Shoot Like A Girl

Chief Warrant Officer Lisa Kachanoski has served in the Canadian Army Reserve for 25 years and this past fall she made history by becoming the first female appointed to Regimental Sergeant Major in the 5th (B.C.) Field Regiment’s 140-year history. She has numerous international deployments to places like Bosnia, Jordan, and Latvia, and she has also participated in domestic deployments such as Op Palaci, to control avalanches in Rogers Pass, British Columbia.
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Renee joined the Intelligence branch of the New Zealand Army before transferring to Military Police and finishing at the top of her class. She then completed the mentally and physically demanding assessment and subsequent course to become a Conduct After Capture Instructor. In this episode, we dive into her career and explore key themes like confidence, personal development, and embracing challenges. 

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Although she earned her civilian pilot's license at a young age, Captain Erin Edwards started her military journey as a Naval Warfare Officer in the Canadian Naval Reserve. Later, she transitioned to the Regular Force, where she realized her dream of becoming a CH-146 Griffon pilot, ultimately being selected as a member of 427 Special Operations Aviation Squadron. Simultaneously, Captain Edwards demonstrated her commitment to lifelong learning by successfully completing her Master's degree in Space Science.

Now, Captain Erin Edwards has taken on an exciting new role at the Johnson Space Centre, training with the Flight Operations Directorate to assume the Capsule Communicator Flight Controller position, serving as the critical voice link between Mission Control Center Houston and astronauts onboard the International Space Station.

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First Sergeant (Retired) Tiffany Myrick-Woodley served 20 years in the United States Army’s Military Police Corps. She completed two combat tours to Afghanistan 2004-05 and 2011-12 and two tours to Korea in 2003 and 2018. She played an essential role in the gender integration of the Army’s Combat Arms occupations where she served as a member of Cultural Support Team – Two (CST-2), enabling 75th Ranger Regiment and Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU) Special Mission Units by engaging the female and adolescent populations in Afghanistan. Additionally, she was selected to observe and advise on the implementation of standards during the integration of Ranger School, the Army’s premier leadership course. Tiffany holds an MBA with a concentration in International Business and is married with a blended family of four children. 

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A graduate of the Royal Military College of Canada in Engineering, Lieutenant-General Jennie Carignan was commissioned into the Canadian Military Engineers in 1990.

Since then, she commanded two Combat Engineer Regiments, Royal Military College Saint-Jean and the 2nd Canadian Division, where she led more than 10,000 soldiers and spearheaded crisis operations during the flood relief efforts in the spring of 2019 in Quebec. More recently, she led NATO Mission Iraq from November 2019 to November 2020. LGen Carignan participated in three previous expeditionary operations in Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Golan Heights, and Afghanistan.

Along the way, LGen Carignan earned a Master's degree in Business Administration from Université Laval and a second Master’s degree from the United States Army Command and General Staff College and the School of Advanced Military Studies. She is also a graduate of the National Security Studies Programme from Canadian Forces College in Toronto.

LGen Carignan has been invested as Commander of the Order of Military Merit and is the recipient of the Meritorious Service Medal. She received the prestigious Gloire de l'Escolle medal which recognizes graduates from Université Lavalwho have distinguished themselves professionally and in service to their communities. She was recently awarded an honorary doctorate in Business Administration from Université Laval.

LGen Carignan was promoted to her current rank in April of 2021 and appointed as Chief of Professional Conduct and Culture, a newly created position in the CAF. 

Married, Jennie is the mother of four children, two of whom proudly serve in the Canadian Armed Forces. 

WO1 Jen Davidson started her career as a Medic in the US Army Reserve, but soon transferred to become a 37F, Psychological Operations Specialist. She started skydiving in college and quickly became addicted. She spent over 13 years on the US Army Parachute Team, the Golden Knights. She has been on the podium many times at various World Championship skydiving competitions, competing in 4way and 8way. She has now moved on to her next endeavour, becoming a helicopter pilot!

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U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Marissa Chierichella visited West Point on a school field trip when she was 10 years old. From that moment on, she knew she wanted to attend the United States Military Academy and join the U.S. Army. She went on to have a pretty awesome career serving as a Military Police Officer and as a Human Intelligence Officer in USASOC. She was also the first woman to serve as the Executive Officer for the Golden Knights, the U.S. Army parachute team. She speaks Spanish, French, and some Urdu. She has done overseas assignments to Iraq and Syria and is currently serving as the Deputy Chief of Staff with the 82nd Airborne.

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OCdt Janice Oh s a student at the Royal Military College of Canada, a member of their Combat Weapons Team, and a CISM Basketball player. She recently completed an exchange semester at the US Air Force Academy in Colorado, and during that time completed her freefall jump course. The future is bright for this young woman!

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Afton David was born into a military family in Valcartier, Québec. She grew up in typical “army brat” fashion, moving from base to base throughout her younger years. Throughout high school, she played Rugby and wrestled, which carried over to her post-secondary career as a varsity Rugby player at the University of Ottawa. She played provincial Rugby with team Quebec, winning gold at the 2016 Canadian Rugby Championship. During this time, she joined the CAF as a reserve infanteer with the Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa and she continued to study, play Rugby and pursue her military training concurrently. 

She is a graduate of the University of Ottawa with three degrees: Civil Law (LL.L), Common Law (J.D.), and International Development and Globalization (B.Soc.Sc.). Following her graduation from law school, she was called to the Bar of the Law Society of Ontario in 2018 and she continued to devote her time to pro-bono work and academic writing. She began her legal career in private practice with Kelly Santini LLP, and moved on as in-house Counsel at TekSavvy Solutions Inc., and landed at Thales Canada Defense & Security as in-house Counsel in 2021. 

She is the winner of the Mayor of Ottawa’s Award for outstanding community engagement (2019), the Canadian Bar Association’s Sword & Scale essay competition for her paper on legislative amendments to the Veterans Charter (2017), and is published in the areas of military justice reform (2021), medical assistance in dying (2018) and is mentioned in the Oxford Handbook of the Canadian Constitution (2015). She has deployed domestically three times; 2017 and 2019 on OP LENTUS and 2020 on OP LASER. 

In 2019, she participated in her first amateur boxing match as part of Fight for the Cure, Ottawa’s only white-collar boxing event, where she raised over $10,000 for the Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation. In 2023, only seven months after giving birth to her son, Afton participated in the “Clash of Cartier”, a charity boxing event involving her military unit, the Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa. Afton firmly believes she could not have done any of the things she has done in her life without the unwavering support of her family, and especially her husband, Brett. She currently resides in Renfrew, Ontario, with her husband and eight-month old son.

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Liz McConaghy was the longest-serving female crewman on the Royal Air Force Chinook Fleet spanning a 17-year career flying on the aircraft. Originally from a small town in Co. Down Northern Ireland she attended RAF Cranwell on her 19th birthday to begin her exciting career thereafter on Chinook Helicopters. She was the youngest aircrew to deploy to Iraq aged just 21 and also the only female crewman on the Chinook wing for 4 years, so her story is completely unique.

Her career saw her amass 2 deployments to Iraq and 10 deployments to Helmand Afghanistan in support of Operation Herrick which gave her an insightful and very personal perspective on war. Upon leaving the RAF in 2019 Liz slowly became unravelled after a series of traumatic events that compounded her PTSD. This led to her trying to end her life in Aug 2020.

She survived and went into the Veterans Mental Health care system to help her deal with her demons and finally lay the images she had seen on the battlefield to rest. During this time she began writing poetry and subsequently an autobiography to help her get her thoughts out of her head.

Chinook Crew Chick was released in Sept 2022 and went to Amazon Bestseller within 3 weeks. It is an honest and humorous account of her ‘best of times and worst of times’ and how her experiences flying on the Chinook have changed and moulded her into the woman she has become. From dodging bullets to saving soldiers and witnessing the brutality and loss of war, she writes how she found herself bringing the battlefield home, despite her fighting days being over.

Liz’s story offers hope to those who have also found themselves in the darkest of places, who are looking for the tools within themselves to begin to rebuild a pathway to a new life. She is now an ambassador for mental health and specifically PTSD with Veterans. Liz stands as an example that PTSD does not have to be your identity, it can simply be a chapter of your life that can be learned from and most importantly moved on from.

This podcast features mini-interviews with 5 different women in 3 different countries who are currently deployed with the Canadian Armed Forces. During this episode, you will gain insight into their roles on deployment and back home, as well as what their day-to-day life is like while deployed.

Petty Officer 1st Class Frances Bartoch - Senior Human Resource Manager Operational Support Center South West Asia, Joint Task Force IMPACT

Sergeant Kylie Peterson - Logistics Platoon, Transport 2 I/C, IC Road and Vehicle Safety – Joint Task Force IMPACT

Major Rebecca Wheaton-Sparkes - Intelligence Officer, Canadian LNO, Op FOUNDATION

Sergeant Mary Fandrey - Female Engagement Team (FET) NCO Mentor, Canadian Training Assistance Team-Jordan (CTAT-J)

Captain Jane Jaklič - Female Engagement Team (FET) Lead, Canadian Training Assistance Team - Jordan (CTAT-J)

Amy Forsythe began her career as an enlisted military journalist in the U.S. Marine Corps and she currently serves as a Public Affairs Officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve. Her career has included five combat deployments and several other overseas assignments.

Mandi Thomas is a US Army veteran. She was trained as an interrogator, and also attended language school to learn Russian. After leaving the Army, Mandi spent 12 years as a stay-at-home mom. She attended school, started personal training, and then moved on to become a firefighter. She is a fierce mental health advocate and hopes to one day work full-time for a non-profit organization helping First Responders. 

Stephanie is a former active duty, now reserve officer in the United States Marine Corps. She is an Amphibious Assault Officer and she has a very long list of accomplishments. She wrestled in high school but began boxing at the United States Naval Academy. At the academy, she was also a member of the Glee Club and Captain of the Track and Field Team. On top of all that, she plays five musical instruments.  She is a 3 x Collegiate National Boxing Champion, and a 3x Team USA National Champion, and we hope to see her in the ring at the Olympics in Paris 2024.

Major Melissa Marshall joined the Canadian Army as an Artillery Officer after attending University in 2007. Throughout that time, she has completed qualifications such as Forward Observation Officer and has held various positions including Battery Commander. in 2013, she deployed on Operation ATTENTION in Kabul, Afghanistan as the Task Force adjutant and has coordinated support for various domestic operations. She competed in the Bataan Memorial Death March in 2009, the Marine Corps Marathon in 2012, and 5 Army Run Half Marathons. She also won National Slo Pitch Championships with Team Alberta in 2018 and 2022.

Melissa’s husband Kyle is also a member of the Canadian Armed Forces, serving as an Infantry Sergeant in Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI).

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Major Lesley Quinlan is the Director of the Canada Army Run. In addition to being an Officer in the Canadian Armed Forces, she is also an accomplished triathlete. In 2019, she was named the CAF Female Athlete of the Year. She won Individual silver and mixed team gold at the CISM World Military Games in triathlon in China that year, and two golds back home: one in the 10K at the CAF National Triathlon Championship and another in the 10K at the CAF National Running Championship.

Lisa Jaster is a Lieutenant Colonel in the US Army Reserve. She was one of the first women to complete Ranger School. She has a BS in Civil Engineering from West Point, and an MS in Civil Engineering from Missouri University of Science and Technology. She has been stationed in Korea, and has deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq with the US Army. Lisa also has a new book in the works called “Delete the Adjective.”

She is a Senior Consultant for the Talent War Group, a Senior Advisor for the McChrystal Group, and a Dive Pirates Foundation board member.

On top of all this, she’s also a wife, mom, purple belt in BJJ, a bowhunter, and she works out like a beast. If superwoman was real, she would be Lisa Jaster.

This episode is a reading from the book "Fifteen Days" by Christie Blatchford. 

Captain Nichola Kathleen Sarah Goddard, MSM (May 2, 1980 – May 17, 2006) was the first female Canadian combat soldier killed in combat, and the 16th Canadian soldier killed in Canadian operations in Afghanistan.

Nichola’s death in 2006 hit Canada hard. A “daughter of Canada”, there was no shortage of news coverage on the 17th Canadian combat death in Afghanistan. In the years since, dozens of tributes to her life have been established around the country – some as simple as the memorial plaque in her former high school, some as large and complex as an entire Coast Guard ship carrying her name for decades to come. Many of the initiatives that have taken place in honour of her memory were and are led by the Nichola Goddard Foundation.

Lieutenant Andrea Howard has an insanely impressive resume. She is a Nuclear Submarine Officer in the U.S. Navy.

She was not only a student at top-notch schools including the United States Naval Academy, Kings College London, and Oxford; but she was involved in many activities, societies, and athletics.

Andrea was also named one of the “Twenty-Five LGBTI Next Generation Leaders to Watch” by the Atlantic Council.

Captain Megan McDougall is a Personnel Selection Officer in the Canadian Army. Before joining the Canadian Armed Forces in 2015, she completed a BA in Sociology and Psychology, a Master of Human Kinetics (with a Concentration in Consultation and Intervention), and a Masters Cert in Leadership. She also owned a yoga studio, and worked as PSP Fitness Staff for the Canadian Armed Forces. Megan also has an online mobility and stretching program (Mindset on Mobility) during which you receive lessons on mental performance, as well as a podcast called MeSearch.

Oh and I almost forgot, she also played basketball for Team Canada at the CISM World Military Games in Wuhan, China in 2019.