HMCS Halifax first Canadian Warship Commanded by a female Commander Josee Kurtz. Well done Bravo Zulu
Cmdr. Jose Kurtz has officially taken charge of the warship HMCS Halifax, the first time that a Canadian woman has led a major warship.
Kurtz assumed command as the 11th Commanding Officer of Her Majestys Canadian Ship (HMCS) Halifax on Tuesday morning during a change-of-command ceremony on board the ship.
Kurtz said it's not as big deal for women to take lead roles in the military as it was when she first joined the Canadian Forces 19 years ago.When I joined, I realized I was joining an environment that had not had women traditionally working with them, and that transition was not going to happen overnight, said Kurtz. So, it was a bit of give and take on my part to accept that they were not going to accept me overnight and just go on little steps one at a time. And I think that whole attitude, on both sides, paid dividends.
Halifax has a crew of about 220 sailors, including 15 women.
Kurtz succeeds Cmdr. Art McDonald, who assumed command in June 2007.
She has served on other ships, including HMCS Nipigon and Protecteur. Last June, she was appointed executive officer of HMCS Ville de Quebec while the ship was escorting food aid being delivered to Somalia.
Kurtz holds a bachelor of arts from the University of Ottawa and a masters in defence studies from the Royal Military College of Canada. She is also a graduate of the joint command and staff program at the Canadian Forces College in Toronto.
She was born in Joliette, Que., and currently lives in Halifax with her husband and daughter. A Commander, a Sailor, a Mother and Wife.
At the Helm Ready aye Ready
Memory Lane:
How soon they forget Yes this is from a War long past, but a reader from the USA passed it on to me I feel that for vetrans of all wars this is important we must remember our past in order to goi forward in the Future.
Its 14-November-1965, and you are a 19 year old kid.
You're critically wounded, and dying in the jungle at LZ X-ray, in the La Drang Valley, Vietnam. Your infantry unit is outnumbered 8 - 1, and the enemy fire is so intense, from 100 or 200 yards away, that your own Infantry Commander has ordered the Medi-Vac helicopters to stop coming in.
You're lying there, listening to the enemy machine guns, and you know you're not getting out. Your family is half-way around the world, 12,000 miles away, and you'll never see them again. As the world starts to fade in and out, you know this is the day.
Then, over the machine gun noise, you faintly hear that sound of a helicopter, and you look up to see an un-armed Huey, but it doesn't seem real, because there are no Medi-Vac markings are on it.
Ed Freeman is coming for you. He's not Medi-Vac pilot, so it's not his job, but he's flying his Huey down into the machine gun fire, after the Medi-Vacs were ordered not to come.
He's coming anyway.
And he drops it in, and sits there in the machine gun fire, as they load 2 or 3 of you on board.
Then he flies you up and out through the gunfire, to the Doctors and Nurses.
And, he keeps coming back.... 13 more times..... And takes about 30 of you and your buddies out, who would never have gotten out.
Medal of Honor Recipient, Ed Freeman, died last Wednesday at the age of 80, in Boise, ID... May God rest his soul...
I bet you didn't hear about this hero's passing, but we sure were told a whole bunch about some Hip-Hop Coward beating the crap out of his girlfriend.
An important message to veterans and their families who served in CFB Gagetown Please cut and paste this link....VERY IMPORTANT:
http://www.gagetownmovie.com/GT_VIDEO.htm
As you are seated having your Easter Dinner , please say a prayer along with Grace, for the troops who are away and cannot be with their families at this time. No easter egg hunts with their kids. They also serve the Invisible Army at home. Nil Sine Labore
Robby
