Total Anarchy 24/7

I don't think any human being from a Western country can ever get over the sight and the feeling of total anarchy, 24/7. It's unbelievable. It was a mess, total mess. There is, there was hydro lines everywhere, traffic lights everywhere. There used to be paint on the houses and hotels, but there was no electricity to power anything up. It was just ramshackle, yep. It was a total disaster, but we went in there with a big heart and willing to “let's make a change” effort. There was a special group organized out of the operation's desk in Ottawa in order to, we were all EME, Electrical Mechanical Engineering backgrounds and we had one officer, myself, a sergeant and a couple of corporals. And our task was to organize and set up workshops for the Haitian National Police to repair their own vehicles, to train them in organizing a control office where an officer comes in, my truck is broken, we open up a work order and the flow of it, the administration and the execution of the repairs. And our job was difficult because there are not many useable roads in Haiti so we were hopping around a lot with helicopters to get us to the isolated zones.

In Haiti, Mr. Vaillancourt describes the conditions and the total disaster and devastation for the people.

Marc Vaillancourt

Mr. Vaillancourt was born April 22, 1957 in Sturgeon Falls, Ontario. After high school, Mr. Vaillancourt was interested in receiving a trade and with the desire to live the adventure of the military, age 19, he decided to join. At this time, Mr. Vaillancourt trained as a vehicle technician and joined with the Elelctricial Mechanical Engineer branch. Mr. Vaillacourt held rank as Master Warrant Officer. In 1990 Mr. Vaillacourt’s postings began as part of the 12th Armoured Regiment with a tour to Cyprus and in 1997 was part of a unit that travelled to Haiti; a specialized tour organized in Ottawa with only 5 soldiers in command. Mr. Vaillancourt was discharged from the military and now resides in Barrie, Ontario with his family.