Host Bryndis Whitson welcomes friend Brian Lewis to the podcast to talk about Brian's time in the Air Cadets and on the drill team, the discipline and teamwork it instilled in him, and how learning to fly gliders was a formative step in his career journey. Brian explains the ins and outs of gliders as compared to airplanes, becoming the Public Relations Director for the Air Cadets, and how he started a trucking company. The conversation is lively and fascinating, providing an inside glimpse into the world of gliders and Air Cadets.

The conversation shared by Bryndis and Brian covers aviation logistics, the integration of technology into operations, and the importance of safety, planning, and execution. Brian shares stories from Air Cadets and flight training, and examines how this background shaped his approach to logistics and operational readiness. They talk about the challenges and innovations in helicopter and glider logistics, including load calculations, flight planning, and maintenance scheduling. Teamwork, training, and adaptability in supporting aerial missions are highlighted as vital to Brian’s journey.

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Resources discussed in this episode:

• MercerReport: Rick and the Royal Canadian Air Cadets on YouTube

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Contact Bryndis Whitson:

• Website: ZebrasToApples.com
• Instagram: @ZebrasToApples
• LinkedIn

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Transcript

Bryndis 0:03

Hi. My name is Bryndis Whitson, and you're listening to the Zebras to Apples podcast, the fun and fascinating stories of supply chain logistics. We have a lot of times our life takes us on unexpected twists and turns, and sometimes they lead us to flying an airplane, to flying a glider to flying a helicopter in mid air. And so that's where today's conversation on this podcast went. We ended up talking about Air Cadets and how that led into a passion and a love of flying. Please join me on this podcast episode with my friend, Brian Lewis. Thank you so much and have a wonderful day.

Brian 0:53

So when I first got started, cadets didn't get to go in at 12 years of age. And the commanding officer of 577 squadron in Grand Prairie decided that at 12 he wanted me in the program, and so I got to start in 1972 with Captain Larry Johnson, and he was a phenomenal mentor for me. Just one day he says, Well, I own my own plane. He said, Let's go fly. And I just went, Okay, let's go flying. So we took the opportunity to go up. And what Larry didn't know is that next door to me was a man who owned a 185 on floats, and he had already taken me several times to Marguerite lake to go fishing. And he says, Here, take the controls. So I had the opportunity at a very young age with this individual. Unfortunately, he's no longer alive, and so he had two daughters, but he didn't have a son, and he just kind of adopted me, and that was so unique. But he also taught me how to drive a bulldozer. It was a Terrex, uh, scraper. There was a backhoe, all of this equipment he owned. He had this construction company. And so Mr. Bonner was and so we lived on a farm right next to his farm. And our farm generally had horses, and he had cows. You learn basically the two things that Alberto runs, true. And then he had the float plane. And I managed to learn quite a bit from the float plane, and then with Captain Larry Johnson, it was okay. Here, I'll give you the controls. And he looked at me, and he said, You can fly. That was the first response. He said to me, you can fly. Oh, yeah, you know. And I said, Yeah, I've been behind the controls once in a while,

Bryndis 3:22

And that was at 12?

Brian 3:24

Yeah, that was a 12. That was with Larry. It was at 12. But with Guy Bonner, I was probably nine, the first time we went to Margarita Lake. It flew up to Margarita Lake, stood on the pontoons and went fishing. And he said, and you don't need a fishing license because you're not old enough yet. And I went, Okay, so that was the experience at that point, but with Captain Larry Johnson, so he was also the Vice Principal of the high school-

Bryndis 4:03

Okay, man of many talents, yes.

Brian 4:07

So he's my commanding officer at Air Cadets. One of the first things that transpired with the Air Cadet Program for me was that Armed Forces station Beaver Lodge always sent a bus from Beaver Lodge all the way to Grand Prairie. All you had to do is stand on the highway and they would pick you up and take you to the cadets. And then the bus returned, and the individual that actually drove the bus was also Alberta motor Association, driver trainer, you know, so everybody had multiple jobs. And then when I got into high school and I went in for the AMA program, Mike Knight was the individual. He wound up being my Alberta motor Association driver trainer.

Bryndis 5:01

Oh, of course.

Brian 5:04

So the world always got smaller, all the people that were around you and the opportunities were very unique. I mean, you got away with a lot of stuff, I mean, for driver training, you passed everything because Mike liked you, you know, that easy and and then for flying it was, you know, Larry, the only mistake that I had made with the Air Cadet Program was after about a year and a half, or, I think, I was about 14 at the time, and Captain Larry Johnson said, We got to get you signed on to train you for a pilot. And that actually fouled up my Air Cadet ability to get scholarships, because in the Air Cadet Program, you're not allowed to have a student pilot permit unless the Department of National Defense files for your student pilot permit. So that all got fouled up a little bit, but in the meantime, it was I loved cadets. They and again, being that Larry Johnson was at the school, anytime you did something wrong here to that program, he was, he was calling you to the office and giving you chores at school.

Bryndis 6:30

Oh I bet.

Brian 6:34

But I mean, yeah, it was, and I was on the drill team. We love doing the competition. When I first signed on the drill team, the 577 squadron had gone to Edmonton twice and won the top drill team at that point in time, and for the next three years, we wanted again to be one of the first squadrons in Alberta to take five in a row. And that was the drill team. That was, I mean, the first thing you learned was how to spit shine a pair of shoes and press your uniform and get yourself looking in shape.

Bryndis 7:10

And for those listening, what is a drill team?

Brian 7:12

Okay, so the drill team in our day was a silent program that you're at this time. So it was Norm Driver who was the commander of our squadron, and he would give one command, and then from that point on, you would do a dress drill that was 1231, mm. One was the command that you learned, and you would perform a pattern in the drill on the parade floor that you had to do silently. So there was no other command after that, it was formed up. And then on command, everybody had to do their pattern, an...