A Conversation with a Service Couple - The Botts

Military Family Life

Since the launch of our podcast, we have been talking to members of Military families about some of the unique challenges they have face living with a member of the Canadian Armed Forces.

But what happens when there are two people in the family that are members of the Canadian Armed Forces? In this episode we are talking to a service couple about how they have managed to overcome some of those challenges - and some of the solutions that have helped them.

In our discussion we talk about: the challenges of juggling two Military careers, what happens if two people are deployed at the same time, how life in a military family can affect children – and if being a Military member makes it easier – or harder – to be a Military spouse.

About our guests:

Melissa and Heath Bott are senior officers in the Canadian Armed Forces. Melissa as a Logistics Officer and Heath an Infantry Officer. Heath joined the military in 1997. And Melissa joined in 2001. They met when they were reservists with the Governor General Foot Guards.

They got married in 2006. And in 2009, they transferred to the Regular Forces. Heath and Melissa have two children, a daughter who is 15 and a son who is 12. Since 2009, Heath and Melissa have relocated five times, most recently to Gagetown.

Melissa has been deployed twice, once on OP Unifier in 2014 as part of the Theater Activation Team, and OP Impact roto 5/6 in 2016 17 in Kuwait. Heath has also deployed twice. Once as a Reservist to Bosnia in 2005 and a second time to Op Unifier in 2021.

Melissa and Heath are currently Officer Commanding companies throughout their career they have learned with practice how to achieve a healthy work life balance.

If you have questions for Heath or Melissa, please send us email and we will forward it to them.

If you have ideas for an episode, we would love to hear them. You can reach us at [e-mail]