- I'm Lieutenant Navy Christine Hyrve from Edmonton, Alberta.
I'm a Naval Combat Systems Engineering Officer
currently posted to Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt in British Columbia.
- The Royal Canadian Navy deploys regularly
to reassure Canada's allies in the global community
as well as to deter those who might wish us harm.
This is accomplished using state-of-the-art tracking and weapons systems.
Maintenance of these systems is managed by Naval Combat Systems Engineering Officers,
who ensure that the ship is always combat-ready.
- Missile away!
- They lead the Combat Systems Engineering Team,
responsible for the operational readiness and maintenance of Naval Weapons,
Navigation, Communications, Radar, Sonar,
and Command and Control Systems.
- Range, 4,000 yards.
- The job of the Naval Combat Systems Engineering Officer
is to ensure we are ready to fight anytime.
We are responsible for the Combat Systems engineering department
and the technicians themselves who are fixing
and doing the maintenance on the equipment.
As the officers, we are the managers
for the department,
ensuring the coordination of all preventative maintenance
as well as all parts, and briefing command on all requirements.
Our technicians are our authorities on the equipment.
We take their advice all the time on issues and how to fix them.
However, we are the ones reporting to command
and assisting in achieving everything.
- Naval Combat Systems Engineering Officers
are an integral part of the vessel's Emergency Response Team,
performing important damage control tasks while the ship is at emergency or action stations
to ensure that it can still fight.
(Hyrve): What I like most about my job is the variety.
It can change from year to year or even day to day on the ship.
And I love learning something new.
All that I've done since I joined the Navy
as a Naval Combat Systems engineer
has been new to me, and I've enjoyed every minute of it.
My favourite experience so far has been the deployment,
Operation Projection 2018, when I deployed with HMCS Calgary.
I had the opportunity to go to Australia,
Vietnam, South Korea and Japan.
It is wonderful when you get to a port and you get to explore.
You get to try all the foods, which are so good!
And you get to travel and be a tourist and explore everything,
all the different cultures that you wouldn't have normally been exposed to.
You get to see everything.
- On completion of their military and occupation training,
Naval Combat Systems Engineering Officers will be posted to a ship
as a junior officer on the Combat Systems Engineering team
and learn the ropes of becoming a Combat Systems Engineering Officer.
On board, they are part of the crew,
and with that comes additional responsibilities,
such as ship evolutions, or being a part of the ship's Boarding Party or Dive Team.
For their next posting, Naval Combat Systems Engineering Officers
will return ashore to fulfill numerous challenging roles for the Navy.
These could include working at a coastal Fleet Maintenance Facility,
teaching new engineers at the Naval Fleet Schools,
or providing their expert engineering assessments
towards new ships and equipment purchases for the future fleet.
These important roles all work to prepare them
to take on their most important and challenging role
as the head of the Naval Combat Systems Engineering Department
on board another ship or submarine.
As their career progresses,
Naval Combat Systems Engineering Officers
can move into project management or research & development,
involved in the design and application of new weapons technologies.
There can also be opportunities for engineering specialization
through fully funded post-graduate education in Canada or abroad.
(Hyrve): As a Naval Combat Systems Engineering Officer,
I feel I have a lot of control over my career.
If I wanted to do a masters,
I would have the opportunity and it would be supported.
It's quite amazing when you see all of the systems and weapons
come together and everything works out great.
You realize that it's been your department,
your planning, your people,
and all of that has been coordinated so well.
And then you get to see it just come to fruition
and operate smoothly.
I'm really proud of what I've achieved so far.
I've been in the Navy for five years
and I've had the opportunity to do so much and learn so much,
and I'm really looking forward to the rest of my career.