Col S.P. Lewis, MSM, CD
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After more than 35 years of loyal and dedicated service to the Canadian Armed Forces and the Canadian Military Engineers, Col Sean Lewis, MSM, CD, will retire on 06 March 2023. Anecdotes and retirement wishes may be sent to Cpl A.D. Pagniello at Andrew.Pagniello@forces.gc.ca.
Colonel Lewis is a graduate from the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC) Kingston. After completing Airfield Engineer officer classification training, he reported for duty at CFB Toronto, Ontario, where he served as the Planning, Contracts, Operations and Requirements Officer in the Base Construction Engineering Section and was a member of the Explosive Ordnance Disposal team responsible for the Metropolitan Toronto and surrounding area. Posted to 8 Wing Trenton, he fulfilled the duties of both the Requirements Officer and the Wing Construction Engineering Officer. He also had the opportunity to serve in the United Nations Mine Action Center in Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina as the Training Officer for the region. Under his supervision, three platoons of civilian humanitarian deminers were recruited, trained and deployed to effect mine clearance throughout the Former Yugoslavia.
Colonel Lewis was selected for an exchange position with the US Air Force as the Chief of Contingency Training at Headquarters Air Force Civil Engineer Support Agency, Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida. During his tenure, he was responsible for the contingency training program for US Civil Engineers and the Project Manager for Readiness Challenge VIII, the biennial international Civil Engineer, Services and Personalist war skills competition. Upon his return to Canada, he was appointed Commandant of the Canadian Forces Fire Academy at CFB Borden and assumed command of the Canadian Forces Nuclear, Biological and Chemical School as both units took the first preliminary step towards amalgamation.
After graduating from Command and Staff College, Colonel Lewis assumed the roles of the Chief of Staff for the CANOSCOM Operational Support Engineer Group and the Deputy Canadian Military Engineer Branch Advisor in Ottawa. He returned to Trenton as the 8 Wing Logistics and Engineering Officer overseeing an unprecedented construction boom on the Base while leading an outstanding military and civilian team who enabled multiple airlift support missions. Following his command tour, he held the role of the NATO Senior Advisor to the Afghan Border Police in Kabul, Afghanistan, proudly focussed on evolving this critical security force under the Afghan Ministry of the Interior.
Earning his National Security Program equivalency from the NATO Defence College and the Canadian Forces College, Colonel Lewis was subsequently promoted to his current rank and has served as the Director Defence Force Planning on the Chief of Programme’s staff and the Director of Support Coordination within the Strategic Joint Staff. Colonel Lewis’s last assignment was the Branch Head for the Taskings and Knowledge Management Branch as well as the Chief Information Office at NATO Headquarters Supreme Allied Command Transformation in Norfolk, Virginia.
After more than 35 years in the CAF, Col Lewis will retire in the GTA (Greater Trenton Area) in March 2023 and use this location as a launch point to travel to warmer climes with his spouse, Deana. He will fondly reflect on the thousands of phenomenal people with whom he has had the honour and privilege to work over the course of his career.