The Trailblazer Podcast celebrates the accomplishments and milestones of notable alumni of Canada’s Military Colleges and provides a platform for them to share their stories and contribute to building future leaders for Canada and the world.
Earlier this Summer, we sat down with Lieutenant-Colonel Simon Mailloux, who attended RMC St-Jean for a year and then spent four years at RMC, graduating in 2006. He is a decorated soldier with over 20 years of service in the Canadian Armed Forces. Post military college, he joined the Royal 22e Regiment as an infantry officer. At 24 years of age, he was deployed as platoon commander of 38 soldiers in Afghanistan. In 2007, during his deployment, Simon lost the lower part of his leg in an IED explosion, in an accident that killed 3 others in his platoon and an interpreter. In 2009, following rehabilitation in Québec, Simon became the first known Canadian solider to return to active duty after an amputation. Today, Simon works as Chief of Staff of the 5th Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group in Valcartier, Québec.
During the podcast, Simon discusses his experiences, the weight of survivor’s guilt, what it takes to get back to active-duty post-amputation, what Truth, Duty and Valour mean to him, how it felt to represent Canada in the Invictus Games, the importance of shaping Canada’s future military leaders for the battlefields of tomorrow and proffers some important advice to current Cadets.
Very shortly after graduating from RMC, Simon was in a theatre of war. Simon describes the situation in Afghanistan as a three-block war, with combat, diplomacy and humanitarian aid all part of the day-to-day. Cycling between these roles was challenging and required mental flexibility. “It was hard to always be in a soldier mindset but also be ready to help out people and give a hand, and then move back to the soldier mindset. It takes a toll, psychologically.”
In the wake of IED incidents, the young leader was left questioning his decisions. “People died on my tour. Three of my soldiers in total and an interpreter as well. Could I have gone left, could I have gone right? Could I, should I have? You replay these things in your brain all the time,” he says. “I guess I’m still struggling with survivor guilt… My signaler Michel Levesque was up on the hatch just before, and I was on the inside of the vehicle with the headset. I think we switched positions two minutes before the explosion… that killed him and saved me.”
What he did not question though was where he belonged. Asked when he decided that he would return to active duty after his amputation, Simon answers with a smile: “It didn’t take a long time, to be honest. I was on the stretcher, in the combat outpost where they were patching me up to evacuate me to the Blackhawk, and I yelled to my platoon: ‘Wait for me. I’ll be back in a couple of days!’ It took two years, but I did come back.”
The two intervening years were full of firsts and challenges. Canada had never sent a soldier back to active duty after an amputation. Simon had to work hard to prove that he was fit for combat. When he stepped off the plane onto Kandahar airfield, the first foot that touched the ground was the prosthetic one. His return to active duty helped open that opportunity for others too: “That’s what leaders should be doing. Leading but also helping others to reach that point as well.”
Simon believes his time at Canada’s Military Colleges was critical to shaping him as a leader. He says the hands-on leadership training — with the opportunity to make mistakes and find your own leadership style — is a huge differentiator from civilian universities. But he is also a believer in adapting to changing circumstances. “The battlefield is changing… we’re asking very different things from our leaders now than when I graduated.” He speaks of the need to reflect on how things are changing (more drones, more satellites, AI to support decision-making, the need to work ever more closely with allies who may speak neither English nor French), and reverse-engineer education and training of Cadets to respond to what can be anticipated five years down the road.
When asked what advice he has for current Officer Cadets, Simon remarks with a chuckle that he well remembers being on the receiving end of such advice. He offers that Cadets should make the most of their time at RMC; that they should read more (“I see Officer Cadets rolling their eyes saying “Ah no, another one that wants me to read more’”); and most importantly that they need to find their support networks both back home and around themselves at the College. “When I got injured, the first people that sent emails and wanted to see me and wanted to support me were my friends from RMC… They were there for me right away… At Kandahar Airfield, in the Role 2 hospital we have there, I didn’t know it, because I was unconscious, but one of my good friends from RMC actually was deployed there as a logistician officer and she came to visit me… So even right out of surgery, the first person that held my hand and helped was somebody from RMC. So, you know, that’s what the College is about. Be there for each other.”
To listen to the RMCAA Trailblazer podcast with Simon Mailloux, cliquez ici.