Rank: Captain.

Interviewer: Gillam, Nicola

ABSTRACT: Tom Hasset Hasset_T_0574_01.mp3 - Details of first joining the airborne - Family involvement in the military - Army as tool for travel - Training techniques - Stressing of maximum flexibility within airborne - Use of weapons in training activities - (Conversation with exchange student - unrelated to interview) - First travel experiences with army (10-minute mark) - Experience in Yukon for training - Geography of Yukon - Experience in Jamaica for training - Commanding Officer experiences in Jamaica - Isolation in Jamaica - Encounters with Jamaican civilians - Travels to Cyprus - Encounters with Inuit and other northern locals - Reaction to Inuit lifestyle (20-minute mark) - Armed combat 'play' for Inuit's set up by soldiers - Discussions of plane jumping experiences - Important of journal articles he wrote - Common practice of writing journal articles while on leave - Hardest aspect of travel - Adapting to other communities and forming relationships with them (30-minute mark) - Possible sense of abandonment by locals - Lack of choices for northern community - Reputation of Canadian Airborne Regiment - Combination of variety of regiments all put in one - Rugged and tough training techniques - Relations with other soldiers in different regiments - Family relationship among troops - Punishment for rude behavior towards Officers (40-minute mark) - Why only in airborne for 2 years - Movement of Chaplains within army - Chaplains controlled by French Canadian military beliefs - Disagreements over Chaplains position among bases - Chaplain in Cyprus with army 45 minute mark - personal phone call 47 minute mark - end of part 1 0:47:27 Hasset_T_0574_02.mp3 - Beginning of part 2 - personal phone call continued until 2 minute mark - Airborne continued… - Years in airborne - Discussion about Somalia incident 7 minute mark - personal phone call until 8 minute mark - Personal opinions on Somalia incident - Discussion of Francophone and Anglophone issues among Canadian military (10-minute mark) - Statistics of Francophone's and Anglophones in Canadian military - Opinions surrounding leading Officers in Somalia - How regiment cannot be judged by what two men did - Family member involvement once Hasset was out of uniform - Airborne reunions - Death of son during a routine swimming exercise in Trenton, Ontario (20 minute mark) - End of interview part 2 0:27:00 minute mark.

An interview/narrative of Captain Tom Hassett's experiences during the Canadian Airborne Regiment's deployment to Cyprus and Somalia. Interview took place on October 25, 2008.

Interviewee: Hassett, Tom

In Collection:

• Canadian Military Oral Histories

Contributor

• Hassett, Tom
• Gillam, Nicola

Subject

• Turkish Invasion of Cyprus (Cyprus : 1974)
• Soldiers
• Canada. Canadian Armed Forces
• Military history
• Somalia Affair (1992-1997)

Language

• eng

Keyword

• Civil-military relations
• Military chaplains--Canada
• Canada--Canadian Armed Forces--Canadian Airborne Regiment Battle Group
• Canada--Canadian Armed Forces--Personal narratives
• Canada--Canadian Armed Forces--Jamaica
• Somalia--History--1991-
• United Nations--Peacekeeping forces
• Canada--Canadian Armed Forces--Chaplains
• Somalis
• Hassett, Tom--Interviews
• Soldiers--Conduct of life
• Military training camps--Jamaica
• Canada--Canadian Armed Forces--Cyprus
• Somalia Affair, 1992-1997
• Canada--Canadian Armed Forces--Organization
• Cypriots
• Canada--Canadian Armed Forces--Officers
• Armed Forces--Conduct of life
• Parachuting
• Cyprus--Politics and government--1960-2004
• United Nations--Armed Forces
• Peacekeeping forces, Canadian
• Families of military personnel
• Cyprus--History--Cyprus Crisis, 1974-
• Military training camps--Yukon
• Inuit--Canada
• Canada--Canadian Armed Forces--Parachute troops
• Canada--Canadian Armed Forces--Canadian Airborne Regiment
• Canada--Canadian Armed Forces--Yukon
• Canada--Canadian Armed Forces--Military life
• Canada--Canadian Armed Forces--Chaplaincy Service
• Cyprus--History--Turkish Invasion, 1974
• Conduct of life

Date created

• October 25, 2008

Relation

• Part of the Military Oral History Class collection of interviews.

Resource type

• Sound

Rights statement

• In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Extent

• 2 sound recordings (MP3)

Geographic Coverage

• Cyprus
• Canada

Coordinates

• 60.10867, -113.64258
• 35, 33

Additional physical characteristics

• Original sound recordings (MP3) also available.

Physical Repository

• University of Victoria (B.C.). Library

Collection

• Canadian Military Oral History Collection

Provider

• University of Victoria (B.C.). Library

Genre

• oral histories (literary genre)
• reminiscences
• sound recordings
• interviews

Archival item identifier

• HT_574

Fonds title

• Military oral history collection

Fonds identifier

• SC141

Is referenced by

• Special Collections Finding Aid: https://uvic2.coppul.archivematica.org/military-oral-history-collection

Date digitized

• October 1, 2009

Technical note

• Digital sound recording in .mp3 format at 56 kbps and 24 kHz. Digitized by JF, technical and cataloguing metadata provided by JF and JP. Interview recorded in digital format for UVic Special Collections in 2009. Migration metadata by KD and MT.

Rights

• This interview has been posted with the understanding that it may be used for research purposes only. Should the interviewee or their heirs have any objections to this interview being accessible on the Internet, it will be removed promptly. Contact UVic Special Collections for permission if using for other than research purposes: speccoll@uvic.ca

DOI

•  https://doi.org/10.58066/6ch5-hv59

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