Description
Ms. Streppa describes joining the navy as a signalman and later realizing her goal of becoming a military nurse.
Joanna Streppa
Ms. Streppa was born in Montreal. She joined the Canadian Forces in 1989 as a non-commissioned member and trained as a Naval Signaller. From 1990 - 1997 she was employed in the Halifax area with the exception of a two year tour at the National Defense Headquarters in Ottawa. After obtaining her Nursing degree from Dalhousie University, Ms. Streppa received her Officer Commission, specializing in Critical Care, and in 2004 was promoted to rank of Lieutenant. In February 2006, she accepted a deployment to Afghanistan/Kandahar and was employed as a Staff Officer within the Canadian Forces Health Services Group Headquarters upon her return.
Transcript
Well, it’s natural progression. When you’re in Cadets, I enjoyed the military life at that point. The discipline and being with the people who were in the military. I tried to join as a medical technician, but we had a four year waiting list way back then. So I joined in the navy because it was the fastest route to get into the military. I was a signalman for about seven years and really enjoyed it at that point, but realized I needed to do more and went back to a medical profession, applied for a program that would pay my education, and I got accepted and became a nurse out of it.I was the first crew of women to go through. It was interesting, very, very interesting. You had to stand up for yourself a little bit and once that you become like one of the boys, everything’s good. Yeah.I sailed a six month NATO in Europe. I did a lot of Caribbean Ops, which is in the Caribbeans, fishery patrols which is basically St. John’s, Newfoundland, and come back and forth. I did some shore postings, PEI and Ottawa, but most of it was at sea. It was interesting work at the beginning, but I found that I needed more responsibility so that’s why I switched over to nursing, and I wanted to be a medical person.