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.

As a 30-year veteran of the RCMP, Robert Gordon Teather was only the 13th Canadian to receive the Cross of Valour after rescuing two fishermen trapped in an overturned boat two miles off the BC coast. He was also awarded the RCMP’s highest award, the Commissioner’s Commendation for Bravery. A long-time member of the RCMP underwater team, Robert wrote Underwater Investigator and produced many training cassettes related to underwater crime and tragedy. In addition to his duties related to uniform patrol and diving instruction, Robert spent seven years in hostage negotiation. He gave lectures throughout Canada and the US to police officers, firefighters, doctors and others on diving techniques, underwater-crime-scene photography, ice-diving procedures and many other diving-related topics. Robert died of a heart attack on November 13, 2004, at 57.

Robert Gordon Teather's profile page