Experience = understanding

When Artillery Officer (Retired) Lu Han meets with a Veteran adjusting to life after military service, she brings more than her professional training as an occupational therapist—she brings her own military experience.

Han understands how it feels to miss the structure and sense of belonging that come with service because she is a Veteran.

"I have empathy of what they lived through," she explains.

Han is an occupational therapist with Veterans Affairs Canada.

Two decades ago, she was a newly immigrated Chinese-Canadian girl starting her own military path.

She says her service shaped who she is and helped guide her career in many beneficial ways.

In 2000, when she was just 10, she and her family arrived in Canada from China.

A spark of interest

She was just 15 when a Canadian Armed Forces recruitment booth at her New Brunswick high school career day caught her eye. The prospect of earning her own money for university in a unique way appealed to her.

"I’m not a flipping-burger kind of girl," she says with a laugh.

She talked to the recruiter then excitedly hurried home to tell her mom and dad.

But her parents, who had both undergone mandatory military training in China, weren’t too excited about her idea.

“Coming from a communist country, joining the military has very different meanings and obligations,” she says.

The family was still adjusting to life in Canada and knew the conflict in Afghanistan was intensifying and the threat of her going to war was real.

But Han was not going to be denied.

She had what she now calls the "false confidence of a 16-year-old."

Military service shapes character

Her military application was in the mail within weeks and on November 9, 2006, at 16 years old, she enrolled in the Canadian Armed Forces Reserve.

She remembers the first years in uniform as some of the most formative of her life.

She started with the 3rd Field Artillery Regiment in New Brunswick and then transferred to 2nd Field Artillery Regiment while completing her undergraduate studies in Nova Scotia.

A senior officer recognized her potential and encouraged her to become an officer. Officer training at Canadian Forces Base Gagetown tested her physically and mentally.

"It was a test of resilience," she says.

"When I thought I had nothing left to give, I still had to find something in me."

One particular exercise stands out in her memory. After two weeks of pouring rain and a long march carrying a heavy rucksack, the then-19-year-old was soaked and exhausted.

"I am thinking, 'my friends are travelling to Spain and doing their Euro trip backpacking,'" she remembers.

"And here I was thinking, 'I want to go back and talk to that recruiter again. He did not tell me about this.'"

Back to school

The warm, dry lecture theatres at McGill University were a welcome change as Han went on to get her master’s degree in occupational therapy, using her military training and connections to accomplish her goals.

"The military was something that stayed stable during all of those years," she says.

After a decade of service, she decided it was time for another change. She carried the skills she honed in her service into her civilian career.

"My first real job was the military, where I learned my leadership skills, where I learned my interactions with individuals, where I learned how to take orders and react to orders," she says.

A challenging adjustment

She found moving into her new career as an occupational therapist a big adjustment.

"I joined the military at 16, stayed until 26. And so if you think back to being 16, those are some really fundamental years of your life. They are the years when people begin establishing their identities, goals and values."

A decade after releasing, she can still see those military influences in her decision-making, confidence and willingness to tackle big challenges head-on.

"I would say I pivoted."

She is grateful to the military mentors who stepped up when she needed them.

Leaders like the military padre she turned to when her grandfather died. Years later she still considers the padre a friend.

After graduating with her master’s degree, when she struggled to find work, a member of her regiment found her administrative work to keep her going.

Another military connection led to an opportunity as an ergonomic consultant for a major grocery store chain.

"That family is there to push you to your absolute limits and to test you, to know who you are and what you can be. But that’s also a family that’s there for you when you need it."

Sharing her experience

Now Han has found a new way to support the military community as her professional training and life experience come together in the work she does with Veterans.

Her own transition gave her an understanding of how essential transition supports are.

She feels supporting Veterans is much more than a job.

"It's my professional duty, it’s my moral duty, and that’s also my personal duty to take care of all of us, this sisterhood and this brotherhood that we have together."

Her connection to the Veteran community extends beyond her work. She brings her husband and son to Friday fish and chips at the local Legion, teaches occupational therapy students at McMaster University and uses those opportunities to deepen their understanding of Veteran experiences.

Within Veterans Affairs Canada, she has also helped build community for employees who have served. As a co-lead of a Veterans employee resource group career pillar, she works to support the professional development, retention and onboarding of Veterans.

She focuses on what Veteran support can be made available now and into the future.

"That’s what advocacy is about. What worked for me was leaning into the support and the resources around me," she said.

"I will always miss the military community, so I try to replicate that sort of companionship in civilian life."

With courage, integrity, and loyalty, Lu Han is leaving her mark. She is one of our Canadian Armed Forces members. Discover more stories.