Tomorrow is Military Family Appreciation Day, a day to honour and celebrate the families of veterans and active Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) members. We asked two members of our Babcock community, Melanie Roy, Receiving Specialist, and Chelsea Krepps, Human Resources Coordinator, to discuss what this day means to them and their lives as military families.
Melanie met her husband in 2002, who had served in the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) for nine years at that point. In 2005, their daughter was born and in 2007, Melanie supported her husband through the gruelling CP “Close Protection” training, initially involving the “JTF2” (Joint Task Force 2). Because of the high demand for protection in Afghanistan, the training was branched to the Military Police and the RCN. He was the first in the RCN to complete this training. Soon after came the deployments, the first in Kandahar, the second in Kabul, and the third and last of that trade was in Kabul’s Canadian Embassy, where they were responsible for protecting the Canadian Ambassador.
In his career until now, Melanie’s husband has had four deployments at sea (1730 days total) in the Persian Gulf and three (730 days total) in Afghanistan. He is the Operations Division Chief Petty Officer at the Naval Fleet School today. Melanie’s brother was also a CAF member for ten years and had multiple deployments in Afghanistan.
Melanie shared some of the many challenges of being a military spouse and where she finds support. “Deployments are never easy to get used to, even after so many times,” explains Melanie. “Specifically, I wouldn’t say I liked that he would leave for two to three months. I felt lost the first two weeks after he left, but eventually, I created a routine, and time went a bit faster. I worked and stayed busy by spending time with my daughter and relied on support from my amazing friends.”
Support is also widely available from the military family community. Melanie discusses what the community means to her: “I do not have any close friends from military families with whom I spend time, but while living in the military quarters if you ever needed help, another military family was always there to help you.”
One thing Melanie wishes people outside the military community understood about military families’ experiences is that they didn’t fall in love with the job; they fell in love with the person as they are constantly told, “You knew what you were getting into!” Navigating this journey may be easy for some but also extremely difficult to navigate alone, and many will not ask for help.
Melanie closes by expressing how much military members mean to her: “I have the utmost reverence for them. “She then advises new military families navigating this lifestyle: “Be ready for deployments and moves. There can be sad days but also happy days. The first hug and kiss when your spouse comes home after a long deployment is a fantastic feeling and something I always look forward to.
Chelsea is another military family member in our Babcock community with a lengthy military family background. Her father, Ian Krepps, was a Canadian Army Signals Corps member. Her paternal grandfather, Paul Krepps, was a member of the Royal Navy. Richard “Frank” Krepps, her paternal great-grandfather, was a member of the Royal Canadian Engineers. At the time of his death, he was the oldest surviving D-Day Dispatch Rider from WWII. Chelsea’s other paternal great-grandfather, Richard “Dick” Grundy, was a member of the United Kingdom Merchant Navy. Lastly, her great-great-grandfather, Harold Charles Biggs, was a member of the British Army of WWI.
While being part of such a large military family, Chelsea discussed the challenges she faced growing up. “Moving every two years was quite difficult for our family,” expressed Chelsea. Adjusting to new schools, friends, and sports was a challenge primarily for my older sister, who was a teenager for those years. Growing up, it was also difficult to support our mother while dad was away for months. One of my core memories is seeing my father return home for the first time in three months and I will never forget that emotionally significant moment.”
Chelsea goes on to share how being a military family member changed and shaped her personally and the lessons she’s learned from her experiences. “I have more recognition and appreciation for those who served since I have more exposure to military personnel. I also hold a tremendous amount of respect for those in the armed forces. The lessons I learned include adapting to new environments, creating new social circles, providing for others without reward and making sacrifices to give up something I value for the greater good.”
Additionally, Chelsea shares her advice to new military families. “Be kind to every new person you meet; they may become your new best friend to rely on for support.”
On Military Family Appreciation Day, we honour Melanie and Chelsea, their families, and all other military families. We want to thank you for everything you do. Your sacrifices are noticed, and we deeply respect and acknowledge the impact you have on the CAF’s mission and our country.
