Canadian Armed Forces

After joining the Canadian Armed Forces in 1989, Kerry Mould completed his basic training in Chilliwack, British Columbia and went on to serve as a construction engineer. He followed in the footsteps of his grandfather, who served in the same role during the Second World War. His grandfather helped build the Alaska Highway and airfields across Canada and Alaska.

Over the next decade, Kerry Mould was posted to engineering sections across the country, including places like Goose Bay, Labrador, and Winnipeg, Manitoba.

While studying Art and Interior Design at Georgian College in Barrie, Ontario, McGlennon began pondering a career within the CAF. Though two of her uncles and a great-aunt had served during the Second World War, the thought had never really crossed her mind before then.

“I didn’t know if I would suit the military, or rather, if it would suit me.”

As a newly minted 17-year-old Canadian Armed Forces Safety Systems Specialist, Kareth Huber says she felt she was exactly where she was supposed to be in her life.

Growing up, she heard stories of her uncles’ and grandfather’s service as her family moved from base-to-base with her military aircraft mechanic father.

“I was proud of being a soldier. I was always destined to be that,” she said.

Born in Ottawa, Ontario, Josh Bowen joined the Primary Reserves in 2004. His first job in the military was to serve in the Governor General’s Foot Guard at Rideau Hall. Little did he know, this path would lead him to become an expert in domestic disaster response.

Born and raised in northern New Brunswick, Jonathan Thériault joined the army in 2002 and was soon posted to Valcartier with the Royal 22 Regiment, 2^nd Battalion.

In 2007, at just 24 years old, he was deployed to Afghanistan. Shortly after arriving, he and his company were tasked with taking over a mountain. After a day of combat, his company finally gained control of their position. However, his company’s victory was quickly overshadowed by the events that followed.

Mac Savage can sum up his impressive career with the Canadian Armed Forces in one sentence: “I spent 36 years traveling around Canada and the world serving my country.”

He joined the Army as a reservist during his first year of engineering studies at Saint Thomas University. After graduating with a degree in history and philosophy, he joined the Regular Force with the Army’s Royal Canadian Corps of Signals, fueled by dreams of travel.

“I wanted to see the world,” he says.

Embracing two paths

Indigenous. Woman. Veteran. These are all things Corporal (retired) Jocelyne Eastman has always been proud to embrace as her identity and in service to her country.

She knew Indigenous Veterans had historically been stripped of their identities during service, and she didn’t want that to happen to her. “All those important pieces that make an individual can sometimes be lost in service,” she said.

Early life

Growing up on a dairy farm in Montego Bay, Jamaica, Sergeant (retired) Joan Buchanan learned the importance of hard work. “If you don’t get up and do your work, the cows don’t get fed.”

Buchanan emigrated to Toronto at the age of 17. Sixteen years later, she joined the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF), where the work ethic she says she gained on the farm has served her well.

The opening scene

Few people can say they have achieved their childhood dream, but Corporal (Retired) Jean-Sébastien Bergeron is one of them. When Bergeron was five years old, he watched Commando and wanted to be like Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character, John Matrix. Achieving your dreams isn’t easy, especially when the career you love is no longer an option for you, because of your body.