Joining the NAVRES has brought Sailor 1st Class Zachary Eisan to Operation UNIFIER
August 25, 2023 – Defence Stories
By: Major Christopher Daniel, Joint Task Force-UNIFIER Senior Public Affairs Officer
Caption
Environmental portrait of Sailor 1st Class Zachary Eisan, Naval Reservist from HMCS SCOTIAN deployed on Operation UNIFIER in the southeast of England on June 24, 2023.
Photo: Master Sailor Valerie LeClair, OP UNIFIER
“It amazes me how my decision to join the Canadian Navy on a part-time basis a few years ago has brought me to the United Kingdom to serve in this deployment,” said Sailor 1st Class (S1) Zachary Eisan, a Financial Services Administrator (FSA) for Operation UNIFIER’s UK Training Element Rotation 15 in the southeast of England.
Operation UNIFIER is the Canadian Armed Forces’ (CAF) military training and capacity building mission in support of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU). This mission provides the AFU with the military training that empowers them to defend Ukraine’s sovereignty, freedom, and independence. S1 Eisan provides financial administration support to CAF soldiers who are training Ukrainian recruits.
“My journey in the Royal Canadian Navy started when I was in Grade 11,” recounts S1 Eisan. “I’m from a military family in the Maritimes and it was my parents that inspired and convinced me to join the Naval Reserve.”
S1 Eisan’s mother is also a sailor currently employed as a Human Resources Administrator, and his father is a retired Naval Electrician. They’re both from HMCS Brunswicker, where S1 Eisan initially joined as a part-time Cook in 2016.
“My parents guided me through my application in the Naval Reserve. Growing up, I’ve been inspired seeing them in the Navy uniform and I’ve told myself that this was something I’d want to do when I grow up,” S1 Eisan shares with a smile. “They convinced me that it was one of the best jobs out there. I decided to first try it part-time, and it turned out that my parents are right. I needed a good part-time job while I was going through university and having guaranteed full-time employment in the summers with the NAVRES helped me a lot.”
He eventually changed trades to FSA and has been working on a full-time basis with HMCS Scotian in Halifax for about a year now. FSAs provide financial assistance and budget resources support to all military activities. S1 Eisan provides financial administration services to CAF soldiers deployed on Operation UNIFIER, such as processing claims to ensure that members receive their pay and reimbursement in a timely manner.
“The opportunity for this deployment came up through an email callout,” explains S1 Eisan on how he got selected for Operation UNIFIER. “I volunteered immediately because I want to do something different and meaningful. When I was told that I was selected, I was both nervous and excited because it’s my first deployment.”
S1 Eisan describes his work tempo to be both demanding and very rewarding. “We work long hours and we’re processing a lot more compared to our normal workload back home, but we feel really good about what we do because we know we’re contributing to a mission that makes a positive difference. It has really been a great experience for myself to grow and excel in my trade especially when I return home to Canada. I’m really glad to have joined the NAVRES as it has brought me to Operation UNIFIER.”