Limited Service Volunteer transcript - part three
Part three
Army personnel: So there’s going to be times on the course where the trainee will possibly find themselves in some form of corrective training, which is basically designed to correct a fault that’s been picked up time and time again.
- Well done trainee Nicholson you’re two minutes late. Double away, come back with your bed roll and your counter pain.
- It’s not about going along and forever booting them and kicking them down. Once they’ve been put in their place so to speak, this is what you need to do to improve...go and make it happen.
- It’s there to help the trainee see that they have made a mistake and it’s designed to get them over that.
- Righto, well done. Because you were two and a half minutes early on that one, take everything back to your barracks.
LSV participant: The first week I thought this is just another crappy course but after that we found if we respected our NCA’s they’d show us respect and give us a bit of slack and make the course easy.
- I knew there would be a bit of discipline involved but if you just listen you’re alright.
Army personnel: Why do you think we have to repeat it over and over again?
LSV participant: Because people aren’t listening to instructions.
Army personnel: That’s right.
LSV participant: The lack of team work.
Army personnel: So that’s how many barrack inspections then? Six?
LSV participant: Probably seven.
- I think that routine’s a big thing in life and that a lot of people need it. And here is just the perfect place for discipline and it’s not a boot camp at all, it’s more of a course.
Army personnel: Imagine yourself a statue everyone. You’ll be so good that a bird will come and land on your shoulder and do a little poop.
- Discipline is priority. It’s all to do with introducing and then maintaining and then holding on to it themselves so that they can organise themselves on a daily basis. More importantly they’re able to go and find and hold jobs and it all comes to self discipline at the end of the day.
- What am I mainly checking tonight gentleman, do you know?
LSV participant: The buttons sir...
Army personnel: ...yeah...
LSV participant: ...and dust.
Army personnel: The way you look and the way you portray yourself says a lot to somebody, especially if you’re talking to them about a job and you show up and you’ve got a shirt you’ve just pulled out of the bottom of the laundry basket, you’re missing three buttons and your pants don’t fit you properly...you know what’s that going to say to a potential employer?
- Did you grab a rock out of the garden?
LSV participant: I don’t usually do this at home though.
- Why are you helping me?
- Can’t leave one of the bros stranded.
- Plus if everything’s done in the corridors it keeps the boss happy.
Army personnel: So a lot of them struggle with that in the beginning. Towards the end though you really do see a good change in them and they start to understand what structure means in their day.
- The job expo’s primary role is to take the better students and give them employment straight after the course.
- If you’re interested in sheep and beef, we’ll take you out to a sheep and beef farmer and you can get a chance to do everything that he’s doing on that day.
- Success has been very good with those groups, they provide them training and then provide them jobs after that. Some of them have gone away to do big things, some of them own their own businesses now.
- And since he’s graduated, he’s now working on V8 supercars in Australia.
- Search and rescue is also something we do.
- The defence recruiters come in and do a seminar on what they have to offer in ways of careers. It’s good value for them.
- You’re now in a big competition and that’s a competition to get a job. You’ve got to stand up above everybody else. You’re all capable of doing it because you’re all capable of getting through what you’ve done in the last six weeks.
- The end of course function is set up very much like a formal military dinner and we present them with a top restaurant type meal. The staff actually serve the trainees, so the staff will get up and serve them the meal themselves. The trainees themselves feel pretty privileged at having the staff look after them. To me it is a highlight of the course and from the feedback that we get from the trainees, it’s very much a highlight for them as well.
- Company get on parade...(trainees respond).
- As they get better at a certain drill movement, then we progress and progress. The improvement is huge.
- Company eyes straight...(trainees respond).
- All the drill that we teach them is for their march out parade.
- Company attention.
- The march out parade at the end of six hard weeks is actually a real big rite of passage for the trainees. They actually look like regular soldiers...they are very slick, they are very smart and they get a lot of satisfaction knowing that they’ve actually been through a very big, big course. A lot of families come down for it, friends and family...and they also are quite surprised and proud to see their young person marching, looking so good, looking so happy.
- When I see a trainee arrive on day one, at the end of the six week period I’m able to look back and go wow is this the same person? I’ve seen many a mum and dad in tears because they’ve seen the change. It’s just an awesome, awesome change.
LSV participant's relative: I’m so proud of you.
Army personnel: When they do march out in front of family and friends they’ve got a real sense of achievement, they can hold their hand on their heart and say “Hey, I’ve achieved something, I’ve got somewhere and I can use this to push me into a better place when I get home”.
LSV participant's relative: When I saw him it was just a big hug, his eyes lit up and he’s really happy to be here and about what he’s achieved and everything.
LSV participant: I’m feeling real proud of myself, I’m impressed, I didn’t think I’d make it this far. I did, here I am I’m buzzing.
- Yeah it was a struggle at the start but now I’m pretty happy with myself, I feel good that I’ve actually got to the end.
- I’ve never felt like this before because I’ve never really achieved things. Being able to stand out there in front of my kids and my family and march out of here, it’s just a really awesome feeling inside, so proud.
Army personnel: Most of the trainees, when they leave here are completely different to when they first marched in. Greater sense of pride, more enthusiastic about the future and more aware of their capabilities and also the possibilities of what they may be able to get themselves into after the course finishes.
- Yeah really good to see the transformation from a nobody into who they really are and what they’re all about.
LSV participant: I used to just stand back but now I’m in there.
- When I go home to get a full time job and start speaking my voice instead of being a shy person like I was before I come on the course.
(Trainees performing haka).
- Being here has actually brought up my self esteem. Be proud to who I am, to where I come from.
- I didn’t want to be here when I first got here but look at me now I’m one of the happiest men alive.
- I’d say give it a go, go hard ‘cause you’ll like it. You just want to stay and go through all of it, right til march out.
- I recommend it for everyone that’s going to come on this course.
- I achieved so much since I’ve been here, met so many new people. I’ve had an awesome time while I was doing it. Done things I never would have been able to do.
- It’s a good course, it’ll teach you new things and you’ll actually look at yourself different.
(Trainees performing haka).
- I’ve wasted no time doing this. It was all worth it.
- Experience of a lifetime. You’ll never get a course like this anywhere else. So just come and do it. It’ll change your life.
Army personnel: It’s a great feeling that they will be able to contribute to society by getting that motivation to get into work or further training.
(Trainees performing haka).
[GRAPHIC ON SCREEN]:
Work and Income logo
NZ Defence Force logo
Ends.
