Major Stephen (Steve) Cumpsty will be departing the Canadian Forces on 9 February 2012 after 22 years and 232 days of loyal and dedicated service to our country.

Originally from the Liverpool, England area, and relocated to Canada when he was six, Major Cumpsty joined the CF in Hamilton, ON in June 1989 as a pilot under the Regular Officers’ Training Plan. His failed eyesight from the arduous nights of studying at Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, ON forced him to choose a different career path in 1991. He was welcomed into the Military Engineer Branch, and following graduation in 1993, joined Jon Burbee and Don Henley for 16-months of back to back Phase training at the Canadian Forces School of Military Engineering in Chilliwack, BC. Following completion of CFSME, he was posted to Base Construction Engineering at CFB Petawawa, ON in August 1994 as the Plans O. In 1996 he was posted to 4 Airfield Engineering Squadron as the Training O where he worked on the Level II and III training. In 1998 he was accepted and trained as a Fire Chief as one of three that took part in the “cross-over” program. His bid for a fire hall was unsuccessful, but he was compromised with a “short” posting to the United States in 1999. He spent 3 years at the Air National Guard Readiness Center at Andrews AFB, MD, and experienced 9/11 from a totally different perspective, living a mere 20 minutes from The Pentagon. In 2002 Maj Cumpsty was accepted to complete Post-Graduate Training program at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. He returned to ANGRC for a 1-year stint in 2004, and was then posted, apparently for the last time, under duress, to Winnipeg in 2005. While in Winnipeg, he deployed to Kandahar, Afghanistan as the Officer Commanding, Engineer Support Unit on Roto 1. He returned to assume the position at 1 Cdn Air Div as Air Force Realty Asset Program Manager. In 2009 he was posted across the airfield to assume the role of Wing Construction Engineering Officer for 17 Wing. Some of his crowning achievements in his career are the advances of the AF Program with LCol Gyula Gergely, project management of the infrastructure installations to support the Canadian Task Force Aviation and Aerial Surveillance Operations in Kandahar, and the construction of a Tim Horton’s on 17 Wing property.

Major Cumpsty has a Bachelors of Engineering Degree in Electrical Engineering (RMC 1993) and a Masters of Science Degree in Facility Planning and Management (Cornell 2004). He is a graduate of the Unit NBC Officer Course and the US Air Force Air Base Combat Engineering Course. Following commissioning in 1993, his dates of promotion were 1994, 1997, and 2007 to his present rank. Major Cumpsty took up hockey in the last few years after much encouragement from his children and co-workers, and has successfully mastered being a pylon on the ice for the other teams.

Steve intends to remain in the Winnipeg area with his wife Jennifer and his children Rachel and Ryan while accepting a position as Director, Building Systems Support with the Health Sciences Centre of the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority. He will continue to support his children’s future professional sports careers by actively managing their hockey teams.

Major Cumpsty’s last day of work is 5 January 2012, and a retirement lunch is being planned in Winnipeg on 22 December 2011. Anecdotes, comments, and well wishes can be forwarded to Capt Megan Harding at megan.harding@forces.gc.ca.