Posts with the CFB Halifax tag

Barris Beat

Citations for invisible wounds

Written by Ted Barris on . Leave a comment
Rear Admiral (Ret’d) Chris Sutherland reflects on addiction & depression while in service. Photo – Matt Wocks, Wounded Warriors.

There were a lot of decorations on display the other morning in Ottawa. Some of those attending an annual breakfast I attended across the street at Parliament Hill on Monday, June 9, had more ribbons and military medals than I’d ever seen before.

But when the keynote speaker stepped to the lectern to address this largely military audience, he wore a plain business suit without a single decoration. Recently retired, Chris Sutherland could have worn his ceremonial navy uniform, displaying his rank as Rear Admiral and deputy commander of the entire Royal Canadian Navy (RCN). Instead, he just spoke.

“Good morning,” he said. “I’m a recovering addict, and I’ve struggled with mental illness, specifically depression.” (more…)

Barris Beat

Fabric of the nation’s navy

Written by Ted Barris on . Leave a comment
Royal Canadian Navy warship docked at CFB Esquimalt.
Royal Canadian Navy warship docked at CFB Esquimalt. March 2024.

About an hour into the tour, I discovered one of the secrets to Canada’s military capability at sea. The tour aboard HMCS Vancouver, a Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) frigate currently in a short-work period at the base just outside Victoria, had taken me through the operations room. I’d sat in the commander’s chair on the bridge. Then I’d seen the ship’s massive rudder system.

I happened to pause at a rack of fire extinguishers, helmets and gas masks. In the event of a major fire at sea, I asked, were the people assigned to fight fires on board the ship former civilian firefighters?

Lt (Navy) Konnor Brett guiding us aboard HMCS Vancouver.

“No,” explained Lieutenant (Navy) Konnor Brett. “Every member of the crew is a trained firefighter.”

And I realized immediately that teaching all RCN sailors to fight fires had nothing to do with personnel limitations and everything to do with practicality. If a warship couldn’t depend on every man and woman in her crew to quell fires, keep the sea from swamping the ship in gales or combat, and deliver basic first aid or rescue tasks, its effectiveness would be severely diminished at sea. “It’s a matter of the ship’s survival,” Brett said. (more…)