Some time ago I was honored to meet a young woman by the name of Alissa Hayward. Alissa was 20 years old and a member of the Bermuda Regiment. She was the first female to be involved in their young officer training in about 5 years.
Right away you know that she is a woman of courage to be in this situation. But what impressed me the most was hearing her story of recent events. A week prior to meeting her, Alissa arrived with about 50 other men for training in northern Ontario that would involve living in the bush for one week taking part in warfare training, sleeping on a mountain, learning survival techniques and flying in a helicopter amongst an array of other activities.
Four days before Alissa was due to leave for Canada she and her fiancé were involved in a terrible car accident in Bermuda. I saw all the bruises and scraps she was still carrying so I can only imagine how difficult it must have been carrying a ruck sack full of supplies, body armor and a gun for one week weighing more than 60lbs in total.
But that wasn’t what impressed me the most. It was the fact that her fiancé had died in the crash and that she had made the painful decision to still leave four days later to take part in these maneuvers. Due to timing it meant that she would not even be there for his funeral. Her commanding officers had tried to dissuade her from going to the training camp because of what had transpired.
Alissa however knew that she had made a commitment to herself, her late fiancé and her regiment to be there, no matter what.
How many of us would have been strong enough to follow through on our commitment under such circumstances? For many of us it would have been easier to stay home and not step up to our commitment.
On the second day of training, Alissa hit a mental wall and was ready to quit and come home. However she had inspired the rest of her fellow troops who would not let her leave because of how far she had come, not geographically but emotionally and spiritually. Instead they lifted her up and supported her so that she might complete her junior officer training and graduate next month as a Lance Corporal in the Bermuda Regiment.
The evening they arrived in Toronto for their celebration dinner I sat across from Alissa as the entire troop stood and gave her a standing ovation. I looked at many of those faces who witnessed that she had indeed inspired them to push themselves a little further in future and step up in a bigger way in their own lives.
Thank you Alissa for inspiring me!
