Known as “Rusty” she is a former Flight Sergeant for 53 Summerside RCACS. 53 RCACS was the second of three cadet squadrons that she was a member of but by far the most memorable. She was a former air cadet with 742 in Ottawa and 191 in Winnipeg as well. In 1987 just before aging out of cadets she joined the Canadian Armed Forces as a pilot and went off to basic training.

The world had other plans for her and in 1989 she left the regular force and returned to University of Winnipeg to become a teacher.  Rusty joined the Cadet Instructor Cadre right away to continue serving as a member of the Air Force and to teach air cadets in Winnipeg.  She was fortunate to accept a position with the Regional Cadet Headquarters Winnipeg and worked there for 17 years as a Personnel Officer, Corporate Services Officer and Commandant of the Cadet Instructor School. During those years she was also the CO of a very large air cadet squadron in Winnipeg for two terms, the DCO in Penhold Air Cadet Summer Training Centre in 2010, at the same time carrying on with her education to get a Bachelor of Education from the University of Winnipeg and a Master of Public Administration from the Royal Military College of Canada.

Since her retirement from the RCSU she has been traveling around the world via cruise ship, SCUBA diving in the Caribbean, teaching at French Immersion Schools in Winnipeg and online undergrad courses with RMCC, and volunteering with the cadet program in the Marksmanship and Biathlon programs and teaching CIC  courses. Rusty found retirement boring so she decided to try a new career with the Public Service as a consultant and ended up working full time with Indigenous Services Canada with the First Nation and Inuit Youth Employment Strategy in Manitoba, which has become a very rewarding and fulfilling job.

Rusty has three children and a husband who are all CIC – one in the army and three in the air force…there are a lot of combat boots at her house. They were also all cadets, with my daughter going to the 176 RCACS since she was 6 months old. She learned to walk while delivering telephone books as a fundraiser.  She is looking forward to someday even seeing grandchildren in the program, just not too soon.