Belle River friends sail together in the Royal Canadian Navy

A long way from home, Sailors 2^nd  Class (S2) Charles Longeuay and Sailor 3^rd Class (S3) Brady Hillock are currently serving in the South China Sea as part of a six month deployment on board His Majesty’s Canadian Ship (HMCS) Winnipeg.

Raised in Belle River, Brady and Charles have known each other since they were about four years old. They grew up playing hockey together for the Belle River Canadians and lacrosse for the Windsor Warlocks, and both graduated from Belle River District High School in 2014. Each went their own way after graduating and in 2020, Charles decided he wanted to do something different; he wanted the opportunity to travel and see the world, so he applied to the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF), specifically, the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN). Brady had also been mulling it over, and now with a friend joining, he too applied to the CAF.

In March of 2020 Charles was sent to St. Jean, QC for Basic Military Qualification Training (BMQT), more familiarly known as Boot Camp or Basic Training. Upon completion of BMQT, then-S3 Longeuay was posted to Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Esquimalt for his 10 week Naval Combat information Operator course, followed by a posting to HMCS Ottawa. As a NCI Op “I work with radars and other technology to help the command team make decisions in regards to anti-collision and wartime evolutions.” A job with many facets, and S2 Longeuay’s favourite part of the job is the “camaraderie with my coworkers in the operations room.”

Brady started his Basic Training in June 2021 in Albert Head, BC. After completing BMQT, S3 Hillock was sent to CFB Esquimalt, B.C. for his four month Qualification Level 3 (QL3) Naval Communicator (NavComm) training course. Following his course, S3 Hillock was posted to HMCS Winnipeg. On the ship, “Naval Communicators are in charge of making sure the ship is connected by radio frequencies, and troubleshooting any network problems that arise. Also our department is involved in visual signals such as flags and flashing light as a way of communicating with other ships that we sail with. My favourite part of the job is being up on the bridge and being involved in ships maneuvering, and sending signals back and forth to other vessels.”

After a year on HMCS Ottawa, S2 Longeuay was also posted to HMCS Winnipeg, in time to deploy on Op PROJECTION. For both sailors, this is their first deployment, and as S3 Hillock says, “I got lucky that one of my good friends from back home is also doing the same deployment. It’s nice to have someone you’ve known forever to share this experience with and make some cool memories.”

This unique experience started on June 14^th, 2022, when HMCS Winnipeg set sail from CFB Esquimalt on a six month sail that included Exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) as well as Operation PROJECTION. In early August the ship completed RIMPAC, which takes place every two years off the coast of Hawaii and is the largest international maritime warfare exercise in the world. HMCS Winnipeg then chopped over to Op PROJECTION, where it will conduct forward naval presence operations in the Indo-Pacific region as well as conduct cooperative deployments and participate in international naval exercises with partner nations. Operation PROJECTION shows Canada’s ongoing commitment to global peace. The deployment of sailors, ships and submarines shows how the Royal Canadian Navy is ready to defend Canada’s interests around the world.