Thirty five years of service already? The time has come. Rolly Dusseault will be retiring from Her Majesty’s Canadian Forces (Regular) and the Engineers on 8 Sep 06 – last day at work 2 Jun 06.

Rolly came from the farm just north of Edmonton, Alberta - a little place called Vimy. At the tender age of 18, he enrolled, on 26 Aug 71 in the Canadian Forces. Later that very same day, he left Edmonton for Royal Roads Military College (Victoria) and the adventure began. After two years at Roads and two more at RMC, he graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering in May 75. After phase training in Chilliwack, he became a Canadian Military Engineer in Dec 75 and proceeded on his first posting to 5e Escadron du Génie de Campagne in Valcartier. It was during his time there that the unit became 5e Régiment du Génie de Combat. He was Asst Adm O, 3 Fd (Mech) Tp Comd, Sp Tp Comd, and 51e Esc Comd before leaving in Aug 78 to be the RSS officer at 3 Fd Engr Regt in Montréal. He would spend the next two summers back in Valcartier at the summer Militia Concentration. Summer 1981 saw a move back to academia, a posting to the staff of the Mech Eng Dept at RMC to teach thermodynamics to unsuspecting third year Elec Eng and Eng Mang students. You never know a subject as well as when you have to teach it. Next, summer 1984, was a move out West, finally! The SCEO at CFS Beaverlodge, Alta. It only lasted two years but he did get up to the Yukon in summer 1985 and had two wonderful seasons of downhill skiing in the mountains. Summer 1986 saw the first stop in Ottawa in the DGQ organization of the predecessor of ADM(IE). Things mustn’t have worked out. The following summer (1987) saw Rolly moving down the road to FMCHQ in St Hubert in the SSO Fd Engr organization. Things mustn’t have worked out again because the following summer (1988) he was back in Ottawa. He must love it because he hasn’t left since. He spent a year with the TCCCS project, four years writing base closure directives in the VCDS organization as a result of the 1989 federal budget, two years with D Mil E on equipment projects, two years with ADM(IE) working on infrastructure performance measurement, and the last (we’ve lost count) number of years with the infrastructure folks on the Land Staff processing construction projects.

So, Rolly and the family is staying Ottawa. He’s coming back in September on a Class B contract with the infrastructure folks on the Land Staff