SHS grad makes his mark early, in the navy

Jeff Green | Jun 23, 2021

A year ago, Jacob Watson was just graduating from Sydenham High School, but instead of heading towards a year of virtual education at college or university, he took a different path.

He joined the Canadian Armed Forces and is currently assigned to the warship HMCS Calgary.

Sailor 3rd class (S3) Watson took basic training and then a trade specialisation course as a Naval Electronics Sensor Operator. (NESOP).

“I joined the military because I was looking into going into a police foundations program at college and my mom said why don’t you look into going into the military as a Military Police Officer or join the Reserves and get your training paid for. Interested, I applied but also looked at other military jobs I liked such as NESOP and just decided to join the Regular Forces full time,” he said, as part of an interview via email.

While taking the NESOP course, his supervisor approached him and said there was a spot open for a junior NESOP in a mission that was about to ship out.

“I was chosen as I just happened to have all the prerequisite training,” Watson said.

He was posted to HMCS Calgary in February. The ship deployed the day after he stepped on board. He’s since travelled to Hawaii, Guam, all around Asia, the Middle East, and will have gone to Australia and New Zealand before heading home.

The HMCS Calgary just finished Operation (Op) ARTEMIS, a counter-terrorism and maritime security mission in the Middle East.

As part of his duties, S3 Watson, used the ship's sensors to scan the seas for information about other ships, aircraft, and anything above the waterline that is relevant to operations. During the ship’s maritime interdiction operations in the Middle East, S3 Watson will sometimes act as a lookout, using the ‘Big Eyes’ binoculars to watch suspicious vessels during boarding operations.

“I knew in the navy you could see a lot of places,” he said. It has been an exciting time for him.

“There have been a ton of new experiences and even with COVID, I’ve gotten to see and do amazing things. Just seeing the helicopter on ship, all the weaponry and technology on board - the new experiences keep coming,” he said.

Operation Artemis wrapped up a few days ago on June 14.

While working on Operation Artemis, which involved a combined marine force (CMF) mission with other nationalities, HMCS Calgary intercepted suspicious vessels on the high seas to stop the flow of illicit goods, most frequently narcotics, which regional terrorist and criminal groups use to fund their illegal activities.

HMCS Calgary set two records while performing on this mission. Their 17 successful counter-narcotics seizures were the most any single ship has made on any rotation in the history of CMF – setting the record not only in terms of number of seizures, but also in terms of weight of narcotics seized and wholesale dollar value. The ship also set the record for the largest single heroin seizure in CMF history.

The ship is now set to sail to Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji for exercises.

Because of COVID, S3 Watson has only had limited access to the locations where the ship has sailed since February.

Before deploying, the entire ship’s company conducted periods of isolation to ensure that each person was at a very low risk of having COVID-19 before setting foot on the ship.

During most of the ship’s port visits, the ship is socially distanced and the crew are not able to leave the ship beyond a small section of the jetty so as to protect their COVID-19 bubble.

Undaunted, Watson has enjoyed travelling.

“I really wanted to travel and see the world and help people, and the navy has enabled me to do that,” he said.

He is hoping to be able to visit Singapore and Vietnam after his current deployment.

It is all far removed from the part-time job he had at the Subway store in Sydenham during High School.

Back in Sydenham, his mother Laura and his grandmother Pauline continue to monitor his progress in the navy.