Free living expenses and a salary: Canadian Navy offering 'no strings attached' employment

Navy looking to fill 1,400 vacancies The Canadian Navy is trying to fix the staffing crisis by offering to pay room and board for new employees. Michelle Maluske explains.

HMCS Hunter in Windsor is part of a new recruitment initiative called the “naval experience program”.

“It gives Canadians between 17 and 57 (years of age) the opportunity to join the Navy for one year,” says Mark O’Donohue, deputy commander Canadian fleet pacific. “At the end of the year, they can either choose to sign on and become a member of the Royal Canadian Navy or they can walk away.”

O’Donohue says the program is open to Canadians and permanent residents.

“We want to get a variety of Canadians,” says O’Donohue. “We really want to tap into that group of people that you know, may not normally join the military to give them this opportunity to check it out.”

The program includes:

“It's intimidating for somebody to not know what it's like to perhaps go to sea,” says O’Donohue. “So this takes that away and there's no strings attached. They can walk away at the end of the year.”

“It's almost a no-brainer,” says Petty Officer 2nd class Kyle Medwid. “You get free food, free living (quarters). You get to go on a ship and travel to different areas like I have experienced; a whole plethora of things that normal citizens will never be able to do.”

Medwid tells CTV News he just returned from his fifth tour with the Navy, this time near Mexico on an anti-drug smuggling “run” where they intercepted a vessel carrying approximately 755 kilograms of cocaine head northbound.

“We got to work with the US Coast Guard Active and US Coast Guard Cutter Benjamin bottom,” says Medwid. “We use their ‘hit run’ unit which is essentially a guy with a sniper and a helicopter shooting out their engines. (It was) very exciting.”

O’Donohue says participants in the program will be exposed to the wide range of careers the Navy offers so they can then make a more informed decision about joining the Navy before having to sign a three to five year contract.