Impressions From War & Other Life Adventures

These are the recollections of a retired Army Intelligence Officer. Beverly Aishah Roach had served in the military for over two decades. She started as a radio technician in West Germany and worked towards becoming the first female army intelligence officer in the Canadian Military.

Everything she’s been involved in has been to help develop the people around her. In the army, she learned that if you couldn’t leave your current seat empty, that means you can’t proceed to the next one, and so she constantly strived to better herself and her team.

Being a woman in the military also taught her to embrace her gender. The women around her didn’t have the same opportunity as she did to work with other women, and what she found was that some of them would act inappropriately by trying to be like one of the guys; drinking too much, swearing too much, and trying too hard to be tough.

When she was in charge of a unit, that made her aware of her femininity. She wasn’t trying to be something she wasn’t, nor did she want to be, and with that, she was able to work more effectively because she was staying true to herself, her goals, and objectives.

In her talk, she explains how important it is for leaders to guide those below them on how to become better versions of themselves, and how the way leaders approach difficult moments with employees can either make or break them. We hope it’s not the latter at all times.

Although fulfilling and inspiring, Claire had planned to retire from military service for good in June/July 2017. She had been to 73 countries, lived in 9; she had seen everything imaginable. The best and the worst of humanity. In May, all the windows were blown out of her house. She didn’t have time to be scared; she had to take care of people in the compound. During the incident, 165 people killed and over 400 people injured by a bomb that was in a water tank in the diplomatic community. That’s when she knew she had to do something else.

What she learned from her years of work and travelling is that respect is gold, we can’t allow other people to define us, and to see the beauty in everything. It’s important to do your research and to live as freely as you possibly can. She also believes that “If you stumble [while getting to your destination], make it part of your dance,”

Watch her set below entitled Impressions From War and Other Life Adventures below:

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