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Sign in to My VAC AccountDuring her first semester in nursing in CEGEP, her internship supervisor told her, “You’d make a good nurse, but it doesn’t seem like that’s what you want to do.” In her quest for unique adventures and experiences, Sergeant (Ret’d) Geneviève Gauthier decided to go to the CAF recruiting centre in Rimouski. Three weeks later, on the 50th anniversary of the Normandy landing, she enlisted. “It was as though it was meant to be.”
Born into an Acadian family in Mont-Carmel, Prince Edward Island, Mr. Gallant joined the Army and rose to the rank of Captain. He served two tours in Cyprus as Battery Captain as part of the United Nations Peace Keeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) during the 1970s and 1980s. His methods helped many soldiers and his interventions most likely saved many lives, including many Greeks and Turks. Years later as a major, he became a UN Military Observer as part of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organisation (UNTSO), maintaining the peace between Israel, Lebanon and Syria.
Francesca Colussi says she did not initially see herself serving in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF). When she joined Cadets at her mother’s insistence, she hated it.
After a month, she loved training in the field with her fellow cadets. When she had the opportunity to drive a tank at the age of 15, she knew “that was it.” She wanted to be in the military.
When Military Police officer Corporal Erica Zadow pulled on her protective vest, she felt invincible.
“I think it’s easy when you’re a police officer to hide behind the vest. You feel bulletproof when you're in it—but you’re not,” the 34-year-old said.
An “army brat” following in her military parents’ footsteps, Zadow had aspirations of a long and storied career in the Canadian Armed Forces. Becoming a police officer in the military was a path she had long dreamed of taking.
Lieutenant (Retd) Eric Dionne was first posted to Quebec City in the 3rd Battalion Royal 22nd Regiment, then to St-Jean and later Ottawa. Over the course of his military career he’s been deployed to Afghanistan three times, and to Haiti once. He now lives in Asheville, North Carolina in the United States, where his wife, Julie, is studying to be a surgeon.
Emilie Létourneau grew up in Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec—population 40,000. Her origins may have been humble, but her adventurous spirit was anything but. At age 17, Emilie enlisted in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF). She served as a Marine Systems Engineering Officer in the Royal Canadian Navy for just under 11 years.
As a small town girl about to graduate from high school in Campbell River, British Columbia, Donna E. King contemplated her options for the future. There were only two major employers in town: the logging company and Bell Canada. Considering the latter would only hire one person per family and one of her sisters already worked there, she had to look elsewhere for career options.
After graduating high school in 1986, Dominique Geoffroy's friend wanted to enlist in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF). To keep him company, he accompanied him to a recruiting centre in Sherbrooke, Quebec. While he did not enlist right away, he was impressed by the recruiter, shared his contact information and held on to the informational papers that were shared with him.
"I didn't know anything about the forces, no one in my family was part of the CAF," he says.
She had been dismissed after a painful three-year investigation into her sexuality culminated with her Captain ripping up her promotion papers, throwing them in the trash, turning his back on her and telling her she was a “disgrace to the uniform.” The humiliating experience became a painful decades-long secret for her. “I never told anybody because (I was told) I'm a disgrace. I'm a security threat. For years, I just kept all the stuff for myself,” she explained.
“I was afraid if I told (my family) I would lose them like I lost my career.”
Mr. Denis Allaire was born December 25, 1962, in Timmins, Ontario. As a young man, Mr. Allaire recalls his decision to join the military as a selfish opportunity for financial and security reasons and enlisted on a bet. He trained as a medic receiving trades training in Cornwallis, on the job training in Trenton and then six month training at Canadian Forces Base Borden Medical School. Joining the 5 Field Ambulance Division as an army medic, Mr. Allaire deployed overseas, his first deployment being in 1993 to Croatia, then Rwanda followed by two tours to Bosnia.
