Capt Jamie Betts, CD

    • Captain Jamie Betts

    Captain Jamie Betts will retire after nearly 32 years of service with the Canadian Forces (CF). On 28 January 2010, Capt Betts will retire from the CF and look to find gainful employment as a civilian in the engineering field in the Petawawa area.

    In March of 1978 Jamie enrolled in the CF and soon became a Private in the Royal Canadian Regiment (RCR). After completing his basic training, he, along with the rest of the course including the drill instructors and course staff, were posted to London, ON.

    In 1979 his company was transferred oversees to Germany to join 3 RCR in Baden-Solingen. This is where Jamie met his wife, Tracy, who has stuck with him through these past thirty years.

    Jamie remustered to the Engineers in late 1982 and was finally able to pursue a high school dream of becoming a draftsman-surveyor at the home of the Engineers at the time, the Canadian Forces School of Military Engineering (CFSME) in Chilliwack, BC. Tracy would follow him a few months later leaving her parents behind in Germany. By the summer of 1983 Jamie had completed his basic trade training and was officially qualified as a Construction Engineering Technician DraftsmanSurveyor. Tracy and Jamie married in Chilliwack at the end of his course, and they were soon posted to Kingston, ON where he worked in the Base Construction Engineering (BCE) Section.

    After completing his QL5 course in 1986 and his QL6A course in 1988 Jamie was posted to Calgary, AB, 1989. Here he was promoted to Master Corporal and employed as the PMQ Service Centre Supervisor. By this time he and Tracy’s family had grown to include two sons, Corey and Daniel. In 1992 the family moved to Chilliwack, and Jamie was employed as an Instructor, Standards Rep, D&S cell Warrant Officer and Technical Writer in Doctrine. Jamie was promoted to Sergeant in 1993 and continued instructing at CFSME.

    Jamie was promoted to Warrant Officer in 1999 and was posted to 1 Canadian Engineer Unit (CEU) in Moncton, NB a year later. He was now a Construction Tech, following the demise of the Draftsman-Surveyor trade in 1999.

    In the spring of 2002, he deployed with 1 CEU on a tasking to the Middle East as part of a force protection study. Later that summer he was promoted to Master Warrant Officer, and the short study became a year long deployment to Israeli occupied Syria as the first Task Force Engineer Sergeant Major on Operation Danaca. This proved to be a very interesting and challenging role for Jamie. With the Iraq war kicking off and the usual life the Golan Heights drastically changing, Jamie’s posting gave him a good taste for operational taskings.

    In the fall of 2003 Jamie was posted to BCE in Petawawa. In the fall of 2006 he was fortunate enough to deploy once again. This time it was to Afghanistan as the Task Force Engineer / Engineer Support Unit Sergeant Major (ESU SM). Jamie saw this tour of duty as the pinnacle of his career. He felt that the privilege of being the SM for a unit of professional soldiers such as the ESU in a war zone is truly indescribable.

    Upon his return from Afghanistan in 2007, Jamie was promoted to Chief Warrant Officer (CWO) and subsequently posted to Edmonton as the Engineering Services Company CWO. In early 2008 he received a call from the BCE Officer in Petawawa with an offer to take his Commission and return to Petawawa. So in June of 2008 Jamie became a Captain and moved into the position of Facility Manager at BCE in Petawawa.

    Jamie continues to reside in Petawawa with his wife, Tracy, and his youngest son Daniel. His eldest son, Corey is currently completing his basic training in St Jean, QB. While he is sad to be leaving the army life he has known for so long, Jamie looks forward to what his future holds as a civilian. He has always believed that when one door closes another opens usually bringing success.