After more than 37 years of loyal and dedicated service to the Canadian Armed Forces and the Canadian Military Engineer Branch, CWO T. Wolaniuk, MSM, CD, (00381) will retire on 13 June 2025. A DwD reception will be held on 12 June at 15:00-18:00hres at Elhorn Room, WO's and Sgt's Mess, CFB Edmonton. If attending, please RSVP to Sgt A.J. Black at: alexander.black@forces.gc.ca.Anecdotes and well wishes may be sent to the same person.
Chief Warrant Officer Terence Wolaniuk was born in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. At the age of 17, he enlisted in the Primary Reserves in 1987 with the 8th Field Engineer Regiment (39 CER). After serving 8 years with the Reserve Engineers and achieving the rank of Sergeant, he transferred to the Regular Force in 1995 as a Corporal and was posted to 1 Combat Engineer Regiment at CFB Chilliwack.
With the consolidation of most of 1 CMBG's units to CFB Edmonton in 1996, Chief Warrant Officer Wolaniuk was posted to CFB Edmonton.
In a 17-year run at 1CER, CWO Wolaniuk held various positions at 1 CER, advancing from Corporal to Master Warrant Officer. In 2012, he was assigned to CFB Kingston with his family. He served as the Training Sergeant-Major at the Peace Support Training Center, responsible for overseeing individual pre-deployment training for CAF members on multiple missions worldwide, the United Nations Military Observer Courses, and Hazardous Environment Training for Canadian Ambassadors and Embassy staff in high-risk countries. After completing second language training in 2015, he returned to 1 CER as a Squadron Sergeant-Major.
Throughout his career, he has participated in numerous domestic and expeditionary operations. His assignments include: serving as a Field Section Member in Bosnia from 1996-97, an Engineer Section Second- in-Command in Kosovo in 1999, an Engineer Section Commander in Bosnia in 2003, an Engineer Reconnaissance Sergeant in Kandahar in 2005-06, an Engineer Field Troop Warrant Officer in Kandahar in 2008, the Task-Force Engineer Operations Warrant Officer in Kandahar in 2011, and the Sergeant-Major of the Engineer Training Group in Ukraine from 2016-17.
Chief Warrant Officer (CWO) Wolaniuk was promoted to his current rank in April 2017 and was immediately posted to CFB Wainwright with the Canadian Maneuver Training Center as the Sergeant-Major of the Operations Group. In June 2018, he was appointed the Regimental Sergeant-Major of 1 CER. During his tenure as RSM, he once again deployed to Ukraine from 2019-20 serving as the OP UNIFIER Task Force Sergeant-Major working closely with the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the National Guard of Ukraine.
Following his role as RSM of 1 CER, CWO Wolaniuk was appointed as the Joint Task Force North Formation Sergeant-Major in Yellowknife NT, serving from July 2021 to July 2024.
Following a commendable 37 years and 11 months of service, Chief Warrant Officer Wolaniuk (Wally) will retire from the Canadian Armed Forces on June 13, 2025. He will be settling in Alberta to be with his wife, Angela, and their two sons, Nolan and Zane. His future plans include completely avoiding airports, except for trips to tropical destinations where he and his wife can enjoy scuba diving.