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Sign in to My VAC AccountBorn 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, 2nd 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.
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.
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.
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.
Jean-François joined the Canadian Armed Forces in 1996 and completed his artillery course in Shilo, Manitoba, before being posted to Valcartier.
In 2002, he deployed to Bosnia and Herzegovina for seven months as part of the Canadian Armed Forces operation in the country. In 2004, he deployed to Kabul, Afghanistan, for six months followed by a second, nine-month tour to Kandahar two years later.
After playing 63 ramp ceremonies in Afghanistan, Master Corporal James Gendron was ready to hang his bagpipes up for good.
His heart just couldn’t take the solemn melodies of ‘”Amazing Grace” or “Flowers of the Forest,” the Scottish lament for lost loved ones.
“At the end of my tour, I was pretty much done playing bagpipes,” he said.
In the 1970s, one of the best ways to become a pilot was to take the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) training called “Aero-TP”. This program allowed new recruits to take university courses and become an officer. This was the path Jacques Laplante took after enrolling in 1973.
Young, physically fit and in his first year of university, Hugh Egener seemed like a natural fit for the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF). He originally intended to join the RCMP to help pay for his education. After receiving a firm “no” from them, he walked past the CAF recruitment office. Recruiters were so convincing that he enlisted.
