After more than 35 years of loyal and dedicated service to the Canadian Armed Forces and the Canadian Military Engineer Branch, WO R.E.W. Carpenter, CD, (00238) will retire on 12 November 2025. A Depart with Dignity function will be held on 21 November 2025 commencing at 12:00 at the WO’s & Sgt’s Mess, 4 Queen Elizabeth Drive, Ottawa. If attending, please RSVP to B. Billing:brick.billing@forces.gc.ca. Anecdotes and well wishes may be sent to the same person.
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Warrant Officer Carpenter joined the Canadian Forces (CF) on 31st July 1990 as an Armoured Crewman. After completing Basic Training at CFB Cornwallis, NS, and the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps (RCAC) Battle School in CFB Gagetown, NB, he was posted to the Royal Canadian Dragoons (RCD) on 1 March 1991 as an Armoured Reconnaissance Crewman.
Over the next 11 years with the RCD in CFB Petawawa, he served in Recce, B, D, and HQ Squadrons respectively. His crewman duties included service with the Airborne Armoured Recce Troop, Assault Troop, Recce Sqn HQ, and including time as a Leopard Driver and Loader with C1 and C2 Leopard tanks in B Sqn’s tank troops. He also served in the B Sqn’s Adm Troop, SQ, and briefly in HQ Sqn with Transport Troop, as well as Regimental Carpenter’s Assistant before returning to D Sqn’s 3 Troop as a Coyote Gunner. His operational deployments included Somalia (Op DELIVERANCE), Norway (AMF task with 2 RCHA), Bosnia (Op CAVALIER), and Kosovo (Op KINETIC). Domestically, he participated in MilCon 91, RV 92, the Red River Floods, the Ontario Ice Storm, the Toronto Snowstorm (as a Bison Ambulance Crew Commander), Op EAGLE (as the 3rd CRPG Unit RQ summer of ‘02), and multiple annual unit and CADTC exercises at CFB Gagetown.
In 2001, WO Carpenter voluntarily transferred to the Geomatics Technician (Geo Tech) trade. In September 2002, he was posted to the Mapping and Charting Establishment (MCE) in Ottawa to undergo specialist training at the School of Military Mapping (SMM). After two years of intensive Geomatics training, he deployed internationally to the African Mission in Sudan (AMIS) in Ethiopia as part of the Canadian contingent supporting Op AUGURAL. In summer 2005, following a brief period as Training Sergeant with Geospatial Support Sqn, he was posted to CFB Petawawa to stand up the Geomatics Support Cell as CSOR’s first Chief Geo during the regiment’s activation. While with CSOR, he deployed three times to Afghanistan, serving as Chief Geo within Task Force Special Operations Intelligence Cells (SOIC).
WO Carpenter returned to MCE in 2009 before deploying overseas again, then served as Course Warrant Officer at Algonquin College (2010–2012) for the Military Geomatics QL5A program.
In June 2012, he attended the Canadian Forces Language School (CFLS) in Gatineau for a yearlong second language course. Upon graduation in 2013, he deployed to the United Kingdom as senior Canadian military representative to the Allies Surveillance Group Operations Coordination Center (AOCC) in support of the Chief of Defence Intelligence (CDI). He then returned to MCE, serving as GI&S Operations WO until September 2017, when he was posted
to HQ Sqn Engineering as the Unit’s Technical Warrant Officer.
During his tenure at HQ Sqn Engineering, WO Carpenter completed a diploma in Geodesy at the University of New Brunswick (2018) and later graduated from the Army Technical Warrant Officer Program (ATWOP) through the Royal Military College (RMC) Applied Military Studies program (2022).
In summer 2023, he was posted to Canadian Army (CA) Headquarters, Directorate of Land Requirements (DLR), where he served as Special Advisor for project interdependencies and GIS requirements across all Strong, Secure, Engaged (SSE) 42 and related projects.
Following his retirement, WO Carpenter will transition into the Public Service and continuing to support the Canadian Army. Outside of work, he looks forward to enjoying more time with his wife, Lara, and spending as much time as possible with his children, Chase and Hunter, before they set out on their own paths.