The Common Bond as Canadian

Heroes Remember - Canadian Armed forces

The Common Bond as Canadian

Transcript

Well, I went to many ramp ceremonies and it was sad, very sad. I always made sure I didn't stand in the front row because I would inevitably cry. What we did, I mean even our relationship with NATO headquarters and the Role 3 hospital because the Role 3 hospital at the time was being manned by Canadians. But you know we were, we were contributing to that in a major way. It's kind of like an office environment so I am just picking up on that point, but you're right because everything that we did was affecting the quality of life, the quality of that experience while folks were on the base, right? Including like I said, you know, the cleaning and the gyms and the quality of the food, you know what I mean, all of that is very important to people as they came back to the base to launch their next operational mission. I really didn't have much to do with the Canadians that were there, let's say from the Army and their operational mission. I lived in the same building with them but I really, you know, they were doing their mission and they had a different headquarters and they worked in a different place and so I was almost just an oddity in that regard. I'd kind of come and go from the building and likewise there were other little pockets of Canadians serving, serving on the base but working for a different unit. It was always neat to find those other Canadians and to see them and it was almost like, you must know each other already, like you've got that common bond right, so.

Description

Although not directly working with the soldiers in the field, Ms. MacDonald expresses the awareness of their presence within the same compound.

Jo-Anne MacDonald

Ms. Jo-Anne MacDonald was born in 1960 in Ajax, Ontario. At the age of 18 Ms. MacDonald chose to join the Canadian Forces. Having graduated from high school, Ms. MacDonald realized her passion for sports, adventure and hopes of securing employment, a military career would be the right path for a successful future. In 1979, Ms. MacDonald enrolled in a Regular Officer Training program and accepted her first posting to Comox, British Columbia where she remained for four years and during this time met her husband who was also in the military at the time.. A time when women were unable to attend military college, Ms. MacDonald did her undergraduate degree at a civilian university, spending her summer months in Chiliwack, British Columbia doing basic officer training as well as speciality training in the logistics program and accepted her occupation as a Logistics Finance Officer. Although she considered her process a very traditional career path within this field, Ms. MacDonald was provided many positive and life changing experiences. Ms.. MacDonald eventually accepted a four year posting to Trenton, Ontario reuniting with her husband and being what she considers the best four years of her career. She was part of Wing Controller 8 Wing Trenton and held rank of Major. During this time Ms. MacDonald accepted her first deployment to Nairobi, Africa as part of a recce team. As her career continued, Ms. MacDonald also deployed to Afghanistan holding rank of Colonel (CJ8) under a Multinational NATO led Headquarters unit as financial technical expert. After 31 years of service, Ms. MacDonald retired from the military and continues to work in her field of expertise.

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