After more than 23 years of loyal and dedicated service to the Canadian Armed Forces and the Canadian Military Engineers, Major John Hayward, CD, retired on 31 May 2021. Due to the current situation, a DwD ceremony will be held in September. Congratulatory messages, anecdotes and best wishes can be sent to Capt J. Foster at Jordan.Foster@forces.gc.ca.
In 1996, Maj John Hayward joined the Reserve Forces as a Weapons Technician during his last year of high school. While at the recruiting centre he was "supersized" and joined the regular force upon graduation. He studied civil engineering at the Royal Military College of Canada and upon graduation in 2001 became a Combat Engineer.
He spent five years in CFB Petawawa. At 2 CER, he held the roles of Troop Commander, Regimental Recce, Squadron Ops O and a year as the EA to Comd 2 CMBG. While in Petawawa, he deployed twice. In 2003, he deployed to Bosnia as the Psychological Operations Target Audience Analysis and Testing Officer on Roto 13 and in 2006, to Afghanistan with the 2 RCR BG in Kandahar on TF 306 as the Squadron Operations Officer for 23 Field Squadron.
After returning to Canada from Afghanistan, he was posted to the Canadian Forces School of Military Engineering (CFSME) where he taught new Combat and Construction Engineering officers and senior NCOs DP training. In 2009, he was promoted to his current rank and posted to Canada Command as a Senior Watch Officer and the Domestic and Continental Strategic Planner. While there, he received an excellent exposure to strategic level operations and was the main author of the Standing Operations Order for Domestic Operations (SOODO).
In 2012, he was posted back to CFSME as the Officer Commanding for Standards and Training Development and Centre of Excellence Squadron. In 2015, he was posted to 5 Engineer Services Unit HQ in Halifax, now RPOU(A) Det Gagetown. As the Operations Officer/DCO, he led the team in writing the Master Real Property Development Plan (MRPDP) for NB, PEI, and 5 CDSG Gagetown and the SLA between the CA and ADM(IE) until Real Property transformation on 1 April 2016.
On 1 April, all Army and RCAF infrastructure fell under command of ADM(IE). As a part of that transformation, Maj Hayward was moved from 5 ESU to Real Property Operations Unit Atlantic Section Halifax (RPOS(H)) as the Engineering Officer. As the Eng O, he was the Project Director for all maintenance and repair projects and minor capital projects under $5M for most of Nova Scotia and St John's, NL. In January 2017, he usurped command of Real Property Operations Section Halifax. By happy accident, he was able to take over the sub-unit until the official replacement arrived in July 2017. He then moved to the RP Ops Unit (Atlantic) HQ as the Operations Officer where he became the Program Director for all infrastructure M&R and Minor Capital projects in excess of $60M for Atlantic Canada. Concurrent to his time in Halifax, he took the Joint Command and Staff Program by Distance Learning and graduated in June 2018. In August 2018, he was posted to 36 CER as the Commanding Officer. After a short but enjoyable two years with 36 CER, Maj Hayward was posted back to RPOU(A) as the Deputy Commanding Officer in August 2020. As DCO, he spent the majority of his time managing the MNC ($0-10M), M&R, and demolition programs for the region, as well as working with the ROs and Eng Os to help standardize the region’s program and project management. Maj Hayward retired from the Regular Force with 24 years of service on 31 May 2021. He began working for RPOU(A) Section Halifax Engineering as the Major Projects Support Engineer on 1 June and became a Primary Reservist at the same time.
Maj Hayward looks forward to his new role as a civilian and the geographic stability that comes with it. He is happily married to a wonderfully talented wife and mother. Pam is a teacher within the French school board in Halifax and is a budding professional artist. Emma, 8, and Isabella, 7, are best friends and have loved their time in Nova Scotia. Together, the family enjoys hiking, boating, having fires, camping, swimming, and exploring their newly adopted province.