| 3rd CAV YPres Unit Calgary |
| Bruce Nickel |
| 3rd CAV YPres Calgary Chapter |
I was raised in South West Saskatchewan in the Cypress Hills on a ranch. I grew up on the back of a horse helping my dad work cattle. In
my free time I played High School football and tried my hand at becoming a bare back rider in rodeo. The major set back with my rodeo
career is that I had no real talent for the sport and as bad as I was at bare back riding I was an infinitely worse bull rider, having left the chutes
on a bull and returning behind them on a stretcher. It only took five times to learn the lesson that I was no bull rider. Fortunately for me I had a
deep interest in the military and was active in the local Cadet Corp and managed to win numerous awards and even an international exchange
to the UK. Two weeks before my eighteenth birthday I managed to convince my mother to sign the papers for me to enlist in the Army at
seventeen. When the recruiter found that I enjoyed camping, hiking and hunting he assured me that he had a job I was sure to love, the
Infantry. Little did he know that my father served with the 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the PPCLI in Korea and I had a pretty good idea what it
was about. So, not letting fear and common sense get in my way, I happily signed up for a direct entry course to the PPCLI Battle School in
scenic Wainwright Alberta. No Cornwallis for me, straight into the thick of it. Six months later myself and the fifteen other survivors of a
thirty-two candidate course with a few recourse guys added in were posted to the 1st Battalion PPCLI in Calgary. I quickly became known as
a capable, competent soldier who was very good at his job and just as good at getting into shit. I received numerous trade qualifications,
ranging from the extremely Gung-Ho Reconnaissance, Sniper, Machine Gunner, Assault Pioneer, Unarmed Combat and Infantry Signaler
courses, to the less impressive driver courses, combat store man and aerial delivery courses. Of nine years of service I served seven of them
employed in Reconnaissance Platoon ranging from detachment member to detachment commander, platoon signaler and as a commander of a
sniper detachment. I achieved the rank of Master Corporal, and was attached as increment staff to the battle school on various occasions to
instruct. I instructed as a section commander on two basic recruit courses, a sniper course and as a section second in command on a Junior
Non Commissioned Officer course. I served on an Operational UN Peacekeeping tour in Croatia, the birth place of ethnic cleansing, as a
weapons detachment Commander in 1 Platoon A Company 1 PPCLI. During this time I was also employed as the Company Sniper and also
ran the Command Post, Transport and Signals for the Platoon as well as administered our Platoon Cook and Medic. In my spare time I
commanded observation posts and vehicle and foot patrols. I managed to keep myself occupied. During my time in the military I had the
opportunity to participate in NATO exercises in Norway and small unit exchanges to Norway and the UK.
I voluntarily released due to a badly injured knee which was continually getting worse. After nine years of service I only had nine more years to
go to get my CD.
In addition to being in the CAV, I am a member of the PPCLI Association Calgary Branch and volunteer with the PPCLI Cadet Corp in
Calgary.
my free time I played High School football and tried my hand at becoming a bare back rider in rodeo. The major set back with my rodeo
career is that I had no real talent for the sport and as bad as I was at bare back riding I was an infinitely worse bull rider, having left the chutes
on a bull and returning behind them on a stretcher. It only took five times to learn the lesson that I was no bull rider. Fortunately for me I had a
deep interest in the military and was active in the local Cadet Corp and managed to win numerous awards and even an international exchange
to the UK. Two weeks before my eighteenth birthday I managed to convince my mother to sign the papers for me to enlist in the Army at
seventeen. When the recruiter found that I enjoyed camping, hiking and hunting he assured me that he had a job I was sure to love, the
Infantry. Little did he know that my father served with the 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the PPCLI in Korea and I had a pretty good idea what it
was about. So, not letting fear and common sense get in my way, I happily signed up for a direct entry course to the PPCLI Battle School in
scenic Wainwright Alberta. No Cornwallis for me, straight into the thick of it. Six months later myself and the fifteen other survivors of a
thirty-two candidate course with a few recourse guys added in were posted to the 1st Battalion PPCLI in Calgary. I quickly became known as
a capable, competent soldier who was very good at his job and just as good at getting into shit. I received numerous trade qualifications,
ranging from the extremely Gung-Ho Reconnaissance, Sniper, Machine Gunner, Assault Pioneer, Unarmed Combat and Infantry Signaler
courses, to the less impressive driver courses, combat store man and aerial delivery courses. Of nine years of service I served seven of them
employed in Reconnaissance Platoon ranging from detachment member to detachment commander, platoon signaler and as a commander of a
sniper detachment. I achieved the rank of Master Corporal, and was attached as increment staff to the battle school on various occasions to
instruct. I instructed as a section commander on two basic recruit courses, a sniper course and as a section second in command on a Junior
Non Commissioned Officer course. I served on an Operational UN Peacekeeping tour in Croatia, the birth place of ethnic cleansing, as a
weapons detachment Commander in 1 Platoon A Company 1 PPCLI. During this time I was also employed as the Company Sniper and also
ran the Command Post, Transport and Signals for the Platoon as well as administered our Platoon Cook and Medic. In my spare time I
commanded observation posts and vehicle and foot patrols. I managed to keep myself occupied. During my time in the military I had the
opportunity to participate in NATO exercises in Norway and small unit exchanges to Norway and the UK.
I voluntarily released due to a badly injured knee which was continually getting worse. After nine years of service I only had nine more years to
go to get my CD.
In addition to being in the CAV, I am a member of the PPCLI Association Calgary Branch and volunteer with the PPCLI Cadet Corp in
Calgary.
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