Honolulu, Hawaii – Warrant Officer (WO) Paula Hickey conducts a driver’s inspection on one of the many vehicles rented for the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) Exercise 2018.
A proud Newfoundlander from Foxtrap, Conception Bay South (CBS), located just outside of St. John’s, WO Hickey is a Traffic Technician currently posted to Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Kingston, Ontario. She is the vehicle fleet manager for the Canadian contingent serving in Hawaii during RIMPAC 2018.
“I’ve been in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) for 17 years. My kids were grown up, and it was time for me to find a job. I was 36-years-old. I only planned for three years, but here it is, and I’m still doing it.”
Traffic Technicians like WO Hickey work in teams to plan, execute and manage the movement of all Canadian Armed Forces equipment and personnel, supporting all CAF Forces exercises and operations around the world.
With hundreds of Canadian military members working across the island of Oahu, WO Hickey ensures transportation is available every hour of each day. It’s a complicated job. With 25 partners nations involved, rentals can be hard to acquire. Many days require plenty of organization and even a little magic to have everyone in place to fill their roles at the world’s largest international maritime exercise.
Though her job is challenging, WO Hickey says the military has been good to her, and she wouldn’t change a thing. “My first deployment was to a place called Diego Garcia (An island in the Indian Ocean), I was there for the deployment of the first members going to Afghanistan. It was a place I had never heard of until I got there. It was amazing.”
A former student of Queen Elizabeth High School in Foxtrap, WO Hickey always enjoyed the technical classes. “We used to go to trade school one afternoon a week and do something other than schoolwork, which we really enjoyed.”
Passionate about her family, WO Hickey always misses her husband, daughters, and their families when she’s away, and she remains close to her large family back home. Her best friend from grade two came to her Basic Training graduation.
“I couldn’t do it without their support. I miss my family, but when we see each other again, it’s happy tears.”
For more information:
Capt Dawn O’Connor, Public Affairs Officer,
RIMPAC Combined Information Bureau Production Officer
Cell: (705) 491-1580
Email: mailto:Dawn.OConnor@forces.gc.ca
Visit http://www.forces.gc.ca/en/operations-exercises/rimpac.page
http://www.cpf.navy.mil/rimpac/for more information about RIMPAC 2018.