Captain Frank Edison CD3 will be departing the Canadian Forces on 18 March 2012 after 43 plus years of dedicated service to the Engineer Branch and Canada.

Born in St John’s Newfoundland Capt Edison originally donned a military uniform in June 1968 as an Army Cadet at the ripe age of 16. After two years with the Cadets he received an Honourable Release (it actually says that on the certificate) from the Cadets and joined the Engineer Branch as a Field Engineer. Upon completion of his Basic Recruit and Field Engineer training Capt Edison was posted to Burton, New Brunswick to ply his new skills in Bailey Bridge construction. Capt Edison has travelled extensively throughout his career with postings to Lahr Germany (4 CER), CFB Gagetown, CFB Calgary, Chilliwack (1 CER) Winnipeg / Moncton (1 CEU) Calgary (33 FES) and finally after a deployment to Bosnia in 1998 he set his sights on a newly forming Unit at Bridgewater Nova Scotia and took up a position with 14 CES, then known as 1 AES, as the Ops MWO. Then after two years an opportunity arose and Capt Edison took his Commission and becoming the Squadron Operations Officer. With a career spanning over 43 years it comes as no surprise that Capt Edison holds many awards and qualifications. In addition to his CD3 he holds an SSM for Alert and NATO, CPSM, GCS-SWA with his most recent deployment to Kandahar, Afghanistan as part of the NCE.

As the 14 CES Sqn Ops O Capt Edison has enjoyed many successes in the development and sustainment of the Sqn’s readiness for operational deployment. As the creator of Exercise Blue Foundation he developed an Operations training cycle that is now being adopted by other Units as a deployment readiness confirmation exercise. Capt Edison’s success as Operations Officer is also validated by the numerous deployments, projects and Engineer support 14 CES has undertaken.

A qualification or skill of merit was Capt Edison’s ability to run a gravel quarry. There are few if any who have as many days on the ground at CFS Alert as Frank (flat nose) Edison. Over a period of 13 years he has run the quarry operations at the Station as a civilian contactor (Franks Sand and Gravel), he even has a room named after him, the Franklin Suite. Capt Edison was presented with a Canadian Forces Medallion for Distinguished Service for his Environmental Stewardship at CFS Alert where he took a lead role in the recovery and treatment of a large fuel release at the Station as well as cleanup of the areas miles of communication cable and 45 gallon drums.

Capt Edison and his wife Sherry have become well embedded in the community of Lunenburg County with involvement in many volunteer groups such as organizing Canada Day celebrations in Bridgewater and the celebrated Regimental Ball. They have both become avid sailors with a most recent sail through the Bras d’Or Lakes of Cape Breton and have future plans to sail to Newfoundland. A retirement farewell and Capt Edison’s 60th birthday celebration will be held in Bridgewater on 02 March 2012. Anecdotes, comments, well wishes or intentions to attend can be forwarded to MWO Kevin Clayton at Kevin.Clayton@forces.gc.ca.