No campus like it
Tough. Challenging. Rewarding. That’s student life at the Royal Military College
At precisely 7:30 on a cool, damp morning in late October, moments before the sun begins its ascent into an overcast sky, the Parade Square on the campus of the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ont., is filled with about 1,000 cadets wearing camouflage uniforms. They are aligned in a giant U formation, and in the middle stands their cadet wing commander, 21-year-old Nicolas Bouchard, a fourth-year chemical engineering student and army combat engineer.
“I’m throwing you a challenge,” says Bouchard into a microphone. “Anyone who gets either a 95 per cent average at the end of the semester, or anyone who gets 500 on the next PPT [Physical Performance Test], will have an award created in your name.” A hush falls over the cadets. “Correct me if I’m wrong,” Bouchard continues, “but I believe that’s what Russell Crowe really meant [in the movie Gladiator] when he said, ‘What you do in life echoes in eternity.’ ” The speech ends, but a buzz filters through the crowd. At RMC, cadets are used to big challenges, and this one is no exception.
Just getting into the college is difficult. In any given year, the 39 Canadian Forces recruitment centres across the country receive as many as 1,500 applications for the Registered Officer Training Program (ROTP); only about 300 make it into the college. Applicants need at least a 70 per cent high school average, although most have an average greater than 80. And they must successfully complete a series of aptitude tests, interviews and medical examinations. Being well-rounded is also imperative. “A person who has a 95 per cent average but never had a part-time job, played a sport or had a hobby will really struggle here because they have never multi-tasked,” says Commodore William Truelove, RMC’s commandant, who is the head of the institution.
Anyone who makes the cut had better not expect a laid-back transition into university life. Before classes begin in the fall, all first-year cadets take part in their first military training exercise: a three-week boot camp. If you hail from Ontario or the West, the training takes place at RMC; those from Quebec and the Maritimes travel to the Canadian Forces Leadership and Recruit School in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., which also serves as a preparatory school for Quebec students who want to complete their first year of CÉGEP and then attend RMC. “The boot camp is a bit of a transition, to say the least, if you just came from sitting on your couch,” notes Bouchard, who was born in Summerside, P.E.I. “It’s like nothing you’ve ever experienced before.”
Upon arrival, cadets have their hair cropped, their cellphones and computers taken away, and their civilian clothes exchanged for military fatigues. Each day brings intense physical training exercises and lectures designed to teach the basics of military life and the officer-like qualities needed to be an effective leader and comrade.
They are also introduced to an idea that could one day alter, or even end, their lives: unlimited liability. “It means you agree to go off and serve your country at the risk of potentially losing your life, as some of our countrymen have done,” says Truelove. “Over the next four years, and through their summer training and courses, you instill in them that reality.”
Nice to see an article about my alma mater. It’s a tough four years, no doubt, but the education and life skills you get are invaluable.
Free education and a salary. Why didn’t my guidance counsellor tell me.
I think it’s amazing to see people so young and so dedicated to our country and to each other. I only wish I had the ability to do what these people do.
Its pretty simple, the military isn’t cut out for everyone. You can’t go half-ass. If you really want to prove yourself then sign up, see if you can last.
i wish i had gone to RMC instead of Dal. I’d have a job!
Why is the college still referred to a “royal”. That word is meaningless and gives credibility to the family who got rich by 155 years of robbery and murder. It’s time to call it a REAL name like the Canadian Military College.
I go there and I love it. I recommend it to well-rounded individuals who are up for a mental/physical/emotional challenge
Stu, Canada is still part of the Commonwealth, no matter how you or others may feel about the history of Canada; thus, “Royal” is still part of the name. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion of Canada’s past as a colony of Britain (which is shared by many other nations such as New Zealand), and I understand the desire to be our own nation, separated from our colonial past. However, in order to be proud of the Canada we live in today, we must accept the history that got us here. There’s nothing that anyone can do to change it, and the name that RMC was given when it was founded in 1876 reflects our historical ties to the Queen. Without nations like Britain and France pushing to colonize Canada, it would be a very different nation today. For me anyway, I feel proud that I swore allegiance to serve the Queen of Canada, it feels significant and reflects the one of the traditions that makes up RMC.
A) I highly doubt that any students at the college would be willing to part with the name after 132 years of being called the Royal Military College of Canada
B) Canadians got rich by robbing the natives of their land and culture. That doesn’t mean that I love Canada any less. It’s history – it’s in the past – it has no effect on today. Get over it.
C) The title ROYAL Military College of Canada was given by Royal Assent of Her Majesty of CANADA, Queen Victoria in 1877. Having been granted by the Canadian Sovereign, it is therefore a CANADIAN title.
Is “ROTP” the abbreviation for the “Registered Officer Training Program”? I checked RMC’s website and it says “Regular Officer Training Plan” is “ROTP”. Are they the same thing?
The article failed to mention RMC’s faboulous IT department CAVS/CIS. Those folks have done some amazing work with what little they have. BZ to them.
How quickly we forget. In a cost-cutting move, the Liberal government of Chrétien closed down the “other” founding group of Canada’s military college in 1995, i.e. the Collège Militaire Royal de St-Jean that had opened in 1952. At that time, francophone groups strongly protested yet anglophone groups outside Québec were relatively quiet.
RMC’s budget increased by bucketloads, of course, and English-Canada remained content with the decision until 2008, at which point they noticed that they had difficulty recruiting francophones. Plus ça change, plus c’est pareil…
Im applying this year to RMC, and i’ve been very passionate about it since I was 13. It will be my first year next year and reading this article has never made me want anything more then to go right now. There is no other university in the world that I would rather go to!