After more than 35 years of loyal and dedicated service to the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) and the Canadian Military Engineer Branch, LCol Andrew Penney, (bio attached), will retire on 25 June 2018. A Depart with Dignity Ceremony will take place on 06 April 18 at 0930 in Mynarsky Hall, 1 Canadian Air Division Headquarters, Winnipeg. Anecdotes or retirement wishes may be sent to Capt Codi Micklethwaite - CODI.MICKLETHWAITE@forces.gc.
In October 1982, LCol Penney enrolled in the army reserves as a Private with the Governor General’s Foot Guards. However, it only took one winter warfare exercise in Petawawa to convince him that the infantry was not for him.
LCol Penney transferred to the Regular Forces in 1983 as a Military Engineer and immediately entered the College Militaire Royal de St-Jean eventually graduating with a Civil Engineering degree from the Royal Military College of Canada in 1988. Upon completion of Military Engineering training in Dec 1988, he was posted to the Construction Engineering Section at CFB Chatham, NB. From March to August 1992 he deployed as a Military Observer on the United Nations mission in the West Sahara.
On his return to Canada he was posted to 4 Wing Cold Lake and served in the Wing Construction Engineering section and at 4 Airfield Engineering Squadron. In July 1997, LCol Penney was posted on exchange to the United States Air National Guard Readiness Centre, at Andrew’s Air Force Base in Maryland, where he was responsible for the deployment Air National Guard Civil Engineer units and was awarded the US Meritorious Service Medal for his work.
In August 1999, LCol Penney returned to 4 Wing Cold Lake this time as Commanding Officer of 4 Airfield Engineering Squadron. In February 2001, LCol Penney was appointed Task Force Commander for OP ARTISAN and led a team of engineers and contractors on a seven-month CIDA sponsored deployment to reconstruct the International Airport at Rinas, Albania.
Subsequently posted to NDHQ and the DCDS Joint Staff, LCol Penney served in J3 Continental, and J3 Engr Ops until 2005, when he was posted to 14 Wing Greenwood as the Wing Construction Engineering Officer. He was promoted to his current rank in July 2007 and was posted to 1 Canadian Air Division as the Director of Air Force Expeditionary Capability Readiness where he oversaw the development of the first elements that would become 2 Wing.
In January 2010, LCol Penney deployed as a Staff Officer with the United Nations Headquarters in Haiti, arriving just hours before the devastating earthquake struck the island. Returning from Haiti in July, LCol Penney assumed command of 17 Wing Logistics and Engineering in Winnipeg.
In 2013, LCol Penney was posted to NATO as the Branch Head Infrastructure, Storage and Supply at JFC Brunssum in the Netherlands. He returned to 1 CAD/CANR HQ in Winnipeg in 2016 and assumed his current role as A5/A7 NORAD.
After 35+ years of service, LCol Penney is hanging up his uniform and will be passing the baton to his two sons; Aviator Eric Penney and Navy Recruit Nicholas Penney. Andrew and Nathalie will be retiring to Valencia Spain where they hope to enjoy the sunshine together and he will be as far away from winter warfare exercises as possible.