LCol Jacques Hamel joined the Canadian Forces in 1977 as an Engineer Officer. He graduated in 1982 form the Royal Military College in Kingston with an Honours Degree in Engineering Physics.

In 1982 he joined the 5 Combat Engineer Regiment in Valcartier, where he served in a number of regimental assignment as a Troop Commander, Adjutant, Squadron Commander and Deputy Commanding Officer until 1990. During that period he served on a number of deployments In Canada, Norway, Germany and Cyprus.

From 1991 to 1993 LCol Hamel served in National Defence HQ on the J3 Engineer Staff as a Project Director for a wide range on Combat Engineering, Command and Control automation and Geomatics Capital Projects and as the J3 Engineer-Sustainment on the Joint Staff.. In 1994 LCol Hamel was appointed G3 Plans in Army HQ where he was responsible for all international and contingency planning for the Canadian Army. In this period he participated in the planning and support for operation in Kuwait, Cambodia, Croatia, Bosnia, Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia and Rwanda.

In 1996 LCol Hamel was appointed to the Directorate of Army Doctrine as the section head responsible for force protection doctrine and as Acting Director of Army Doctrine during 1997 and 1998.  In 1999, LCol Hamel Joined the Army Strategic Concept staff as the Director of the Army Experimentation Centre.

From 2000 to 2003 LCol Hamel was the Program Manager of the Canadian Land Force Command and Control Information System. In 2003 LCol Hamel was appointed to his current appointment of Project Manager Intelligence Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance (ISTAR) Omnibus He is also responsible for the implementation of other Army force Protection and C4ISR Projects.

In 2004, LCol Hamel received the Canadian CIO of the year award from the Canadian Information Productivity Association (CIPA) for his work in knowledge management. In 2005 he received the CDS Commendation for his Engineering and Project Management effort in direct support of Operation in Afghanistan.

In 2006, LCol Hamel was appointed to the rank of Officer in the Order of Military Merit by the Governor General of Canada.

In 2009 LCol Hamel received the CLS Commendation for his Engineering and Project Management activities related to the delivery of Small UAV capability to the CF to support on-going operations. He also received a DM/CDS Innovation award for work as a part of the Manley Projects Team where he was charged with the rapid acquisition and deployment to Afghanistan high-performance Small unmanned aerial vehicles

LCol Hamel is a Professional Engineer with l’Ordre des Ingénieurs du Québec, He also a graduate of the Canadian Land Force Command and Staff College in Kingston, of the UK Royal Military College of Science in Schrivenham UK and UK Army Command and Staff Course in Camberley. LCol Hamel is married to Francine Rochette and has two children Julie and Bruno.