Manitoba-based drone training program helping veterans transition to post-military life
Global News
A Manitoba-based drone training program for veterans is helping them "take off" with life after serving our country. It's fun and engaging, but also deeply impactful.
What do you do after dedicating 38 years of your life to the Royal Canadian Air Force? For Michel Latouche it was aerospace consulting.
“I got hired by a company, worked for them for two years and went, ‘No, I’d like to do this, but give back to veterans,'” he said. So, he and his wife Gail started the Manitoba-based Veterans Elite drone Training Services (VEdTS) in March 2023.
He said they’ve already provided drone training to over 200 veterans across Canada. He said demand is driven by a number of factors.
“A lot of veterans have retired and have issues with transition or (post-traumatic stress disorder) PTSD. We found that learning to fly drones is given them a little bit of a sense of purpose,” he said.
Nick Lisney retired from the air force, after trying five times, in 2022. He served for 32 years and 125 days.
“It was difficult because you get up every morning and say, ‘Oh yeah, I don’t have to go to work today. What am I going to do today?’ So it got a little interesting. My wife was like, ‘Go do something,'” he said. “The transition was difficult, like getting out of the military.”
Now he is an instructor with VEdTS, and said that transition was much easier, especially having been a flight instructor during his time with the force.
It’s a bonus reconnecting with people he served with.
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