I would like to think that I’ve made a difference
News Article / January 27, 2022
Emily Lindahl, D Air PA
Members of the RCAF get deployed around the globe, often working with foreign militaries to ensure the security of Canada and our allies. They learn best practices, experience the culture, and become part of their temporary communities. Finding a way to get involved, to give back, can be an important part of their success.
For Major Bob Mitchell, giving back to his community means serving as a volunteer firefighter with Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ). The Air Combat Systems Operator (ACSO) is an RCAF exchange officer currently posted to Headquarters New Zealand Defence Force (HQ NZDF) in Wellington, New Zealand.
“I like to think that I have always had a desire to help those in need and being a volunteer firefighter does give one the chance to help the community,” he says. “Fire and Emergency is also based on teamwork and you need to work together to accomplish the task at hand and get the job done.”
Maj Mitchell always dreamed of being a firefighter as a child and notes the profession runs in the family, with his grandfather and uncle both being volunteer firefighters in his hometown of Twillingate, NL.
He himself was a volunteer firefighter long before his career took him to New Zealand. But once there, he joined Fire and Emergency in late 2018 near the end of his Advanced Command and Staff Course. He is now a Station Officer with the Porirua Volunteer Fire Brigade and is one of 4 people in the brigade that can drive and operate fire appliances during an emergency.
“Let’s be honest,” Maj Mitchell shared with a smile. “Who wouldn’t want to drive a big fire engine around town with lights flashing and sirens screaming? It’s a lot of fun and makes you feel like a kid again at times.”
Growing up in rural Newfoundland, Maj Mitchell was inspired to join the RCAF at the age of 17, right out of high school. He had heard stories about rescue missions being performed across the province and at sea by 103 Search and Rescue Squadron, based in Gander, NL and he felt drawn to the idea of spending a career helping those in need. Having the opportunity to fly with the ‘OUTCASTs’ from 1999 to 2001 while on Summer OJT is still one of his career highlights and most fondest memories of his time in uniform.
When asked about unique moments in his career, Maj Mitchell shared that the most unexpected thing to happen to him was getting struck by lightning in the CP-140 Aurora more than once. He noted he has conducted operations and exercises across the globe, from the geographic North Pole to Australia, and been deployed on three separate occasions as part of OP Impact and Op Saiph, which included a 5 month period with the Royal Navy in 2010 to conduct counter piracy operations off the coast of Africa.
As an ACSO, he has helped save lives at home while conducting SAR taskings and has provided over watch support to coalition troops on the ground during Op Impact. “I would like to think that I’ve made a difference,” he notes.
Maj Mitchell remembers one particular mission from May 2006. “We were tasked to conduct a joint training exercise with one of the RCN’s submarines off the south coast of Nova Scotia when we received a call from the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC) in Halifax about a boat that was sinking in the Bay of Fundy,” he shared.
The team quickly transitioned from an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) exercise to a real world search and rescue (SAR) event. They quickly transited north across the province while trying to coordinate the details of the emergency with JRCC and other fishing vessels in the area. Using the multitude of sensors onboard the CP-140 Aurora they were able to locate the 3 fishermen from the fishing vessel Never Enough. The fishermen had jumped into the water and were unable to get into their life raft as their ship sank too quickly.
The Aurora crew dropped marine smoke markers into the water to mark the survivor’s positions and another fishing vessel came over to pull them out of the water. It only took 45 minutes from the time the call from JRCC was received to the time the fishermen were pulled out of the water. The rescue complete, the team proceeded back out to sea and finished the ASW exercise with the Navy.
“It was an amazing demonstration of the flexibility of the RCAF, the CP-140 Aurora, and the crew,” he said. “It’s probably one of my most memorable missions and I will never forget the boat’s crew waving to us once they were safely out of the sea.”
His next story made national headlines around New Zealand. On 11 July 2021, a young orca got washed upon the sharp rocks in the town of Plimmerton. News of the stranded whale spread amongst the community quickly and Maj Mitchell and his wife went to help. He began to assist the Plimmerton Volunteer Fire Brigade, Department of Conservation (DOC) and the NZ Police in getting the stranded whale off the rocks.
Although the whale was successfully refloated, it was too exhausted to swim away and immediately got washed ashore again. At this point, whale rescue experts shared, via phone, that the team should remove the whale off the beach and bring it to the local boating club where it could be examined.
Based on the situation, a temporary enclosure was hastily constructed to contain the whale while researchers, vets, and DOC officials could develop a plan to release it. The young animal required 24/7 support, and the local community came out in swarms to volunteer to join the orca in the water to help keep it from hitting the sides of the enclosure and to comfort it.
“My wife and I conducted a 3 hour shift on the evening of 13 July and then I went back again, by myself, for another 3 hour shift the following day,” Maj Mitchell said. “Hypothermia was a huge concern and we discovered that the volunteers in the water didn’t want to come out and at times had to be instructed to exit the sea.”
The community named the whale Toa, which means brave in the local Maori language, and what was expected to be a 24-48 hour event took almost two weeks to come to an end. With the whale being so young (between 2-4 months old) it couldn’t be released until its pod could be found. Considering there were massive storms throughout the area finding the pod became a daunting task. However, the public didn’t stop looking. Private pilots took to the air and mariners flooded the ocean in search of Toa’s family.
Unfortunately, Toa took a turn for the worse on the evening of 23 July and the young animal passed away.
Maj Mitchell shared his feelings, “it was a devastating loss as so many of us had put in such an amazing effort over a thirteen day period to try and get the whale reunited with its family. In fact, the local Maori elders buried the whale on sacred ground during a dawn service attended by more than 60 people. Although a sad ending, it was a great demonstration of the power and spirit of community and I am glad to have played a role in it.”
Continuing his work with the NZDF, Major Mitchell is proud to be a member of his community...and the RCAF is proud to have him as a member of our community.