After more than 38 years of loyal and dedicated service to the Canadian Armed Forces and the Canadian Military Engineers Branch, Maj Shawn McLaughlan, CD will retire on 01 June 2022. At the member’s request, friends and colleagues are welcome to attend the Depart with Dignity ceremony, which will take place on 7 October 2022. Anecdotes and retirement wishes may be sent to Maj E.S. Godin at Eric.Godin@forces.gc.ca.
In January 1984, Maj Shawn McLaughlan joined the 8 Canadian Hussars (VIII CH) Militia at “B” Squadron in Sussex, where he reached the rank of Corporal before joining the Regular Force as an Armoured Crewman in 1988. After three months of Basic training in Cornwallis and then three more for TQ3 in Gagetown, he was posted to the Royal Canadian Dragoons (RCD) at CFB Petawawa.
As a member of the RCD, he spent six months as an AVGP driver in “B” Sqn, six months as the OC’s Lynx driver in Reconnaissance Sqn, and two and a half months as a radio/switchboard operator on OP UNIFCYP in Rural Sqn HQ at Camp Liri, Cyprus. He competed in Merritt Cup Recce 1990 and two RAMSHEAD live-fire competitions. In 1990, he was posted to “C” Sqn in Gagetown where he earned the Leopard driver, gunner, loader, and crew commander qualifications. He rebadged to VIII CH “A” Sqn in 1993 as part of the total force regiment between Sussex, Sackville, Moncton, and Gagetown. He was promoted to MCpl in 1996.
In 1998, MCpl McLaughlan became OCdt McLaughlan after acceptance into the University Training Plan Non-Commissioned Member (UTPNCM). He graduated from the University of New Brunswick (UNB) with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering. Upon completion of Phase IV at the Canadian Forces School of Military Engineering (CFSME), Lt McLaughlan was posted to 4 Engineer Support Regiment (4 ESR) as 22 Field Troop Commander and then 45 Construction Squadron 2 I/C. He spent three months on OP AUGURAL in Senegal as Course Officer for Driver training for the African Union of the AVGP.
After two years at the Regt, Capt McLaughlan returned to UNB to complete a Masters in Geodesy and Geomatics. In 2008, he was posted to the Mapping and Charting Establishment (MCE) in Ottawa as Tp Comd, Ops O, and finally Squadron 2I/C. He deploy to Regional Command South (RC South) for seven months with NATO as the Chief Geo Adviser. He spent the next two years with Canadian Operations Support Command (CANOSCOM) and Canadian Joint Operations Centre (CJOC) as Continental Plans 2.
Capt McLaughlan was posted to CFSME for a year, to 4 ESR as the Adjutant for two years, and then to Real Property Operations Detachment Gagetown as the Detachment 2I/C and Utilities Officer. Promoted to Major in December 2017, Maj Mclaughlan was posted to the Combat Training Centre Headquarters (CTC HQ) as the Standards Officer and Formation Engineer. He spent a year in this role and another as G7 Training Design. In 2020, he was posted to 5 Canadian Division Support Group as OC Garrison for Operations Services Branch for his final tour.
Shawn and his wife of nearly 35 years, Wanda, will retire in Oromocto with their granddaughter, Phoebe (13). They plan to continue fostering, camping, and spending as much time as possible spoiling their grandchildren