After almost 30 years as an officer with both Sea and Air Cadets in the Rainy River District, Navy Lieutenant Terry Newman oversaw his last parade on April 24.
Lt. Newman moved to the district in 1987 and became involved with cadets in 1994, and became an officer in ‘95. He was also involved in cadets himself in his youth as well as being a member of the naval reserves in the ‘70s.
Newman says he got involved with cadets as an officer out of a desire to give back after having learned so much.
“What I got out of cadets when I was a cadet I wanted to give back to the cadets,” Newman said. “That’s why I became an officer. I knew what the program did for me. Then when I joined, my kids were getting to the age where they could join cadets. So that’s why I became an officer and I stayed in while all three of my kids went through the program and so then, I just kept going, because I figured there’s no point. Once my kids left there was no point in me quitting. I would just keep going because there’s more kids coming along and they could use this type of thing.”
He started with the 144 Royal Canadian Sea Cadet Corps which was folded into the 908 Rainy Lake Royal Canadian Air Cadets Squadron in 2015.
Newman says there are many rewards for youth who go through the cadets program.
“I think there’s five cadets from this squadron alone that have gotten their pilot’s license paid for,” Newman said. “Right now I know two of them are flying commercially. One I believe for Air Canada or Porter and the other one in the wintertime he’s flying for Bear Skin Airlines and in the summer time he’s flying for the MNR (Ministry of Natural Resources) flying waterbombers. So these kids, if they stick with it, it could push them in the right direction, it could change their lives.”
Additionally several cadets from the local groups have gone on to full-time service with the Canadian Armed Forces or Canadian Coast Guard.
“One of our cadets is an officer with the Coast Guard,” Newman said. “At one point we were running a satellite corps up in Kenora and one of those cadets is the commanding officer of HMCS Montreal right now. He’s in his early 40s and he’s the commander of a warship. There’s a couple others that have pursued a military career.”
Newman says seeing the cadets succeed no matter what they choose to pursue is one of the greatest rewards in the work.
“It doesn’t have to be something huge,” Newman “The kids come out [to our property] for field training exercises, they were out here one day in March and learned how to light a fire, learned how to set snares, learned how to build a signal fire if you’re lost in the bush and the look on their faces when they accomplish this…that look on their face says it all.”
Newman lauded the experience cadets get over the course of their time.
“This is a hockey town, but not every kid plays hockey,” Newman said. “This is a program for kids that aren’t into sports… this is something for them to belong to that’s going to teach them life skills that they need to carry on, I tell my kids, ‘I don’t care, wherever you work, you apply for a job at McDonald’s or wherever, you tell them you have cadet experience, they’re going to look at you different because you’ve got discipline, you’ve got the leadership skills to succeed where a lot of kids coming off the street don’t have that advantage.’”
Over his years with cadets Newman has had multiple experiences including an exchange trip to Newfoundland and Labrador and hosting exchange trips in the district where city kids got to see what rural life was like. But it was when a senior CAF officer wanted to see a shooting range he was in command of at a biathlon competition in Manitoba that sticks out in his mind.
“Quite a few years ago I was a range safety officer at a biathlon competition in Falcon Lake, MB,” Newman said. “The kids competed on the Saturday and the next day it was too cold to compete, but we were still there. The commanding officer of Prairie Region comes in with this general who is the commanding officer of 2 Canadian Air Division and they wanted to see the range. So they are looking at the rifles and they started shooting targets and now it’s a competition between a Colonel and General and two Warrant Officers. At the end of it I said ‘who’s going to make them do a declaration?’ When you’re done shooting you do a declaration, ‘I have no live rounds, I have no shell casings in my possession,’ saying you’re not taking any ammunition off the range. The other range officers touched their fingers to their nose so I said ‘I’ll do it, he has no authority on my range.’ So when it was all said and done I said ‘sir this is the only time in my career I have authority over a general I’m going to ask you to do a declaration for me.’ then he says ‘what do I have to say?’ I told him what he had to say and he did it and shook my hand. I was just doing my job but it was a highlight.”
Newman was also a recipient of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal for which he was nominated by an anonymous community member. He was surprised with the presentation during an event at the Royal Canadian Legion in Emo where he discovered members of his family from out of town and his brother and sister-in-law present in uniform from Thunder Bay.
On Saturday at the Legion in Emo the community is invited to an informal Depart with Dignity event to wish Navy Lieutenant Newman a happy retirement or to pass a long well wishes. The event will be from 1-5 p.m. with a cash bar. RSVP to Captain Dawn Gray is appreciated. Anyone unable to attend but wishing to pass along well wishes can also contact Captain Gray a dawn.gray@cadets.gc.ca or 807-276-5072.
