RCN Officers Participate in International Symposium
Lt(N) Seán Place Canadian Submarine Force –– From Nov. 8 to 13, the Marina de Guerra del Perú (the Peruvian Navy) hosted the 8th International Symposium of the New Generation of Naval Officers of the Navies of the Americas. It is an annual conference of junior officers from across the American continent that provides an opportunity to establish contacts in other navies and learn from one another’s experiences. Lieutenant(Navy) Kevin Perron of HMCS D’Iberville and I had the honour of representing the Royal Canadian Navy during this exchange, which we shared with officers from the navies of Argentina, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Peru, the United States, and Uruguay. The theme of this year’s iteration of the symposium was “Lessons Learned by the Navy during the COVID-19 Pandemic.” Lt(N) Perron and I conducted a joint presentation on two subjects. As the Training Officer of D’Iberville, he discussed the effectiveness of pivoting to Team- and Zoom-based training within his unit. I presented a retrospective on how the pandemic had increased submarine crew’s time away from home and how rapid antigen testing and, more importantly, mass vaccination has allowed the easing of pre-embarkation protocols. However, some of the lessons learned presented by our colleagues were sobering reminders of the devastation wrought in many countries in the early stages of the pandemic. The naval forces of some co-participants undertook grim tasks such as transportation and storage of people who had succumbed to COVID-19 during the strictest lockdowns in their countries, when mortuary or funeral services were completely unavailable. It was with the greatest humility that we listened and learned from our fellow naval officers whose lessons from the pandemic made ours seem trifling by comparison. Nevertheless, we had many enjoyable and thought-provoking experiences during the weeklong conference, including spending two...