Sign in to My VAC Account
Sign in to My VAC AccountIn 2007, as a soon-to-be-qualified paramedic, Naomi Fong decided she wanted to work in her community after college and serve in the Army reserves at the same time.
“I thought, I can do both. The Reserve would be a great way to serve, learn new skills,” she says. “Basically, I wanted to be in a helping role and have two careers.”
Born in Paradise, Newfoundland and Labrador, Natalie is no stranger to small towns.
After graduating from university, she enlisted in the Canadian Armed Forces, completed basic training, and attended the Infantry School in Gagetown, New Brunswick. She subsequently accepted a posting to the Joint Task Force North Iqaluit Detachment in Nunavut.
The welcoming and tightknit community of Iqaluit felt like home, and she was inspired by the resourcefulness and resilience of Inuit and northern residents. She lived and worked in Iqaluit for more than 10 years after her release.
In 1989, Nadine Laflamme went behind her mother’s back to enlist as a reservist with what was then called the 55 Medical Company. It seemed only natural to study health science at CEGEP. By the time her mother found out, the papers had already been signed. “She wasn’t very surprised, though. She knew me,” says Nadine.
Although she has always been interested in overseas deployments, she never had the chance to participate in one. Nevertheless, whenever there is an emergency on Canadian soil, Sergeant Laflamme reports for duty.
“I had never, ever, considered joining the Armed Forces,” said (Ret’d) Sergeant Nadia Duranleau of the Canadian Armed Forces.
“I enlisted through a set of circumstances in 1990 when I was 19 years old. My studies were going nowhere. I had a friend who had to go to the Recruitment Centre on Guy Street to get information to possibly enlist… What was bound to happen happened.”
Mr. Penney was born July 23, 1960. He is a retired Sergeant (PO2) who completed twenty years of military service in 2004. Mr. Penney served in Sarajevo as a Medic at the onset of the conflict in the Balkans and was awarded the Medal of Bravery for his heroic actions while in theatre. He is credited with saving the life of a child in the midst of a bombing. Mr. Penney now resides in Edmonton, Alberta, with his wife and children.
Mr. Desmeules was born in 1950 in Jonquière, Québec. With little work in his hometown community, Mr. Desmeules decided to join the Canadian Armed Forces, considering it as an opportunity to travel. At 18 years of age, Mr. Desmeules initially joined the Navy taking up the service occupation of administrative clerk. With this occupation being very generic to all branches of service, Mr. Desmeules later joined the army and, in 1975, he accepted an opportunity to travel to Egypt with the Signal Regiment. In 1995, Mr.
Michel Béliveau joined the Canadian Armed Forces in 1993. After finishing his training, he deployed to Bosnia as a medical assistant, twice, during the conflict in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. He then left the force to work as a paramedic for a number of years before re-enrolling in 2001.
Originally from the Québec city area, Major Martin Colbert discovered a liking for the military at a young age when he joined Army Cadets. Appreciating the structure, team spirit and adventures experienced with the Cadets, he made the leap to the CAF in 1984, at the age of 18.
Maryse Carmichael was born in Québec City in 1971. The youngest of four children, she couldn’t help but look up to her older siblings.
“… I thought, if he can do it, I’m pretty sure I can.”
For years after his release from the Canadian military Chief Petty Officer Second Class (Retd) Marty Boudreau’s mental health kept him—literally and figuratively—stuck in the basement.
