CAF Story | From the Philippines to Hawaii
Video / April 11, 2025
Transcript
My name is Private Zoren Santiago. I am a human resources administrator in the Canadian Forces Joint Signal Regiment in Kingston, and I am currently here in Ex RIMPAC.
We are in Hawaii right now. I am part of the NCSC staff that’s part of Ex RIMPAC and we support the RIMPAC participants that are currently on the shore or in the boats. RIMPAC’s all about trying to showcase Canada to the different countries, to the International Coalition, if you say.
When I tried out the CAF, it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. It may have had its ups and downs. When I did the basic, there's a connection that stayed with me. Basically, the camaraderie, and we built a family there. And then, now that we’re all separated, we still keep in contact with each other.
I was born and raised in Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur, in the southern part of the Philippines there. I moved here back in 2011, and I was still 14 years old back then. Saying goodbye to all my friends, leaving all the relatives that we had back home, like, kind of hurt. It did hurt. The whole time I was staying in Canada, I never went back home. I didn't have enough time for that. When I landed here on Hawaii, it just slapped me in the face because I’m here. Similar tropical countries, similar weather, similar people. A lot of Filipinos work here too.
Especially for a lot of young kids out there, that are thinking about joining the CAF, it's not that hard. You might as well just try it out.