Message from the LCol Comd

Fellow Guardsman:

As is expected, the Regiment has had another active winter and spring of individual and collective training, delivering on our Public Duties and military music mission task, recruiting new members and carrying out a number of extra-curricular activities, including the hosting of an outstanding 2018 Guards Ball in February, winning the 45th Annual Sgt Rick Foldeak Memorial Hockey Tournament and having the Commander of the Canadian Army and Army Sergeant-Major attend the Regimental Birthday dinner on June 9th. In just over a two week period in March in particular, we fielded a Guard of Honour, Colour Party and the Band in full dress on a Tuesday morning on the concourse of NDHQ and sentries and a bugler at the National War Memorial to support the Army Commander in welcoming his Latvian counterpart; we then participated in a live-patrolling exercise in Petawawa and highly publicized concert in Perth the following weekend; and the following Tuesday, conducted a parade reviewed by the Division Deputy Commander to formally recognize Ceremonial Guard (CG) reverting from being a detachment of the Regiment to being under full command. On that note, I want to once again formally welcome the officers and non-commissioned members of CG as full members of the Regiment. As proven over the years in your support to the Regiment, including for the recent Honour Guard, your expertise and dedication is invaluable in helping the Regiment deliver on its Public Duties mission task in a seamless manner, both full-time during the summer months and on a part-time basis the remainder of the year, while ensuring training and other requirements are synchronized.

One other event of note is the trip the Honourary Colonel, Sergeant-Major and I recently took to have an audience with Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the Colonel-in-Chief of the Regiment, and to visit with our allied Regiment, the Coldstream Guards. On May 30th we met with Her Majesty in Buckingham Palace, and as would be expected it was an outstanding experience. We updated Her Majesty on the Regiment’s activities and we discussed a range of issues. It was quite clear that despite being 92 years old, she is still quite passionate about her Regiments and in maintaining a full work schedule as she continues to serve her subjects. On the margins of the audience, we also had the opportunity to meet with the Coldstream Guards including my counterpart. Those were also beneficial discussions and there was consensus to reinvigorate the relationship by pursuing small-unit exchanges and joint opportunities for Public Duties. More to follow on that.

On behalf of the Officers’ Mess, I would like to congratulate Lieutenants Adam Orton and Tim Perry on their commissioning. Your experience and enthusiasm will be of great assistance in ensuring the Regiment can deliver on all its tasks going forward. I would also like to welcome Officer Cadets Bronwen Ainsworth, Jeremiah Kopp and Nathaniel Dueck to the Regiment and congratulate Andrew Spencer on his promotion to Major, James Murray and Dane Lloyd on their promotion to Lieutenant, and Declan Lloyd on his promotion to Ensign. I am convinced that having two “D. Lloyd’s” as junior officers in the Regiment was likely the reason the promotions took so long. I would also like to wish Captain Will Simmons all the best as he is currently deployed internationally.

As many may have noticed, the Regiment has ramped up its recruiting and attraction efforts to bring in new members to the Regiment in order to meet our growth task. Thanks to the efforts of Lieutenant Wesley Stinson, Sergeant Kevin Smith and their recruiting team and the public affairs work of Ensign James Benning, the Regiment has had a robust presence at secondary and post-secondary institutions, at a number of high-profile events and has been very active on main stream and social media. As a result, we have been able to attract a large number of applicants, but I will once again take this opportunity to ask that everyone in the Regimental family seek out potential candidates. I also ask that you think of potential events where our attraction staff can come in person to promote the recruiting message. A reminder that interested people can contact the recruiting NCO, Sergeant Kevin Smith (ggfg.recruiting@forces.gc.ca) about how to join.

On June 7th , I had the honour to be the reviewing officer for the parade marking the handover between the incoming and outgoing Command Teams of Ceremonial Guard. I would like to thank Major Patrice Villeneuve and Chief Warrant Officer Don Reid for their superb leadership and sound stewardship of CG. I would like to formally welcome Major Stéphane Tremblay and Chief Warrant Officer Brett Perry into the Guards family. I look forward to working with both of you.

Finally, I wish to thank Chief Warrant Officer Neal Porter for his leadership and dedication during his tenure as Sergeant-Major. I could not have asked for a better fire team partner. I welcome Chief Warrant Officer Guy Doucette as our new Sergeant-Major and look forward to working closely with him going forward.

As we transition into the summer period, I remind everyone that regardless of the task, remember that as a Guardsman, we each have to hold ourselves to a higher standard and that we always carry out our duties to the best of our abilities.

Up the Guards!

LCol Chris Lynam, CD, ADC