After more than 26 years of loyal and dedicated service to the Canadian Armed Forces and the Canadian Military Engineers, LCol Étienne Tremblay, CD, will retire on 12 September 2023. A DwD function will be held at the Army Officers’ Mess in Ottawa on Friday, 08 September 2023 between 14:00 and 17:00 hours. Congratulatory messages, well wishes, and anecdotes can be sent to LCol S.J.A. Neveu atSylvain.Neveu@forces.gc.ca.

Born on the north shore of the Saint-Laurent River, Étienne spent most of his childhood enjoying the great outdoors, mainly hunting and fishing. He joined the Canadian Armed Forces in June 1997 and graduated from RMC in Kingston in 2002.
From Kingston, Étienne was transferred to 5 Combat Engineer Regiment where he held a variety of regimental positions such as liaison officer, training officer, troop commander, regimental warrant, deputy commander, and squadron commander twice.
In 2004, Étienne was deployed to Kabul, Afghanistan, as an engineering officer and responsible for all Canadian construction projects. He returned to Afghanistan in 2009 for a second mission as deputy commander and became the support squadron commander attached to the 2nd Battle Group of the R22eR
Upon returning to Canada, he was transferred to the Assistant Deputy Minister (Infrastructure and Environment) in Ottawa as a Staff Officer for the Chief Military Engineer. During this period, he was involved with Op HESTIA and Op PODIUM.
Étienne worked at the Canadian Joint Operations Command within the Joint Engineer team, where he oversaw Engineering support for all CAF operations. Étienne also had the privilege of being the Commanding Officer of the Canadian Forces Language School during the turbulent anduncertain times of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Upon returning to ADM(IE) at the Directorate General of Portfolio Requirements, he assisted with the implementation of the infrastructure program in support of NORAD modernization. LCol Tremblay will now transition to the public service within ADM(IE).
Étienne would like to wish the best success to the Major who will be promoted at LCol due to his release. Étienne would also like to thank all military and civilian colleagues with whom he worked for their professionalism and ‘’esprit de camaraderie”.
Étienne would especially like to thank his spouse, Sonia, and their children, Louis-Thomas, Annie- Pier and Léo-Félix for their support, their flexibility, and their understanding during his military career.