After more than three decades in the forces, Ron Evans has literally served in all branches of the military, and looking back it afforded him a career to be proud of.
Evans’ father was a member of the air force, and Evans was born in Germany. When he was five years old the family moved to Edmonton. Growing up in the military, he saw some of the other ‘Base Brats’ showing interest in following in the footsteps while others steered away from the lifestyle. For Evans in high school, he joined the Loyal Edmonton Regiment as a reserve.
“I was only there for a little over a year, but in that time I saw all the different trades and all the things that were available in the regular force and it really piqued my interest,” said Evans, adding while it seems cliché, travelling interested him.
In 1988, when he was 19, he joined the regular forces.
He did his basic training in Cornwallis, Nova Scotia, his French language training in St. Jeans, Quebec, and did his trades training in Borden, Ontario. He joined as an admin clerk, however as his career progressed he became more engaged in finances.
“To me, basic training took a boy and turned me into a young man,” he said. “it was hard and challenging and there were a lot of days I wanted to quit.”
“I remember us leaving on Greyhound style busses and we are driving through the gates, finished with basic training. You had a couple of busloads of people who thought they could concur the world. That is how much confidence we had.”
His first posting was in the air force and he lived in Cold Lake in the barracks for two and a half years. His role included record keeping of maintenance. This was in the days of typewriters.
His next posting was in Halifax where he served on three ships in six years, including the HMCS Fraser, HCMS Montreal, and the HMCS Athabasca.
On the Montréal was his first major deployment in 1995. They sailed to the Adriatic Sea for naval support during the Bosnia conflict.
“We were part of the NATO fleet, and part of the operation was out at sea. We never engaged, but we were there in a monitoring capacity,” he said.
This was a six-month tour, and then he was stationed on the HCMS Athabasca.
“All three of these ships I worked in personnel and administration and any shipboard duties that were required. One of the sayings they have that applies is ‘sailor first, tradesman second,’” he said.
In 1997 he was posted back home to Edmonton in an army posting. Being a part of a support trade, it allowed him to easily transition to any military environment. It was in Edmonton where he began to work more in finance. His second major deployment was part of the UN force to the Golan Heights, and then back to Bosnia with the army.
In 2002, he was posted to Colorado Springs in Colorado. This is a NORAD installation, and home of the famous Santa Tracker. This is where he met his wife, who coincidentally is the daughter of a retired member of the Canadian Air Force.
He was then posted at Esquimalt for seven years and served 2 and a half years on the HMCS Algonquin. This was sailing the west coast, including a few trips to Hawaii. His final tour was part of Op Caribbe, which was part of the Canadian contribution to the war against drugs. He said this operation was along the west of Panama where the ship did exercises and patrolled for drug runners.
He finished his career at Kingston with the army. From there he transferred into the federal public service, working for the Department of National Defence. He worked there for a year and a half before he began working for the federal public service here in Drumheller.
Looking back on his career he said it exceeded the expectations he had as a 19-year-old joining up.
“I did what the military asked me to do and went to places it asked me to go to, but I was afforded many opportunities to try different things,” he said. “These are things that are pretty much available to anybody. The military gave me a very good life, and here in my civilian life I am all trained.”
He feels the military is a great choice for young people to get involved with.
“If younger people are looking for careers, based on my experience, I would encourage them to look at organizations such as the Canadian Forces, our police forces, corrections, border services, coast guard, they are all great organizations. I chose the road I did and it worked out well, I am still young and I have a career behind me and I am having fun.”