Col J.P.J. (Jacques) LeBlanc, CD
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Colonel LeBlanc joined the Canadian Forces in August 1974, and entered the Collège Militaire Royal de Saint-Jean. He graduated from the Royal Military College in Kingston in 1980, with a Bachelor of Applied Science.
In the spring of 1981, with the completion of his final phase of training at the Canadian Forces School of Military Engineering in Chilliwack, BC, he received his first posting to a Construction Engineering section at Canadian Forces Base Summerside, P.E.I. In 1984, he was promoted to the rank of Captain and posted to Canadian Forces Station Goose Bay as Station Construction Engineering Officer.
In 1987, he was transferred to Air Command Headquarters Winnipeg, into the Deputy Chief of Staff Construction Engineering Division. He spent his first year as a staff officer in the Structural Systems cell. Promoted to Major in 1988, he continued his tour in the headquarters as Staff Officer Works 3: Mechanical Systems.
In 1991, he was posted to 3 Wing Bagotville, as Wing Construction Engineering Officer. In March 1994, he was selected to serve with the United Nations Protection Force in the former Yugoslavia. He spent the first 3 months of his tour as Sector Engineer in a UN Protected Area in the Krajina (Serb-Occupied Croatia). He spent the remaining 9 months of his tour as head of Engineering Resources and Logistics at Forward Headquarters Bosnia-Herzegovina Command in Sarajevo.
Upon returning to Canada in March 1995, he was posted to CFB Moncton, as Base Technical Services Officer. In February 1996, he was appointed Acting Base Commander. With CFB Moncton closure effective 01 April 96, he assumed the responsibilities of Closure Detachment Commander. In August 1996, he was posted to 1 Construction Engineering Unit in Moncton, as Deputy Commanding Officer and Officer Commanding Projects & Studies.
In August 1997, he was posted to Canadian Forces College, Toronto to attend the Command and Staff Course. In June 1998, upon graduation from CFC he returned to Moncton to assume command of 1 Construction Engineering Unit.
Promoted to Colonel in July 2001, he was assigned to 1 Canadian Air Division Headquarters, Winnipeg, Manitoba, where he was appointed Director of Airfield Engineers (A4 AE). In February 2003, during his tenure as A4 AE, he was deployed for 6-months to the Persian Gulf in support of OP APOLLO as Commanding Officer of the Joint Task Force South-East Asia National Support Unit.
In August 2006 following a year of advanced training, Col LeBlanc was assigned to the Canadian Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand as Defence Attaché to Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Singapore.
He returned to Canada in late July 2009 and assumed the duties of Chief Command Support & Chief of Staff for the Canadian Operational Support Command Headquarters in Ottawa. On 06 January 2011 he is retiring from the Canadian Forces after 36 years of service and the following day will begin indeterminate employment in the Federal Public Service as an Account Executive with the Real Property Branch of Public Works and Government Services Canada in Ottawa. He and his wife Linda continue to live in Orleans. Their son Matthew is currently a full-time student in Camrose at the Augustana Campus of the University of Alberta.