www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver Weekend, Saturday December 8, 2007 - 5 Civilian life comes first for commodore Continued from page 3 Despite the seemingly gargantuan task of keeping all these units operating smoothly, Bennett says she intends to continue being the head of Fern Hill School. "In this capacity (as commodore) I'll certainly have more requirements, but I'm working with the school and they've agreed to allow me some flexibility. I'll have to go to Quebec City at least once a month for a couple of days to do administrative things, but a lot of the other activities I'll be involved in will be on evenings and weekends," she said. "The military also understands that my civilian career comes first," said the Burlington resident. While her work at Fern Hill may come first, this doesn't mean Bennett is taking her new role as commodore any less seriously. In addition to ensuring the proper operation of the business side of the naval reserves and being present for important ceremonies, she is also responsible for making sure the naval reserves are properly trained. "We provide the people who will go to sea, do port security and participate in the domestic defence of Canada," explained Bennett. "The military also understands that my civilian career comes first." Jennifer Bennett, Commodore "So I'm responsible for a training program that is rigorous enough to make sure that people are ready. I have to answer to the navy and say, `Yes, my people are ready,' or `This is what we need to get them ready,' or `This is why they're not ready,' those sorts of things." As the naval reserves are involved in drug interdiction, search and rescue, port security and mine clearance operations, another dimension of the job could involve ordering people into harm's way during a crisis, something Bennett has yet to do, but noted could happen at any time. "Any time there is a human dimension it's really difficult. We're really well trained and we exercise and we practice for this, but one hopes that you won't be put in one of those situations," said Bennett. "In the navy, as the nature of our business is at sea, you'd have to make life-and-death decisions if there was a ship on fire or if a ship was sinking. "It would be the same if there was a threat against Canada and you had to defend other people's interests. That's something we've agreed to do as members of the Canadian Forces." Bennett took on this command responsibility on Saturday, Dec. 1 at a formal naval ceremony where her friend and predecessor Commodore Robert Blakely relinquished his command. The ceremony was an emotional one for Bennett, made so not only by the presence of her family, including a brother and sister who are also active in the naval reserves, and members of the Fern Hill School community, but by the fact Bennett's father held the rank of commodore when she joined the navy so many years ago. "My dad passed away last year, so he couldn't be at the ceremony, but what was neat was that as a commodore you have a pennant that they fly and I had a pennant from my father that flew when he was commodore. They flew that pennant during the ceremony," she said. "So he was there in spirit," Bennett said. While Bennett now holds the highest possible position in the Canadian Naval Reserves, she says her career ambitions may not be entirely satisfied and is eyeing the position of Chief of Reserves and Cadets, which would give her the ability to advise all reserves within the Canadian Forces. "It's a job that interests me," she said. VISIT US ONLINE Way to go! 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