In what might be considered a countermeasure to the N.S. school that tried insisting people not wear uniforms on Remembrance Day, a N.B. school invited the RCAF
Three weeks after a Nova Scotia school told uniformed soldiers they weren’t welcome, a New Brunswick school has invited a uniformed aircrew in — and they arrived in a helicopter.
In what looks like the complete opposite to the school that tried insisting earlier this month that people not wear uniforms to its Remembrance Day service, Lincoln Elementary Community School invited the Royal Canadian Air Force to send one of its CH-146 Griffon helicopters and it’s three-person crew to the career day event aimed at giving youngsters a look at different paths.
“Any time we can interact with the general public and expose them to the helicopter and talk to them about the job we do, there’s always a fantastic possibility that someone will become interested in that and, potentially, join the Forces later,” said Maj. Mike Isabelle, who piloted the chopper and has children at Lincoln Elementary.
The flight instructor from nearby 403 Helicopter Operational Training Squadron, located at CFB Gagetown, landed his Griffon Thursday morning on a large field behind the school.
“The kids were all in the windows there in the classrooms when we showed up,” said Isabelle, who has been in the military for 21 years.
Dozens of students got to tour the Griffon.
“They had questions about what all the different controls do and the different buttons and the different parts of the helicopter and how everything works,” Isabelle said.
He fielded queries about how difficult it is to learn to pilot a helicopter. “It’s kind of like riding a bike or playing a drum set,” Isabelle explained of the skill that requires some pretty tricky coordination of the hands and feet. “It’s confusing at first, and it’s hard to do, but as you practice more and more, everything starts to come together.”
Did he get the sense that any of the students who toured his Griffon Thursday were helicopter pilots in the making? “That’s always the hope. These outreach things that we do, if we can spark some interest, regardless of the age, then that’s a fantastic opportunity.”
Isabelle – whose father was a combat engineer in the army — grew up in the Gagetown area.
He remembers some “very positive interactions” with the military at a young age, including a stint with the air cadets, that helped him make the decision to join the air force. In particular, the 38-year-old recalls touring a Griffon helicopter as a youngster during a base family day at Gagetown.
“There’s a very strong military relationship with the town (of Oromocto) and the local surrounding communities, so it was something I was always able to look at very positively as a kid growing up in the area.”
The military uses Griffon helicopters to transport troops and gear, as well as conduct search and rescue operations, surveillance and reconnaissance, training, casualty evacuations and counter-drug operations.
Lincoln Elementary “has many families connected to the military on account of its proximity to CFB Gagetown,” said Paul MacIntosh, director of communications for the Anglophone School District West.
“The school became aware of a process where they could request the presence of a helicopter squadron for career day. They went through the application process and were approved.”
There is no connection, he said, between the invitation for the helicopter to land at Lincoln Elementary and the events at Nova Scotia’s Sackville Heights Elementary School earlier this month. “The planning for this event began many months ago,” MacIntosh said of the helicopter visit.
Schools as well as sporting and charity events can request air force helicopters pay a visit, said Lt. Pamela Diegel, who speaks for the military.
“It doesn’t always get approved. It depends if we have operations or training,” Diegel said.
The air force is able to comply with about half of the requests, she said.
“It’s so important that we understand each other,” Diegel said. “It’s good exposure for us and for them to see.”
Earlier this month, Sackville Heights Elementary invited service members to come to its Remembrance Day ceremony, but asked them to leave their military uniforms at home for fear they might traumatize students from war-torn countries. The principal apologized after Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston complained on social media, saying “leaders at this school are disgracing themselves while demeaning the people who protect our country.”
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