After more than 27 years of loyal and dedicated service to the Canadian Armed Forces and the Canadian Military Engineers, CWO Bill Lovely MMM, CD, will retire on 18 April 2023. A Depart with Dignity function will be held on 12 May 2023 commencing at 15:00 hours at the Bunker in Oromocto. Anecdotes and retirement wishes may be sent to CWO M. Hudon at (Michel.Hudon@forces.gc.ca).
CWO Bill Lovely enlisted in the Canadian Armed Forces as a Combat Engineer in November 1995. Upon completing basic training in Saint Jean, Quebec, and the TQ3 Combat Engineer Course in Chilliwack, British Columbia, he was posted to 4 Engineer Support Regiment (4 ESR) in Gagetown.
During his time at 4 ESR, he occupied numerous positions. He participated in three deployments: OP PALLADIUM in Bosnia in 1999, OP ECLIPSE in ERITRIA in 2001 and OP ATHENA in Afghanistan in 2003. CWO Lovely also took part in two domestic operations, deploying to the Red River Flood in Manitoba in 1997 and the ice storm in Quebec in 1998. He also completed his Combat Diver course in Esquimalt, British Columbia, in 2001 and his Recce course in 2002.
In 2005, CWO Lovely was posted to CFSME as a Sgt where he worked within FETS Squadron as a demolition instructor. He also had the chance to deploy to Afghanistan on OP ATHENA for a second time in 2007. Upon his return, he completed the Dive Supervisor and TPWO courses and was promoted to the rank of WO in 2008 where he became the Demolition Cell Supervisor.
CWO Lovely was then posted to CFB Suffield in Alberta in 2009 where he was employed as the Range Maintenance WO until 2012. He then returned to 4 ESR where was employed as the Heavy Equipment Troop WO and the Regimental Operations Warrant Officer.
CWO Lovely was promoted to MWO in July 2014 and became the Sergeant Major of 42 Field Squadron from 2014 to 2015, and Sergeant Major of 48 Close Support Squadron from 2015 to 2016. In 2016, he was appointed to the Order of Military Merit as a Member of Military Merit (MMM). He was then posted to the language school for a year and to CFSME as the FETS Sergeant Major in 2017. In 2019, he was appointed as the School Chief Warrant Officer of CFSME until 2022 where he had the opportunity to work with many exceptional Engineers.
CWO Lovely has been happily married for 20 years to Trudy and they are very proud of their three children Ashley, Bridget, and Connor. They are also grandparents to Lincoln, Eli, Eva, and Leo.