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Sign in to My VAC AccountFrom a very young age, Ontario native Sarah Mizzi has always enjoyed seeking out new adventures. With a love of the outdoors and a passion for travel, she joined the military in 2019 at the age of 25 after attending a local recruiting fair. “I had always wanted to travel and help my community. Whether it’s helping out abroad or domestically, that was something that I was always passionate about.”
In northern Iran, Sampson operated communications equipment and protected unarmed military observers who reported to the UN about Iranian military actions near the border. A similar team operated in Iraq. Isolated and watched by Iranian commandos, the Iranian-Iraqi body exchanges in no man’s land were one of the few times Sampson met another Canadian outside his three-person team. It was there, in an Iranian compound, he says he quickly grew up and became a problem solver.
“We all have our stories. I deserve to be here” are the words etched on a bracelet on Sergeant Rufca Hanna’s wrist. It was a gift from her Invictus Games coach and she never takes it off. The motto reminds her that mental and physical health go hand-in-hand.
“I wear it proudly because it shows me that there is a life after the military. There is a life after everything that happened to you. I want to do well for myself and my country, but I want to show up for every one of my teammates,” says Hanna.
Cornfields surrounds a restored rural Quebec farmhouse nestled between the Appalachian and Laurentian mountain ranges.
On a blue-sky, late summer day, international humanitarian icon Lieutenant-General Roméo Dallaire (Retired) is feeding his backyard chickens.
“Oui, oui, oui,” Dallaire coos as he scatters mealworms for the three copper chickens who follow, like good soldiers, at the heels of his well-polished shoes.
Robert “Bob” Maxwell was just 20 years old when he decided to change his life by volunteering for service in the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1957. What prompted him to make that choice is still a mystery.
“To this day, I couldn’t tell you why I ended up going to the air force and writing the exams,” he explains. Nevertheless, the native of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, has no regrets about the path he chose.
For Maxwell, basic training was in St-Jean, Québec, with an incoming class that included a few other recruits from the Maritimes.
Military service was never really a first choice for Master Corporal (Ret’d) Richard Delve. After completing high-school, Delve undertook a Geology degree. While he was interested in the topic, University setting was just not a good fit. “I am not a sit down and study type of person,” says Delve.
He started to look at college courses, and enrolled in a two-year culinary program at Humber College in Toronto, Ontario. “I always enjoyed cooking, even when I was younger. So I thought, ‘hey, I can do that!’”
Goodchild arrived in Cyprus in 1980, and immediately began supporting the United Nations peacekeeping mission. He was stationed in there for six months and remembers a weird mix of feelings: fear coupled with a willingness to help in any way he could. "I was always ready to go, jump into action, whatever they needed… I was ready to do whatever, whenever."
Linda Long was looking for a banquet pianist when she met Peter Portlock in 1974.
She’d left her home in rural Alberta in 1973 after joining the Air Force. Shortly after completing her basic military and trades administration training, she was posted to Canadian Forces Base Toronto . A year later, while organizing a charity banquet, she was asked to find a pianist, and one of her superiors suggested she connect with Peter Portlock, the new base air force major.
Patti Gray loved her job in the Air Force, and she was very good at it too. She exceeded expectations, earned praise, and looked forward to a long, successful career—until the bigotry of the “LGBT purge” derailed her plans, forced her out of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) and left her unemployed during a recession.
Ms. Natacha Dupuis was born May 25, 1979, in Longueuil, Quebec. Throughout her youth, she wanted to join the military. In 1997, at age 18, Ms. Dupuis joined the reserves and enlisted with Armoured Corp as a tanker.
After completing basic training in Montreal and the Crewman course in Valcartier, Dupuis joined the British Columbia Regiment, where she completed an advanced reconnaissance course. Years later, she joined the Regular Force Leopard tank and Coyote Gunner/Driver training course.
