CANORA - The Royal Canadian Legion is observing National Legion Week, from Sept. 15-21. This year's observance is honoring the Battle of Britain Day, according to Cathy Trach, president of the Canora branch of the Royal Canadian Legion.
“The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) is celebrating her 100th anniversary this year,” said Trach. “Thus, the Canora Legion Branch is taking this time to recognize a small handful of hometown children who had grown up and continued on to enter into the Royal Canadian Air Force in one capacity or another.”
Former Canora resdents being recognized are: Major Jason T. Marchinko, son of Bernie and Pat Marchinko; Lieutenant-Colonel Kevin L. Ciesielski, son of Carl and Sharon Ciesielski; and Retired RCAF Capt, CD II, Bonnie Sadler, daughter of Dan and Jean Skibinsky.
Trach provided the following biographies.
Bonnie Sadler (née Skibinsky) Retired RCAF Capt., CD II
Bonnie joined the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) in November of 1982 and completed her Recruit School training at Cornwallis, Nova Scotia in February of 1983. She was selected to go to St. Jean, Quebec to learn French as part of a new initiative in the military. After spending six months in St. Jean, she was posted to Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Kingston, Ontario to attend Performance Oriented Electronics Training (POET) Block I that started her trades training to a career in an electronics field in the Air Force.
She left CFB Kingston in Sept. 1983 to travel to CFB Borden, Ont., the home of the Air Force technician training where she completed Block II of her POET training and was selected to be an Instrument Electrical Technician (IET), technicians that fix electrical systems and instrumentation onboard aircraft.
Bonnie graduated her IET course in October of 1984 and was subsequently posted to CFB Bagotville in northern Quebec. The French language training she received earlier in her career was beneficial to this posting as at the time, very few people in the Saguenay region spoke English. Bonnie met the love of her life Ron, while they were training in Borden and after their marriage in December of 1984, Ron was posted to CFB Bagotville with her. While employed at CFB Bagotville, she worked on the CH118 Iroquois helicopter, civilian equivalent of a Bell 205 and T33 Silverstar jet aircraft.
Bonnie also worked in traditional labs testing instruments, servicing aircraft batteries and testing and repair of aircraft generators and auxiliary drives. Being a woman in the Air Force in the early ’80s was an adventure.
One of the first technicians she worked with was a corporal who had changed his occupation from the Army to the Air Force. While getting ready to park an aircraft, he was tasked to accompany her to set up a spot on the tarmac to park the aircraft, part of his training as a technician. They jumped on the aircraft towing vehicle, fondly referred to as a “mule,” and went to retrieve a ladder and chalks to set up the spot.
The ladder for the T33 aircraft was extremely awkward to maneuver and weighed about 80 pounds. When Bonnie bent over it to pick it up, the kind corporal gently nudged her out of the way and said, “Here, let me get that for you!” Bonnie pushed him out of the way, grabbed the ladder, threw it on the mule and said, “Let’s go!” The corporal became very quiet and decided to just “observe” for the rest of the day.
The day after, the corporal approached Bonnie and said to her “In the Army, we were told that women in the Air Force are all lazy but after working with you for one day, I can see that it is not true!” Bonnie and the corporal became great friends.
Bonnie and Ron were posted to CFB Cold Lake in August of 1989. She took up the job as a technician on the Automated Test Set (ATS) for the CF18 Hornet fighter aircraft. The ATS was six racks of building blocks (electronic signal generators) that generated every electrical system that the aircraft did. The purpose of the ATS was to test the various electronic components from the aircraft. When an electronic component would require a serviceability check, Bonnie would run the ATS, set up the test software for the component under test, then follow the steps to determine the serviceability of the component.
The biggest challenge while working on the ATS was when the actual test set failed, fault finding the test set took a lot of skill and determination, something Bonnie was good at.
Bonnie got promoted to the rank of Master Corporal in the summer of 1991 and was subsequently posted to 10 Fighter Tactical Training School (FTTS) in Cold Lake to teach the ATS operator’s course. Her experience on the ATS made her a prime candidate to instruct others on the maintenance and use of the ATS.
Having originally joined as an IET, Bonnie had the choice to become an Aviation Technician or an Avionics Technician (AVS) working on communications, radar and other avionics systems. She chose AVN, she loved the physicality of changing transmissions and engines over an avionics box.
In 1999, Bonnie and Ron were posted to CFB Borden, Ont. Ron went to CFSATE, the school where Air Force technicians are taught the skills of the trade, and Bonnie got posted to 400 Tactical Helicopter Squadron (THS) where she continued to work on the Griffon helicopter. 400 THS was a squadron that existed to support the reserve component of the CAF and would deploy to Petawawa on exercise to support the army there.
It was an amazing opportunity, and it was when Bonnie was at 400 Sqn that she deployed to Alert, Nunavut. The Sqn would go to Alert every year in support of Op Boxtop; engineers from Ottawa would be responsible to service the small radar sites up in the northern areas and the Griffon helicopter would fly them to these radar sites.
The technicians deployed with the helicopters so they could maintain them and when the exercise was over, Bonnie got to load one of the three helicopters onto a CC130 Hercules aircraft. This involved a lot of prep work, which included removing the main helicopter blades and mast, and removing the tail rotor so the aircraft could fit into the Herc.
In 2002, Bonnie was posted to CFSATE to instruct Air Force students. Shortly after being posted to CFSATE, Bonnie was promoted to the rank of sergeant and became a course director for AVN student training. Being able to develop young privates into aircraft technicians was challenging but extremely rewarding. AVN training took approximately one year to complete at that time and the growth in the students from start to finish always fascinated her and made her proud, knowing that the students would go out into the field and contribute in a positive way to the Air Force was an incredible feeling.
While in Borden, Bonnie was selected to commission from the ranks.
The thought of being an officer intrigued Bonnie, she felt humbled that her chain of command would even consider her for this honour. She was selected for her leadership qualities and decided that it would be something to pursue. In Oct of 2003, at the age of 40, Bonnie went to St. Jean, Que., to attend Officer Recruit Training. Off she went to do something that was another adventure.
After graduating, she waited in Borden for her Aerospace Engineering Basic Officer Course (AOBC) which she completed in May of 2006 and was subsequently posted to Ottawa as the Avionics Officer for the Griffon helicopter. She then took up the post as the Deputy Aircraft Engineering Officer (D/AEO) for the fleet where she contributed to the successful operations to the deployed fleet in Afghanistan.
Bonnie’s next move was to take up the post of Airworthiness Training Officer where she honed her airworthiness skills and instructed others on the policies and procedures. She was then chosen as the D/AEO for the new fleet of Chinook helicopters that the Air Force purchased and spent the rest of her military time with her new fleet.
Bonnie lives in Embrun, Ont., just outside of Ottawa, with her husband of 40 years who retired in 2020 with 37 years of service. Ron is also employed as a Public Servant, working on the Hornet Extension Project for the CF18 fleet.
Major Jason T. Marchinko
Staff Officer for Contracted Flying Training Support (SO CFTS), Air Operations Training, Standards and Evaluation Team (AOT SET), 2 Canadian Air Division (2 CAD).
Major (Maj.) Marchinko was born and raised in Canora. He played many sports, was an active member of the church, Ukrainian danced, and had a few different jobs, including working for his uncle’s construction company.
As a teenager, Maj. Marchinko determined that his life’s ambition was to be a pilot. After a failed attempt to get accepted into the Royal Roads Military College in the pilot trade, he decided to go to the University of Regina and joined 10th Field Regiment, a Royal Canadian Artillery Reserve unit located in Regina. As a reservist, Maj. Marchinko deployed with 1 Royal Canadian Horse Artillery (1 RCHA) for a United Nations (UN) Peacekeeping tour to Cyprus in Aug. 1992, and in Nov. 1995, completed the pre-deployment training for a UN peacekeeping tour to Bosnia with the 2nd Battalion of the Princes Patricia Canadian Light Infantry (2 PPCLI).
Due to global political reasons, the tour to Bosnia was cancelled which fortunately, allowed him to apply to the Royal Canadian Air Force to become a pilot and finish the required university degree.
It wasn’t until Dec. 2000 that Maj. Marchinko was accepted into the pilot trade at the rank of Lieutenant, and in Feb. 2006, Maj. Marchinko was presented his pilot wings and was promoted to the rank of Captain. A couple months later, Maj. Marchinko was posted to 408 Tactical Helicopter Squadron in Edmonton, to fly Griffon helicopters.
While at 408 Sqn, he deployed to Afghanistan as a member of the Tactical Air Control Party, supported the 2010 ParaOlympics, supported the 2010 G8/G20 summit at Deerhurst, Ont., and in 2011, completed a second tour to Afghanistan, this time deploying with 408 Sqn to fly the Griffon.
In September of 2012, Maj. Marchinko was posted to 3 Canadian Forces Flying Training School at Southport, Man. After completing the Flight Instructor Course (FIC) to become a Qualified Flight Instructor on the Bell 412 CF helicopter, he taught students as a line instructor, held the position of Deputy Course Director, took over as the Course Director, then became the Deputy Chief Helicopter Instructor for several months. Maj. Marchinko ended his time at the school in the Standards Flight, where he instructed newly posted in helicopter pilots on the FIC.
In July of 2019, Maj Marchinko was promoted to his current rank, and posted to 2 CAD Headquarters in his current position. As the SO CFTS, he is responsible for ensuring the school conducts the training of staff and students in accordance with the mandated orders and regulations, administers written and flying examinations on 3 CFFTS helicopter instructors, and effects the Operational Airworthiness program for all four fleets at Southport.
Maj. Marchinko earned a bachelor of science degree in mathematics and a bachelor of science degree in computer science, both from the University of Regina. He currently resides in in Portage la Prairie, Man. with his wife, LCol. Tami Marchinko, who is the current Branch Advisor and chair of the National Advisory Council COATS (NACC). They have two sons, Greyson (17) and Lochlan (15), who are members of 575 RCACS, and hold the ranks of WO1 and FSgt, respectively.
Lieutenant-Colonel Kevin L. Ciesielski
Lieutenant-Colonel Ciesielski enrolled in the Canadian Armed Forces in 1990 under the Officer Candidate Training Plan, and completed Air Weapons Controller training in 1991 at the Air Weapons Control and Countermeasures School in North Bay, Ont.
After completion of his training he remained in North Bay at 21 Aerospace Control and Warning Squadron as a Weapons Director and Weapons Assignment Officer. During this posting he completed the Fighter Weapons Instructor Course and deployed to the Combined Air Operations Center in Vicenza, Italy to support Operation Decisive (OP) Endevour for operations in the former Yugoslavia (1996).
He has filled the position of Senior Director and Mission Crew Commander during two postings to the Canadian Detachment at Tinker AFB, Oklahoma. He has flown over 3,400 hours in the E-3 AWACS in support of NORAD and deployed operations, including more than 100 combat missions during six deployments including two deployments to OP Northern Watch for operations in northern Iraq (2000, 2001); three deployments to OP Enduring Freedom for operations in Afghanistan (2002, 2003, 2011); and OP Iraqi Freedom for operations in Iraq (2003).
During his career he assumed command as Commandant of the Canadian Forces School of Aerospace Control Operations in Cornwall, Ont. He has also served in staff positions at the Regional Air Co-ordination Element at Joint Task Force North in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories; at National Defence Headquarters in Ottawa as the Executive Assistant to the Deputy Commander Royal Canadian Air Force; and as the Executive Assistant to the Commander Royal Canadian Air Force.
He has been awarded the South West Asia Service Medal (Afghanistan), the General Campaign Star - South-West Asia (Afghanistan), the General Service Medal – Expedition (Iraq), the Canadian Peacekeeping Service Medal (Iraq), the Queens Diamond Jubilee Medal, Canadian Decoration with bar, the United States Air Medal, and the United States Meritorious Service Medal.
He has earned a bachelor of arts in geography from University of Manitoba, and MSc in Aerospace Administration and Logistics from Southeastern Oklahoma State University. In 2015, he graduated from Joint Command and Staff Programme at Canadian Forces College, where he earned a Master of Defence Studies from Royal Military College.
As mentioned earlier, Legion Week is observing the Battle of Britain this year.
Battle of Britain
Legions across Canada will be recognizing the Battle of Britain, honouring the memory of those heroes who defined one of the most pivotal moments in history. The time frame was July 10 to Oct. 31 1940 while defending the skies over southwest England and the English Channel.
It was Sept. 15 when the Luftwaffe initiated its largest attack on London. Had the Royal Air Force and its Allies been defeated during the Battle of Britain, the course of the war and our history would have been very different. Canadians flew with several Royal Air Force squadrons, and in particular the RAF 242 (Canadian) Squadron. However, for the first time in history a Canadian Squadron, Number 1 (RCAF) Squadron, entered the war. More than 100 Canadian pilots flew during the Battle of Britain while hundreds of Canadian ground crew and support personnel also served valiantly during the battle. As a result, Battle of Britain Day is celebrated annually commencing the third Sunday in the month of September.
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