Mike's Moment interview with retired Military personel
Description
Vocal Characteristics
Language
EnglishVoice Age
Middle Aged (35-54)Accents
North American (Canadian - West) North American (General)Transcript
Note: Transcripts are generated using speech recognition software and may contain errors.
e gotta ask you camel spiders. Did you ever see them? No. I never saw anything. I did see the, uh it's a not the camel spider, but it's a big brown one that's like more talk. It's very toxic. And those were in on the base like a lot. We had those around quite a bit. Oh, by the way, viewer discretion is advised. Now, on a serious note, the Canadian military is actually a team to be reckoned with because I know they bailed a lot of countries out. It goes way back to World War Two. I mean, they they bailed the Dutch out. It's in the history books where the US couldn't do it. No other country could do it, but the Canadians were there. Canadians definitely went in and they saved the day there. And that's what I've been to. So I don't know if you've ever heard of nine. Megan and Grow speak. No, growth is where the Canadians were dragged across because remember, So the history of it is is that the Germans, our slaughtering people right up into the to the line, the Dutch line and the Canadians were there and the general had said you didn't want any Canadians on German land, alive or dead. So the Dutch in the middle of the night pulled the Canadian's dead bodies up into the hills and buried them, most of them in gross speak up there. So they're all marked and they tend to the cemetery in tow, all of the gravestones and everything. So I've had the absolute honor of representing Canada in, uh nine. Megan, um, for the it's called the Nijmegen Marches. I don't know if you've ever heard of this. It's a four day 40 kilometers. The Canadians and and the other military do 50 kilometers per day for four days, starting in the center of Nijmegen and then they march out and it's in a cloverleaf shape. And I got to go and actually represent Canada there, and, uh, and walk and see where all of this history actually was. And all the stories my father had told me about being over there is well, so it was fantastic, like what an experience it was. And the Dutch When they see us, they see the little flag. You know, the history is there. Everybody still remembers and is grateful to the Canadians for what we've done, and it literally gave me goose bumps. I got goose bumps like Zump gave Love us like it's so cool. And I know in war games I know we go up against the US and we come out on top a lot because we're smaller. Is that what it is? But we're a very small military compared to the Americans and a lot of the sort of the larger countries, very small military. But we are a power host because we have the ability to think and organize and really small like groups. And we can do it quickly and efficiently because because of the way that we, uh, you know, our our ethos, right? The way that we are together and the way that we stand together quickly were very loyalty each other. Like when we go overseas and stuff, we don't usually have a massive contingency that's there. You should have a smaller one, and we just mesh really quickly. Everybody hits the ground. There's no personal anything. It's all professional, and you go get your job done and get out. But we're definitely, I would say, probably number one in the world for Yeah, that's impressive. You just give me another, like, little goose bump feeling that is really cool. I mean, I did seek it at back in the day with thoughts of, you know, going in there. I was always a good runner, and they made you run to the wall and back. Is that wall still there in Comex? Quadra? Yeah. Yeah. You spit? Yeah. No. If the walls they're not, it might be. That was punishment. You had to run through sand. I can't say that. I had that kind of training. I had more of the get out of my way like a bulldozer. Type of training young. So that that's what I took with me. Did you ever have to do boot camp? I did it twice, as a matter of fact. Whoa, That's hard. Tell us about that. So, um, the first time I went to boot camp, we were 13 weeks, I think for boot camp. And I, um, made it two week 11, and they were doing a simulated practice training in the gym. And two recruits were on either end of a log and I had to run across the log while, you know, like I hit that log like a freight train and, uh, the the, you know, girl who was holding the other and weighed about, I don't know, £89. And so she didn't quite hang on to it well enough. And I rolled my foot broke and I broke it. I broke foot, snapped the metatarsal in my foot. They did try to keep me on training, but it got to the point where they realize that, you know, my foot that was the size of a boot was not gonna fit in my boots. So they sent me home, and I came back here to Comox for a year, and then they sent me back. But they made me started all over again. Or you couldn't carry on. Oh, no. So they didn't have what they've got. Now they've got, like, a little holding groups for people who are gonna be out for a couple of weeks. When I got home, they realized that my foot was actually broken and stuff. When I was there, they couldn't see it. It was so swollen. So So anyways, I went back for a second time. And of course, now I show up and I'm l prepared. Oh, man, for this, if I am so prepared, like I'm like, I get in there First day I load up my locker and everything else. It looks like I'm at the end of it. It looks I'm like, I'm graduating tomorrow. That master Corporal walked in and he says Chisholm because he was my math, the purple the year before, he's like Chisholm. Okay, Yeah, you're gonna need toe that up fast. S that what he said? You can't be a this point and everybody says or you're gonna leave your cupboard closed until they reached this point can I was just like, yeah, okay, I'm good with that. So So that's what I did. So I became the laundry lady, and I became, you know, like I helped everybody, you know, learned to do things faster because obviously, I've been there before, So it was like helping people get, you know, their mindset where they needed to get it faster. I was also the cleaning lady that, you know, if you left your wallet or your lips ill in your in your clothing and I washed it it flew down the hallway. Did you ever see, like, action where there was a lot of stuff going on? Because I I remember texting you one time and you're heading over to the Middle East. War was breaking out. So for me, um, I did belong to some pretty cool organizations. Uh huh. And I What I can say if I've been through Ah, a few things that were, um probably not things you want to write home to your mom about. That's for sure. Um, the one thing like when you're talking about when I was overseas, and I know when that was it was when I went to the Golan and and in the military, we call that a swan tour, right? Like it's a swan, apparently. But that one there actually was a little scary for me because I never actually heard what a tank. Um, explosion. Sounded like So the first time, I because I came from here and peaceful little KMOX valley, you know, and doing my little walks on the beach every day and meditation and stuff, and the next thing you know, I'm sitting in a camp where I hear this enormous bang and then the earth kind of rocks a little bit, and then the sirens go off, and then people are running to the bunkers because we actually had bunkers right there on site. Okay? And we're running into the bunkers and I'm like, standing in there. I'm like, Hey, like, what's going on? Guys, you know, and they're like, Wow, you know, we don't know what's happening yet. We gotta wait so that this was my first impression of it. It's like, Okay, so now they run you through to tell you this is what's gonna happen. We're gonna wait till this happens and the signal and everything else and my only issue. Waas. Listen, did anybody have lunch today? Because I didn't like Are you serious? Yeah, because I hadn't had lunch because everybody had gone for lunch and I had to stay behind and cover while they all went for lunch. And I was like, I don't have lunch. So this might not be working out for me, And I am. I try to keep humor at the forefront even when I am scared. Absolutely shitless. Yeah, and so that's what I really did. I I brought that into the whole thing. And I did things like I thought I did these marches in the desert in no man's land. And we went through known minefields, you know? And it says, you know, stay between the red dots. Well, the f in red dots to disappear on. I'm walking like, Well, where the **** am I? And then you realize that I'm in a landmine area like, how am I getting out of this one? Right? So, you know, and then taking control and getting the person out. And then, you know, we got further down the trail and got attacked by a bunch of little kids who wanted who wanted our earrings. Oh, but they but literally, they attacked you? Well, yeah, they did. They open their they would open up our bags and stuff. We're in the middle of the desert doing a march. So it was like these little kids, they're just desperate. They just want money. They want anything that they could possibly sell were in Syria by this point. Right? So, you know they'll come up, and if you got a backpack on, they'll divert you, and they will clean your backpack out, and you don't even know that they've been in it. Really? Oh, yeah. They're quick. They're quick. Yeah, So that was a little scary. And, you know, and then and then we got pelted by rocks by a bunch of little kids. And then I come around the corner and there's this poor little girl. She's probably three, and she's got her arms all stretched out at me, right? She wants a hug. Yeah, I'm thinking youth. I listen not my first trip to the rodeo here. A little girl, you know, as I go by. But she hears, nor I signed up hugging her anyways. Plus to being a woman was a little more challenging as well. So after that march that we were on, it was actually said that none of the women would be left by themselves marching because we were too marching by ourselves. Okay, That changed completely. We had to stay in groups at that point. Yeah. How do you think? Even as a guy, I'd be kind of little paranoid, you know, because you're in a foreign country. They don't know who you are. They just see a uniform. And you're all the same. Your military. You're not Sonya Chisholm, your military. When you're in a country like that and then your email on top of it and your blond hair, blue eyes and you know you're the size of a 12 year old. You're easy pickings. And they and we had had this huge talk about going into When we go into the city, to the souks to go shopping, we were told, You never are out of sight of anybody. You are always with somebody because they'll they will grab you on the next episode. I'm walking along and all of a sudden my hand gets crabbed and I get yanked.