Mountie Makers

Book excerpt: Bob Teather entered RCMP Basic Recruit Training three decades ago with no idea of what he was getting into. Along with 31 other confused young men, he found himself in Regina, Saskatchewan, as a lowly member of Troop 18. Bald, intimidated and soon to be bruised, Bob began a six-month ordeal that he candidly recalls in this engaging book. Corporal Teather’s story brings you close to six recruits from across the country—Prairie Dog, André, Lumchuck, Francois, weird Harold Burl and Teather himself, a scrawny kid from Hamilton—who often learned the hard way that “if it hurts you just tape an aspirin to it.” Their experiences capture the essence of Canada and provide revealing aspects of the traditional RCMP training process. Near the end of his active career, Bob came to realize that it was Basic Training that put the Canadian in his RCMP and that bonds its members into a force capable of policing this complex country.