Master Warrant Officer Rodney Boskovitch will be retiring from the Canadian Armed Forces on 3 September 2019.
A DWD will be held on 25 Oct 19 starting at 1400hrs at the Earl of Bessborough in Trenton. Address is 106 Yukon Annex, Trenton.
Master Warrant Officer Rodney Boskovitch was born and raised in Sault Ste. Marie, ON. He was first in a uniform at age 10 in the Navy League Cadets and then into the Seas Cadets. He joined the 49th Field Regiment at age 17 in 1978 and spent 3 ½ years with the reserve unit. He then joined up in a new program called YTEP (Youth Training & Education Program) at the recruiting office in Sudbury. After the testing, the pilot Major across the desk said that he was above average in everything and he could pick any trade he wanted. He said that he wanted to be an Airborne Gunner. The Major repeated what he said and the response was the same. The Major went on to ask if he had heard of the YTEP (Youth Training and Employment Programme) program? Rodney answered no and so he started his Basic/Recruit training in CFB Petawawa in September 1983 at the RCR Battle School. After this training, he went onto TQ3 Artillery training where he was awarded the top student award.
After the training, he was accepted into the Regular Force on 5 Jul 1984 where he got his wish and received his jump wings and was a member of E Bty Para of 2 RCHA for four years. For the 6½ years with the Regiment, he was in a jump capacity for 5½. He attended many courses and participated in many exercises all over the world including RV 85, 87 and 89. He held many positions with the guns along with being the CO driver, the POL IC and MRT 2IC. He married his wife Bindy 14 Dec 1984 before going to Cyprus in Sep 1985. While there he was promoted Master Bombardier. It was during RV 87 that he realized there had to be a better life and so put in for a remuster. It took 2½ years but he finally got Firefighter and started course 15 January 1990. During the time in Petawawa, they had their daughter Stephanie 29 January 1987.
After his Firefighter course, he was posted to CFB Edmonton, 1990-1994. Then onboard Her Majesties Canadian Ships (HMCS) Provider then Protecteur on the west coast, 1994-1997. Then to CFB Trenton where he was promoted to MCpl and became a Crew Chief, 1997-2000. From here he became a Fire Instructor at the old Canadian Forces Fire Academy (CFFA) now the Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Academy (CFFCA) at Base Borden where he was promoted to Sgt, 2000-2005. Back to Trenton with the Canadian Joint Incident Response Unit (CJIRU), 2005-2008. Then promoted to WO and out to Edmonton again, as a Platoon Chief, 2008-2011. During his time he was the Task Force Fire Marshall's in Afghanistan. Finally back to Trenton as a Platoon Chief and then promoted to Master Warrant Officer and became the Deputy Fire Chief to the present time, 2001-2019.
MWO Boskovitch accomplished a lot during his time in the CAF but two stand out the most. The first was to move the whole Fire Hall in Trenton three years ago into the new Fire Hall. The other was to be the DFC of the largest air force base in Canada. He will keep living in Belleville and hoping to get a reserve job, he is not ready to fully retire yet. Also, he will keep involved with the Hastings Prince Edward Mutual Fire Aid Association Training Complex Committee.