A Nicola Valley boy’s journey from sonar operator to bridge officer with the drug-busting warship HMCS Calgary
Navy News / June 1, 2021
By Captain Jeff Klassen
The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF), like most militaries around the world, structures its ranks in two very separate progression streams: officers and non-officers (referred to in the CAF as “non-commissioned members”) (NCMs). A quick way to understand it is that officers are more leadership-focused positions that require a university degree (they’re the ones who get called “ma’am” and “sir”), while NCMs are described, somewhat jokingly, as “the ones who actually do work” and make up the bulk of the military. Each stream has its own linear rank structure (there are both high ranking officers and high-ranking NCMs). It happens, but the majority of members don’t cross over from one stream to the other.
Sub-Lieutenant (SLt) Courtnay Pooley is one of those who made the jump.
He grew up on a small Rocky Mountain farm in the Nicola Valley just outside of Merritt, B.C., and spent years working as a sonar technician in Her Majesty’s Canadian Ship (HMCS) Calgary. Now, after upgrading his education and training, he’s back with the same ship, this time as an officer on the bridge.
“Each stream (officer or NCM) is difficult in its own way,” said SLt Pooley. “As an NCM you are expected to follow orders, work hard and not necessarily know why. As an officer, you are given much higher levels of responsibility and while the day-to-day work isn’t as physical, that responsibility weighs on you.”
SLt Pooley worked as Sonar Operator on board Calgary from 2013 to 2016. In 2016, he applied for a military university training program for NCMs to become officers (University Training Plan for Non-Commissioned Members). The program paid for SLt Pooley to get an Economics degree from the University of Victoria. He chose to become a Naval Warfare Officer – a general leadership position that covers many officer roles in the Navy.
“I wanted to stay in the Navy because I still wanted to travel and I picked Naval Warfare Officer, instead of pursuing engineering as one might expect from a technician, because I heard it is one of the most demanding trades in the military and I wanted that challenge,” said SLt Pooley.
Now SLt Pooley is back on board Calgary, working with many of his old NCM friends, although they are all higher ranked in the NCM stream now. He gets moments of déjà vu when walking around.
“It’s weird coming back after having learned so much and having left for so long. You come back and see your old equipment and remember a lot of it. It’s still the same ship,” said SLt Pooley. “I sometimes get flashbacks. I walk by 17 mess every time I go to the gym and I think ‘wow, I slept in there for 300 days’, but I haven’t been there yet on this sail as it’s not my home anymore.”
While on Op ARTEMIS, SLt Pooley works on the bridge, helping to navigate the ship through the busy Gulf of Oman as Calgary intercepts drug smugglers posing as fishing vessels. The drugs end up on land and go on to be used to buy weapons and fund other terrorist activities throughout the world.
“My other options in Merritt were working at the mine or driving a logging truck. Those are great jobs, really, but for me seeing the world and expanding my horizons, challenging myself and making a difference, is really important. I’m so proud to be doing that,” said SLt Pooley.
SLt Pooley lives in Esquimalt, B.C., with his wife Brittany (from Kelowna, B.C.) and their eight-month-old-daughter Olivia. He insists he couldn’t have got where he has without their support.
Calgary is currently deployed on Operation ARTEMIS in Middle Eastern waters and having great success in combatting terrorist-supporting maritime smuggling. The ship recently made a drug seizure of 1286 kg of heroin, the single largest heroin seizure in Combined Maritime Forces history.