After more than 24 years of loyal and dedicated service to Canada and the Royal Canadian Engineers, MWO Dion Collins will retire from the Canadian Armed Forces on Tuesday 21 February 2023.
MWO Collins enlisted with the Canadian Armed Forces as an engineer reservist may 1998 with the 91 Construction Engineering Flight Gander in Gander, NL. During that time, he was deployed to Pristina Kosovo on Op KINETIC in 1999. He then component transferred to the Regular Force as a Gr1 CNV – Tech in 2001 at CFB Cold Lake and in 2004 he was promoted to Cpl. In 2005, he was posted to 4 ESR.
While serving in 4 ESR, he deployed on ROTO 3 in 2007. In 2008, he was promoted to MCpl and posted to 14 Air Combat Service Support Squadron in Greenwood, NS as a Gr1 CNV - B Flt PH Superviser. In 2010 he was posted to the Canadian Forces School Of Military Engineering (CFSME) Oromocto, NB. Promoted to Sgt as a PH instructor. In 2012, he was posted back to 4 ESR promoted to WO in 2015. While there he was deployed to Kuwait on Op IMPACT ROTO 2 in 2016 and Riga, Latvia Op REASSURANCE ROTO 8 in 2017. MWO Collins was posted to 5 CBSBGagetown in 2017 and in 2018 he was posted to 2 Air Expeditionary Squadron in Aloutte, QC as a CE Sup. During his time there, he was promoted to MWO (WSE) then deployed to Constanta, Romania Op REASSURANCE ROTO 10 in 2018 - 2019. In 2019, MWO Collins was posted to Real Property Operations Unit - Atlantic in Halifax, NS where he was substantively promoted to the rank of MWO. MWO Collins was deployed to Ali al Salem Air Base on Op IMPACT in 2020. In 2021, MWO Collins was posted to RPOU Atlantic detachment Gagetown as the detachment sergeant major. He was posted for a second time in 2021 to Transition Centre Gagetown until his retirement.
On retirement, MWO Collins will be staying in the Oromocto area spending time with his daughter and two sons.
Anecdotes, photos, well wishes and congratulations are appreciated and can be sent to Tara Evered. Please send e-mails or rsvp to tara.evered@forces.gc.ca