A group of West Kings Grade 10 students had an inside look at 14 Wing Greenwood workspaces most people will never see, all in the hopes of recruiting them for a Canadian Armed Forces career.
May 10 and 11, volunteers at 404 (Long Range Patrol and Training) Squadron and 14 Air Maintenance Squadron toured students through a deconstructed CP140 Aurora aircraft, to the top of the air traffic control tower, deep into a workshop with stations for metal fabrication, machining, sewing, painting and more; past aircraft engines set on cradles for servicing, and into the pilot’s seat of a high-tech flight simulator. With just three or four students per group, and three groups per day, this was a close-up, hands-on, personalized opportunity to see a range of trades they may pursue in a civilian world, but with the perks of a military environment.
“They don’t realize what a privilege it is to see what we’re seeing here,” said Options and Opportunities lead teacher Lynn Little. “We’re very much a military school: lots of our kids have parents in the military here, but may not know what they do in a working day. This tour is us being able to take advantage of what’s in our own school backyard.”
Organizer Bill Brown welcomed the first students May 10, particularly partial to showing them the flight simulator, where he works, “but you’re going to see some other things that are really interesting, too –enjoy that.” And, he admitted, the tour would be his first opportunity to visit the new-ish air traffic control tower.
“But your time in the simulator is the most precious – the best video game on the East Coast!”
Captain Gillian Rideout sounded pretty proud of her shop’s capability of taking an Aurora “right down to the studs” after every 950 flying hours, and then coordinating weeks of inspections and maintenance work to get the aircraft ready to return to service.
“It has to be done properly,” she said. “It’s fun, but also a responsibility. Once planes are in the air, they have to work.”
In the 14 AMS engine bay, Master Corporal Don Leynes described “lots and lots of opportunity: all the levels, all the qualifications. The military invests in you, with the goal to get you qualified and productive.”
Down the hall in 10 Hangar, in the aircraft structures technicians’ shop, though, Corporal Peter Blakesley described the team’s work on “metal shaping, forming, cutting; all the lines, plates, fasteners, brackets….
“The coolest thing about this place is you have every tool at your disposal to build anything you want. Every day is different, exciting and not what you’d expect.”
A life in the military was not what Major Mike Smith expected as a 19-year-old in Newfoundland.
“My father was in, and I never saw it for me. Here I am – 32 years later.”
Smith is 14 Wing’s chief of staff. Through his military career, he’s been a Reservist, Regular Force; he’s been army and air force; he’s been a radar and communications technician, a university student, an aerospace engineering officer, an infantryman; he’s deployed, he’s served with special operations and recruiting.
“I wish, at 15, 16 or 17 years old, I had the opportunity to speak with people who may have had answers to questions I had,” Smith shared with students as their daily tours wrapped up. “There are hundreds of different jobs in the military for you, and they are all options.
“You’re in O2, already a program that is letting you take advantage of a system to ask questions and try things. If you want a job – to go here, to do that – put your hand up. The military will give you opportunity, teach you how to do things that give you confidence, take on different jobs and responsibilities.”
Smith shared some tips and answered students’ questions on approaching the Canadian Armed Forces for education and career information, including application timelines and expectations, medical and fitness requirements, and what boot camp looks like.
“I’m still in uniform – I love it, I’m passionate about it and want to recruit other people to this life.”
