Vanguard Magazine

38 DeCeMBer 2016/JANUArY 2017 www.vanguardcanada.com See the full interview online Q How did you start out in this sector and how has it brought you to where you are today? I initially joined the Royal Canadian Navy as a Naval Signalman. As much as I loved my time in the Navy, I always had the desire to fly. In 1990, I accepted an occupational transfer to the RCAF as an Airborne Electronic Sensor Operator. As I progressed through the armed forces, it became clear that our most important asset is our people. As much as I loved being an operator, I felt taking the path toward senior leadership would allow me the opportunity to impact and influence how we develop and take care of our sail- ors, soldiers, airmen/airwomen, special forces operators, and their families. It is an aspect of leadership that is unbelievably rewarding. Q What was your most challenging moment? Although there have been many, the one moment which challenged my personal leadership is definitely the incident involv- ing Russell Williams at 8 Wing Trenton in 2010. I was the Wing/Base Chief Warrant Officer when he held the position of Wing Commander. Following the traumatic events of that time, it taught me quickly that although we train and educate our personnel to carry out very difficult and risky missions, in the end they are hu- man beings. When humans are put into difficult situations, that are very close or personal to them, and for which they are not trained for, their reactions are very unpredictable. The challenges I faced were both as a senior leader on the base and personally. The expectation of leaders is they need to be strong in times of crisis, this is abso- lutely true. In this situation, many of our people were traumatized by the actions of Williams. The challenge at the base level was to ensure the confidence and faith in the chain of command. This was critical to recovering from this event. From a personal aspect, I was going through denial; How could my Leader- ship Partner have committed such atro- cious acts? How could my partner do this to the CAF and me? The challenge was overcoming the feel- ing of betrayal, and at some level the feel- ing of guilt of not seeing any signs of what was happening. In the end, it is the great people that we have within the CAF that gave me the strength and courage to re- cover, and continue to work to help them. Q What was your aha moment or epiphany that you think will resonate most with our reader? In 2015, I decided to return to school and take on a Master's program. Not having been to "formal" school or ever attend university, I was extremely apprehensive of sitting in a room with people who had at the least a BA, and working with PhD professors. Not long after starting the pro- gram, I realized that everything I had done and experienced over the years added up to a tremendous amount of knowledge. We in the military often do not realize the value of the experiences we have lived through. They count, and they are just as valuable as any type of education. I am now in the last few months of my program; my experi- ences have allowed me to not only partake in this journey, but also succeed. Q What is a habit that contributes to your success? Taking time for myself! Leaders, espe- cially senior leaders, have extremely heavy workloads and demands on their time. But in order to be effective, managing our time is key to success. I attempt to maintain a reasonable work schedule, and take time to keep fit, and develop myself personally through other interests. Before we can take care of our people, we need to take care of ourselves. Q What is your parting piece of advice? Have a vision! When in leadership posi- tions we are only in them for a finite amount of time. We need to have a vision for what we want to accomplish with our team, and also what we want to accom- plish personally. Kevin west Canadian FOrCes ChieF Warrant OFFiCer canadIan armed forces

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