Conférence Kenneth M. Molson

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good evening everyone thank you for joining us at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum and online via Zoom for the
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8th Annual Kenneth Molson lecture series my name is Aaron Gregory and I’m the curator here at km your MC and moderator
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for this
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event Kenneth Gregory
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before we begin I wouldd like to acknowledge that ingenium and its three museums including the Canada Aviation and Space Museum are situated on the
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traditional and unseated territory of the aliv to work and learn as settlers on
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this land this evening will follow a slightly
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different structure than we have in the past instead of three presentations followed by a Q&A with our speakers the
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evening we’ll start with a short presentation on the history of the rural Canadian Air Force followed by a fire side chat with our three incredible
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guests about their equally incredible
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careers the structure of this evening this will be slightly different the
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evening instead of re having three presentation and a question and answer
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with our speakers this evening we start with a short presentation on the story of the Royal Canadian Air Force followed
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by a fireside chat with our incredible guest about the equality in and credible
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carriers yet it is important to also mention that we are offering interpretation in French and English as
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well as sign language interpretation our interpreters will do our
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thank you Erin good to see a good crowd tonight it looked beautiful out there but I hear it’s it’s a little bit nippy
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so thanks for coming in Chris kit my name is Chris kit I am the
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director of the Canadian Aviation and Space Museum I would like to take the opportunity to welcome you to this well
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well received KF mson lecture service and of course at the moment we
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will be
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also the Year we’re we’re grateful we’ve long been grateful for the strong ties
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that we have uh with the Royal Canadian Air Force uh our collection which began
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with three or four different collections one of which was a Canadian military collection stands as a testament to this
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long-standing tradition and it runs right up until today so very recently actually in November of 2023 we acquired
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our most recent acquisition the uh Davin Buffalo cc15 which now has a place of prominence
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in our Hangar and you can go over there and see it’s beautiful and it’s right at the beginning of our tours that run through that particular space now more
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than 60% of our collection is made up of RCF military um uh aircraft so it it’s a
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significant part of what we do and we’re deeply grateful to the RCF for their long-standing tradition of sharing that
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collection with us and with the country through that collection obviously we’re able to tell the stories
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about the individuals and about the Technologies themselves that have helped shape our country our Museum in turn has
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been steadfast in its dedication to the preservation of this invaluable collection through our exhibits we aim
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not only to preserve that history but also to educate and Inspire our visitors
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and in part through that Legacy of the rcaf so tonight’s lecture as I’ve noted
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is one of several ways that we will be celebrating this year another is with our major upcoming permanent exhibition
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opening of the Cold War um and so that will be opening on April 5th and I hope that you’ll all come back and uh enjoy
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that exhibition with us as well so before I go I would like to
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express um our our deep thanks and gratitude to the engum foundation and
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you’ll be hearing from Amelia very soon um from them and from the Kenneth M mson
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Foundation both of which help to make these events um free and available to
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all of you their commitment to preserving and promoting our Aviation Heritage has made all of these types of
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public programs possible I’d also like to say a special thanks to Robert eldrich the president of the Kenneth M
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Molson Foundation who could not be here with us today he typically is and I want to recognize how much we appreciate the
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support that he and the foundation have provided over the years for these lectures and for many other programs
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that we provide they’ve also supported that cold war exhibition that I was noting earlier so very grateful to the
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support that we’ve gotten from both groups uh I look forward to tonight’s evening that they’ve helped us uh promote and celebrate so without further
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Ado let’s continue with our
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program I’ll now invite Emilia putterer to come up and speak on behalf of the engineer
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Foundation thank you Ain good evening and welcome to all
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thank you very much for all have being here it always a pleasure to see the participation in these type of gathering
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I very happy to see how many of
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you the 100 Years of the Royal Canadian Air Force uh for a century the Royal
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Canadian Air Force has been an emblem of Excellence of bravery of innovation in
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the Aerospace industry from pioneering missions breakthrough Technologies the
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RCF have consistently pushed boundaries of what’s possible inspiring generations
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of Canadians to reach for the stars I try to kind of put a few puns in so you know just watch out for them the inum
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foundation is steadfast and its mission to make science available to all tonight’s lecture series is not just a c
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cration of the royal Canadians Air Force Centenary um it’s a testament to our commitment to ensuring that every
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Canadian has the opportunity to learn and and to be inspired um I would like
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to also express our deepest gratitude to the kenis molsen foundation for their
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generous support without their unwavering commitment um events like this uh series would not be possible
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their dedication to preserving our Aviation Legacy ensures that stories of our past continue to inspire and educate
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for years to come as we look ahead to The Next Century of Aviation Excellence
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let us continue to inspire curiosity to Foster Innovation and to build a future
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where everyone has the opportunity to soar to new heights all right all right
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right thank you very much to all and have a wonderful evening
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okay so I’m now going to go through uh basically a very very quick presentation
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so bear with me please um the Royal Canadian Air Force is celebrating 100 years of service to the country called
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Canada in times of peace and War it was not the first iteration of an Air Force here but certainly the most lasting this
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presentation will provide a very brief overview of the history of the rcaf its contributions to the country and indeed
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the world I really have 10 minutes so this is like 30 seconds a decade um so what did the RCF look like
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when it was established on April 1st 1924 and what did it
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do help if I can advance the slides um at the time it consisted of a permanent
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full-time active air force a non-permanent active Air Force which trained a few weeks a year and a reserve
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force to be called upon in times of national emergencies there were 62 officers in the permanent active Air
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Force Force four in the non-permanent active air force and 262 non-commission
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members William Barker one of the most decorated servest people in the history of the Canadian Armed Forces and famed
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World War I Ace was put in charge for the first couple of months throughout the 1920s the RCF was
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focused mainly on civil government air operations such as forestry and fishery patrols aerial mapping and participation
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in Northern exploration such as the Hudson straight ex expedition in 1927 19
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28 with a few servicemen and a few airplanes rcaf Pilots came to be known
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as Bush pilots in uniform and the service itself was equated with the Vicor vet flying
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boat I missed that one all right here we go the 1930s was a complex time that
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began with a biting 20% reduction of the rcaf and its budget cut in half in the wake of the Great Depression and ended
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with the beginnings of War war in Europe by 1935 the economy improved and the growing tensions in Europe led to
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rearmament and a focus on military flying activities rather than civil ones in 1938 the chief of the air staff
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became directly responsible to the minister of National Defense which officially made the rcaf equal in status
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to the Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian Navy that year the rcaf reorganized itself into Western and
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Eastern Air Commands when war broke out in September 1939 the rcaf mustered 4,061 people and
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270 aircraft only 19 of those aircraft could be reasonably considered modern at
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the time what happened next was the beginning of a dramatic transformation in this service at its peak the rcaf was
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215,000 strong including 177,000 women serving in the women’s division there were 47 squadrons they served in fighter
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command bomber command Coastal command and transport command and in theaters of war from Europe to the Far East East on
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the home front the transformation was equally dramatic on December 17th 1939 Canada
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signed an agreement with the United Kingdom Australia and New Zealand the basis of which was that Canada would be
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the site of a large training operation known as the British Commonwealth air training plan or
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BCP from February 1940 to 1944 over 130 air crew from all over the Commonwealth
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and many European countries trained here as Pilots Navigators Wireless operators
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bomb aimers Gunners and more over 150 training facilities were built across
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the country and their construction and use transformed the communities nearby my favorite stat is that the amount of
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concrete used in the construction of all of these sites could build a 20- foot highway from Ottawa to
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Vancouver the aviation industry in the country owes much to this program as well as over 10,000 aircraft were built
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here to support it at the end of the second world war the rcaf was the fourth largest Air
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Force in the world and its golden age was Yet to Come demobilization led to the reduction of personnel to about
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12,000 by 1948 however as the Cold War heated up Canada found itself geographically
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sandwiched between ideologically opposed superpowers the United States and the Soviet Union this war was very real
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although it had a very different character and air power was essential to defense as ever Canada joined International
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organizations such as NATO for the protection of Europe NORAD for the protection of North America and the
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United Nations for the protection of the world these commitments led to unprecedented peacetime growth in this
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service and the rcaf was 50,000 Strong by the end of the 1950s fighter squadrons served in France
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and West Germany raidar lines were built and operated across the country and peacekeeping missions were executed in
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the Middle East and in Asia the 1960s saw the RCF introduce
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nuclear weapons with the starf fighter the voodoo and bowar missile to a great feel of controversy the 1960s were also
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the beginning of a long period of financial restraint and the gradual reduction of Canada’s military efforts
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to save money led to the unification of the can of Canadian Army the Royal Canadian Navy and the rcaf to form the
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Canadian Armed Ser or Canadian Armed Forces or the calf unification meant that the air arms of the na of the Army
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Navy and Air Force were now the air element the 1990s saw yet more dramatic
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changes and further cuts to military spending the Air Force shrank from 20,000 strong to
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13,500 whole fleets were disposed of and bases were closed but demand for Air Services was still high as Canadian
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Maritime transport and fighter aircraft and Personnel went into went into combat for the first time in 40 years during
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the Persian Gulf War in 1990 1991 later that decade cf-18s and Crews
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were in combat once more in kovo in support of NATO un missions in Africa and the Far East were also supported
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more recently the for supported International counterterrorism operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and
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also served in Libya but the Air Force doesn’t just operate internationally it also serves
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Canadians at home in many ways including saving lives through search and rescue Services protecting borders and assets
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through Maritime and sovereignty patrols and is often called upon to assist in the event of natural disasters and other
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domestic crises the Air Force assisted Canadians during the 1997 Red River flood and the 1998 ice storm it
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transported personnel equipment and vaccines during the covid-19 crisis and evacuated folks from towns and cities at
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risk from wildfires as I said this is but a brief overview of what our Air Force has
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accomplished in the last 100 years we at the Museum are privileged to share this proud history with Canadians through the
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collection exhibitions and programs like tonight’s lecture which leads me to the moment we’ve all been waiting for and
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thank you for indulging me allow me to introduce our three wonderful guests who have graciously agreed to share their
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personal experiences of serving with the rcaf so I’d like to bring up uh liutenant General Le bong who is the
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Deputy commander of military personnel command RCF command Chief Warrant
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Officer John Hall and last but not least Captain Edward soy currently serving as snowboard 10 in from newra
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[Applause] tonight
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hello all right okay so first question is a tough one
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obviously you guys will be experts in all of these topics because they’re yours um so I’ll start uh with Le and
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we’ll just go across this question is kind of for everybody um how did you come to join the military and what led
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you to the Air Force specifically
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thanks so do the presentation in English I think it will be easy but if in during The Question period if there’s any
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question in uh French I will be happy to respond in your language of
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choice and uh to get a degree and as I showed up at the recruiting center they
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asked what what do you want to do and I’m like I want a degree and they’re like no no no you got to pick an
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occupation and I’m like I don’t know what do you have and uh it was pretty interesting because at the time it was
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exactly when they were opening all the occupation for women so they they gave me the list and uh you know First Choice
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was logistic second choice was MP and then the guy uh because it was a guy said uh what about a pilot and I’m like
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okay well I’m just doing it for five years because then I’m going to quit and go do something else so that’s uh that’s
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how they got me into the military H as an Air Force and I fell in love the day
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I went to sea flying the seeking and it’s been a lot of years something like
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37 years and I almost every day I love what I’m doing so it was a good choice
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and you have 2200 hours on seeking so that’s she’s pretty she’s pretty
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awesome so John when you share your story uh yeah thanks Aaron so um I was a
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less than Stellar student uh so postsecondary wasn’t really in my future
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uh and I wanted to do something and I’d been an Air Cadet for 5 years and it was very interesting to me uh so I went to
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the recruiting center in October of 1986 and they said what are your occupation choices and I said uh Aero engine tech
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airframe tech or poet air and poet is performance oriented Electronics technician uh so they called me in
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January of 1987 with a job offer and they said poet land and I’m like no I I
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wanted air and they said all we’ve got is land and I I said okay so what about
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Aon they said just asking corn Wallace you can change when you get to Corn Wallace so uh not knowing it was a a bit
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of a line that i’ been fed I I took it hookline and sinker I ended up in corn Wallace in in February of 1987 as an
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army uh poet recruit uh ended up a year and a bit later as an army radtech and
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then came to the Air Force in 1995 when they reorganized the trades uh so it was
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cly because I I wanted to do something and postsecondary education was not in my future and I I was just interested
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with doing something and it at the time it was it was a job and it turned into a
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career thank you so uh I actually tried to join the regular Force three times
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and the reasons evolved over that period uh I was the opposite of the general I specifically wanted to be a pilot but uh
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when I applied uh when I was in high school i’ had been an AET and uh wanted to go to RMC but uh my eyes didn’t meet
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the vision acurity requirements at the time so I had to do something else um I
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I ended up joining the reserves uh to teach with the architect program uh because I could do that uh but it wasn’t
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until I was finishing my masters uh in 2009 that I I was able to reapply because rules changed you could get
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laser vision correction so I had that done um and uh as a reservist I was finishing my masters at the Military
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College of all places um and when I went into the recruiting center they said Direct pilot is closed sorry so I ended
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up working in finance for 10 years uh before I said uh this is something I really want to do before I get too old
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uh let’s give it another try and here we are you made it well that’s great um John I have or
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well actually I guess um how did your family and friends react to your decision to
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join for all of you team yeah that’s uh I was the baby in the family so when I
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told uh my parents that I was going and I was 16 so dad had to sign for me to
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join the military and uh he was a bit nervous cuz no family history whatsoever
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and my mom reached out then and said don’t worry she’s never going to make it in so he signed the
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paperwork uh he signed the paperwork and you know FL you know FasTrack six months
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forward when I got the phone call and uh that I was in uh mom had a bit of a yeah
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a reaction uh but you know again uh being the baby it was it was it was
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great and uh I don’t know I I guess they just saw how happy I was and uh and they
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just encouraged me and um yeah thanks I
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I’d say the my parents were probably a little hesitant when I I came with the news we didn’t have a family history
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same as general b we didn’t have a family history of of service to to Canada likely in the war time we did but
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nobody that had made it Aur career um but when my dad came to my my Cornwallis
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graduation he he saw that it was a good thing because he saw a very positive of change in me over the 10 weeks that I
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had had gone through so it changed very quickly over the 10 week uh period but initially was Frosty but was very warm
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after was good no no panic attacks is nice uh so so much the same in terms of
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no family history in the military um my mother was also not thrilled with the concept but has come to be quite proud
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of where I’ve ended up uh in terms of uh when this happened I was in my mid-30s I
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was working for an investment firm in Toronto and people thought I was crazy to walk away from that and join the Air
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Force as a second Lieutenant um I think they’ve all come to see the light in terms of what’s happened over the last four or five years um and the key piece
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in terms of me uh having the support to join the military was uh my husband Tom
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uh he and I had met when uh after I’d applied but before I’d been accepted and so we’ been able to make all the kind of
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career decision choices together along the way and without that sport I wouldn’t be here doing this right now
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that’s nice was helpful um so this I guess I’ll ask we’ve got two two
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pilots helicopter and fixed Wing do you think that there’s a
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difference between the between the two be honest of course um you know
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helicopters uh have much better hands and feet um real pilots fly helicopters
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um uh but you know like but but it’s funny because because I I’ve never Dre
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like I’m not like Ed where I wanted to be a pilot so when I first arrived to uh to Portage and started flying I I
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actually hated it because there were so many rules you know it’s a beautiful sky in in in Manitoba but we had to fly at
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1200 feet and 70 knots and I’m like really like really um but that’s kind of
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have you you got to go to training but actually helicopter has a lot less rules than fix wi so for me that was uh you
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can land anywhere honestly so that was the flexibility I guess that was my Wild Side that made me go helicopters and and
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it was good it was good nice have a response Ed uh I mean I would concur
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that helicopter Pilots are probably better hands and feet or least feet Pilots than the jet types and I come at
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that as a tail Drager pilot first right I joined the military with um 1,500 hours of flying and probably 30 types
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that i’ flown so uh going through the military training process has certainly instilled rigor and particularly going
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down the jet the jet route has has done that um but I would agree I think uh
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Pilots don’t use their feed very much and uh ta wheel Pilots helicopter Pilots have a have a a different skill set sure
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W and so John this one is for you so you’re you are an an NCM non-commission
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member can can you speak to kind of the the difference in that that role in the in the calf versus the officers um in in
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the aircraft world without the ground crew Pilots are just people with cool sunglasses and a leather
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jacket um uh when it when it comes to the RCF as a whole the you know the
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differences are are Authority and accountabilities the the officers have command they have uh a commission and
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they have authorities and accountabilities that they uh that they have to take care of and the ncms we
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rely on them to be you know technical experts in their field and whether that’s being a technician or a human
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resources administrator or or a supply Tech we ask them to be an expert in their field because they’re enabling the
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operations that that we need them to op so there’s a a difference it’s it’s not thinkers and doers it’s it’s a team we
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are absolutely a team to uh to push forward for the the RCF but the the ncms
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are are key in that that everybody that does it whether they cloth or feed or pay or maintain the aircraft they’re all
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supporting the operations it’s one big team and I think that I’m just going to add here is on the Air Force side the
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that teamwork aspect is so important like I mean ncms are important in the Navy and of course in the Army but in
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the Air Force you know I I would sign for an aircraft that was fixed by a
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technician and I made I put my life in in in their hands every day uh making
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sure that the aircraft was ready to go so that karad and and that faith and that teamwork uh
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Pilots are nothing without the technician and the the supporting because we wouldn’t be able to go flying
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and uh and and that’s important to recognize and I guess you would agree too now being on the snowbirds team
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where that’s I mean skill professionalism teamwork these are the things that we’re out to share with Canadians and people across the country
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uh so I I couldn’t agree more with that that teamwork element both with pilots and with with the the technical side and
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uh just to go back to what the chief started with uh I came to Ottawa from Musa with not one but two leather
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jackets a civilian and a military one so there is there is something to that just
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decide which one you want on a given day next
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um and I think we will go towards uh the training so maybe if you guys can all
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describe your experience in basic basic training and what that was like
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and was it fun did it break your spirit well you know it it’s interesting
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because when you arrive on basic training you you you don’t know anything unless you have uh you know families
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that can tell you um uh it’s it’s it’s
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scary you know from uh from going to a civilian that has no idea to this
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military environment um being screamed at which we don’t anymore by the way so
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anyone that wants to join the military it’s a much better military uh but at the end of the day you always have to
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remember like they can’t hurt you and they can’t take your birthday away but it takes a while to get to that level
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and uh you know being yelled in your face with the spit flying all over the place it’s it’s true okay it it h it
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happened it doesn’t happen anymore but uh at some point you just switch off and
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uh they they they stop because you know it doesn’t make a difference anymore uh but uh it was it was interesting so was
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it co that stopped them from spitting in your face so can’t do that stuff anymore yeah
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yeah but it was funny cuz I I joined very young uh well you know 17 but in 6
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weeks I lost about almost 40 lbs because it was all baby fat alcohol it baby fat
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so when my mom came to see me on the first parade she did not recognize me she thought they were starving you like
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I don’t know but uh it was it was certainly interesting it was a good diet anyone that’s interested that’s for sure
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John how about you yeah it was uh I was in corn Wallace for 10 weeks I showed up
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on the I think it was the 9th of February and it snowed every Monday uh for six weeks so we avoided the obstacle
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course we avoided a bunch of Ruck marches because it was snowing and we we couldn’t do it uh but absolutely we we
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showed up and and I learned new vocabulary very quickly uh we had a new
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finlander that was our platoon sergeant and on the very first day I I found verb
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words that that could be used as verbs nouns adjectives and adverbs that I never thought that they could be used in
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that manner uh but they we don’t do that anymore we don’t do that anymore either we’re it’s a uh it’s not that we’re
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Kindler and gentler it’s that we found a more efficient way to achieve the effect that we’re trying to achieve through
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basic training um but they had a they had a role and the role was to to really
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make everybody equal as a foundation and and then build you up and they did it in
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their way um whether that was standing over you on a locker when you’re changing for PT and screaming at you to
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hurry up and just giving you timelines that that were unachievable just because they could yell more um and then you
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came out of it at the other end and it was like well that’s over and you went into the mess hall in Kingston one where
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I went for my threes course and and nobody was yelling and that was such a foreign thing that no one was yelling at
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you you actually had time to eat and that was half of the diet is we didn’t have the time to get everything down
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range uh during it cuz were either sleeping or being yelled at cuz it’s and
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my my my wife still hates the fact that I can fall asleep like that but that’s a learned skill in basic
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training yeah eat eating quickly is definitely still a basic training core skill uh so I I went through a little
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more recently in 2018 um and I was 34 when I went through which is not the norm I would say or it hasn’t been
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historically uh and especially someone who had been in AET and had taught drill and knew how to wear a uniform a lot of
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what they were indoctrinating me into a HS some background in um and so that whole building process of of allowing
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the platoon to come together as a team was was uh important but from my perspective I had to balance I know a
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lot of what’s going on and I have some context how do I share that without seeming like a knowt all uh and I think
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that process worked out fairly well um but yes you you do eat a lot and you are very active those things have not
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changed over time good and um
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do you think that process it was 10 weeks was that that was sufficient to adjust to
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military life so when you went to your first posting you felt prepared for that or was it still quite kind of foreign I
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kind of had the uh the longer training than that because I spent five years at the mil which was kind of a military
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University so it was a much longer indoctrination uh period where we did a
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little bit more and uh but I was a training institution for five years and then uh you know you go back to a
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training institution as you’re going through your wings and again it’s a school where you’re a student and um and
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then finally you make your way to your first operational Squadron as an adult
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and you’re no longer uh a student and um and there’s you know there’s I would not
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like the status of a student or a status of a qualified person is quite different
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and being grown up up really in your first operational posting uh for the first time although I was almost 24 by
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that time it’s uh it’s it’s a different world and it was nice to be uh considered as a as someone qualified in
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a grownup at that point that’s always K John how did you find it it uh so I
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followed up corn Wallace with just over a year of electronics training in Kingston and and there was still it was
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still in the military indoctrination period there was still uh we parades getting you out on the parade square and
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and there was weekly PT uh and then all of a sudden in May of 1988 when I was
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posted to Alder Grove out in British Columbia uh I show up at the unit and you’re a contributing member of society
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you’re not a trainee anymore you’re not you’re not getting yelled at to get out of bed and there’s not a parade on
32:18
Friday you you have to get after it uh fairly quickly I I think I was prepared
32:23
for it I had done five years like like Ed I had done some time in the cadet so I kind of knew what I was getting into
32:30
um with it and I I was ready for it uh but it was nice to be done like I don’t know if I could have dragged out a
32:36
military indoctrination period as long as as a pilot trainee does with mil call
32:41
and and then the time in the Stream might have driven me driven me crazy but I was I was happy to get through it and
32:47
I think I was prepared okay my supervisors at the time may have said something different but I thought I was prepared should call them and
32:55
see and so my my journey was fairly really direct uh you know I finished basic training as a direct entry officer
33:01
and had a little bit of a weight uh so I went back to Toronto on on what they call on the job training um and then
33:07
from there I went to musall and uh spent a few years in training through the pandemic and then became an instructor
33:14
and stayed in musall and a few years after that uh here I am as a snowbird so it’s been a very direct path and uh I
33:22
arguably haven’t done anything operational yet uh but basic felt like just kind of step along the way and I’d
33:29
been been warned that it’s basically a bit of a game you need to kind of understand how they are um trying to
33:37
build you and work within that process and you know it’s part of the journey to Pilot training but it’s in some ways
33:42
very distinct from I think the pilot training Journey as a as a technical exercise and what was it what was it
33:48
like doing the training um during covid-19 how do you think that was different from regular training I think
33:55
the biggest impact for for people um was that uh depending where you were in your
34:03
training it could have sped things up or slowed them down from a pilot standpoint the whole school stopped for a month uh
34:09
but then um during that period uh some people elected to go home wherever they were from and some people stayed in MOA
34:15
and when they started back up they only started with the people who stayed in MOA and so if you if you happen to make
34:21
that decision you made quite rapid progress uh before they brought back the rest of the students and that was the
34:26
situation I was in uh so it made for not
34:31
a continuous training Journey but uh it it wasn’t a massive delay at least from my perspective
34:37
okay for the two of you having gone through pilot training is there anything kind of were there any notable notable
34:45
moments in your training where you felt like oh my God what am I doing or like it was it all pretty pretty smooth what
34:50
was your first solo like just any experiences that stand out for you when you were learning well I think my my my skill
34:58
came when I got to Portage on the helicopter because again uh flying fixed
35:03
Wing is is hard but it’s much easier than flying a helicopter so you know
35:09
every you know you finish moja then you fly a jet you can fly a Tor like come on
35:15
how hard is that little thing so you know we all get there and then they they
35:20
they send you on the jet Ranger which is a a small uh Bell Helicopter and oh my
35:26
God like you know it’s it’s very difficult like we try to hover in a field like a farmer’s field and you
35:34
can’t do it like it’s um it’s humbling to say the least um and then it takes a
35:40
while and and it’s magic it’s it’s truly magic they always tell you that you get imported you start flying helicopter
35:46
they’re like yeah yeah around s six to seven hours of flying there’s a switch
35:52
and you know it gets thrown on and then you’ll be okay and you’re like in the first 5 hours you’re like oh my God I’m
36:00
never going to be and then it’s magic around that you know as they said the switch gets on and then you can stay uh
36:06
within that farmer field and um and then of course you get solo at like the 10
36:12
you know around the 10 hours and and it’s and it’s scary okay because if you’re not scared I think there’s
36:17
something wrong with you honestly uh because uh but it was a lot of fun
36:23
helicopters always make me nervous because I feel like you’re asking something from A system that doesn’t really want to give it to you whereas
36:28
like an airplane wants to fly and it’s almost harder to get down sometimes and stuff but yeah so I don’t fly on
36:34
helicopters so I not not respect but I mean too many fiery crashes I am kind of
36:41
with Aaron technically helicopters do frighten me somewhat I’m glad I don’t fly them uh but uh going through pilot
36:47
training as someone with prior experience um is interesting because the military wants you to fly the airplane
36:54
in a very specific way and for good reasons and uh I’ve seen this both uh as
36:59
an instructor and experienced it as a student the best way to get through pilot training with prior experience is to say nothing about your prior
37:06
experience the worst thing you can say to an instructor even if you’re genuinely trying to understand why is
37:12
you know I used to do it this way or here’s another way of doing something and the answer is really I will do it
37:18
the way you want how can I do it better um so people uh I guess to summarize there
37:26
are people who G gone through pilot training with prior experience who are not very malleable and it doesn’t go well um so bringing experience can be
37:34
beneficial um but it can also be a hindrance and uh I think in my case it’s worked out well um particularly coming
37:40
from a civilian formation team it’s nice to be able to bring that kind of context into pilot training and into what I do
37:46
with the snowbirds John for you what was uh did you have like a a moment where early on
37:52
in your maybe your first posting or something where you’re just like oh my God I don’t know what I’m doing here and hope nobody
37:59
notices um I have those moments all the time I yeah I have them all the time now
38:04
um you think I’d get it right after 37 years but I’m still learning I I don’t
38:10
think there’s been the day where I felt absolutely lost like I kind of found when I got
38:17
into electronics that I actually had a knack for it that I I was a good student when I got into to electronics uh and I
38:25
really enjoyed uh my time working on it um I guess
38:30
the didn’t happen to me it happened to my shift supervisor and uh when he he
38:36
took a molt meter so looking at very small um measurements and he put it on a
38:43
10,000 volt line um and there was a bit of smoke and a and a big bang so it
38:49
didn’t happen to me it happened happened to the other guy but it was more like okay that’s that’s the Wake Up Call
38:55
there’s a lot of power here and and we had a trans transmitter you could walk past with a fluorescent light bulb and it would light up and there’s nothing
39:01
connected to it it was just the 250 kilow of fun uh as you as you walk by
39:07
and it would light up the tube so you know it was maybe seeing the the power but not W witnessing it myself okay uh
39:14
but being very close when someone else did and worried that that guy’s going to blow you up eventually
39:21
like so I’m not going to work with him anymore um I guess move on to more kind
39:27
of operational experiences uh following your first posting do any of you have
39:33
kind of a like a memorable Mission or a memorable operation that you were part of something that really stands out to
39:41
you as uh kind of like this is why I do this is is why I serve kind of thing well I you know I I when I I’ve
39:49
always wanted to be a helicopter pilot so I wanted to fly a tactical Helicopter
39:55
Army and um and then I was chosen to go seekings and it was just as the the the
40:01
replacement for the seeking uh helicopter was announced and and cancelled so I showed up on the East
40:07
Coast pretty depressed um and I didn’t want to be there at all okay uh but I
40:14
got qualified on the seeking and and and went to see for the first time and that’s really when I saw like I don’t
40:20
know there was a seeking in there you can go have it it’s a huge machine it’s an incredible helicopter and uh I feel
40:27
like in love with with the Navy and of course you know they say that it’s the uh being a helicopter pilot is the best
40:34
job uh um for for on on on a ship as a Navy but it’s the worst job uh for an
40:42
Air Force person because then you go to see but for me it was really really a lot of fun and the aircraft is
40:49
incredible and the jobs that we get to do every day and uh the first year I was at the operational Squadron I think I
40:55
was gone like N9 and a half months like my first three years were deployed
41:00
pretty much uh half the time I visited like something like 24 countries uh in
41:06
in in my first operational uh tour which was as a you know 25y old that was
41:13
perfect that’s what you wanted to do you wanted to deploy and sell the seven seas and and get the exite the excitement so
41:21
um I think that was pretty cool very cool and uh what was that like for you
41:27
as I mean you were coming in kind of like very early on and women qualifying
41:32
to or being being allowed to be um helicopter Pilots even in addition to to
41:38
just the pilots in general it was only about what 10 10 years or so since women were able to to join that way how did
41:46
you find that traveling to all these other countries where there were so many where they still didn’t have women as
41:52
operational Pilots even in Transport Aircraft what was the reception like yeah and actually they they had opened
41:57
uh for Pilots women but the Navy was still close so I arrived as a seeking
42:03
pilot on the East Coast almost in the first year that they were opening the ships uh for women so they were the the
42:11
the some ships only a few ships were were uh gender where women could sail
42:17
most of the fleet was still only for men it was only a few and uh let’s say that
42:23
I mean the Air Force I think was a bit ahead of its year on the gender integration the Navy was a little bit um
42:30
um uh it took a little bit longer so it was uh certainly interesting uh a lot of
42:37
the ships were fitted for but not with where you could not sail um and and you
42:42
know the Navies of the world we were uh Canada was uh was uh ahead of many many
42:49
other so I remember like multiple times having to land a helicopter cuz yeah I
42:55
have a small bladder I’m saying it public L um I had to go to the washroom get out of the seat go there I would
43:01
hand I would go in the hanger remove my helmet and then they would be like it’s
43:07
a girl and then they’ be like yes but she needs a washroom so uh then I would
43:13
follow them and I I always remember a Japanese ship so I’m following this um
43:19
this Japanese officer that’s taking me I thought was taking me to the heads or the washroom on the ship and I was like
43:26
oh my God they’re far and we’re walking and walking and then we’re on the bridge of the ship and he’s showing me to the
43:33
co of the ship like it’s a girl and I’m like okay my crew is in the
43:41
back I need to go back anyway that was uh uh it was it was it was interesting
43:48
to say the least some very um some uh some challenging time but some good time
43:54
uh so uh yeah you did get to the bathroom eventually I assume well they they they did stop at the heads cuz it
44:00
would have been a really long three hours yes yes I mean you know the seing
44:06
has a tube that most guys can use but it doesn’t work very well when uh you don’t
44:13
have the right equipment so um it was just one of those things that I had to
44:18
go when we would get fuel I would try to find a washroom yes many of the many of
44:24
the aircraft were not very female friendly in that aspect no no not at all do you have a a particular story
44:32
like that they well I’m sure it wouldn’t be like that but I mean maybe I don’t know um yeah no
44:39
I I would say if there was an operation um you know if was someone was to look at my my bio they’d say oh you
44:47
know two and a half months is the rimpact chief in Hawaii would be the most memorable and it’s it was cool but
44:52
it you know it’s two and a half months in Hawaii it was it was okay um two tours of alert one was September to
44:58
March the other was March to September so really a shift of days a shift of nights uh up there show up when the Sun
45:05
goes down and then leave when it comes up and then do an opposite a year later uh but I I think the operation that
45:10
really sticks out was Palladium Roto 4 um the air campaign in Koso started on
45:16
the 24th of March of 1999 and that was the day I was scheduled to fly from Trenton uh into VK into Zagreb and then
45:24
go down to S aval uh as part of the multinational signals group and we actually got pushed off till I think
45:29
about the 29th uh just because things were pretty busy in the airspace at the time and they didn’t want us going in uh
45:37
and it was pretty cool to be it was the first time I’d worked in a coalition environment it was a NATO Mission uh
45:44
Canada was running the M multinational signals group so we had uh Brits and uh
45:50
the Americans were at some of the oat stations we had Turks and Americans and
45:55
Italians working in AAL with us so it was really cool to see the differences
46:01
in the way we trained our technicians where we were kind of jacks of all masters of none and then you got in and
46:07
you dealt with Nations where his only job or or their only job was to to change the modom and they could only
46:14
diagnose the modem they couldn’t diagnose any of the equipment hooked to it where we could do the whole system uh
46:19
from from front to front to back top to bottom so it it was neat to gather that experience I got to travel around by
46:26
helicopter um I’m 50/50 on which is more fun um uh
46:32
got to travel to to some sites uh around um Bosnia when we were there but you
46:38
know we were we’re staying out of Serb territory obviously because the NATO was not uh the favorite in there uh parts of
46:45
the country like the drive from seval to VK would normally be about three three and a half hours uh but because it was
46:52
through Serb territory when we did the drive it was like 12 and a half and we had to go down through through Croatia
46:57
and then come up from the south to go in uh but that was probably the most rewarding uh there was a a g G7 G8 it
47:05
was a Balkan stability Summit um where the president the Prime Minister and and the UK prime minister and um others were
47:13
in and we were the the comm’s backbone uh for that conference so that was that was pretty cool to to be doing that for
47:20
some uh high price Talent uh when they came in and then to see because we
47:26
worked in s Avo and if if you know the history of the land it’s surrounded by mountains and it got got bombarded uh it
47:32
was odd the only building that was standing with no damage was the yellow Holiday Inn um and apparently they paid
47:39
off all the sides because that’s where the journalists stayed in the city so nobody uh took it out on that but we
47:45
would drive up what they what they affectionately called sniper alley uh every day as we were checking sites and
47:50
you could just see uh the destruction that had that had been that had rained down really on the city until the dayeon
47:57
Accord in ’94 and it was still nothing had been rebuilt so that that’s the one
48:02
that stuck with me with the best and I still run into people that I served with on that mission they’re they’re no
48:08
longer serving but we still uh share messages on social media and I had lunch with one a couple years ago when he was
48:15
in town in Ottawa so really good friendships out of that as well that’s really nice and what did you find did
48:20
you find that um having having the Specialists for these one particular things like was that was that more
48:26
efficient or less efficient than than what uh the Canadian text would I think
48:32
they were less efficient we I can remember fault finding a a system with
48:37
an American and they they he was in TSLA and we were in s Evo and we’re telling him how to switch the fiber around and
48:44
and I’m telling them this and that and this and that and then it’s it’s like okay it’s your your A1 is is done you have to change that and he’s how can you
48:50
tell and you’re trying to explain it to him on a over a video teleconference and in that time the connections weren’t
48:56
that good but trying to explain to them you know you could see it because this and this and this and they’re like oh I
49:01
I never thought they would use a bunch of test equipment where we just changed cables around so I I think we were a lot
49:07
more efficient when it came to it we needed less people obviously uh but it was more puzzles puzzles were big in my
49:15
family uh still are and and I think maybe that’s what it appealed to me is is trying to solve the puzzle that s fun
49:23
so I you were say you hadn’t had U like operations or missions per se but maybe you can speak to um maybe joining the
49:31
snowbirds and what that’s been like uh this year sure and I mean that’s going to be my first opportunity to do
49:36
something operational this year with oper inspiration traveling the continent and uh you know trying to inspire people
49:43
uh to tell the history of the Air Force in the Centennial year and you know my mission up until now uh personally has
49:49
really focused on history in the history of the organization and I think this uh opportunity during the Centennial to to
49:56
draw on that is going to be a great chance to to connect the present with
50:02
the past you know before I joined the r Force um I flew Old Harvard like the one on display here in the museum uh then
50:09
obviously went through pilot training on the Contemporary Harvard and now I’m flying the tutor so in terms of training airplanes we’ve used over the last 80
50:15
years uh it’s nice to be able to speak to them all directly and uh you know I’m hoping that on the road with the team
50:22
there’ll be opportunities to speak to that history and to what it means in terms of uh those serve Canada and uh
50:28
and how we ended up where we
50:35
are be fun um for just for the snowb do you want to talk about a little bit um
50:41
what the what the role of the demonstrations teams have been over starting maybe even with the cisin and
50:48
moving on I mean like we can even go further back than the CIS right you put William Barker on the screen air displays have been um grabbing the
50:55
attention of Canadians since 199 uh in terms of formation aerobatics
51:00
and display teams have the benefit of reach they can go out and they can expose people to uh to military Aviation
51:07
to to members of the Armed Forces who wouldn’t otherwise uh have direct connections to them so they can fly over
51:13
and and they can um bring to your attention that this is an institution that exists and then we really um like
51:21
following that up with the on the ground connections talking to people giving them firsthand experiences of what it’s
51:26
like and what they might be able to pursue themselves and really just to kind of build that interest I remind
51:33
Canadians that the forces are there to S them that it is your Air Force um those
51:38
are the kind of roles that the the snowboards and the predecessor teams have done and uh I think it’s it’s a
51:44
pretty critical one especially in terms of an era where demand for pilots and for technicians is high and we need to
51:51
remind people that this is a is an Avenue that they can pursue
51:56
and what would you say there’s a lot of you know a lot of critics about the still using the tutor because it is I
52:02
mean we have we have a couple of them there they are artifacts at this point um what do you say to that versus some
52:09
of the other the other demonstration teams would you use kind of more powerful faster aircraft I mean you are
52:14
talking to an old airplane person so I’m not going to critique the tutor uh as as an airplane to fly it’s actually a lot
52:20
of fun um and it it does the RO well it it uh allows you know we were talking in
52:26
the back about how yesterday the team did its first nine flane practice and you know even for me it’s still
52:32
inspiring to watch that but part of what’s so appealing is that it’s in front of the crowd the whole time and um
52:39
other display teams don’t have the benefit of doing that because of the airplanes they use so the tutor brings
52:44
some very useful things to the table the uh elements of it that are not ideal uh
52:49
it uses a lot of fuel it doesn’t have a very fuel efficient engine and it has a relatively um older ejection seat uh but
52:57
other than that it fulfills the W very well and it was built in an era where airplanes you know didn’t have an x000
53:05
hour design life uh and so uh it can sold you on into the
53:11
future and you know one of the one of the characteristics of it is being side by side and how do you think that um
53:17
that compares to some of the others that are front and back I mean it uh it takes
53:22
a little getting used to coming from Mostly tandem kind of fun back seeded airplanes uh the The Sire figured out
53:30
how to make it work in 1967 they made they made modifications to the cockpit so Pilots can sit on the side they need
53:36
to to fly on one side of the formation but um other than that kind of technical
53:41
change to the airplane it uh and the fact that you need to sit on a particular side it doesn’t make a huge
53:47
difference okay so the last question on this will be uh what is the role of snowbird 10 just for those who don’t
53:53
know it’s a nine nine plane formation so uh on the the pilot side there are 11 numbered snowboards uh one is obviously
53:59
the lead uh one through nine the single digits as we call them are the display team Pilots that that put on the uh the
54:06
performance in the a that you see and then 10 and 11 uh are known either as coordinators or as advanced and safety
54:13
Pilots so um in the winter we’re doing a lot of the pre-coordination with the
54:19
sites we’re going to visit I think some people in the room have been talking to me on that front uh recently uh and when
54:24
we’re on the road then we have two two main roles we we kind of arrive ahead of the team and make sure everything is in
54:29
place so that when the nine plane gets there things happen efficiently and then during the show uh one of us is doing
54:36
the narration and the other is a is a safety pilot they’re on the radio watching what’s going on and they can
54:41
call things off or provide input if needed to let the single daters put on a safe
54:48
display so for Le and John um this question is uh kind of about like what
54:53
particular experiences have you had in your career that have led you to the high ranking positions that you currently
55:01
occupy well I think again it’s uh not being afraid of uh change and I think
55:09
that you know there’s nothing wrong for Pilots that want to stay Pilots forever I think we need a lot of those uh but I
55:15
always have I have a really short attention span so usually after three years I’m bored and uh it’s time to move
55:22
for a new job and the military is awesome for that so I kind of had the chance to to uh to change job and uh I
55:29
love flying but I love um leadership in people so for me it was kind of a a a
55:36
normal or more natural path to uh to go and and go that way and having different
55:42
opportunities uh through the career um and uh and and and you know again it’s
55:49
it’s not being afraid of trying something else and every job you learn something uh and and you you become just
55:57
better uh and and you just carry on I mean we don’t decide to be high ranking
56:03
uh you just survive long enough to make it there I guess and um so uh but it’s
56:10
also you know again that that you you know humility vulnerability uh being
56:15
open to learn and uh and and knowing that we don’t know everything and every
56:21
new job brings that new knowledge that is exciting and I get to lead people and
56:27
make changes uh I think that benefits uh the the the new generation which is why
56:33
I’m still here how about you John I got a cough
56:39
excuse me um I I don’t think I think it’s it’s along the same lines it’s it’s
56:45
about being comfortable being uncomfortable and it it’s uh the
56:50
willingness of of the my family to support me to go from place to place to
56:56
place to have different experiences uh but there was a key moment as I was promoted to master Corporal in 2001 and
57:04
uh miles Barham who was the uh the chief of the unit at the time and I think he was uh when we started not counting Air
57:12
Command Chiefs when we went back to Counting rcaf Chiefs of which I’m number six I think he was number one when we we
57:17
flipped back to it so Miles uh is a great leader in his in his own right uh but he pulled me into his office before
57:24
I left to go to KOMO and he gave me some advice cuz he saw something in me that I didn’t even know that I had in me but he
57:31
challenged me uh and he gave me some advice and that kind of set me on a path
57:37
uh to to where I am today but I never aspired to be in this job I I’m a firm
57:43
believer that uh Happiness is when your goals meet your reality and my goal was always to be the the swo of a a wing
57:50
test Unit A telecommunications unit on a wing and that that because that was my trade it
57:55
was the PIN in my trade to do that job and I got to do that in 2012 uh 2012 to
58:00
2014 I I did that in Cold Lake and like I was happy and and everything after
58:06
that has just been it’s always been fun but it’s it’s been more fun because it’s just about helping people and and that’s
58:12
the the role of the chief is the quality of life and quality of service for people in their families and I I guess I
58:18
excel at it because I I’ve been short times in jobs and I got to where I am
58:24
and I I love it and I continue to love it but I I reflect on the you know what miles told me and I I give some of that
58:31
H I go and talk to every Master Corporal course that we put through the RCF Academy in bordon and now we’re we’re
58:37
putting them through the school and Aldershot out in Nova Scotia as well and I I give them little tidbits out of I
58:42
don’t give them all the secret sauce I give them just enough to make them dangerous and you know I think it’s
58:48
important to uh look at ourselves early and declare success and then after that
58:53
just do things because we want to uh you know it’s not about um it’s not about
58:58
the destination I think it’s the journey to get there and we quite often forget
59:04
um The Journey because we want to get there like are we there yet yet and uh and we we forget to live in the moment
59:12
so but that’s wisdom and uh maturity
59:17
um so on that for you Ed do you have I know an idea past Snowbird 10 of where
59:24
you want your career to go and and the the the you know kind of map out the path I know some of it’s very much
59:30
outside of of one’s control but I mean uh I hate to sound like I’m riffing off
59:35
the last last answer but I’m very much living in the moment and I’ve only been with the team for four or five months uh
59:41
it’s quite quite new uh and I have a good sense of what the summer looks like with our published schedule but uh
59:48
beyond that uh someday I’d like to go back to my Graduate Studies like to continue you know down the maybe PhD
59:54
Road in history at some Point who knows when but uh in terms of immediate next steps after the snowbirds who knows at
1:00:01
this stage so you want to end up at dhh is that what you’re saying there’s dhh there’s RCF history inheritage there’s
1:00:07
lots of opportunities uh there’s Museum opportunities after my job is that what you’re
1:00:12
saying I’ll get him at RMC or cmr2 okay I mean this is the beauty of not knowing
1:00:17
the future right there are all sorts of interesting paths and uh you know being open to them is important I
1:00:23
think so John you touched on the support of your family and how integral that has
1:00:29
been to your Journeys can all of you speak to a little bit about what that’s been like the impact of your family the
1:00:34
impact of your service on your families I I’ve been super lucky um I met my
1:00:40
husband on the East Coast he was uh a seeking Navigator uh so we we got to
1:00:46
live our career uh close by um so that was awesome two lovely children who are
1:00:52
both now in the military so did a good job from a a four generation pieces they
1:00:57
both went to RMC got free degrees and now they’re on their merry way to to
1:01:03
whatever they their their heart desires but you know I wouldn’t be here if I did not have the support from the family
1:01:09
like my husband supported like there’s no tomorrow uh it’s a team approach um
1:01:14
he was there when I I mean he allowed me to be who I am right now because again being a mother and a spouse it’s always
1:01:22
challenging um so uh you know I lift my hat to him because because I am uh who I
1:01:27
am because of him and the kids have shown great patience uh not not easy uh
1:01:33
to move and everything else and I think you know again as um as as we go up we
1:01:39
look at you know time and the work life balance and good luck with that I if you find the the recipe please send it to me
1:01:46
but uh you know we we try to to do that but if you can’t have quantity then at
1:01:52
least focus on the quality and how to do this but um you know I have a great
1:01:58
family good and did you experience I guess any um kind of criticism for being
1:02:06
being a mother that was away a lot um not from your family but just from like generally is it well it’s always
1:02:13
interesting like my mom and my mother-in-law I mean they still you know again older generation but my mom would
1:02:20
get up and serve my husband uh the second plate that supper and I’m like hey wait a second you know like
1:02:26
um and my mother-in-law is like how can you deploy and leave the children I’m like but I mean that’s their father like
1:02:33
you know he’s as qualified as I am um to to stay with them but you also have to
1:02:38
be in a way realizing that if you’re not there you don’t get a vote okay so uh
1:02:44
you know like I guess like John I I my the family moved while I was away I was deployed and I came back to a new house
1:02:52
a new kitchen and where all the stuff was endured that I was like o I’m
1:02:57
twitching twitching and the colors but you know it was beautiful and I didn’t
1:03:02
change anything for six months and you know and I sat on my uh because you know
1:03:10
like if you’re not there you don’t get a vote and uh the person that is Left Behind has to have the authority and
1:03:18
they you know he did great so um and I will stick with that story good for you this is public online
1:03:27
yeah I’m not sure he’s listening it’s probably for the best
1:03:33
John how about you um I I’d say three things like you know it’s almost 35
1:03:40
years now that Teresa’s been putting up with me um and I must be doing something
1:03:47
right uh but there’s like three points in my career that jump out that there was really an impact on the family uh
1:03:53
the first one would be uh February March of
1:03:59
1995 uh we I did a tour of alert September to March uh of 94 I came out
1:04:04
in March of 94 we got posted from Alder grve British Columbia to Trenton we lived in a little town called conon uh
1:04:11
just outside Trenton um about a half an hour away from the base and uh on
1:04:17
Valentine’s Day of 1995 Teresa was out visiting uh her family in BC and I
1:04:22
called and I said I’m going back to alert in a month uh and so here was
1:04:27
Teresa with a three-year-old and a 5-year-old uh in a province that she hadn’t lived in before but but in a town
1:04:34
that she knew nobody and it was not a military Community we were like I say half an hour from the base this is Prem
1:04:41
mfrc uh so really um awkward space uh to
1:04:46
be in and I was getting a phone call every five days home this was preil prev VTC um you know so that there’s that
1:04:53
impact uh the next one I would fast forward to to 2010 so little bit of context our young our oldest two kids uh
1:05:02
started school in Trenton we got posted to comok for four years and we went back to Trenton and they graduated with kids
1:05:08
that they started school with Emily the youngest started school in kokx and went
1:05:14
to Trenton and then in 2010 uh we moved her to Ottawa and pulled her out of those friend groups and had to start
1:05:20
over and that was very difficult uh for her uh and so there was a real negative impact there and then the last one would
1:05:26
be on Teresa as a professional she was in that went back to school graduated the same graduated from high school the
1:05:32
same year as our son uh which was quite an achievement on top of everything that else she had been doing uh but became an
1:05:39
educational assistant and I got posted uh well let’s see the job I’m in
1:05:45
now I’ve been in 28 months so when I
1:05:50
crossed the 25mon period it was the longest job I’d had since 2008 without to move so every time we moved she had
1:05:58
to start over lose seniority uh the last three moves prior to this one she said
1:06:04
I’ve had enough I’m going to retire uh was the salary went down a couple of dollars an hour between BC to to
1:06:12
Saskatchewan to Manitoba and it was it was difficult for her as on her to maintain her professional life as as my
1:06:19
life excelled and I went up uh and she followed my success and and the whole
1:06:25
family uh has succeeded in spite of my career like they’ve they’ve all done
1:06:31
well uh in spite of my career so that’s you know and that’ll be when I retire
1:06:37
and do my DWD that’ll probably be the most emotional part of the speech you’re doing really well you know
1:06:44
it’s funny that the the flower of the military kids it’s a dendon okay because
1:06:49
they grow everywhere and uh that is quite the image of what we do to our
1:06:55
family every time we move you know we onlyin what’s that word in English uh we
1:07:01
remove the roots or something uproots from one place to another and then they get to a new community new um new new
1:07:10
school new friends and you know and they they they start again and they bloom and
1:07:15
it’s such a a great flower for the representation of of military uh children and and the spouse are
1:07:22
incredible uh that you know again when you look at the strength behind the uniform is the families because we would
1:07:29
not be able to be who we are without their support
1:07:35
absolutely and so I already spoke to family a little bit in the opening and
1:07:40
uh I’ve definitely seen through colleagues and friends the the challenge of maintaining spousal employment and
1:07:46
the the impact that can have on quality of life and affording housing and I’ve been incredibly lucky on that front so
1:07:52
uh Tom works for a national consulting firm and has clients all over um when we moved to musall in 2019 uh his firm
1:07:59
allowed him to work remotely 100% of the time before it was cool um and uh so the
1:08:06
pandemic didn’t really change his working life no of the move the biggest impact I think he describes is that uh
1:08:12
everyone else has gotten better at using zoom and remote tools and it’s made his life easier from that perspective but um
1:08:18
we’ve both been able to pursue our professional kind of Journeys in parallel and and I’m extremely grateful
1:08:23
for that um and I know it’s not the norm for most military families I think
1:08:31
uh moving from Toronto to Moose J I would say that’s probably shock probably a shock well and it’s continued to pay
1:08:39
benefits because uh I’m going to get to travel around to fait this summer and uh someone who works remotely has the benefit of tagging along for some of
1:08:45
that too that is true that is the big challenge is picking where he does or doesn’t want to visit in the
1:08:52
schedule that’s nice to have choices um all right so we’ve got about 15
1:08:57
minutes left um so looking back over your career and um I think Ed you can
1:09:05
you can talk to speak to your experience with the reserves in this as well um how would you describe your experience in
1:09:12
the military in the Air Force more specifically like have there been moments where you sat back and thought
1:09:17
like okay maybe I will bail um or has it just been generally quite positive I
1:09:24
think mine has been very very uh incredibly positive like I join uh with
1:09:30
the idea of bailing after 5 years and uh I I just you know that door closed and
1:09:37
then it was opportunities to Opportunities and then I was at like you know 20 years of service and then I was
1:09:42
that you know and then it was the co of the Squadron then it was you know a wing Commander then it was an opportunity
1:09:48
then it was a onear then it was and it was always a a new a new opportunities
1:09:54
uh and I I never quit uh honestly I just forgot so um you know it’s it’s not
1:10:00
always been easy uh I mean we’re going through culture Evolution and the role of women and the integration like you
1:10:07
know we move from integration uh to inclusion uh integration was having to
1:10:13
you know almost high do you you were as a women to be one of the the gang where
1:10:18
now we can come to work and and be fully who we are you know I don’t have to hide the fact that yes I’m a woman yes I’m
1:10:25
I’m a mother yes I’m a spouse and that’s okay uh it’s it’s not always been like that so that has been uh a relief uh of
1:10:33
not having to hide and change who you are to belong so that has been great and
1:10:38
we keep on working for that but uh for sure uh it’s been it’s been a
1:10:44
blast John would you say the same yeah I looking back I don’t think I could do
1:10:50
anything else but this I think I I probably I wouldn’t have enjoyed it as much as I as I’ve enjoyed uh my career
1:10:59
if I could do it all over again absolutely I’d do it all over again um I I was a real supporter when when our son
1:11:06
decided that he wanted to go in and I was just hoping that he would have the same experiences in the same Adventures
1:11:12
that that I did um but I didn’t join it was the same way I I joined as a job and
1:11:17
it turned into a career because I just found my nich and I I ran with it and just loved the challenge um of getting
1:11:26
into different situations different Technologies and uh you know the future
1:11:32
took care of itself because I was having so much fun in the day that the the future took care of itself that’s a nice
1:11:38
way to look at it for sure i’ how about you I mean I look back on the relatively
1:11:44
short journey and uh things have generally gone very much the way I want them to but if I if I look down the time
1:11:49
Arrow kind of as I lived it uh there are all these decision points in your Air Force career um where things can go the
1:11:56
way you want or not the way you want and at the end of phase two of pilot training or basic Flight Training there’s that big streaming to
1:12:02
helicopters or multi-engine airplanes or the the fighter stream and uh a lot of
1:12:08
people come in with very specific desires and they don’t always get what they want um and you know my own Journey
1:12:15
continued on to the the fighter stream and at the end of that I didn’t want to be a fighter pilot I wanted to be an instructor and that could have gone
1:12:21
either way and then the snowboard application Tri out process is very similar that there’s no guarantees in
1:12:27
that um so thinking through it as I lived it all of those were very stressful despite
1:12:33
having experience despite being older um I didn’t know what the future was going to be like and um it has all worked out
1:12:40
very well like I said in hindsight but um that stress is real when you’re going through it and I think everyone who goes
1:12:45
through the pilot uh the military pilot training Journey has to square with the
1:12:50
fact that those things can go the way you want they may not go the way you want but even if it’s an unexpected
1:12:56
route I think people generally have a very fruitful career a very good time they experience things that they may not
1:13:02
have planned on but they end up enjoying in the end and I think that Ed as a secret here is that you know when a door
1:13:09
closes another one opens and you can look at life as oh my God I didn’t get what I wanted or what did I get and how
1:13:17
do I make this a great opportunity and I think that’s that’s how successful people are successful by staying
1:13:25
positive and giving it a shot and that not closing opportunities because you didn’t get what you wanted you know
1:13:32
sometimes we don’t even know what we want we think we know what we want but at the end it works out great in a
1:13:38
different way so not closing doors and keeping open-minded is the key to
1:13:44
success yeah I agree I think that’s you know that can apply to everything everything all the time um so I’d like
1:13:52
to move a little bit toward um what I was calling the projections section of the questions um so we talked about a
1:13:58
little bit about this in the back room just saying the Canadian military is struggling with Recruitment and Retention and you know the aviation
1:14:06
industry is in general as well and what are your thoughts on getting more folks interested in serving with the Air
1:14:12
Force if I had all the answers to that I would be very successful now I think uh you know again it’s uh reconnected with
1:14:19
Canadians uh covid did not really help us we had a bit of a cultural uh crisis
1:14:24
where people didn’t see the calf as potentially a place that they wanted to be uh I think that the calf is a great
1:14:31
place for Youth and not so Youth and everyone to give it a shot again we used to join the military looking at I’m
1:14:38
going to spend 25 years it’s not about 25 years if you want to go give it a try
1:14:44
uh and and spend five years we’ll take you for five years and you know the same thing might happen to you where you will
1:14:49
fall in love and at the end we’ll have you for 25 years but you know we never say no to people
1:14:55
um you know mothers grandmothers um like give it a try it’s not about it’s not a
1:15:01
youth game okay um so I think also in a way the calf uh you know we were talking
1:15:06
about how we we did training we are changing what the calf um we need to
1:15:12
honestly we need to attract uh Canadians and we need to make sure they want to join us so it’s a change an evolution in
1:15:20
culture how do we C how we train how we support our members but you know more than 100
1:15:25
occupation so there is a job for everyone of you out there there’s a job
1:15:31
for your nephews and nieces and children and and and and everything so uh you
1:15:37
know go on on our website uh we have a lot to offer and uh you won’t regret
1:15:45
it what are your thoughts John I I think you know 2024 and the H hundredth gives
1:15:50
us an awesome opportunity to re-engage with the Canadians and and look back at at names like Barker and and those that
1:15:58
came before us and remember them but it’s this great opportunity to inspire the next generation of Canadians if you
1:16:03
look at the future of the RCF um in the last 18 months we’ve had
1:16:10
44 billion dollar worth committed to capital projects that are bringing new
1:16:15
platforms like the F-35 platforms we’ve never had before like the mq9 Bravo just these great new technologies that’ll
1:16:22
take us from a third and fourth generation Air Force to a fifth J Air Force and I think the opportunities that
1:16:28
that people will see themselves at maybe to come and work in this Cutting Edge technology whereas you know some of the
1:16:35
Technologies we have now they’re they’re getting to the end of life and and this may inspire people to come join the same
1:16:42
as when you know we brought the the last big modernization I think was late 80s early 90s when we got f8s and and other
1:16:50
aircraft in so maybe this will have the same uh effect on recruiting when people see I can I can be a tech or a pilot uh
1:16:58
of an mq9 Bravo or or an F35 and you know I I think this is an opportunity
1:17:04
that we can’t miss out on and we’ve got a team that’s that’s setting us up well to to connect with Canadians and and
1:17:10
have some great activities to get out there and spread the message get into schools and Inspire Youth and and you
1:17:16
know even getting stuff on at the Museum here I know that uh there’s some tools coming that hopefully will help Inspire
1:17:21
Youth and and connecting with our Cadet programs as well and the cadet programs aren’t about build building the next
1:17:28
generation of military it’s it’s about building great citizens of Canada if we
1:17:34
happen to inspire them to take the path in the military like I did hey that’s great but I think we need to to
1:17:40
reconnect with our Cadet programs and their Cadets are great um one to show
1:17:45
them what a career in aviation could be it could be on the civilian side could be on the military side uh but also to
1:17:51
just get people to get into the program because it makes really great
1:17:58
Canadians nice one of them is Ed former Cadet I think the first point that was
1:18:04
made in terms of um people having multiple careers is very important you know the younger Generations are
1:18:09
probably going to have two three four careers in their lifetime and being able to come into the organization later in
1:18:14
life is one of those things I think people might take for granted particularly in the pilot trade um
1:18:20
Canada is unusual in that you can join later in life most other major air forces have a cutle date and if you’re
1:18:25
not trained as a pilot by age 26 29 varies by country it’s just not an
1:18:30
option and so we have this unique opportunity in Canada to to encourage people to join the Air Force
1:18:37
specifically in a pilot context later in life than they could elsewhere and uh I think that’s something people should
1:18:42
appreciate and hopefully take advantage of to uh to join as a viable second or
1:18:47
third career if that’s something they want to do uh I’m amazed how often I meet people and they say oh I wish I
1:18:53
could do what you do I wish I could be a pilot and my typical line is that it’s never too late um so that would be my
1:19:00
takeaway what is the cut off just instantly what is what is the cut off age in in Canada for pilot training I
1:19:07
think it’s like 40 48 because you need to be able to get train and get a return
1:19:12
on investment before you turn 60 but it’s it’s quite late wow that is
1:19:18
yeah great I hear some potential recruits mumbling out there yes indeed I mean again remember that you know the
1:19:25
Can Armed Force is a place where you can join we will train you uh we will give you relatively good compensation and
1:19:32
benefit and give you the chance to make the a a world of a difference amongst Canadians and on the uh on on the world
1:19:40
which is you know uh which is a pretty cool thing to do really good at this recruiting I get
1:19:47
paid on uh quantities of recruits after so anyone who’s interested after me uh
1:19:52
just come and see me I got business cards there’s definitely a cut involved there
1:19:58
10% um all right so I think maybe the last question we got about five minutes left um what do you think the uh rcaf
1:20:07
looks like 2 25 years from now is the impact of new technologies
1:20:13
John you alluded to to some of them but then others like drones and Ai and how does that change the the character of
1:20:19
air power M forward well you think at the end of the day uh I think platform forms are are going to be completely
1:20:27
different but at the core of the rcaf is its people and they’re always going to
1:20:33
be exceptional people because that’s the tra the tradition that we have and
1:20:38
that’s who joins and how we train them and the respect and the teamwork so I
1:20:44
think again uh the people are going to be the best in the world and hopefully the platforms too but I’m I’m I think my
1:20:51
line of operation is about about people and they’re the core of everything we
1:20:57
do yeah I I agree you know we the the commander and I we get out into town
1:21:03
halls and and we can say what the the air force of 2035 looks like because we
1:21:08
know what platforms we’re going to have because we we’ve bought them in the last 18 months so we know what the platforms
1:21:15
are going to be like and we know what the people are going to be like because we know we’re going to have a diverse
1:21:21
inclusive respectful Workforce uh that’s represent ative of Canadians that’s
1:21:26
professional um we’re we’re building we’re more focus on on leader character
1:21:33
uh which is a huge step forward uh for the institution especially when it comes
1:21:39
down to respect and inclusion uh speaking now more about the importance of character which I I don’t think well
1:21:45
we obviously we know we weren’t in the right spot with respect to that for for a period of time but we’re we’re getting
1:21:51
better at it and and general bergon has alluded to the fact that we’re in a we’re getting to a better place there I
1:21:58
I think the technology AI will enable our aviators to to make decisions
1:22:05
quicker um you know we’re seeing that with some of the projects that we have rolling out now uh I I think teaming you
1:22:12
know the F35 is probably the last aircraft we’ll buy that uh flies in a four pack that there’s four pilots
1:22:18
flying those aircraft I I think you’ll see that in the as we move to a sixth generation Air Force uh but we got to
1:22:25
get good at being a fifth gen first and we have to get back to what’s important uh with respect to uh strong at home
1:22:32
secure in North America engaged in the world and as long as we don’t lose those pillars uh and we bring in uh great
1:22:39
Canadians that want to serve uh whether that’s for five years or 35 years I I think we’ll be in a good
1:22:45
place you need to add I mean I’m more of a historian than a futurist so thinking about 25 years in the future I think 25
1:22:52
years in the past and you you know in ter as of parallels in the mid 90s uh we
1:22:58
had just retired the F5 and stood down 419 Squadron sounds kind of like something has just happened now uh we
1:23:05
stood down the functional groups instead of one CAD in that kind of era we’ve just stood up three CAD is the space
1:23:11
division um we were going through culture change in the late 90s you know the the Somalia commission had reported
1:23:17
and we were kind of building on that just as we’re working with the arbor report now and um uh you know if I think
1:23:25
forward I imagine in 25 years there will be some organizational change we might have a slightly different uniform
1:23:31
there’s probably be some kind of a cultural change effort undergoing uh underway and there’ll be some platform
1:23:37
change along the way so I think kind of end this where we started is going to come down to having the
1:23:42
people having enough of them having the right people um and what they’re going to be doing day-to-day is probably not going to be all that different from what
1:23:48
we do now all right so I realized actually I did a bad moderator thing and uh I’m
1:23:55
missing the questions from the audience so sorry I had a lot of my own um so on
1:24:01
that note maybe we’ll just uh we’ll take maybe 10 minutes and get some questions from the audience if there’s any uh or I
1:24:07
think online there’s somebody moderating that as well oh you’re gonna have to throw that Jared I think Jared’s good um
1:24:15
so that that box is a microphone um so if anybody has any questions Jared will throw it at
1:24:21
you it’s very it’s very soft I think there’s one over there
1:24:27
Jared run run for your life oh no he’s got a microphone okay no there’s somebody else traveling I’m just curious
1:24:34
as to uh what all the initials after your uh ranks what they refer
1:24:41
to CMM CSM and all this yeah the CMM is
1:24:46
commander of merary uh Merit the MSC is meritorious service cross which is uh an
1:24:53
award and the CD is the Canadian decoration so it’s kind of medals uh
1:24:58
with services or experience yeah and mmm is a member of
1:25:03
the order of military Merit just a different rank than uh than the generals and then the Canadian Forces
1:25:11
decoration uh yes so the same with me for the CD and then ad Toc is uh stands for a to Camp so uh the the general book
1:25:18
about uh work life balance I like to keep busy so in addition to flying with the snowbirds and do some history on the
1:25:24
side I’m an aid to Camp to the lieutenant governor of Saskatchewan thank you and CD is for 12
1:25:30
years of service right yeah anybody else someone in the middle
1:25:36
there launch the projectile that’s pretty cool wasn’t kidding good job I don’t know any thank
1:25:45
you very much uh I before I ask my question I want to say uh that uh I’m
1:25:50
not in the service but uh it makes me confident and proud I didn’t convince you to join is that
1:25:56
what you’re were saying I’m a little old
1:26:01
ah been retired for eight years but anyway no my question uh is really this
1:26:07
is about a 100 Years of uh rcaf history and I’m curious to get your comments
1:26:13
about to what extent you feel that the history of the rcaf has affected your lives how much does it come into what
1:26:19
you do and how much of looking back and feeling like of 100 Year
1:26:26
organization by the way my wife’s father was at P Perry in 1943 was a
1:26:31
pilot anyway awesome well sometimes I feel like I’m a 100 years old uh no I’m
1:26:37
just kidding um it’s it’s nice catch you know I I
1:26:43
think that we have to look at um for me uh it’s it’s all the people that came
1:26:49
before me and open the doors that were closed and as a women who joined the
1:26:55
military in ‘ 87 uh they were great women that came before me because let’s
1:27:00
be honest you know yes there was uh women in World War I they were in B Wars but you know in in the 70s women were
1:27:08
allowed to serve but as soon as they got married or got pregnant they they were they they had to leave you know there
1:27:14
was a maximum of 5,000 women and then that was it and then you know the occupation slowly started uh opening and
1:27:22
then uh they open to combat uh occupation and then we started sailing
1:27:29
but those uh those first women it was extremely difficult what they did and um
1:27:37
and and and many of them did not uh stay because it was just horrible uh let’s
1:27:43
let’s be honest okay um and and I think I’m I’m here uh because of those
1:27:49
courageous and dedicated women that open the door so that I could be here and and
1:27:54
my my job I guess is to continue to progress as we go forward so that my
1:28:00
daughter who’s about to graduate from Military College doesn’t have to go through the same thing as as I did I
1:28:07
mean she’s going to have some challenges for sure but then the Baton will be passed to her to make a difference as we
1:28:12
go forward so that’s the way I see it from more of a a women and the integration and where we go from
1:28:18
integration to inclusion uh which is f fascinating for me uh but uh
1:28:25
yeah um before I let the historian go um the young exper yeah that the one thing
1:28:33
about about being a chief is is you’re you know kind of the steward of the history and and the traditions and the
1:28:39
the one good thing about the Traditions is Traditions can change as we grow as an institution but when we look back at
1:28:45
the history I I think it’s really important that we get out and and speak and and keep the history alive uh and so
1:28:52
the last couple years I’ve gone to Remembrance Day in Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Toronto and have gone to
1:28:57
speak at a school ahead of time and talk about Barker uh because Barker is
1:29:03
interred at uh at Mount Pleasant in Toronto and his funeral was the largest and probably still holds the record for
1:29:09
the largest funeral in the city of Toronto because not many people know that when he was done uh in the Air
1:29:16
Force he became the first president of the Toronto Maple Leafs and that’s the story behind why the RCF colors the
1:29:23
retired colors are actually in the Air Canada Center in Toronto is the link between the RCF and the Toronto Maple
1:29:29
Leafs yeah okay for the Habs fans I get it maybe we bet on the wrong horse uh you’ve won more than we have but uh but
1:29:36
but getting out and telling the stories and making sure that that history doesn’t die uh as we uh as we move on so
1:29:44
I think these engagements to get out and and to continue to tell the story to keep it alive will hopefully Inspire
1:29:51
somebody there’ll be a spark there that they want to go out and and do what Barker did but in newer
1:29:58
aircraft right Ed give us the rundown well Barker but Barker could not
1:30:04
fly it was just a great shot that’s true yes yes I mean I think of eron’s
1:30:10
comments in the beginning about how much concrete went into building the runways for the BCP aerodromes and I walk into
1:30:16
work every day into one of those hangers that was built and you know you can’t help but feel the history of what’s
1:30:21
happened since that structure was built in 194 1 um but in terms of telling the
1:30:26
stories of Canadians who’ve served uh I think artifacts are really important and
1:30:32
I think museums like this have a critical role to play but uh there’s also the living part of history and I
1:30:38
think getting out there with with vintage airplanes and uh particularly if serving members can fly them to tell
1:30:43
those stories to link the past and the present and to to not just honor those those that came before but to to use
1:30:49
them as a good example for those of us who serve and for those who want to serve I think it’s important to use
1:30:55
these tools we have history isn’t just a Dusty Book on a shelf it can really be brought to life um as a way to inspire
1:31:01
people and and make the future a better
1:31:07
place Arian do you want to do the the zoom question or oh we got one all lined up already
1:31:12
okay hi um I no that you have a CF 100 up there in the center reason why I’m
1:31:18
asking my question I was looking at the baged Ville Air Show uh page they they
1:31:24
have a poster showing all the aircraft that are be flying there like they got like a CFA snowbirds and then they also
1:31:31
include a g cf100 are they teasing us with some sort
1:31:37
of U upcoming surprise that a you know anything about that I don’t know what
1:31:43
aircraft are flying in bagotville um but I can certainly get
1:31:49
the answer to Aaron here at the Museum uh but yeah I’m not sure I know
1:31:55
we’ve got vintage aircraft flying at a bunch of air shows but I don’t know if if that’s one of them and I haven’t seen
1:32:02
the list for for baville but we can certainly find out if they’re just trying to increase ticket sales by
1:32:07
showing that picture I don’t well it’s got a little bit of discussion buz’s all about
1:32:18
it there’s one over here you’ve got one there all right cool the mic hard to see with the eyes
1:32:25
uh first of all I I’d like to thank you guys for your service uh talking about
1:32:31
platforms General uh right on we won’t say anything further it was
1:32:40
an awesome aircraft I mean you know it it it served Canada very well and uh I
1:32:47
uh it was it was a lot of fun and the Brits are still fling so okay uh my
1:32:54
question is um I uh have the privilege of being a member of the uh organization
1:33:01
that adds a life member of Canadian Harbor Aircraft Association I get to play with the old stuff
1:33:07
too um do you think that the uh
1:33:13
ability to be agile in all the trades is going to
1:33:19
continue in the rcaf because the budgets are tight
1:33:25
oh you know I think it’s cyclical uh and budgets goes and and and comes and uh it
1:33:33
might be a bit tough right now but I think it’s going to it’s going to change and the Air Force is celebrating a 100
1:33:40
years uh and it’s going to continue to do great so I’m not worried about budget
1:33:46
um I think again it’s the people that make a difference and we will lead our
1:33:52
way to suc I I think that the point I’ll add is is
1:33:58
we know what the air force of 2035 looks like in the way of equipment but we don’t know what it looks like in the way
1:34:03
of the structure of our people and one of the things that the commander has asked us to do is a force structure
1:34:09
review because if if you look at the trade structure that we operate under today not just the Air Force but the
1:34:15
calf it’s a cold war structure based in the 80s it’s it’s the occupation there’s been some mild changes that the air
1:34:21
maintenance trades have split and come together in a split um but pretty soon we’re going to have uh no platforms left
1:34:28
that we need a flight engineer on so so what do we do with that occupation so that that’s what we have to figure out
1:34:34
what we want to be when we grow up in 2035 as to what the trade structure needs to be for the platforms we’re
1:34:40
going to operate so we will always have agile uh professional aviators that
1:34:46
they’ll get the job done no matter what it’s just we have to look of of whether you know 29 managed a occupations are
1:34:54
the right uh configuration for the new Air Force or the air force of the
1:35:01
future and I would just add on to the people point that it’s not just people individually it’s people operating as a
1:35:06
team and and everyone brings their own strengths to that team if they join later in life they may bring broad
1:35:12
experience and you know individuals as a team can accomplish way more and that’s
1:35:18
going to be one of the ways we get through adverse periods as we always have been a few
1:35:25
uh all right hi um so we have two quick things from our online audience uh the
1:35:30
first Aon your husband saying um given that the cuto off age is 48 are you okay with him
1:35:37
joining and the answer is yes le le gets a cut I gota go with it
1:35:44
um but actually so Richard online is asking have you seen a significant evolution of tools and metrics used to
1:35:50
assess staff within the rcaf in terms of performance
1:35:56
well we just uh change how we uh evaluate people uh looking again as as
1:36:03
inclusive leadership okay because we’re we’re recognizing uh we used to um
1:36:09
looked at competency and we forgot about character and now we’re kind of switching a little bit as looking at
1:36:15
okay character is the base and we will teach you competency and how do we
1:36:21
reward inclusive leadership okay um because at the end of the day
1:36:26
it’s not about getting the job done it’s how you get the job done and the the
1:36:32
team aspect of this and uh so we just change our evaluation and for me
1:36:39
personally I think that’s going to be a big change on the leaders of tomorrow because it’s important to lead again
1:36:46
with empathy compassion uh vulnerability humility uh
1:36:52
towards success uh especially when you lead a team okay there’s no I in team so
1:36:57
let’s make sure that we don’t reward individualists uh and and getting the job done at at at whatever cost okay
1:37:04
that teamwork piece is important and uh so we’re we’re switching how we evaluate
1:37:10
to look at inclusive leaders and we actually recognize uh inclusive leaders
1:37:16
and we give them the command opportunities from an officer and an ncms so we reward what we want to see
1:37:23
and by by having more inclusive leaders you know the the young troops or The Not So Young troops are going to look at
1:37:29
their leaders and will try to emulate what they’re seeing and we’re going to change what the calf and the leadership
1:37:34
of the calf looks like in in the future and I think that’s going to be a big change and a good change uh because
1:37:41
again uh operational uh success uh is what we’re uh trying to achieve and that
1:37:47
diversity is important okay to getting that uh strength so um yeah
1:37:54
I I think the only thing I would I that that’s great on the people’s side uh and I can’t add anything to that I’d just
1:38:01
say from the operational side if we look at metrics um you know our our air maintenance Branch can look at the
1:38:08
number of qualified technicians and make predu uh predictions on whether we’re going to hit our yearly flying rate on
1:38:15
specific fleets in the out years uh for years to come so we can see where we need to uh to adjust uh to make sure
1:38:23
that you know we have the right amount of technicians to hit targets or we can see where fleets are not going to meet
1:38:29
the targets because they don’t have the right amount of technicians so we can either train more or reallocate to make
1:38:34
sure that that thing is there so it’s we’re doing data analytics but as we as
1:38:40
we move forward with digitalization I think there’s going to be more numbers at our fingertips it’s just the matter
1:38:46
that we have to interpret them the right way so we’re learning to pull the right data that actually means something
1:38:52
instead of pulling data just for the sake of pulling
1:38:57
data did you have anything you wanted to add or um I mean from a calwide standpoint the inclusive kind of
1:39:03
character assessments are I think critical um and and key from a very
1:39:08
Niche pilot training perspective um one point I’ll make is that there’s some things that haven’t changed a lot and uh
1:39:14
if you look at the the phases of tests that student Pilots do their clear test their inent test their formation test um
1:39:22
those actually haven’t changed basically since the BCP there’s been some mild tweaking but if you trace the syllabus
1:39:27
going back over time that’s one area where the way you build a pilot has not changed a great deal the platforms have
1:39:34
changed but the process fundamentally structurally is very very similar
1:39:39
so so I think maybe we’ll take one more question and then everyone will proceed to the lobby and and enjoy the catering
1:39:47
there’s one up in the center there in the gentleman’s there can you he doesn’t
1:39:52
have the box anymore more
1:39:59
[Music] but thank you good evening and thank you
1:40:07
everybody that was a lovely presentation thank you for having all of us my name is jofo and I work with University of
1:40:13
waterl in the business development Ro for the co-op program so listening to
1:40:18
the presentation and the history something we keep thinking about in um the co-op is how to facilitate job
1:40:25
development for the students and the Next Generation so my question really is around work development and
1:40:31
opportunities for the Next Generation to maybe work on uh Co-op terms or join you
1:40:39
know fulltime but I think more around just that experiential learning and building a bridge to connect the both
1:40:45
walls are you thinking in this direction and there any ways that we can support that thank
1:40:51
you well again and you know the the the the regular forces doesn’t have to be a
1:40:56
life commitment okay it can be a shorttime commitment um The Reserve
1:41:02
where uh the youth can can become uh you know reservice where they they work uh
1:41:08
evenings and weekends and and and different uh kind of opportunities uh on
1:41:13
the on the side of of D and we have like summer um and and you know uh Co-op
1:41:19
program uh that we try to facilitate because that is a good way I mean again you don’t have to wear the uniform to be
1:41:26
part of the defense team okay there is many public servants that work as part of the team because again Success is Not
1:41:33
only in uniform um you know contractors and and Academia we will not survive
1:41:39
without Academia so it’s a full team so if there’s any interest uh there’s lots
1:41:45
of job and lots of challenges for the entire uh piece is there so please uh
1:41:50
get in touch and uh we’ll be more than happy to um to um I don’t say the word
1:41:56
use because that’s kind of a but to uh to um utilize utilize thank
1:42:02
you your talent all right well thank you so much
1:42:07
everyone I would invite you to join us all in the lobby for a little reception and thank our guests you all for coming