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The Pilot Project Podcast is an aviation podcast that aims to help new pilots learn what it takes to succeed in the world of flight, to help people in the flight training system learn what they may want to fly, and to give Canadians and the world a peek into life on the flight deck in the RCAF. We want to help pilots succeed and thrive! We interview real RCAF pilots for their exciting stories as well as the lessons they've learned along the way. We'll learn their tips to develop resilience and the tools it takes to make it in flight training.
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Bryan:Alright. We're ready for departure here at the pilot project podcast, the best source for stories and advice from RCAF and mission aviation pilots brought to you by Sky's Magazine. I'm your host, Brian Morrison, and we are here today to continue our two part series to mark International Women's Day and Women of Aviation Worldwide Week with CC one thirty j Hercules pilot major Sam Baim. Sam, welcome back to the show.
Sam:Thanks, Brian. It's great to be back.
Bryan:Listeners can listen to part one to check out how she got started with aviation, her short stint in the Royal Canadian Navy, her journey through flight training, and her path to becoming a Hercules pilot. Today, we'll be discussing her leadership during major global operations, including commanding the first Canadian aircraft conducting the twenty twenty one evacuation of Afghanistan, as well as her work in mentorship and advocacy within the RCAF. So, Sam, before we get to your time as an aircraft commander, can you take us through your upgrade process a little bit?
Sam:Yeah. So the the J model upgrade, is quite long. It's pretty intensive, and that's just by virtue of the fact that we do a lot of, we have a lot of capabilities, and we do a lot of things for the RCAF broken down into strat missions, so strategic movement of people and cargo like you would see in the airlines. And then what really is the bread and butter of the squadron and this fleet is the tactical aviation aspect. So flying into threat environments, tactical air land, and tactical air drop.
Sam:As we go through the upgrade process, we go through First Officer one, First Officer two, Fo3, And then you upgrade to an aircraft commander. So in the different phases, we really focus on what the required skill sets are, competency capability levels are. So as an early FO, your primary role is just learning to fly the plane. Do you have the hands and feet to do all these things? You're learning about the aircraft operating instructions, systems knowledge, and then translating that later, moving from more of flying role to a pilot monitoring role where you're actually the mission commander in a two ship airdrop with the fleet.
Sam:So a lot of different things are being trained during that time. A lot of different skill sets. You know, it's pretty knowledge intensive, especially when you think of all of the operating environments that we fly into. We kind of need to know the flying regulations for everywhere in the world. You know, whether it's in Canada, we fly to Europe, The Middle East, Africa.
Sam:All of these places have different flying regulations and whatnot. So it's pretty intensive while we're going through the upgrade.
Bryan:That sounds like like a ton of studying and stuff. Because, like, I would imagine, you know, you you need to know the actual tactics behind each mission set. You have to actually learn the aircraft. As you said, you need to learn all these flying regulations. Like, it must be a very busy time.
Sam:It is a busy time. I mean, the the thing about aviation is you're always learning. It doesn't matter, you know, what level you're at even as an instructor or a chief check pilot or, you know, whatever position you're in, things are always changing. The rules are always changing. We're always going somewhere new.
Sam:So you always need to be in the books. It's a lot more intensive at the start when you're starting with less of a foundation. But as you move through your career, there's never really that opportunity to take your foot off the gas because you're you're always learning something new.
Bryan:Yeah. For sure. Were there any kind of, like, big, trips or events that stayed with you from your upgrade?
Sam:So as an early FO, you know, I already mentioned in episode one, I was able to go to Cruze X. I deployed early. I went to Op Impact as an FO2, which was a really great experience. We were flying quite a bit back then. A lot of tactical flying.
Sam:We weren't doing any airdrop, but just, you know, by virtue of being in the threat environment and the performance considerations of the aircraft, really getting comfortable with the hands and feet aspect of being a good first officer, which gave me the confidence when I came back home to sort of step, you know, broaden the horizon and step more into the the pilot monitoring and aircraft commander upgrade process.
Bryan:Yeah.
Sam:So I had those foundations and the comfort level.
Bryan:Yeah. And it's a whole different ballgame. Like, I flew in Op Impact in the Aurora, and it's a whole different ballgame and kind of a confidence booster to see this broad set of experiences, totally different rules flying in a war zone, different structure to air traffic control, transferring from civilian to the military controllers, and all those different things. And The Middle East is kind of the Wild West. Like, you have to be way more assertive and sort of directive with air air traffic control about what you want instead of sort of letting you them get you there.
Bryan:So I found it was like a a very huge learning experience, and I came back a totally different pilot.
Sam:Yeah. Absolutely. Like I said, lots of hands and feet flying just because, you know, in the threat environment, we're not flying around on autopilot because we need to be able to maneuver the aircraft when we need to maneuver it. So, yeah, it really does wonders for the confidence level just with the amount of flying that we were doing and the style of flying that we were doing. A lot of learning.
Bryan:Yeah. Yeah. And and we were up way up high, you know, while we were over Iraq and just landing in, Kuwait. What's it like flying down into the threat environment when you know there are actually threats out there and you're, you know, we're fighting against ISIS? What was that like?
Sam:Yeah. It's a it was interesting, especially having it been my first deployment, into that type of theater. You get into, you know, it's easy to get into the routine of, know, we're going out and doing the same or relatively the same mission, you know, we're moving from A to B to C or from C to A to B type of a thing. There were only so many airfields that we were operating in at the time. So it was really important to not let complacency creep in to stay on our game.
Sam:We would go through all of our DTs and what our defensive tactics and whatnot in the aircraft and sort of do that visualization so that if, you know, we did encounter something, we were we were good to go and and fresh on that because, like you said, it is a threat environment and the threats were real. So always needing to be prepared to respond.
Bryan:Yeah. Complacency is a big, threat when you're in those environments and you get there and at first you're excited, you know, your first few missions, you're like super alert and, you know, you do 20 or 30 and starts to become routine and you really can't let it become routine there. So you attended green flag and storm flag exercises with the United States Air Force and the eighty second Airborne Division. What does a Herc do during these exercises, and what was the biggest thing you learned from doing them?
Sam:Yeah. So green flag, now storm flag, those are, you know, pretty traditional exercises that the, you know, the RCFJs participate in. We were doing them a couple times a year, every year. And they ran out of the JRTC, so the Joint Readiness Training Center in Louisiana. And that's really the Army's final certificate the US Army, their final certification before they deploy or assume a Ready Force posture.
Sam:So from an Air Force perspective, we're really just the enablers to make sure that they get the training accomplished that they need to in order to get that check-in the box. From a Herc perspective, it's a lot of air land and air drop. So moving troops and equipment into the landing zones or forward operating locations based on the requirements for getting people in and out, And then resupplying being a critical enabler of the sustainment function. And getting them the supplies, the beans and the bullets that they need into their forward operating location. So great training for us.
Sam:We typically used it as also a readiness training exercise for crews that we're going to deploy in the near future. So we would send that out. That would be sort of a validation exercise for the crews to get comfortable with each other and fly together in that sort of an environment, albeit simulated. But yeah. And really just focused on interoperability with, the USF and, our, you know, counterparts down south.
Bryan:Do those involve any of those, like, big paratrooper drops and stuff too?
Sam:Yeah. Absolutely. Actually, one of the last storm flags that I went to, that I was the deck commander for, we did a mass insert of, troops to kick off the exercise. The intent was to drop, I think it was, 1,200, paratroopers in a 16 ship of, you know, USAV, c seventeens, j models, and then, RJ models. So that was a pretty cool experience to be part of.
Bryan:Is that day or night?
Sam:Night.
Bryan:So I've talked about this a little bit on the show before, but, like, is that scary to fly in a large formation of aircraft? You know there's, like, a ton of literally people hanging from parachutes in the air. Like, you can't get anything wrong. Is there a lot of pressure when you do that?
Sam:I think it comes down to the planning and preparation. Obviously, in this scenario, we're on night vision goggles, which helps us,
Bryan:you
Sam:know, still see what's going on at the night. This mission was actually kind of cool because we all took off at different times of day, flew random rooting in the airspace, and then met up in a time and place simulating something that might happen in the real world if we were trying to employ that type of effect. And it went pretty seamlessly. A couple aircraft dropped out for maintenance issues, so we didn't get all 1,200 people out the door. But I think there were still at least 1,000 paratroopers in the air that evening.
Sam:It was pretty pretty cool to witness.
Bryan:That's awesome. That must have been really neat. So let's shift gears and talk about Kabul in 2021. First of all, any listeners who want a detailed day by day on the ground account of these events should check out episodes 86 to 88 with major Ian Wookie. He was there with the Americans on their Chinooks.
Bryan:Triggered by the rapid Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, the noncombatant evacuation operation or NEO out of Kabul was known as Operation Allies Refuge. It was the largest US led military airlift in history, ultimately evacuating over a 123,000 civilians. The operation ran from August 2021 under high threat chaotic conditions. You commanded the first Canadian aircraft conducting the NEO. What do you remember about the lead up to that mission?
Sam:So I'd actually been deployed to OpImpact, at the time we had got there in May, which was when I think they were the Americans were originally supposed to, withdraw from Afghanistan. So we have been tracking this from an intelligence perspective, pretty much the entirety of my, deployment. And it was interesting for me personally because I had just upgraded. So I think I had upgraded to aircraft commander like three weeks before this deployment kicked off. It was really the first thing that I did as an AC other than one or two sort of local missions back home.
Sam:So I was really excited to get into theater. It was my second time there. Obviously, I'd been there as a first officer. So I had high hopes about what it was going to look like. So we get there.
Sam:We're watching the situation sort of deteriorate over time. It was also the height of COVID. So there was that complication going on as well from a planning perspective. But yeah, really, it was really interesting to watch just how destabilizing those activities became. We had gone into Cabo twice before bringing COVID vaccines actually to embassy personnel.
Sam:And the interesting thing too to note is, if you look at a map, Kuwait, a straight line to Kabul isn't that far. But because we obviously can't fly through Iranian airspace, we're forced to go sort of all the way down The Gulf and then cut up through Pakistan.
Bryan:Okay.
Sam:So it becomes a really long day from a planning perspective. But yeah, really leading up into the weeks before the mission, we were hearing rumblings that a mass evacuation was going to be required at the time. There wasn't really a lingering threat of us having to go in there because the intent was to contract airlift like most of the other countries did. I think The UK did that. The US was doing that primarily to start.
Sam:So that was what we were being told was, We're the backup plan, but we shouldn't have to. We weren't planning at that time to necessarily go in. It was more of a contingency plan until, obviously, that didn't become an option anymore, and we got the the call to do so.
Bryan:So it sounds like at this point, you know, they think they're gonna be able to contract it out to civilians. This is, I imagine, just before the capital started to fall like dominoes. So there wasn't really, like, a sense of urgency at that point?
Sam:I think that there was, but I think, you know, part of the issue was I think a lot of the planning was happening, unfortunately, in sort of stovepipe silos. So I think people had urgency, but there wasn't really a united effort. It's probably not the right word, but you know, a united effort to come up with a solution and, you know, in a in a viably, like, quick manner.
Bryan:Yeah. But what you're saying is not unreasonable because just I just wanna cover your butt a little because, you know, the size of this undertaking, like, it became is not normal. Like, it was a global massive insane effort. So, like, yeah, stovepipe planning because people were planning as you would normally, I would imagine for any operation. So like, we I don't think people realize the scope of what was about to happen.
Sam:No, absolutely. And even when we were getting briefed on it from an an intelligence perspective, just how rapidly that region destabilized and how quickly things became what they eventually became in terms of the level of danger in that environment. Could we have maybe predicted it? I don't know. It's hard to say.
Sam:Don't think that folks were thinking that, the local population were gonna lay down guns, as quickly as they did when the withdrawal happened. Really rapidly destabilized, the region, which is, you know, how we came to be part of the mass evacuation.
Bryan:Yeah. I I was actually talking about this with my folks. We were we were discussing the previous episodes I'd done on this topic. And, yeah, like, who could have predicted? Like, yeah, you know, we understand there's a difference between Western military forces and the forces that were being trained in the Afghan National Army, but nobody obviously thought that basically within a week, they would just fold.
Bryan:Like Mhmm. And I don't I'm not passing judgment on the situation, you know, that they were in or what they were facing or any of that stuff. I imagine it was pretty terrifying. But just not expected, you know, like, why else would we have spent all the time training and doing all that stuff with them? Like, we didn't think we'd do all that training and then all of a sudden, you know, everything would collapse in a week, right?
Sam:Yeah, absolutely. So then at the end of the day, you know, sort of fell on our lap. And we had actually we had canceled some flying leading up to when we finally did get approval to go in because at a certain point, it became obvious that Graytail was the only option. We were in theater. We had two Hercs in The Middle East for OpImpact on a permanent basis.
Sam:That was the most rapid response that the CAF had at that time. You and I both know prop performance that probably wasn't the right aircraft to do the job, as we saw. The C-17s came in later just from a performance perspective with their jet engines and the capacity that they have for payload versus what we have. But, you know, the urgency was we needed to start getting people out. The herbs are what we had.
Sam:And so that's, you know, you fight the fight with what you have in the moment. So that's what we had to start. And yeah, I think we did a pretty good pretty good job of getting folks out initially.
Bryan:Yeah. I mean, we were you know, the the situation was that I think if we had had, like, Cessna caravans, then getting, you know, whatever it is, five or six people out at a time is would have been helpful. Like, we had Hercs, so we used the Hercs. Like, getting out dozens or however many like, how many people were you guys getting out in a Herc at a time?
Sam:So on paper, when we ran, you know, the performance charts and whatnot, we went in at night for one, just to buy whatever little performance. You know, there's also like safety in the cover, darkness. But yeah, just based on, you know, the density altitude and the temperature of that region of the world, we went in at night to gain whatever temperature drop that we could to gain that performance. I think we were tapping out between like 50 to 75 passengers at a time. For people who have flown in the Herc or look in the back of the Herc, that's a reasonable number of people from a comfort level as well.
Sam:And then when you take into consideration, like I said, it was COVID. So we had disease control measures implemented where you're sitting in the back of a hirk in essentially a sardine can with as many people as we could fit in to safely get out. Not great from a spread of contagious disease or viruses perspective. So even in those conditions, my back end were in full PPE, goggles, long sleeves, gloves, N95s. And then as you can imagine, you know, it's 50 degrees outside.
Sam:So it's, you know, probably gusting over 100 Fahrenheit in the back of the plane. Really, really demanding, work environment for the folks in the back.
Bryan:Yeah. Yeah. But, you know, all that to say, so 75 people, that makes a difference. Right? That's 75 people who got out for every sortie you guys did.
Bryan:Right?
Sam:Yeah. Absolutely. And, you know, that that's, definitely how how we took it. I mean, I wish I could have done more, but, know, that's just the reality of of the platform. Was a pretty in retrospect, it was a pretty profound experience for me, especially as a new aircraft commander leading the crew into that environment.
Sam:And even just on the human level of we evacuated people as young as 15 old and as old as I think the oldest one that flew on one of my aircraft was 87 or something like that. So you have generations of families leaving a pretty terrible condition Yeah. And, you know, being told, okay, you got 50 pounds worth of luggage per family that you can throw in the back of this plane and you don't know where you're going, but hopefully it's to a safer place. So, yeah, really, really impactful, mission for me. I was happy to be part of it.
Bryan:Yeah. I mean, I can only imagine it must have been a emotional mission to be part of just given like what you just described and knowing what they're fleeing and the uncertainty they're going to and everything. What was the atmosphere like in the cockpit during that first flight?
Sam:So we like I said, we have been waiting a couple days to do it. So we were, you know, we were we were ready to go when it happened. We long had transit. So it was about, like I said, just from the routing perspective of having to go all the way down The Gulf and then up through the Pakistani corridor there. It was about six, six and a half hours each way.
Sam:So it's a long time to sort of be guns blazing, taking off. And then you know, you're sitting there, sitting there, sitting there, you're like, Okay, now we're getting there. So, you know, trying to strike the balance of, you know, just, you know, normal conversations in the cockpit to, you know, going through again, like, what are we going to do if we encounter this situation? What's going to happen with this? Obviously, the threat environment was real.
Sam:There were lots of things going on. Lots of uncertainty as much as we were getting intelligence reporting wasn't necessarily, you know, we didn't have a lot of boots on the ground that were providing real time information to us. So we weren't necessarily sure what we were going to get when we landed there the first time. So, yeah, I think at the end of the day, like everyone, on the crew, was really professional and just happy to be, you know, out there doing the mission because at the end of the day, like, those are the types of things. That's what we train for.
Sam:Right? Like, that's the purpose.
Bryan:So That's what you join to do.
Sam:Absolutely. Yeah.
Bryan:Yeah. So we said that eventually the evacuation as a whole managed to get out a 123,000 more than a 123,000 civilians. After that mission, when you finally had a moment to reflect, what stayed with you the most?
Sam:I think on a on a personal level, like I said, like, it was a really profound experience for me. I I had done a lot of things and, you know, moved a lot of stuff and people around, but that was for sure one of the more impactful missions that I was able to be a part of. I alluded to in the last answer, but I can't get over the professionalism of my crew that I flew with. Especially, like I said, in the back end, just the environment that we were working in. And I had, you know, my nurse that I had on board was holding babies so that mothers could sleep.
Sam:And, you know, load master and a TCM and some of our traffic techs doing the same or, you know, providing like water, like just conversation and whatnot to people in the back to sort of, you know, reassure them that, you know, it was going to be better. And really trying to make everyone as comfortable as possible. We had donations of teddy bears, and magazines and stuff, just to, again, try to make the environment as as comfortable as as possible because there there was a lot of uncertainty even when those people got on board as to what their their life was gonna look like after that. So
Bryan:Yeah. It's a it's a very human story. It's a really awful situation. And, you know, thank God you guys were at least able to get in there and and do some good.
Sam:Yeah. Absolutely.
Bryan:So you deployed four times on Op Reassurance and later served as air task force commander in Prestwick. First of all, can you tell us quickly what the mission of Opry Assurance is?
Sam:Yeah. So Opry Assurance is, the CAF's largest overseas mission, and it's, our contribution to the NATO deterrence and defense, measures in Central And Eastern Europe, largely focused on the Ukraine Russia conflict right now. A lot of what we hear about reassurance is the multinational brigade that's in Latvia. But Air Task Force Preswick, I would say, is equally as important. It doesn't get a lot of press, so I'm happy to talk about it here.
Bryan:I
Sam:think the work that we're doing there from an Air Force contribution is really important in the NATO context. So just to give a little bit of a history timeline to show how quick we were able to mobilize. When the conflict broke out, the squadron was put on a notice to move on the 02/26/2022. And the first Herc departed Trenton for The UK, which is where we're based out of now in Scotland, on the twenty eighth. So two days to get Herc's rubber off the ramp.
Sam:And by the March 3, we were fully operational capable. So we had declared FOC and primarily tasked with moving donations. So at the time, it was the IDCC, so the International Donation Coordination Centre, which was taking all of the donations that NATO and some non NATO countries were providing to Ukraine to support the war effort. We were moving them from wherever they were generating from to the front lines, closer to the conflict itself. The first couple of months, we had already moved like £2,000,000.
Sam:So it was a pretty significant And I think we just surpassed £30,000,000 move. So when you think of at first, it was two. Now we have three Herx there. That's a pretty significant amount of movement of, you know, primarily lethal and some nonlethal aid, supporting the NATO, contribution to the conflict.
Bryan:Wow. That's huge. That's, that's those are some crazy numbers.
Sam:Yeah. It's pretty impressive. It's a, it's a small small debt. There's only, like, 50 people there, so it just shows you, it's pretty lean, and they're very capable of, you know, projecting air power and combat power to the to the front lines on behalf of, you know, NATO and Canada.
Bryan:Yeah. How different was commanding a task force versus commanding an aircraft?
Sam:It was a good learning opportunity, honestly. You know, as a aircraft commander, you're really focused on the crew and the mission and what's happening inside your bubble and then to branch out and actually take the task force. Now you have all those other pillars that are under your ARAs, your accountabilities, responsibilities, and authorities. You're focusing more on what is the intent of this mission? What's the commander's intent?
Sam:Why are we actually here? Not just, My tasking order says I need to move this from A to B. And I might not understand why, but I'm going to do it anyway. Or you're really that middle person to translate that strategic or operational intent into tactical objectives. And then focusing on everyone as a whole, the enabling aspects, whether it be maintenance, traffic tech, health services, all those things that we need to, you know, function seamlessly in order for rubber to leave the ramp and for missions to actually fly.
Sam:So really getting an appreciation for the bigger picture of what it takes for, the task force to operate.
Bryan:Awesome. So you deployed to our presence in Goma Democratic Republic Of The Congo and Enteb, Uganda. You served as tactical airlift attachment commander. What unique challenges did operating in Africa present?
Sam:So Africa as a whole, is a little bit of, you know, the Wild West of aviation. It primarily in the areas that we were, operating out of. So you think, the DRC, Uganda, not so much, but maybe a little bit. And so Sudan, which is where our presence is really focused from an aviation contribution perspective. Air traffic control and radar services is limited.
Sam:So when we're flying across the DRC, it's actually oceanic coverage. So not great coverage, no radar coverage. So it's very procedural. The airfields that we fly into are not like airfields that you're going to see in Canada or The US. They're semi prepared or unprepared dirt strips.
Sam:They're not groomed to the same standards that we would have here. Little airfield security. Breaches in the fences, if they exist, mean there's people walking across the runway. They're on the side of the runway, potentially animals. Just a lot of stuff going on that makes it unique to fly into.
Sam:Really great experience from an airmanship perspective, but challenging to say the least. And I think this plays into why the contribution that we provide from an airlift perspective to our presence, which is primarily well, it is our contribution to the United Nations, either Monaco, ANMIS, or UNICEF. You know, the geography is quite challenging. So when you think of moving cargo or cargo that needs to move between, GOMA and Kinshasa, for example, there's no infrastructure, to support that. So you think of the flood seasons or whatnot.
Sam:There's no roads that extend that way. So that's where airlift is really critical in these parts of the world. So finding ways to operate there efficiently is really important for us and for, you know, the overall mission success of what we are supporting, in those countries.
Bryan:Sounds like a super challenging environment to operate in. Like, you really have to be on your toes and you can't get complacent, kind of need to be watching your own back almost in in ways that normally you would expect to have different services, like, kind of backing you up, like, you need to be doing that.
Sam:Yeah. Absolutely. It's kind of funny because even though it technically is ICAO standard, they do have reporting procedures as well. So while we're supposed to trust ATC and the DRC in particular, we do have mandatory reporting points that we need to make so that we know that other aircraft and ourselves are listening out and aware of what's going on in the airspace, especially like I said, there's not a lot of radar coverage. So really just heightening that sort of safety aspect of flight and, overall as situational awareness.
Bryan:Yeah. It sounds crazy. It sounds kinda stressful, to be honest.
Sam:It is for the first couple times, and then you get used to it, and it's you know, it just becomes normal.
Bryan:Yeah.
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Bryan:You've flown some high profile passengers, including the prime minister and the NATO secretary general. What changes when a mission carries diplomatic weight?
Sam:I think at the end of the day, nothing really changes. I'd like to think that, you know, every mission is important for for one reason or another. That's why we get tasked to do it. Obviously, you have high profile folks on board, you want to be on your A game. You want to have good landings, nice takeoffs, smooth flight, all of those sort of things.
Sam:But at the end of the day, we treat it as any other mission.
Bryan:Yeah. Yeah. I remember we used to have especially when we were flying in OpImpact over Iraq, we would have a lot of VIPs and almost I kind of thought of them as sightseers almost come with us on the missions. And you just sort of have to be like, okay. Well, like, you're gonna do your best, obviously, as you always do, but you're not there to impress them.
Bryan:Like, you're just there to carry out your mission, and they happen to be there, and it's gonna try to treat it like any other flight, basically.
Sam:Yeah. Absolutely. I think the the unique and kinda cool thing as crew, in those opportunities is having that sort of opportunity to engage, with those people. I mean, not everyone, is going to be open to that, but when you get those opportunities, sort of have those fireside chats in the safety and security of your cockpit, where you can kind of shoot the breeze, let's say, with someone you might not otherwise get the opportunity to hear their perspective you know, high level issues.
Bryan:Mhmm.
Sam:It's a unique opportunity for sure.
Bryan:Yeah. That's pretty cool. I'm lucky to do that with this show sometimes, and it is really neat when you kind of get a, a personal perspective. And, you know, like you said, in a within a safe environment, you know, often, like, Mike's not recording, and and we might just chat a little bit. And it's it's kinda neat to see the get those insights.
Sam:Yeah. Absolutely.
Bryan:With over twenty four hundred hours now, how has your leadership style in the left seat evolved?
Sam:So I think, you know, you probably went through it too in aviation. You go through phases of maybe not leadership styles, but to, like, confidence, let's say. Mhmm. Mhmm. You know, you started out as an a new FO, you and don't know anything.
Sam:And then you get super confident as a first officer from the pilot flying and knowing the aircraft and hands and feet perspective. And then you start doing your upgrade and you're like, Oh, just kidding. I thought I knew everything. And then you build up that confidence again to you pass your ticket ride and you get handed the keys for the first time. And then you go back and you're like, Oh, now I'm alone in this big plane out in the world.
Sam:So it definitely is sort of the cycle of having to remind yourself of, you know, the reason that you you got there in the first place. I don't know so much that my leadership style evolved. I've tried to make it, I guess, a personal mission to focus more on taking care of people, I would say, than worrying about anything else. I think by virtue of the fact that we have all these processes and thresholds that we need to pass from a flying skills perspective, you're going to know your airplane by the time that you upgrade. But especially in a crew environment, I think what's really important, and it's not necessarily taught per se is taking care of people.
Bryan:Yeah.
Sam:Because once you're the aircraft commander or the Teldeck commander or the task force commander, it's your job to lead, motivate, take care, and you're ultimately responsible for the well-being of all those people. When things are going good, that's nice and easy and you can all go home for a beer and medal. But it's when things start getting difficult, missions are extended, you break down on the road. It's how are you going to keep you know, your crew, your detachment, your task force motivated and, you know, willing to, you know, show up to work and keep keep, you know, fighting the good fight towards, you know, mission success.
Bryan:Mhmm. I think people based leadership is the most effective form of leadership anyways. Like if people think back to the leaders they work for, whether you're talking about people who like, you know, military members or people in the civilian world, you think about bosses, managers, leaders, whatever that you've worked for. The ones who actually cared about people and took care of them were the ones that you love to work for. And by virtue of that, like, can have people who are super results focused and they'll get the mission accomplished.
Bryan:But, you know, people might absolutely despise working for that person because they are not they're burning people out. They're not caring about the people side. I find that people who take care of their people, the results also come because people are, motivated and they want to be there and they want to work hard. And like, you don't want to fail that leader who's taking care of you and actually cares.
Sam:Yeah, absolutely. And I think, you know, the Air Force is kind of unique in the way that it's structured where, you know, you probably had a similar, experience where as a junior officer, you know, lieutenant captain, as a pilot, you don't really have subordinates.
Bryan:Mhmm.
Sam:So like as a crew commander, yes, in the crew environment, but unless you're doing a secondary duty at the unit where you have, you know, sort of like an NCM under you from a, organizational perspective, we're not really getting that exposure early on in our careers like the other elements are. Like the Army obviously does that by virtue of their structures, the Navy as well. But the Air Force, I think we need to be a little bit more deliberate and really seek opportunities to develop junior leaders and find those mentorship opportunities so that when you get to the major and above level, you're comfortable leading people of all ranks.
Bryan:Yeah. I agree. I've said that for a while that I think maybe I would almost call it a shortcoming of the air force is that, you know, a lot of our officers in in specific trades, like air crew specifically, I would say, You know, like our air maintenance officers and stuff, they they are leading from right out of the gate as as lieutenants and and and so are many other trades. But air crew, we're almost living the life of a junior NCM or lower almost sometimes because really your job is to operate.
Sam:Mhmm.
Bryan:And then eventually, suddenly are a leader. And you haven't had really much formal leadership training outside of basic training or some communities do like seminars for crew commanders as they upgrade or symposiums and stuff, and that's useful. But I do think it's something that needs to be improved.
Sam:Yeah. Absolutely. I I think we're getting there. But, yeah, I think that would be my biggest piece of advice, I would say, for folks who are moving up through the ranks, Aircrown in particular, like you mentioned. Just seek those opportunities to get to know your people And, you know, have the ability to provide some level of, you know, supervision mentorship as you're as you're moving along because it'll pay dividends in the end when you're actually put into those supervisor roles with those types of responsibilities.
Bryan:Definitely. So you've been heavily involved with Elevate Aviation and led the mentorship program at Eight Wing Trenton. Can you tell us what Elevate is and why is structured mentorship so critical in aviation?
Sam:So Elevate Aviation was founded, I believe, in 2019. It's a nonprofit, and it aims at providing, mentorship and opportunity for women and underrepresented groups in the aviation community. So it's not inherently military. It's actually mostly civilian. But the RCF did adopt, I'd say a formal partnership with Elevate Aviation, in which we introduced, that mentorship program.
Sam:I would say in the military, well, structured mentorship in aviation is important because especially when we're talking about, you know, getting, women and underrepresented groups in the door, It goes back to, you know, what I said about visibility. Like if we don't see it, then we can't dream it, right? So really highlighting and championing the idea that, you know, women and these groups belong in that space, that there are career opportunities, that all of the stereotypical things that you hear about no work life balance, you can't have a family, all the things that disproportionately, I would say, affect women more so than men, there is the opportunity to work through those and still pursue careers in this industry. From the military perspective, it was really just an opportunity for folks who had been in the RCF for a longer period of time, had more experience. It didn't matter what trade background, whatever you had.
Sam:You could sign up to be a mentor. Then new folks coming in again, officers, NCMs, trades don't matter who were looking to get that unique perspective of what it was like to be a female or an underrepresented group in the CAF or in the RCAF, as sort of an advocate for their own career. So just to really provide those mentorship opportunities for people just getting in the door.
Bryan:That's really cool. Have you found you've made some, like, meaningful connections, had a chance for, like, meaningful mentorship within that organization?
Sam:Yeah. Definitely. The the first couple of people that I got paired with from a mentorship perspective, it was kind of funny because they actually ended up being at the squadron that I was at. Where I had interacted with them, passing them in the hallways or seeing them at work, it then kind of created that space for us to approach each other and be like, Hey, let's have a more meaningful conversation about what this looks like that may not have happened on its own. The other cool thing that we did for a couple of years that I was fortunate to be a part of was Elevate Aviation did their cross country tour.
Sam:They do a cross country tour every year. So the major cities across Canada will host an aviation day. And it's targeted at youth in the high school age that are interested in pursuing careers in aviation down the road. They opened it up to the RCF wings. So in 2021 or 2022, I believe, can't remember the year, I was fortunate enough to host that at Trenton.
Sam:Awesome. And we were able to, you know, we had some guest speakers from various trades of women who were working on the wing. We did, you know, static displays of the aircraft that we had and really just got gave people the unique opportunity to see what life was like in a career or an aviation career perspective, but more focused on, you know, what the military has to offer as well.
Bryan:That's awesome. So you helped establish the Defense Team Pride Advisory Organization or DTPAO chapter in Trenton and are involved in the Defense Women's Advisory Organization or DWAO. Why are these organizations important in an operational wing?
Sam:So the DTPAO came to be as a result of the December 2020 decision to add pride as a formal employment equity group within the Canadian Armed Forces and the Defence Team. So in early twenty twenty one, I was approached by the wing, knowing that I was an openly lesbian member of the Defence Team. I was asked if I would help stand up a chapter in Trenton, which I was more than happy to do. And the main role of this organization is to really be not necessarily the filter, but to provide direction and guidance and feedback to the command team on issues relating to members of the queer community. A lot of our policy and standard practices are they've been around for a long time, so they don't necessarily reflect the new trends of society, culture, inclusivity, just the language that's written in the majority of them.
Sam:So a lot of what these organisations do is look to highlight those discrepancies and try to advance the language or the ways that we can include services or resources for members of the community. And I think that's important because in the CAF in particular, diversity is an asset for us. There's space for everybody. And at the end of the day, if we're not taking care of our members, we're not enabling mission success. If we're not taking care of our people, then how can we expect them to show up to work every day, put the uniform on with pride and deliver good things, right?
Sam:So it's really about making sure that everyone feels like they have a seat at the table and that they're a valued member of the team. So yeah, I think that's important, you know, in all levels of the CAF.
Bryan:Mhmm. I would imagine that, you know, the CAF has committed to making an effort in this in this space. So if we're gonna do that, recognizing reality for what it is, there's probably very few members of those communities within high level ranks right now. Just as we've talked about various representation levels within the military. So this kind of advisory group is kind of necessary because those these people don't have those lived experiences.
Bryan:So as much as they have their best intentions and they wanna be effective, I imagine it's quite difficult to be effective in these in leading changes in this space without advice from people who've actually lived it.
Sam:Yeah. Absolutely. And I think back to, you know, even when I joined, you know, don't ask, don't tell was still a thing, in The States. That was never really a policy in Canada. But, you know, we we do have a history of, you discrimination against the LGBT community.
Sam:You think of like the Purge and whatnot.
Bryan:Absolutely, we do.
Sam:So to see how far we've come is also pretty inspiring. The CAF is making change. There's like deliberate action behind trying to be a more inclusive, you know, microcosm of society. And I think like in Trenton, I'll use that as an example, obviously, because I came from there. At the time that I was looking to stand up this organization, we had queer businesses that were being vandalized.
Sam:There's not a lot of LGBTQ support resources in these smaller towns and bases where you're not associated or co located with a major city or metropolis. So our membership grew quite quickly. And I think that it wasn't just members of the queer community, but also allies, obviously, that joined the organization. But I think it just went to demonstrate that I think within the first week, we had over 70 people signed up.
Bryan:That's awesome.
Sam:Yeah, I think that these are really important organizations, even just from a networking perspective and having someone to talk to and highlight issues at all levels of leadership when we encounter them.
Bryan:Yeah, it sounds like there's a lot of benefits in a lot of different ways at a lot of different levels to this organization.
Sam:Absolutely.
Bryan:So as we talk about your work with the Pride Advisory Organization, we've talked a fair bit, especially in part one about your experiences as a woman within the RCAF. How have your experiences been as a member of the queer community as an openly gay woman? What's that like?
Sam:Yeah, honestly, it's been pretty good for me. I don't really have any instances of targeted attacks or something that was directed specifically at me. So I've been pretty fortunate in that space. I know that's not everyone's experience, which is why, again, these organisations are so important. I think a lot of the insecurity and hesitation around it has to do with the language.
Sam:People, you know, and education, you know, people are, I don't want to use afraid as in like fearful, but people are afraid of things that they don't understand.
Bryan:Yep.
Sam:So it's really finding the space and the language to be able to communicate with one another and have those hard conversations and really make sure that we're moving forward as a combined and inclusive organisation from a change management perspective. And the feedback and the participation and the reception that Eightwing in particular has had with this has been pretty inspiring. So I think that we're working in the right direction overall. I think there's obviously still room for improvement, but I think we're on the right track with the changes that we're making.
Bryan:Yeah. I'm so glad to hear that you've had a largely positive experience. And like we said, like, just because, you know, we're not saying nobody has issues, but it's good to hear. It's nice to hear a good story too, you know. I think people just need to realize you said like people are afraid of what they don't understand.
Bryan:They're maybe they're uncomfortable with something they haven't encountered before. They have all people tend to have preconceived notions and things. I think if you just meet somebody of of you could be talking about race, sexual identity, many different things. You meet somebody from a group that you don't know much about and you realize, like, we're all human beings who want the same thing. Right?
Bryan:We all wanna be loved. We all wanna be safe. All these things. Right? We're all we're all just human beings.
Sam:Yeah, absolutely. It sounds cliche, but we always have far more in common than we have, in difference. So it's really important to, you know, seek out the opportunities to get to know one each other because everyone brings, something different to the table and that's where, you know, strength and diversity lies.
Bryan:Yeah. I could not agree more. So you have represented Canada as part of the CAF International Women's Soccer Team, including the World Military Games. What parallels exist between elite sport and tactical aviation?
Sam:So, yeah, I've been fortunate to be part of the, well, formerly CISM, now CAF International, women's team since I joined in 2007. Like I mentioned, I think in episode one, sport is what really brought me into the military. It was a huge part of my youth. And so really unique opportunity to continue to play and now coach at that level after university. I think sport and not even tactical aviation, but just leadership in general and teamwork go hand in hand.
Sam:The skills that you learn when you grow up and use sports in terms of accountability, teamwork, communication, conflict management, all of those really important things that you go through in like when you're heated on the pitch or the feel or the ice or whatever sport you come from, really translate to operating in complex environments. So being able to remain calm and composed, dealing with high intensity situations or high pressure situations. So really being able to focus under pressure or perform under pressure. Communicating in a team environment, leadership. Yeah.
Sam:I think there's lots of parallels between sport and, you know, just overall the military in general.
Bryan:Yeah. Yeah. And it's funny because I feel like a lot of people would be like, why are why are we paying these people to go play sports? Like, what is this? It's actually surprising to me how many guests I have who are like, yeah, I actually joined the military because I wanted to play hockey.
Bryan:Or I joined the military because I love soccer and I could keep doing that at a at a high level. I would argue that it it attracts in a lot of really high quality people who have a lot of the characteristics we're looking for. And not only that, but also people who are rooted in physical fitness, which we need more and more of in the military. I think it's a great, a great thing to include within our military.
Sam:For sure. And from a CAF sports perspective, you know, there's there's so many different levels. You have your base level unit sports, which, you know, build unit and, you know, squadron, wing wide cohesion and camaraderie. You go to regionals, then you go to nationals. So there's different levels of competition.
Sam:CISM is pretty unique in itself just because their motto is actually friendship through sport. It kind of echoes the Olympic community where you're often when you go to military world games, you might be competing against a country that we might not necessarily consider an ally from a military operating perspective, but you get to meet them in sort of the arena of a sports field instead of a theater of operations. So really sort of bridging the gap and getting to know and see the different perspectives of countries we might not necessarily get to train or operate with from a military perspective. So it's a pretty unique experience.
Bryan:Yeah. It's kind of the beautiful thing about sports. Right? Like, that's what's amazing about the Olympics and all these different international sporting organizations is it's quite often people who would never meet face to face and then hopefully realizing, like we talked about before, that we all have much more in common than we have that divides us.
Sam:Yeah, absolutely. It's all it's about, you know, bringing people together on the human level.
Bryan:Mhmm. As a service spouse, which just for the uninitiated means that both spouses are in the military and a mother, how do you navigate operational tempo and family life?
Sam:Now I know my wife is going to be listening, so I can't lie. I don't necessarily think I do a really good job at this. I'm be really upfront about that. But that just means that, you know, I'm really reliant on that support system that I have back home. When I am home, I try to be present as much as possible.
Sam:But, you know, the reality is depending on what job you're in and what the tempo of that unit or squadron is, that's not always possible, right? So I think about my last three or four years at the squadron, I had, I think, five deployments in a four year period. So that's not at home a lot. And now, you know, I'm on staff college and on IR. So again, not home a lot.
Sam:I missed the first trimester of my wife's pregnancy, which might be a pro for me, a con for her, from dealing with that at home. But my daughter was born, I was lucky enough to be home for that. And then I deployed again when she was about six months old. I left when she wasn't crawling. And I got home after she had already taken her first step.
Sam:So, you know, really, really demanding from a work life balance perspective. I think that there are opportunities to find it. It might not be easy. But again, this is just a highlight. It's really important.
Sam:And I'm super fortunate and very lucky that I have a spouse who is crushing it in her own career. So it's almost more impressive than me. And can still, you know, keep the the home front running. So, yeah, it's tough.
Bryan:Do wanna give her a shout out by name?
Sam:Yeah. Sure. Warrant, officer Mary Lou Tellier, in Trenton. So shout out to you, babe, for, everything you do to to make what I'm doing possible.
Bryan:Yeah. That's amazing. What does support behind the scenes look like in order to sustain a career like this?
Sam:Yeah. Like I alluded to, you know, last last question, I guess. Honestly, it takes sacrifice, I would say, you know, we've got three cats, two dogs. I got my daughter who's two now, a stepson who's 11. Like, there's a lot going on in the home front.
Bryan:That's a busy house.
Sam:Yeah, it's a busy house. And, you know, she's working full time and doing a good job at that. So yeah, I'm often in awe of her capacity to do all those things and not skip a beat. You know, I lots of times when I was still at the squadron, then I pick up the phone and she'd be like, Where are you going now? See you later.
Sam:Just ready to respond to that. But yeah, I think it takes a village, honestly. We have a great support network of friends. Our families aren't too far. So all of these are really enabling factors to be able to do that.
Sam:But at the end of the day, it takes sacrifice on her part and then not to pat myself on the back, but it's sacrifice for the member too. Of course. It's difficult to be away from home. I don't like being away from home. I'm missing a lot.
Sam:So like I said, really trying to be present and strike that balance and the opportunities that like, I do have to be home, be present for, you know, her, my daughter, and stepson. Yeah. Really, really find that balance between the things that, you know, need to be done on a weekend versus what can wait till, you know, Monday morning when I'm back in the office.
Bryan:Yeah. For sure. When your daughter sees you in uniform, what do you hope she understands about possibility?
Sam:I hope that she grows up, you know, in a in a society, in a world where she believes that she can do whatever she wants to do. I love it because she's already obsessed with airplanes even at two. So obviously hope that she develops that passion for aviation as well. But at the end of the day, whatever's going to bring her joy is what we're going to support her with. No pressure in any certain path.
Sam:At the end of the day, she's going to be her own person and really just raising her to be that strong female that that feels empowered to to do what she wants to do.
Bryan:Yeah. So during Women of Aviation Worldwide Week, what message do you most want young girls to hear, especially when it comes to entering a male dominated field like aviation?
Sam:I would say at the end of the day, like, follow your heart, follow your dreams. There's a place for you no matter, you know, where you wanna end up. Certainly, if it's in aviation, there's so many opportunities you to explore. And you really just need to, you know, follow your heart and that passion and you know, take a chance. Sometimes it just means having the courage to, know, walk up to the recruiting office or sign up for that first, you know, training flight, you know, a local flying school or whatever it's gonna be.
Sam:But, you know, really just having the confidence and the courage to go after what you want and believing that you can do whatever you wanna do.
Bryan:Mhmm. Or join air cadets.
Sam:Absolutely. So
Bryan:this episode will release just after International Women's Day. What would success for women in Canadian military aviation look like ten years from now?
Sam:So I think we've already, you know, started down the right path. We have our first, female RCAF commander, which was a huge, glass ceiling. You know, the command chief is also a woman. So, you know, two female command team for the RCAF. We have a female chief of defense staff.
Sam:So I think, you know, all of those firsts are finally being taken. At the end of the day, I think what success for women in the Canadian military is going to look like in ten years from now is, you know, that more commonplace equal representation and, you know, less need for us to have one on one conversations like this, highlighting the importance of like, needing that sort of visibility. And at at the end of the day, creating that space where women feel like they they belong in these environments.
Bryan:Yeah. Like, it would be just a normal thing. Not not like like just another day. Yeah. Of course.
Bryan:There's professional women in the military. Why wouldn't there be?
Sam:Yeah. Less is something to talk about and more just, you know, the reality of the the forces.
Bryan:Yeah. Okay, Sam. That is gonna wrap up part two of this series. I have seriously enjoyed this. I think it's been a lot of fun chatting with you and getting to know you.
Bryan:It's really, really cool to hear about your career and also the topic of women serving in the RCAF and kind of learning about what some of those issues involve and your advocacy surrounding that. So thank you so much for being here today. Thank you for taking some time out of your schedule at Staff College, and I wish you all the best. Thank you for being here today.
Sam:Thanks. It was a lot of fun. Awesome.
Bryan:Alright. That wraps up our two part chat on International Women's Day, Women of Aviation Worldwide Week, and following the career of major Sam Bame in the RCAF. Let me set the scene for next week's episode. A vicious winter storm, a ship out of control drifting aground in Newfoundland. These were the circumstances when one zero three star squadron in Gander, Newfoundland sprung into action to save the sailors aboard the MSC Baltic three.
Bryan:We'll sit down with the copilot from that mission, major Pete Wright, as well as the lead Sartech from the mission, Warren officer Greg Hudson, as they take us through a harrowing firsthand account of this exciting rescue. Do you have any questions or comments about anything you've heard in this show? Would you or someone you know make a great guest, or do you have a great idea for a show? You can reach out to us at the pilotprojectpodcast@Gmail.com or on all social media at at pod pilot project. And be sure to check out that social media for lots of great videos of our RCAF and mission aviation aircraft.
Bryan:As always, we'd like to thank you for tuning in and ask for your help with the big three. That's like and follow us on social media, share with your friends, and follow and rate us five stars wherever you get your podcasts. That's all for now. Thanks for listening. Keep the blue side up.
Bryan:See you. Engineer, shut down all four. Shutting down all four.