Transcript Corriere Italiano

Colonel “Bob”
Today I would like to Congratulate Bob Baxter on his 57 years as a uniformed member of the
Royal Canadian Army Service Corps / Logistics Branch of both the Canadian Army and the Canadian
Forces. Far be it for me to say that he remained in the uniform of Queen and Country until the title:
Canadian Army was rightfully returned a few months back, along with the other guys RCN and RCAF.
For all that know of Bob, I am sure we are of like mind. This man was an asset to the Military Family and
indeed to Canada. There is so much to say about B2 that it would take me at least a year or more to
piece it all together. So I will use the words that Bob wrote for our book. Soldier Apprentice Memories
1953-1967 and beyond.
One again Congratulations and may you have a Happy Healthy Retirement, to the man who went from
Soldier Apprentice to Colonel.
Bob Baxter
12 Pl 1956-1958
In the spring of 1956, a smooth talking recruiting Sgt came to our high school in Truro, NS and
talked in some detail about the Army Soldier Apprentice Training Plan. Coming from a
financially constrained family and always in the need of coin I applied to be a soldier apprentice
and much to the chagrin of my parents I was accepted and signed on the line in Windsor Park,
Halifax NS on 6 June 1956.
My service book says I arrived at the RCASC(S) on 16 Sep 1956 as a “potential” clerk. I was
assigned to 12 Platoon with Pl/Ldrs Little, Jacobson and Aube as our monitors and barrack ass
kickers with only Little being a real “prince”. I have never seen him since he graduated in 1957
but have crossed paths on several occasions with Arnie Jacobson, who became a CANEX Officer
and Gilbert Aube who transferred to a very successful career in RC SIGS.
We became a very good platoon with a cross section of characters that came from many
backgrounds but compared to 10 and 11 Platoons of our intake we were “hood” free. We laugh
until we cry when we talk about some, who didn’t finish or stay, at our reunions or casual
meetings.
Our initial Pl staff included Lt Murray Sargeant as Pl Comd, Sgt Jack Thompson (enough said)
as Pl Sgt and the unforgettable Cpl “weak eyes” MacDonald as our Pl Cpl. Cpl Weak Eyes was
probably the first real military war story telling character we met in the army. He was a joy.
They were followed by Lt Bill Martin, Sgt Don Heaslip, Sgt Herb McMullen, Cpl/Sgt Jack
Fitzsimmonds and others for shorter periods.
Bill Martin and Don Heaslip had a significant influence on my life and military career because of
their above the call of duty leadership and personal guidance. I owe them among many others
many thanks. 12 Pl because of our early leadership at a critical time produced some excellent
young soldiers who have been successful in many careers.
Our two years included many, many adventures and experiences to say the least. We went to
school under duress because most of us, if school was important, would not have been soldier
apprentices. In due course some of us decided that if we have to go to school, then we should
try to learn and succeed at probably our last chance at academics. Some didn’t care about
school at all and only took up space and marked time.
Our basic training was tough and we lived in fear of Jack Thompson.
All that kit, bed rolls, spit and polish, pressing, wringer washers and cleaning the shack were
daunting. Some had a shower and shaved for the first time. No Saturday night bath tubs. Many
of us shed tears when we got in bed at night and to be honest pined for home. However, in
short order 12 Platoon became our family. The pure military training less absurd ‘chicken shit’
was challenging, interesting and normally fun and we really worked well and learned a lot as a
team.
Trades training was great – you could wear shoes.. The theory portion was relatively easy but
typing was and still is a real challenge. Typing and now golf prove my coordination is not top
drawer. However, clerk administrative training proved to be very valuable during my whole
career. We also took driver and maintenance (D&M) training which was OK but 8 trucks and
30”guys” was not a good ratio especially in the winter sitting in the back of a truck for most of
the day.. I must have been a failure because Don Basinger says I still can’t drive.
We were blessed with good instructors and it was overall an enjoyable and rewarding
experience. I can only think of one really big piss off factor and that was Thursday night clean
up. Bon Ami on outside windows in December, shining stove bases for Peg Leg to dirty in the
night and cleaning washrooms that civilian cleaners were getting paid to do were high on this
“piss off” list. Our intake moved to the Hennessy Block in Sep 1957 and we were the first group
to live there. It was like a five star hotel after our H Hut (S-23).
In my second year I was appointed a Pl/Ldr for 14 Platoon. This was probably the most
interesting challenge of my formative years as a leader. I can still go up and down the hall of the
rooms in the 14 Pl wing of the Hennessy Block and name almost every bed space. Just imagine
trying to get a grip on Sir Charles Hamilton, Clem Lockhart, Jim Travagline and a piece of work
named Guest (who didn’t make it), Glen Numbers, Dr Doug Moore just to name a few and there
were even more very interesting people but space is restricted. 14 Pl was a real life leadership
lesson that I tried to practice during the years and that is everyone is different and usually must
be treated differently. 14 Pl is always an enjoyable reflection when I meet former members.
They were a fascinating group to say the least. It was a great two years and a highlight of my 72
years.
My final view of the RCASC Soldier Apprentice Plan and apprentices in general is in a short
general article.
Requested (not Ordered ) by Robby McRobb 25Pl
2006
Later Much Later ! !
The last Page and the Final word on the RCASC Apprentice training has been reserved for our
LONGEST SERVING apprentice soldier (at the time of Publishing in 2011) he has been in
uniform for 55 years.
Our one and only Robert “Bob” Baxter.
THE BACK PAGE
Before I commence this short rant I want to commend Robby McRobb 25 Pl for his vision,
frustrating hard work and single focus to complete this difficult task of compiling a summary of
condensed biographies of our fellow RCASC Apprentices. His hard work was totally reliant on
the contributions of our clan, which in itself was a daunting task. He coaxed, bugged, cajoled
and badgered us for submissions. Your work will be appreciated by many and I commend you
Robby for capturing this capsule of personal information which I am sure does not contain any
exaggerations or white lies. Pure unvarnished truth is guaranteed.
During a quick initial draft I included many names from my time in the Army but changed this
thrust, because there were too many good friend’s names to mention them all, so I decided to
use names very sparingly.
I don’t want to be repetitive but as you read through this book and reflect on The RCASC Soldier
Apprentice Plan and your comrades, you will see that our brotherhood served extremely well in
most Army Corps and Branches(some even wore dark and light blue) of the three Services in
many challenging and interesting jobs. RCASC Soldier Apprentices have also been very
successful in many high profile civilian disciplines. Within reason, you name it and a RCASC
Apprentice graduate has done it. The span of “things” that Apprentices have done in our society
is even more impressive when you consider we had a short 14 year history(the last graduation
parade was on 27 July 1967) with a total successful roll of less than 900 graduates.
The Apprentices took many non focused, marginally motivated 16 year old boys who in the main
were not stellar or interested students and in two years encouraged most of us, to start thinking
seriously about our future in more serious terms. Boy soldiers became real men and most set
goals and aspirations to do well in the real army or in some cases started to plan in earnest a
return to civilian life as better citizens after their five year engagement.
Although I was, and still am a very proud Apprentice, I never clearly understood how attached I
was to these roots until I attended the first RCASC Apprentice Reunion
Exercise Green Flash 78. This REUNION was the most emotional period of my military career.
I did more “male” hugging and shed more tears than at anytime prior or since. Like scanning
Robby’s first draft, it made me understand the different and varied paths that we had all taken but
we were still dedicated Green Monsters in our hearts and in our souls. To cap it off we were
flown to and from the Reunion by Ex Apprentices Hal Swain and Dave Winmill.. It was a
wonderful happening and I thanked the initiators many, many times for this Reunion. Many
Apprentices prime loyalty was to the Apprentices with secondary loyalty to the RCASC, the
Army and everything else. Although we are now (+)(-) 70 years young, sadly about 100+ of us
are already on the Advance Party, However our Reunions are full of enthusiasm and everyone
who is not there is talked about mostly with “good” thoughts.
I believe a few words about serving with RCASC Apprentices is appropriate. When I graduated
from the Apprentices in 1958, I went down the road to 3 Tpt Coy RCASC with about 50 others
and we all had the hope of going to Germany so we would have a firm base for going to
Amsterdam and Copenhagen.(We had heard the stories) When many of us arrived in Germany in
1959, we were greeted in 1 Tpt Coy RCASC by several/many Apprentices from earlier Pls
especially 5, 6 & 7 Pls. We met I believe, our first full ex Apprentice Cpl – by the way his
name was Bill Courtice. I served with Apprentices after that in almost every posting: even in
NDHQ – we shared our misery. I served in one unit where the CO, Adjt, RSM, two CSMs, the
ETMS, RQMS and many of the other very key players were ex Apprentices. This should speak
volumes
about the value of our Apprentice training. There was an unspoken strong bond among
apprentices but day to day it was carefully used. In almost(?) every instance, Apprentices were
objective and fair when dealing with each other especially during the work day. Also the big
system became favourable towards ex Apprentices and as time went on, The RCASC Apprentice
Brand was rising to the top in many units. CWOs, MWOS and so on graced these units with
their leadership, technical expertise and determination with a real professional flare. We became
of age in the Cdn Forces.
The greatest opening line on several of my PERs was ???? Baxter an ex soldier
Apprentice……….WHAT A GREAT HONOUR
TAKE CARE OF EACH OTHER – GREEN MONSTERS
With my kindest personal best wishes,
Bob Baxter
12 Platoon
Truro,NS
26 October 2011
Bob Served under both of these Flags: