Canadian Army Reserve’s second female door gunner welcomes the challenge

By Steven Fouchard, Army Public Affairs

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Montreal, Quebec — A Montreal-based Army Reservist has attained the distinction of becoming the second female door gunner in Canadian Army history.

While Sergeant Brigitte O'Driscoll of the Royal Montreal Regiment (RMR) does not consider herself a trailblazer in that sense, she does hope others will see what is possible for themselves by her example.

“People give me congratulations and it's fun but in the end that's not really why I'm doing it. If it inspires other girls and women to look into a career in the military or just encourages them to push through their limits and not be held back, that's great.”

Canada's first female door gunner was Corporal Alexandra Roy, with 430 Tactical Helicopter Squadron, based in Valcartier, Quebec. See Related Links for her story.

Door gunners are Army members trained to provide cover to those on the ground and the crews and passengers on CH-146 Griffon helicopters, which are operated by Royal Canadian Air Force personnel.

Griffons are employed in a variety of missions ranging from search and rescue, reconnaissance, and casualty evacuations.

Door gunners are drawn from the Army's combat arms trades, Sgt O'Driscoll explained, because they already have relevant training. That said, training for the job within Air Force lines did present challenges.

“In terms of weapons handling and the actual tactics it wasn't that hard,” she recalled. “But in terms of learning about the…