Women in Aviation: Colonel Angela Banville

News Article / May 30, 2017

In the weeks leading from International Women’s day on March 8 until the Canadian Women in Aviation Conference in June, we will feature weekly interviews with female leaders in the Royal Canadian Air Force.

Occupation: Logistics

Current position: I am currently serving as the deputy commander of Task Force Jerusalem [part of Operation Proteus, Canada’s contribution to the Office of the United States Security Coordinator in Jerusalem].

Hometown: I always say that Canada is my hometown. My father was in the Air Force and I was born in Germany. I’ve lived in almost every province in Canada but I currently live in Ottawa.

What drew you to join the RCAF?

My father was in the RCAF and I was very proud of him. I always admired what the military did. The idea of service always appealed to me and as I was close to finishing my degree I decided to look into opportunities in the military more closely. I went to the recruiting centre and liked what I heard. From the first day I felt like I had found my niche.

What have been some of the highlights of your career with the RCAF?

I have pretty much loved my career, mostly due to the great professionals I get to work with every day.

My career highlights include learning to be a supply officer in 12 Wing Shearwater [Nova Scotia], deploying to Canadian Forces Station Alert [in Nunavut] as the station logistics officer, working as the J4 logistics desk officer [at Canadian Joint Operations Command in Ottawa] providing logistics support to deployed Canadian Armed Forces missions all over the world, being selected to be the staff officer to the Vice Chief of Defence Staff, deploying to the International Assistance Security Force Headquarters in Kabul, Afghanistan, serving as the 4 Wing Cold Lake Wing logistics and engineering officer for three years and serving as the logistics branch integrator/adviser for the last two years.

I was posted to the NATO Air Component HQ in Ramstein Germany for three years — what a great opportunity for me and my family!

What have been some of the challenges of your career with the RCAF?

The normal challenges facing us still today [including] performing more tasks in a resource constrained environment and finding a balance between a busy operations tempo and the needs of our people.

If you could provide advice to young women who are thinking about joining the RCAF, what would it be?

Do it! If you want an exciting, rewarding and challenging career where you are get to work in a team environment and are given great responsibility early, you will find that in the Royal Canadian Air Force and the Canadian Armed Forces. You won’t regret it and it will afford you the opportunities that you would never get anywhere else.

You will find that you will thrive and find out what you really are capable of doing.