Loranne Arboleya (née Webster) was born in 1961.1 She grew up in Alberta and her military career spanned from 1981 to 1997.Loranne completed a variety of training throughout her career; including basic training at Cornwallis, Trade Qualification level 3 (TQ3) in Falconbridge, Junior Leadership Training, Air Weapons Control and Countermeasures School, Space Indoctrination courses, and many other specialized trainings to develop her skills in air defence and software testing.
During her career, she worked as an air defence technician at Falconbridge for four years, where she was promoted to Corporal and supervised the radar crew to maintain the airspace. After Falconbridge, she was posted to North Bay for over seven years, most of which she spent in the Underground Complex. In North Bay she worked for the Canadian NORAD region on Charlie Crew for Canada West, then moved to the identification section, identifying aircraft entering the Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ). From there, she went to the Fighter Group for North American Air Defence Modernization (NAADM), assisting with testing new North Warning System technology, doing administrative work, briefing the crews on new hardware, and becoming familiar with software developed for air defence. In 1993, she was posted to Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida’s NORAD System Support Facility as a software tester.
When she was due to return from her Florida posting, they asked where she would like to be posted, and she answered “anywhere but North Bay,” because she had already completed all the potential jobs for her there; there was nothing new, challenging, or productive to the development of her career there. They sent her to North Bay anyway, knowing this, to make her suffer and essentially take a step backwards in her career, doing a job she had already done. Loranne faced systematic discrimination and sexist attitudes during her military career. One Major in particular, who was her replacement boss was particularly difficult. In a shocking turn of events her original boss at Tyndall Air Force Base, Major David Turenne, was murdered by Turenne’s wife and her lover who was a USAF personnel. This replacement boss went out of his way to stress her out and make her miserable. His harassment prompted her departure from Florida, and she filed three redress of grievances, one against him, and others for separate instances of discrimination she faced. These made it all the way to the Chief of Defense Staff level. Those redress of grievances unfortunately yielded no change, acting as the last straw for Loranne realizing she could no longer see a future in the military. Loranne retired from the Air Force after 16 years, moving on to a civilian job as a software tester, where she explains she receives more of the recognition she deserves for her intelligence and hard work.
Throughout her interview, Loranne talks about widely-publicized criminal cases that occurred in the military, to reinforce her points about the systemic issues present in the military. Some criminal cases personally affected Loranne, especially the tragic murder of her supervisor Major David Turenne. Loranne also spoke about the incident surrounding Canadian soldier Kyle Brown, who was charged with manslaughter and torture of Somali citizen Shidane Arone in 1993, and also mentioning former Royal Canadian Air Force Colonel Russell Williams. She explains how the Canadian military is a microcosm of society, that the military reflects both the good and bad present in society. Everything that exists in society is also a present part of the military, but on a smaller scale.
Loranne’s interviews cover stories not only of the systematic issues present within the military and broader society during the Cold War but also the adventures she had, lessons she learned, her experiences with having her three children in North Bay. She shares her experiences in this way to educate people to not turn a blind eye to injustice, to educate about the important role women play in air defence, and to advocate for a kinder, more empathetic world.
Why She's Sharing her Story
One of the primary reasons that Loranne has shared her story is that there is very little representation of stories of women in air defence. The stories of women in the Canadian Air Force continue to go relatively unrepresented in Cold War history. Since the RCAF began opening recruitment to include women, the opportunities for and treatment of these women have been very limiting.2 Loranne found, in her career from 1981 to 1997, that despite her high intelligence and strong work ethic, she was continuously overlooked, underestimated, and told to choose between work and having her family. Loranne is passionate about her identity as a woman working in the technology sector and wants more stories like her own to be shared.
Much of Loranne’s motivation for sharing her story comes from a desire for current military personnel to hear her story and learn from it. She has seen the systematic issues within the Canadian military and believes there remain today many of the same core problems. In our interview with Loranne, she emphasized how the military teaches obedience without hesitation and that when discrimination or injustices occur, people wilfully turn a blind eye. She has hope, however, seeing the latest generations going into military service have more education than hers, that personnel will advocate for themselves and stop ignoring injustices. A career in the RCAF can truly be rewarding and fulfilling. Loranne is proud of her accomplishments and grateful for her time there, but she would have remained there if it were not for the abuses she faced and how her three redress of grievances were ignored.3 Loranne struggled with mental health and had several traumatic moments early on in life.4 These issues, when combined with the depressing conditions of the Underground Complex, discrimination, and targeted harassment by her superior, made her military career very difficult.5 Loranne shares her story to spread the message that you never know what someone is going through. It’s easy to be nice, and it can make a big difference.
“I just wanted to share that there was a lot of really smart people in my trade and had I been a guy, I think I would have gone a lot further: because people didn't take a lot of women seriously…they, looked down on me.” |
“I just didn't feel like I was the norm. And you know what? To be honest, later in life I found out that there's a lot of other women that had a lot of similar circumstances to me. I don't know how they dealt with it,” |
Enlistment
Loranne enlisted in the military primarily to further her education and career options. Since she left school at the age of 16 to work, Loranne found herself fairly limited in terms of what jobs she could get and grew tired of working as an office administrative assistant. Therefore, in 1981, at 20 years old, she joined the military, figuring she would build a broad range of skills and qualifications with a military career; all while being paid to do so. Her logic paid off, and over her career developed skills in many different roles, for which she remains grateful. Loranne has always loved learning, and her military career enabled her to constantly learn new skills and roles which would not have been possible otherwise.
Another significant motivating factor for Loranne was the prospect of leaving home and travelling that came with the RCAF. As someone who has always loved to travel, this aspect of military life drew Loranne in, as she would be able to move fairly often and explore different cities. In that way, military life presented the opportunity to fulfil two of her dreams: to learn constantly and to travel.
Her father’s encouragement also contributed to her enlisting in the military. Her family has a military history, with her father, grandfather, and great-grandfather having had military careers. Her father saw that Loranne would make a good fit for the military and encouraged what he said was a good idea. He did, however, warn her before she left that she needed to take care and be resilient, as women were not treated very well in the military.
Another significant motivating factor for Loranne was the prospect of leaving home and travelling that came with the RCAF. As someone who has always loved to travel, this aspect of military life drew Loranne in, as she would be able to move fairly often and explore different cities. In that way, military life presented the opportunity to fulfil two of her dreams: to learn constantly and to travel.
Her father’s encouragement also contributed to her enlisting in the military. Her family has a military history, with her father, grandfather, and great-grandfather having had military careers. Her father saw that Loranne would make a good fit for the military and encouraged what he said was a good idea. He did, however, warn her before she left that she needed to take care and be resilient, as women were not treated very well in the military.
Her Training Experiences
Loranne’s military career started with her basic training at Cornwallis in Nova Scotia in September 1981. There, she lived in the gender-separated barracks, subject to daily inspections of her living space, jogging in her combat boots in the cold, marching around the base, and struggling to get enough to eat amidst the thousands of other recruits waking up extremely early to get to the one mess hall.6 Recruits at Cornwallis were pushed to their limits, sleeping on top of their linens so as to pass inspections, marching or jogging everywhere they went, self-administering EpiPens to practice in case of neurological warfare, attending their classes, and adhering to strict rules. Recruits also had to get several vaccines, which, especially for those who had not been previously vaccinated, made many of them very sick. At Cornwallis, after her training, Loranne was held back and worked at the dental clinic so that, when there were openings, she got her teeth tended as they were not in great condition and got to have this dental work done for free. Loranne also describes training stories of campouts, learning how to use a gun, getting in trouble for accidentally cutting off the fringe of her scarf, and when she had to participate in the gas hut exercise where recruits had to clean their gas masks with powder, shake out the powder, put on and adjust their gasmask in under a minute while in a hut filled with tear gas.7 She thankfully only had to do this once, as when her platoon was meant to partake in this drill at Cornwallis, her whole platoon was sick. She also would later get out of doing this drill because of her pregnancies, but eventually she too had to partake.8
After successfully passing her basic training, she moved on to her Trade Qualification (TQ3) at Falconbridge, the radar station where she would be posted afterwards. At Falconbridge, Loranne volunteered as a firefighter, as fires occurred somewhat frequently due to the burning of classified documents, and there was only one firefighter at the time. Passing in second place for marks out of her course in Falconbridge, she had completed her training to be an Air Defence Technician, maintaining airspace for NORAD at her radar station.
Training continued throughout her military career, as she constantly learned and improved her skills and as the technologies she worked with evolved. Loranne also participated in Junior Leadership training and Air Weapons Control and Countermeasures School in North Bay, she earned her qualifications to become a software tester on the CSST course given by the Electronics section, to name a few training instances.
Training continued throughout her military career, as she constantly learned and improved her skills and as the technologies she worked with evolved. Loranne also participated in Junior Leadership training and Air Weapons Control and Countermeasures School in North Bay, she earned her qualifications to become a software tester on the CSST course given by the Electronics section, to name a few training instances.
AWC&CSD course photo provided by Loranne Arboleya (Webster).
[At Cornwallis, Describing Barracks] |
Cornwallis CFB in Nova Scotia, Photo from the Cornwallis Museum Website
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Photo from Loranne's basic training. She is in the back row on the far left, to the right of the Master Corporal.
Training photo provided by Loranne Arboleya, she is pictured here at the back far left
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“A lot of the stuff in Cornwallis is designed to stress you and push you to your limits. Right? And a lot of people don't make it through there, because of that. They just go “yeah, no, it's not for me man.” |
Her Job Details
Throughout her career, Loranne served in a variety of positions within Air Defence and Technology. Her first posting was to Falconbridge near Sudbury as an air defence technician, maintaining the airspace by monitoring the radar screens and learning unique skills such as interpreting weather reports. This particular radar site was part of the CADIN Pine Tree Line and reported to Duluth, Minnesota, as Canada and the United States still shared radar stations in the Canadian NORAD regions until the modernization programs began and sites like Faclonbridge had become were retired by 1986. When Falconbridge was closed, Loranne was posted to North Bay, where she worked for seven and a half years, most of which was spent working in the Underground Complex. She started in North Bay working for the Canadian NORAD region as a crew member on a flight in Canada West, with responsibilities like surveillance and identification on radar and working with the remote access terminal by storing data. This storage was extremely important in case of a major outage or loss of data, the remote access terminal could reestablish all the bases and forward operating locations in a second’s notice to the region display. Another important part of working in NORAD was keeping the codes updated.
After being on crew she moved to Fighter Group for North American Air Defence Modernization (NAADM), where Loranne played an integral role in building slideshows that would go over a lot of the technical aspects to show crews and technicians stages of modernization and new hardware, which were then tested to ensure everything would function properly. From here, Loranne would join the NORAD System Support Facility (NSSF) as a software tester, as she was recognized for her strong work in IT.
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After North Bay, she was posted to Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida’s NORAD System Support Facility, where she started her career as a software tester, ensuring all equipment and software ran properly during modernization and usage. Sometimes, even as a part-time tour guide who would show the base alligator while stationed at Tyndall.
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“Loranne: I actually spent a lot of time in and around the base, seeing lots of different areas. They used to have an alligator at one of the drone warehouses. The crocodile used to come looking for donuts in the morning, if you didn't go out to give him a doughnut, he'd come looking for it. |
At many points during her career, Loranne also performed duties extra to her job or was asked to do work that was typically allocated to a higher-ranking officer. At Falconbridge, for example, Loranne volunteered as a firefighter since, at the time, classified documents outdoors in barrels often started fires. At the time she volunteered, there had only been one firefighter at the station so volunteer help was needed. In North Bay’s Underground Complex, Loranne was a General Safety Officer, a Warrant Officer’s job, while being a Master Corporal, not being paid for having this higher-ranking responsibility.
Work Environment, Mental Health & Discrimination
Loranne reveals how, despite having made some good friends and gaining new skills in the development of her career in the Air Force, the environment of the military bases where she worked was systematically sexist and promoted complacency.
Loranne repeatedly describes working in the underground complex as depressing. With eight, oftentimes 12-hour shifts, they did not see sunlight, and were constantly tired. “I am a Mushroomer, by the way; working in a hole and being fed crap,” she laughed while telling us how she was a member of the ‘Brotherhood of Underground Mushroomers’ by having worked in the complex for so long. She recalled that occasionally, they would be locked inside the complex for up to 24 hours during an exercise, and the personnel would have to sleep in sleeping bags on the floor of the complex. Loranne describes personnel becoming so tired that, especially for those in the weapons section who were there just in case, they fell asleep in their chairs for significant portions of their shifts.
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Despite being incredibly intelligent and capable, Loranne was constantly not given the credit she deserved, passed over for promotions, and, in general, an example of the pervasive glass ceiling in the RCAF.11 From basic training onwards, recruits are taught not to question authority or hesitate to follow an order. Loranne explains how this mindset is present in the behaviour of military personnel. She said that during her time she knew people that got beaten up, women got raped and abused, and because of this lack of accountability, injustices remained unpunished and unchanged. |
“And there’s still a glass ceiling for a lot of women in those positions, they just don't get promoted to that for whatever reason. I think we need to have more women in higher positions. Not that it will necessarily guarantee 100% change, because sometimes those women can be intimidated into turning a blind eye. You know, because there are women out there that will go for the power and they'll be happy to go [sarcastically] “Yeah! you promote me to general, sure I'll turn a blind eye and I won't see what's going on there. Yeah! sure, sure.” |
The military had extremely high expectations for women, and if they did not perfectly adhere to every one of them, they faced discrimination, ridicule, and often abuse. This corresponded with societal sexism, but scholars have observed how the masculine environment of the Canadian military concentrated the pressures put on women.12 Loranne was surrounded by men who told her that she had to choose between having a family and her career, despite her intelligence and skills. On at least one occasion, a man was given credit and even promoted for her idea to let victims of a motel fire stay in the unoccupied single units on base.
“ I told you about that one, Colonel, who said to me, “hey, one day you're going to have to pick which one you want to do: a career or motherhood.” and I said “well Gee Sir, why can't I do both?” Right? So comments like that, I would get quite regularly from people, from higher-up men.” [13]
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In training, men would march by the women, and instead of their regular “Check, snap,” the men would say “check the snatch,” referring to them as sexual objects. Loranne said things like that were a regular occurrence. She also experienced a male platoon walking through her female barracks while her platoon was showering, and many of the women, including herself, were not fully dressed. These men had no punishment or reprimanding for this incident, and since in Cornwallis, the male barracks were right next door to the female ones they could walk over anytime they wanted.
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[At Cornwallis] Loranne: |
Loranne had struggles with mental health throughout her life because of pre-existing trauma, which was made much worse by the harassment, discrimination, and abuse that she faced during her time in the RCAF. She was discriminated against mainly for her gender and for behaviours that her mental health issues caused.
"You just never know what somebody's going through. They might look perfectly fine, they might look happy, they might look whatever: But you just never know what people are living through, what trauma that has been inflicted on them.
And it's easier to be nice. Or, not easier - it's easier to just blow people off and be mean to them, but it's easy to be nice and it's so much better for you and them and society in general to just be nice. "
"I mean, most of [the discrimination] was somewhat pervasive during the first ten years of my service. In that I was treated badly, because of my psychological issues. Which eventually, thankfully, got resolved, took many years though: But they caused me to do things that I didn't necessarily want to do, all the time. But I felt like I had to do, and there were lots of repercussions from some of the stuff that happened, and it made, in some cases, the discrimination worse because people looked down on me: they thought I was a bad person." |
Loranne’s struggles with mental health throughout her life sometimes caused her to do things she did not truly want to do. These effects from trauma made Loranne develop a negative reputation for which people looked down upon her or took advantage of her. Thankfully, she was able to receive therapy during her service, being flown out to Ottawa once a month to receive counselling from a military therapist. She began to heal, but many of her co-workers did not change their opinions of her.
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Despite her now ex-husband being already retired from the military at the time, he went to Loranne’s commanding officer in Florida with an issue that arose in their marriage. He was able to pressure her to stay by using workplace and bureaucratic pressure. She was essentially forced to stay in the marriage despite being extremely unhappy in it until they returned to Canada.
This exacerbated the already detrimental conditions of working for her boss in Florida, who went out of his way to torment, harass, and abuse her. He tried his best to get her in trouble with the military, speaking badly of her to the other personnel, and intentionally causing her stress.
During her time in Florida Loranne describes sinking into a “deep dark depression” because of this scenario, so much so that she had to be prescribed antidepressants during her time there.
During her time in Florida Loranne describes sinking into a “deep dark depression” because of this scenario, so much so that she had to be prescribed antidepressants during her time there.
She was asked where she wanted to be posted after Florida, and she said, “anywhere but North Bay,” because she had already completed all the potential jobs for her there. Loranne had loved her military career because she had the opportunity to learn new things, move up, and grow her knowledge and skills constantly; but and there was nothing new, challenging, or productive to the development of her career in North Bay at that time. In her over seven years posted to North Bay prior to this she had worked her way up through the jobs that were applicable to her career path. This meant that if she returned to North Bay, she would be performing a job she had already done, essentially taking a step backwards in her career. She was posted to North Bay regardless knowing this, shared Loranne, to make her suffer.
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In North Bay, a different boss of hers even tried to access her medical information to use against her, she had to go up to work at the AWCCS (Air Weapon Controls and Countermeasures School) for the last month of her pregnancy because of that stress.
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“ Although with that jerk major that I worked for, he was continuously trying to get in to talk to my doctor about my medical issues and I'm like, 'no, that's private man.' He wanted me to tell him stuff. I'm like, 'no. None of your business.' I don't mind sharing my medical information, but he wanted to use it against me.” |
“But yeah, it [her experience with discrimination] was things like that, and lost opportunities that I didn't get. Later on in my career the man who was my boss at this point, when I was in Falconbridge, became my boss again later in life, was using his position and his previous knowledge to try and get me punished, kicked out, sent back to Canada. I don't know what he was trying for but yeah.”
She filed three redress of grievances, one against her boss in Florida and the others following up the chain of command that enabled him. Despite her efforts, nothing came of these redress of grievances, even though they reached as far as the Chief of Defence Staff level. This failure of the military to recognize the discrimination detailed in her grievances prompted her to realize she no longer felt like she had a future in the RCAF.
She retired after 16 years of military service. Despite having many good friends throughout her military career there was no retirement party or kind words from these friends. She loved her job and would have stayed if she had not faced this abuse.
From her experiences Loranne wants to encourage people to be more kind and understanding to one another, since you never know what someone's going through.
"I mean, could you imagine what the world would be like if everybody was just a little considerate, and a little compassionate, and a little generous and nice? Could you imagine what society would be like? We could have Star Trek! We could be like Star Trek!
Well to be honest, that's a lot of why I watch shows like that - because it's nice to think the world can be that way, and everybody cooperates, and everybody is considerate, and compassionate, and empathetic, you know?
But they're not. It’d be nice if they were."
The Underground Complex
Loranne worked at the Underground Complex for the majority of her 7-and-a-half years working at 22 Wing CFB North Bay. Loranne describes a daily routine of driving to the complex’s portal entrance, taking a bus from the entrance at 6:00 am, going through the big blast doors, smelling the distinct rock-moss-mould odour of the Complex, and reporting to her position. She would do her work, maintaining the air space by watching the radar display, identifying aircraft, answering civilian calls of UFO reports, and many other roles that she played throughout her time in North Bay, including as a General Safety Officer there.
Loranne repeatedly describes working in ‘the hole’ as depressing. With eight, and oftentimes 12-hour shifts, they did not see sunlight, and were constantly tired. “I am a Mushroomer, by the way; working in a hole and being fed crap,” she laughed while telling us how she was a member of the ‘Brotherhood of Underground Mushroomers’ by having worked in the complex for so long. She recalled that occasionally, they would be locked inside the complex for up to 24 hours during an exercise, and the personnel would have to sleep in sleeping bags on the floor of the complex. Loranne describes personnel becoming so tired that, especially for those in the weapons section who were there just in case, they fell asleep in their chairs for significant portions of their shifts.
Loranne was fascinated with the design of the complex, telling us about a time when she had a tour of it and saw how the entire complex was on top of springs so that in case of an attack, the entire complex could move and shift.
Loranne repeatedly describes working in ‘the hole’ as depressing. With eight, and oftentimes 12-hour shifts, they did not see sunlight, and were constantly tired. “I am a Mushroomer, by the way; working in a hole and being fed crap,” she laughed while telling us how she was a member of the ‘Brotherhood of Underground Mushroomers’ by having worked in the complex for so long. She recalled that occasionally, they would be locked inside the complex for up to 24 hours during an exercise, and the personnel would have to sleep in sleeping bags on the floor of the complex. Loranne describes personnel becoming so tired that, especially for those in the weapons section who were there just in case, they fell asleep in their chairs for significant portions of their shifts.
Loranne was fascinated with the design of the complex, telling us about a time when she had a tour of it and saw how the entire complex was on top of springs so that in case of an attack, the entire complex could move and shift.
Those springs in the underneath of the complex are shown in the background image of this section.
Image from the Canadian Department of National Defence, provided by Bethany Aitchison of the Canadian Forces Museum of Aerospace Defence.
The ‘Hole’, North Warning System, & Practical Benefits of Working in IT
Loranne Arboleya started her career in the Canadian Armed Forces in 1981 as an Air Defence Technician who operated from radar stations. For Loranne, this first started at Falconbridge, where she would eventually serve at Canadian Forces Base North Bay. Shifts for Canadian air defence technicians would cover 24 hours and be separated into days, ‘mids,’ and nights, usually working 12-hour shifts.14 This can be a difficult enough task alone, but added together with complex technology when working in places like CFB North Bay in the former underground complex known as the ‘hole’ to the “mushroomers,” really helps one to understand the magnitude of the job and the risk it could present for air defence technicians and everyone they are trying to protect.
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What an air defence technician would see when working in the hole would have individual controllers and computers, which they would daisy chain to all the individual display terminals that the technicians would be monitoring. The radar feeds would show aircraft on the screen which technicians needed to be able to monitor and identify. A possible scenario, as described by Loranne, could be that a radar technician could see an unidentified aircraft in their section and pass this information forward to the chain of command to determine if fighter aircraft must be scrambled to identify if there were any threats to Canadian aerospace.
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Photo of a SAGE machine. Taken at the Canadian Forces Museum of Aerospace Defence by Denver Prevost
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A vital part of understanding how NORAD radar stations functioned was the importance of the radar chains that ran across huge sections of North America in order to cover as much ‘ground’ as possible in the most vital areas for NORAD’s aerospace security. The North Warning System (NWS) started construction in 1986, upgrading the Canada West radar section up to Alaska, then along the Arctic, where most of the new remote radar stations were placed, and finally down into Canada East.15 This line consisted of both long-range and short-range radars that were controlled and monitored by 22 Wing/CFB North Bay.16 Long-range radars covering the far North sections had coverage of about 220 kilometres. This was followed by the short-range radars, which would look for low-flying aircraft or any other object at low altitudes that reached out about 170 kilometres, as explained by Loranne who was part of the modernization crews for the North Warning System.
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Women who worked in the Canadian Armed Forces and NORAD found unique opportunities to work in information technology (IT) in a variety of different jobs covering aerospace defence. Some of the jobs which Loranne described were being part of a crew working on the North American Air Defence Modernization and the NORAD System Support Facility, where she became a software tester. There she learned how to use all the pieces of equipment used by each Canadian NORAD region to maintain the air picture.
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“Yeah, it was pretty cool. I loved it. That was when I first became a software tester.” |
Outside of Working Hours
Loranne has always been very active, engaging in sports and classes, and even now takes pride in being an Aqua Zumba instructor. Physical and mental health are very important themes that present themselves throughout her experience in and out of the military. Loranne played softball in Ottawa and in North Bay, she regularly attended aerobics classes at a gym.
After having her three children and getting married to her now ex-husband, she spent most of her time, outside of work, taking care of her children, household, and pets.
After having her three children and getting married to her now ex-husband, she spent most of her time, outside of work, taking care of her children, household, and pets.
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Loranne lived off base after her basic training at Cornwallis. While she was posted to North Bay, she rented and later bought a house with her then-husband in the Trout Lake area. During much of her marriage, she did the majority of childcare, cleaning, and cooking until she finally put her foot down and got her husband to start contributing more by cooking most of the meals thereafter.17 Since her husband also worked for the military they would alternate shifts, so that usually one of them was taking care of the children if the other was working. Her husband also helped to take care of the children when they woke up in the middle of the night, much more than the average husband at the time would have. Loranne describes that the relative balance in childcare that she had was more common amongst families where both spouses were military personnel, which was in itself already abnormal. Her experience, therefore, was much more balanced than a typical family at this time, but her life was abnormal; women typically left their military jobs when they married or had children. |
“Well, I mean, I did the majority of childcare. It started out that I did almost all the work: I did all the house cleaning, I did all of the cooking, I looked after all the children. And after a few years of that I said 'that's it. We're done.' 'You're going to share in this or it's just not going to get done.'” Since there was no military-organized daycare in which she could enroll her children while she and her husband worked, she hired a consistent babysitter who would come to her house. In Florida, she did enroll her children in daycare, and this service was significantly discounted because of the American appreciation for military, even Canadian military, personnel.
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“ We had this epic party once at the end of the, it was a posting party for all of the people that were leaving. And oh God, we trashed this woman's house, thankfully it was military house because it was on base, but we had this epic water fight, and it was uh and BBQ at this guy's place and I'm sure his wife hated us all after this. But yeah, we soaked. We soaked her house on the bottom floor anyways, but it was a lot of fun. It was a lot of fun, a lot of fun. But so. But that never would have happened in my neighbourhood, because military people are a lot more understanding, and they're just like, yeah, whatever blow it off. Plus, it's not her house anyway. So, she doesn't care if the military has to fix it, you know?” [18] |
Loranne did not have support in her home, even actively being torn down by her then-husband. She did, however, have support in the form of her family and friends. For example, Loranne talked to her mother on the phone every Sunday since leaving Alberta for the next 29 years. She talked to her mother about her life and even the difficulties of training in Cornwallis, which was especially difficult for her mother to hear her daughter go through. Loranne also often went out with her friends, giving her a chance to get out of the house, sometimes even attending some rather lively parties.
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Loranne speaks fondly of living in North Bay as a place to raise her children because of its small-town feel but with lots of activities for her and her family to do. She also had a friend whose children were the same age as her oldest child, with whom she brought her children to the ice rink to learn how to skate. She also expressed gratitude for programs for kids, like the annual Christmas party held for military families, which was always a hit, with Santa in attendance giving a gift to each child.
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Loranne has been a lifelong bookworm, and her time in the military was no exception. She read frequently and did computer work, even completing a degree on her own in computer science with a 4.0 average, all while working for the military and taking care of three children, two cats, one dog, and several fish!
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“I mean, a lot of women in the 80s stayed home. They were stay-at-home moms. Our situation was we were both breadwinners. We were both working full time. And when I was in Florida, in fact, I was working full time and going to school.” |
Footnotes
1. Loranne Arboleya, interview with Denver Prevost and Jordan Wilson, no.1, Sharing Stories of 22 Wing Collection, Canadian Forces Museum of Aerospace Defence, February 12, 2024. Unless otherwise noted all interviews are archived in this collection.
Unless otherwise cited, all of the information on this page comes from the above interview.
2. Patricia A. Power, “‘With their Feet on the Ground’: Women’s Lives and Work in the Royal Canadian Air Force, 1951-1966,” Master's thesis, University of Ottawa, 1998, doi:10.20381/ruor-13617, 50-51.
3. Loranne Arboleya, interview with Denver Prevost and Jordan Wilson, no.2, February 19, 2024.
4. Loranne Arboleya, interview no.2.
5. Interview no.2.
6. Interview no.2.
7. Interview no.2.
8. Interview no.2.
9. Interview no.2.
10. Interview no.2.
11.Interview no.2. All information in the Work Environment, Mental Health & Discrimination section come from this interview unless otherwise stated.
12. Philip McCristall,and Katherine Baggaley, “The Progressions of a Gendered Military: A Theoretical Examination of Gender Inequality in the Canadian Military,” Journal of Military, Veteran and Family Health 5, no. 1 (2019): 119, doi: 10.3138/jmvfh.2017-0026.
13. Interview no.1.
14. R.A. Pigeau et al., “Vigilance Latencies to Aircraft Detection Among NORAD Surveillance Operators,” Human Factors 37, no. 3 (1995): 4, doi:10.1518/001872095779049291.
15. “Backgrounder – North Warning System in-Service Support,” Government of Canada, Department of National Defence, last updated January 31, 2022, https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/news/2022/01/backgrounder--north-warning-system-in-service-support.html.
16. “Backgrounder – North Warning System in-Service Support.”
17. Interview no.2. All remaining information in this section comes from this interview unless otherwise stated.
18. Interview no.1.
Unless otherwise cited, all of the information on this page comes from the above interview.
2. Patricia A. Power, “‘With their Feet on the Ground’: Women’s Lives and Work in the Royal Canadian Air Force, 1951-1966,” Master's thesis, University of Ottawa, 1998, doi:10.20381/ruor-13617, 50-51.
3. Loranne Arboleya, interview with Denver Prevost and Jordan Wilson, no.2, February 19, 2024.
4. Loranne Arboleya, interview no.2.
5. Interview no.2.
6. Interview no.2.
7. Interview no.2.
8. Interview no.2.
9. Interview no.2.
10. Interview no.2.
11.Interview no.2. All information in the Work Environment, Mental Health & Discrimination section come from this interview unless otherwise stated.
12. Philip McCristall,and Katherine Baggaley, “The Progressions of a Gendered Military: A Theoretical Examination of Gender Inequality in the Canadian Military,” Journal of Military, Veteran and Family Health 5, no. 1 (2019): 119, doi: 10.3138/jmvfh.2017-0026.
13. Interview no.1.
14. R.A. Pigeau et al., “Vigilance Latencies to Aircraft Detection Among NORAD Surveillance Operators,” Human Factors 37, no. 3 (1995): 4, doi:10.1518/001872095779049291.
15. “Backgrounder – North Warning System in-Service Support,” Government of Canada, Department of National Defence, last updated January 31, 2022, https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/news/2022/01/backgrounder--north-warning-system-in-service-support.html.
16. “Backgrounder – North Warning System in-Service Support.”
17. Interview no.2. All remaining information in this section comes from this interview unless otherwise stated.
18. Interview no.1.
