Master Of The Raven Wing

Raven military graduates spread their wings

At 17 years old, Stephanie Cameron-Johnson never considered herself a morning person.

But all the times the Langford resident had to wake up at 4:50 a.m. this summer were well worth the chance to make new friends, go to sea and fire a gun.

She graduated with 48 other aboriginal youth last Thursday from the military’s seven-week Raven Aboriginal Youth Initiative, open to aboriginals throughout Canada who are 16 to 29 years old.

“You really had to push yourself,” she said, adding the cadets worked together to make it through the early mornings and intense training regimen. “You really need your teammates. You can’t do it by yourself.”

The program, which exposes young aboriginals to life in the military, is the reason Cameron-Johnson is considering a career in the Canadian Forces.

“It was like the best summer I ever had,” she said.

The course is about changing young lives, Lt.-Gov. Steven Point told the crowd.

“Aboriginal people have come through a tremendously difficult time over the last 150 years, but every generation of aboriginal men and women have stepped forward and veterans are here today to attest to that.”

Some of the aboriginal veterans at the ceremony fought in the Second World War and the Korean War.

“I’ve been in the Korean War,” said Langford resident Ken Himes, proudly wearing a chest full of medals. “Not many people know about it.”

Many Canadians aren’t aware that aboriginals also served their country, said Alex Maurice, president of the National Aboriginal Veterans Association.

“A lot of the old veterans were quiet about it,” he said. “They put the medals in their pockets.”

Cameron-Johnson is a proud addition to that aboriginal lineage in the military, and quickly rhymes off the ranks of military personnel standing nearby.

still practicing_: 5 Minute History: Landspeeder Part Deux

Over the years, numerous Land Speeder versions have been released with a wide array of weapon combinations. To accommodate these various incarnations, the Land Speeder entry in the Space Marines' army list allows several upgrades to the common single-weapon-armed Land Speeder. In addition, there are a few Land Speeder variants that have gained rules of their own. The Ravenwing Master-Crafted Landspeeder is a unique variant of the Land Speeder ridden only by the master of the Dark Angels chapter's 2nd company, known as the Ravenwing. The Master of the Ravenwing's speeder is heavily armed with twin-heavy bolters and twin-linked assault cannons. In addition, the specialized speeder is equipped with superior targeting equipment and a protective shield generator. The Master of the Ravenwing model kit was released in 1999 by Games Workshop to coincide with the release of the Dark Angels codex. The Land Speeder Tornado is a much more heavily-armed Land Speeder. The designation was originally created to accommodate the metal Land Speeder models released for the 2nd edition of Warhammer 40,000 in 3rd edition Space Marine armies. Tornadoes are essentially Land Speeders with a second weapon underneath, corresponding to the speeder's main weapon. Land Speeder Tornadoes armed with a heavy bolter have an underslung assault cannon while multi-melta-armed speeders are armed with an additional heavy flamer. These two incarnations corresponded to the Dark Angels' Ravenwing Land Speeder and the standard second edition Land Speeder. In 1999, an updated Land Speeder Tornado model was released by Games Workshop, using the new plastic design of the Land Speeder as a base. However, the additional weapons to upgrade the speeder to a Tornado were metal. The Land Speeder Typhoon was first released in 1999 as a plastic and metal kit based on the standard Space Marine Land Speeder. The rules for the Typhoon were actually released a year before in the 3rd edition of the Codex: Space Marines sourcebook.

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