MWO Richard Bonenfant, MMM, CD will retire from the Canadian Armed Forces on 15 February 2018, after more than 28 years of loyal and dedicated service to the CAF and the Canadian Military Engineer Branch (See bio attached).  In order to honour MWO Bonenfant's service in the CAF and to wish him well in his retirement, a DwD will be held Monday, 05 February 2018 (11h30-13h00) at the Castor Center of Valcartier Support Base.
For planning purposes, please confirm your attendance to MWO Marc Drolet marc.drolet@forces.gc.ca<mailto:marc.drolet@forces.gc.ca> 418-844-5000 ext 6845. Please send all congratulatory messages, anecdotes, photos, farewell messages to MWO Drolet.

Richard "RICK" was born in Quebec, March 8, 1972, as the child of a family of four brothers (Stéphane, Michel, Jean-François and Gaston) and now separated parents. During adolescence, he attended seven different schools before graduating with a High school diploma and a professional driver’s course in Charlesbourg. When not at school, he spent most of his time working and gaining experience in transport, towing, heating and plumbing systems, delivery, heavy equipment and quarry equipment.

Since September 1994, he has been happily together with his spouse Marie-Josée Bédard, and they are the proud parents of two boys, Rémy 20 years old and Luc 19 years old. They currently reside in their “forever” home in Ste-Catherine de la Jacque-Cartier, Qc.

When not playing with heavy equipment at work, Richard prefers to be with his boys working on small projects in his garage, such as furniture making. He loves welding, trouble shooting mechanical problems, and has a secret passion for adventure, crime, gladiator, WWII and military history films.

Military at heart, Richard joined the cadets corps for four-years prior to enlisting in the in the reserves as a Combat Engineer from 1989 to 1994. During that time, he participated in all major the exercises with 5RGC (RV, Lion Intrépide, Rafale Blanche, etc…) before making the decision to finally accept a job offer in the Reg Force in Sept 94. His interest in HEAVY EQUIPMENT was a major factor is his decision to join the Reg force, and not surprisingly shortly thereafter, he made the transition to HE Operator. After the restructuring of the HE Operator trade, he re-joined the combat engineers and continued his progression within the engineer branch.

Most of his career was spent at 5 RGC and on Support Base Valcartier where he held a number of key positions such as Regimental Plans WO, Bde Plans WO, Valcartier Garrison Foreman (Roads & grounds), Structural Specialist during Op Lotus, Training Sergeant Major and Support Squadron Sergeant Major. He has deployed to the Former Yugoslavia with the 2nd Infantry Battalion Group in 1995, and to Afghanistan as part of HQ 6-09. He also taught for several years at the School of Military Engineering in Gagetown, where he specialized as an instructor for the crane operator course, watercourse alteration and horizontal construction course. Throughout his career, Richard was heavily relied on as a technical advisor in support of Recce and as "THE CORPORATE MEMORY" for heavy equipment specialty.

For Richard it is important that every soldier sets the example and becomes involved and active in the community. During his career, he has actively support the local communities through support of the naval reserve, as a liaison Sergeant Major with the cadets of Ste-Marie or as a member of the Royal Canadian Legion.

He has always had the desire to learn and share his knowledge with the next generation. The well-being and development of his men has always been his priority while ensuring the success of the mission. After more than 30 dedicated years of combined participation and service in the Cadets, Reserves and Reg Force, he was awarded the MMM which accompanies his CD1, Queen Jubilee.

After his long and dedicated career, Richard intends to retired from the CAF on 15 feb 2018 and remain in Ste-Catherine de la-J-Cartier. He plans to take a year to adapt to his new “civilian” life before undertaking a possible return to the federal public service as soon as 2019. He plans to take advantage of the time with his spouse Marie-Josée and his Camaro.

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