Born in Vancouver, BC, a graduate of The Royal Military College of Canada, Lieutenant-Colonel Smith enrolled in The Canadian Forces in Ottawa, ON. Having completed five regimental tours, two operational assignments in Canada and two tours overseas, he now works in the field of profession military education curriculum delivery preparing the next generation of senior leaders for executive employments in the national security and defence policy domain in the Canadian Forces; and the Department of National Defence.
When first serving as a young Lieutenant with 22 Field Squadron at CFB Gagetown he was tasked to complete the national CC-130 capable airfield, on Baffin Island at Pond Inlet on OP NORTHERN AIRFIELDS. After graduate studies in the United Kingdom, he deployed from the Mapping and Charting Establishment (MCE), in Ottawa, on OP ARCTIC 84, charged with initiating the topographic survey campaign of Ellesmere Island, supporting the completion of the 1:50 000 scale national mapping programme of Canada.
Lieutenant-Colonel Smith returned to duties as a combat engineer with 4 Combat Engineer Regiment in Germany, in 1985. First commanding 45 Support Squadron, bridging the Danube River and later defending the 4 CMBG flank, he subsequently commanded 41 Field Squadron. Leaving Germany he took up extra regimental employment as the Deputy Base Construction Engineering Officer at BFC Montréal; which was then responsible for detachments in St Hubert, Longue Point, Farnham, Nicolet and the fourteen armouries throughout metropolitan Montréal and the Eastern Townships.
In 1990 Lieutenant-Colonel Smith returned to MCE where he directed the provision of mapping support to four major CF operations: OP Salon, OP Friction, OP Harmony, and OP Deliverance, saw MCE through both a significant reorganization and equipment modernization, and facilitated the first Geographic Support Team deployment on with UNPROFOR, in 1993. Graduating from Command and Staff Course 21, and when promoted to his current rank, he was assigned to the Directorate of Army Doctrine as the first Section Head - Force Protection. Subsequently returning to Ottawa, he synchronized topographic support now to Canadian domestic operations: The 1997 Red River Floods, The 1998 Ice Storm, and The 1999 Y2K Rollover and as J2 Geomatics was additionally required to represent Canada at NATO HQ in Brussels, and in CANUS planning in Washington, DC.
In January 1999, he deployed on OP NOBLE to Bosnia and Herzegovina, as the mission’s Senior Canadian Officer and the quality assurance technical advisor for humanitarian de-mining at the BiH Mine Action Centre, in Sarajevo. Upon his return to Canada in August 1999, he assumed command of the Mapping and Charting Establishment. Advancing digital navigation on the bridge and in the cockpit, implementing a Balanced Scorecard based business planning model, and after supporting deployments to Kosovo, to Ethiopia/Eritrea, in BiH and to Afghanistan, he relinquished command in 2002.
Taking up duties as Chief CIMIC Operations he was assigned to the J5/J9 Division at the NATO Headquarters in Brunssum, The NL. While serving overseas, now for a third time, he deployed in February 2004 on OP ATHENA to ISAF V Headquarters in Kabul, Afghanistan as the Assistant Chief CJ9. Following this tour and duties in Brunssum LCol Smith assumed his current duties in Toronto.
A volleyball player and coach for twenty years, once a Canadian Forces National Champion, LieutenantColonel Smith additionally holds a graduate diploma in topographic survey engineering from the School of Military Survey in England and is a graduate of technical and advanced courses at the Defense Mapping School and the USMC Engineer School, both in the United States, the German Army Engineer School in Munich, and several military institutions in Canada