Caven exemplifies dedicated service
January 14, 2008
Stephanie Burr
Staff writer
Stephanie Burr
Lookout
HMCS Algonquin sails past Duntze Head and out of Esquimalt Harbour Oct. 22 on its way to take part in a task group exercise off the coast of California.
With retirement looming on the horizon, Regimental Sergeant Major Ronald Caven is reluctant to hang his uniform up for good. After 41 years of service, RSM Caven thinks of his job as more than just a daily duty to fulfill; it’s his life.
After joining at age 19, he was assigned to the Queen’s Own Rifles from 1966 to 1969, then spent 20 years with the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI) in the 3rd Battalion.
“Just as I was leaving the PPCLI, I was asked if I wanted to transfer to the Reserve Force, and I knew that I didn’t really want to leave, so I signed up again,” he says.
He has been serving with the 11 Service Battalion ever since.
“I left school in Grade 10, and so all my education, skills, and training I owe to the army,” says RSM Caven. “I love what I do and I can’t imagine what would have happened had I not found my place here.”As RSM, RSM Caven is responsible for the care and well being of all incoming, and currently enlisted reservists in the 11 Service Battalion.
“I truly enjoy training the troops that come through our door,” he says. “After all my time with the army I feel I have a lot to pass on to them in terms of experience, knowledge and advice.”
He beams with pride as he talks about the opportunities the reserves are able to offer new recruits. “I get to watch their progress as they get their uniforms and go off to take their courses. They come back here as changed people who respect themselves a lot more. They realize they will never have to be alone again, and that once here they are part of a big family.”
RSM Caven, the reaches of the reserves extend beyond the walls of 11 Service Battalion.
“I try and reach out to the community under the umbrella of the reserves. For instance, on my days off I look after veterans in need of help. I do all sorts of things for them, anything from gardening and mowing their lawns to fixing up their homes. They pay me what they can, but really I’m not in it for the money. I do it because it’s what I would want someone to do for me.”
A while back, when working for the Langford Legion, RSM Caven took care of 26 veterans. When the Legion eliminated the veterans help program, RSM Caven took it on.
“I don’t have the capability to help that many people on my day off and it’s too bad that many go without the help they need. Some don’t have other family, so I’m what they rely on.”
RSM Caven spends his free time at the Goldstream food bank, and throughout the year, he and the unit support the Multiple Sclerosis Society.
“A lot of the volunteering I do is also to help promote the reserves; we call it making footprints in the community,” says RSM Caven. “Plus, getting out there helps keep me in shape as I am constantly on the run doing something.”
He plays baseball during the summers, and is the goal tender for the over 50 soccer team at the Juan de Fuca. This year he participated as the goal tender for the over 55 Zone 1 B.C. Senior team.
“I plan on playing soccer until someone has to carry me off the field,” he says wryly.
Plans for after his retirement in July 2008 are already in the making. He has been asked to work for the L.Gen E.C. Ashton Armoury Museum at the Ashton Armouries.
“They say that when I retire I have to take one of the classic trucks home. Everyone has to take one home because we just don’t have room for them all,” he says. “I’m taking the white one; it suits me.”
The trucks are part of the museum’s regalia and are entrusted to those like RSM Caven, who after retirement remain involved with the museum.
Retirement for RSM Caven is especially bittersweet. As he points towards the photos hanging on his office wall, the ones he calls his “big” family photos, he says he will miss his co-workers the most.
“They are really as much my family as my kids and grand-kids are,” he says. “These photos represent more than my job; they chronicle what I have done in my life. And the people in these photos have helped me get to where I am.”
