right on the money. You can learn from stuff from the newest recruit to a female officer. Take it all in.

If you ever do get to lead listen to people’s ideas. Remember 2 or 3 heads are better than one. But there will be times as leader you will have make as decision. Make it and stick by it, give it everything you have. Lead by example. Don’t ask others to do what you wouldn’t or don’t do yourself.

Basics gentleman. Don’t just be good at them be awesome. You can’t go onto the Gucci stuff until you have mastered the basics. An inspirational officer once said basics and endurance have those to a high level and your set. Well I’m not one for running so I’ll add in strength as well. My opinion of endurance is all about heart anyway. If you have the ticker you will keep going. Plus chicks don’t dig skinny wiry muscles they like big ones!!!!!!!!

Keep fit. Why!!!!!Because you represent your country that’s why. It’s also a hell of a lot easy doing your job when you are fit. Most jobs in the military you are allocated time for exercise. Use it!!!!

Apply for courses as soon as you get to your unit. It shows the hierarchy that you are keen. A lot of course these days have good civilian accreditations and also spending your time in a recon or sniper team is a hell of a lot better than hanging out with the other claggers.

Remember the defence force is as political as any other organization. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. I have seen a lot of good troops get burned simply because of personality clashes and some serious back stabbing.

Guys that’s about it for the time being. I will be adding to this as time goes on. Feel free to criticize or add any points of your own.

Good points old mate. The grey man works well in the first few months when you're training, you don't want your first experience in the ADF to be soured by the attentions of an instructor after you have gobbed off and given him/her a reason to give you extra scrutiney. Much better to keep your head down and concentrate on learning the basics of your trade.
It's also a good idea in the first few months in your first unit to maintain being the grey man, your unit is a place where you are going to have to live, day in and day out for a few years and you don't want to get off on the wrong foot. But when you've found your feet, it will be time to come out of your shell a bit and make a good impression.



Or who likes bikes, or who likes 4WDing, or any other out of the blue questions.

Good post old mate old mate of the shoulda never.
All of those points are relevent not only for guys wanting to join, but also guys who are in at the moment.


Yes old mate. If given the chance, grab the f***** by the neck. I am sure you remember a few fuckwits who would rather hang out with busted theives than do some real work. "It's not for me sarge". Translates into "I don't want to do the hard yards"

Just before I got out the sniper boys came around to signals platoon to look for canditates (it was the 2001 joint adgie 6RAR course). Sig platoon was half full of young blokes who had just over 12 months up (6 months pre deployment training a 6 month deployment and a bit of post deployment leave). They were given a golden oportunity and not one of them took it up. I gave them the biggest rocket, called them a gutless bunch of shielas and invited them to go and do a clerks or storemans course. I couldn't believe that a dozen teenage blokes who were brand new Infantryman wouldn't even look at doing such a good course and were happy to sit around the sig store drinking brews and punching durries before they had turned 20.

Unfortunately it is all to common these days.

I'm very lucky to be serving with the above mentoned officer. First class!

Yeah good post old mate. A quick tip for you: if you bought an avertec its I have the vocabulary of a bogan who dropped out in year 9 break and soon so when it does get it changed for a hp.

I also have a tip for everyone here that is aspiring to go SF soon or in the future. I will use princess as an example just because he is a good one. Think before you write anything specific about yourself on this site. It is public and accessable by anyone. It has not escaped notice by people who are current serving members of the sites name. While you may not be breaching opsec, simply gobbing off on the site about shit you dont know (and even shit you do know) can easily annoy people: Just look at how princess gets pissed if someone who is not in makes a comment he disagrees with. His attitude completely normal in the army and he is even curbing a lot of it now.

It is not unlikely that there are members reading this site, seeing something that makes them angry then seek to learn about the person who made the statement. If you are an open book like princess then that person can easily damage or end your chances of making it into SF. Take princess again: Any member of scma could put a name to him from his carreer description, as could anyone that looks at his career file or anyone who served with him. There may well be someone who sees his posts, gets mad and shows them to his mate who is DS on selection who will rapidly figure out his name and do one of 2 things: Hose him over from the start and attempt to turn the other DS against him (from which it is difficult to recover) or show a selection of his posts to the OIC and get him binned before he starts. Believe me it is possible and guys have failed for much less.

To make anything at all public is totally against Aus SF culture. Tooting your horn or even offering help goes against that. Some people take it too far in my opinion, but its still habit and reading anything in the paper told a 'commando' or 'trooper' makes guys either outright furious or at best they get that itchy feeling you get when you see a basic pouch undone and shit falling out of it as the chocko wearing it runs around in circles with his massive boonie hat flapping in the wind.

So consider what you write that identifies you and if its not needed maybe you might want to leave it out.

If you answer the question in the medial questionaire about recreational drug use truthfully i.e yes, will this have any adverse repercussion?

This question is a perfect example. Questions like this are no longer acceptable on this forum. Questions like "How can I help my shin splints" or "How can I lose weight" are no worries. Questions that impact your eligability and abilty to serve will not be answered. We do not want people bullshitting their way through DFR thanks to this forum. If you have a question of this nature, call 13 19 01.

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