CAF Story | Sticking together in the CAF!

Video / September 22, 2022

Transcript

(AK) Our friends pretty much thought: "Oh my God! They're going to war!"

(JK) Yeah!

(AK) That's what we got a lot. No, we're just going to school! Ha, ha! Don't worry!

(JK) We're in the Air Force. Engineers.

(AK) We have no military experience in our family whatsoever.

(JK) And we weren't cadets or anything, so... we knew that...

(AK) We came in blind.

(JK) Yeah, pretty blind. You see movies and stuff about basic training and then... So, basic training was very scary, 'cause you're expecting it to be what it's like in movies, but it was not, so... So, it's definitely scary, but it's exciting.

(AK) But no, it's a place for people who want to be leaders. And everybody who goes to university and college has a little bit of "I have the save the world" in them. And it's a direct way to help people, which is, I think, a big draw to RMC. And you get to be a leader.

(JK) We were in almost every single sport we could possibly manage to be in. Through high school and elementary school, we played, like, you name it: basketball, volleyball, alpine skiing, javelin and rugby, hockey, soccer.

(AK) And in order to go to our hockey tournaments, or whatever, we had to be performing well in school or else we weren't allowed to go.

(JK) In Grade 10-ish, we said that we were interested in RMC. And we just kind of put out feelers. And then, the athletic department contacted us and recruited us as athletes.

(AK) For all three female varsity sports, so volleyball, soccer and fencing.

(JK) And we could decide which one that we wanted to be recruited for. We went out for fencing. And we have always been interested in trying new sports and see what we can dip our toes into. So, we went for that.

(AK) But our personalities fit nicely with the weapons that we chose. Jen is a saberist, and the sabres are typically more offensive and aggressive on the piste. I'm foilist, which is a little bit more calculated, which is exactly what our personalities are. So, that was nice to find something that really fits you.

(JK) Yeah. And for the record, we did try fencing the same weapon against each other one time. One day, we tried it 'cause we thought it could be fun. And it went exactly how our coach expected it to. And we just ended up getting mad at each other. So, then, we were: "OK! We will back off."

(PH) What was interesting about the OUA championship this year is that, when I went back after the competition was over, and I calculated the points that we have to acquire in order to get our final placing, the Kane sisters totalled about 53% of the points for the whole team. So, I think that's quite phenomenal. The ability to problem-solve is a huge factor in fencing, because we are faced with a series of technical and tactical problems at lightning speed that you have to solve on the go. So, I think that's good for people in general. But I also think that's great for military personnel. My priority is developing officer cadets, using the sport of fencing as the tool that brings us together. The students that come to attend the Royal Military College are different in the sense that they are not just here for fencing. They are not just here for a degree. They have a deeper requirement, and that is to serve the country. And so, I think the fit is really good in terms of their pathway as future officers in the Armed Forces.

(JK) The biggest draw for RMC, for me, was the fact that so many people graduate and have no idea what they're gonna do, have no secured job. And then, they're like: "OK, I'll take a master's." And then, they are more in debt and they still have no secured job. At RMC, we are graduating and commissioning and have secured jobs and have a pension... and in the fields that go with our degrees. We love being together, but we are also excited to explore individual lives. I think we might actually talk more that we are separated. Because, like Aly said a lot of times, it's like "I know. I've been there. It's OK." But we're going to have new things to teach each other. So...

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