CWO Hatfield was born in Saint John, NB on 18 July 1959. He joined the 8th Canadian Hussars (Princess Louise’s) in September of 1975 as a Crewman. He served there in various positions and attained the rank of sergeant before transferring to the Regular Force on the 19th of March 1985 as a Crewman in the Lord Strathcona’s Horse (Royal Canadians) in A Squadron in Calgary, AB. He remained there until posted to the Training Support Squadron, CFB Gagetown in August of 1986.
In 1988 he completed an Occupational Transfer to the Construction Engineers as a Refrigeration and Mechanical (RM) Technician. He completed training at CFS Sydney and QL 3 training at CFSME in Chilliwack, BC in January 1989. He returned to CFB Gagetown Construction and Engineering Squadron in the Refrigeration and Mechanical Shop, while there he attained QL 5 status and Junior Leadership Qualification. He was then posted to CFB Petawawa in July of 1992 Once in Petawawa, at the Construction Engineer Squadron as an RM Tech, he completed two out-of-country tours, one in Belet Huen, Somalia as the lone RM Tech and the second with UNPROFOR in Vukovar, Croatia with 1 RCR Battle Group. He returned from the tour in April 1995 and remained in Petawawa until July 1997, achieving the rank of master corporal.
He was then posted to 4 Wing Cold Lake as part of the Wing Construction Engineers in the RM Shop and while there he participated in 3 six-month out-of-country tour, in UNDOF Quanaytirah, Syria in 1998., CFS Alert for six months in 2000 followed by a seven-month tour in TF SWA in 2003. While in Cold Lake he moved within various jobs, i.e. Aircraft Arresting Systems Technician, Mechanical Shop Supervisor, and RM Shop Supervisor.
He completed the QL 6A course, was promoted to WO in Cold Lake and was subsequently posted back to CFB Gagetown in 2003, as a member of the ASU Engineer Services Squadron as a Contract Manager for various mechanical contracts. While there he completed the ILQ and QL 6B training. Upon promotion to MWO in June 2006 he was posted to 17 Wing Detachment Dundurn as the Construction Engineering Officer responsible for most of the infrastructure in Saskatchewan. While there he was also filling the Detachment Sergeant Major position for almost two years and he completed a three-month tour as Station Warrant Officer at CFS Alert in 2008.
In November 2008 he was posted to CFB Suffield as the Engineer Branch CSM. In July 2012, he was posted to ASU Edmonton as the Engineer Services Company CSM and Contracts 2IC. On promotion to CWO he assumed the position of 1 ESU RSM on posting in July 2013 until July of 2015 in Kingston, ON. In July of 2015, he was posted to 1 CAD HQ as the A4CE CWO and CE Occupation Advisors CWO as the Construction Engineer NCM Occupation Advisor and Senior Trade Advisor until 15 Jul 2018. On 16 July 2018 he was posted to 4 Wing into the then Admin Branch CWO now 4 Wing HQ SQN CWO until his retirement on 18 July 2019 with 44 Plus years of service to the Canadian Armed Forces.
He intends to retire into a position with the Canadian Public Service in Southern Alberta and to spend time with his lovely wife Dorothy of 39 years and have more time to visit with and spoil his 3 Grand Children, Elias, Radin and Eammon.