After more than 29 years of loyal and dedicated service to the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) and the Canadian Military Engineer Branch, LCol Ken Brooks, CD, will retire on 04 March 2019.  A Depart with Dignity Ceremony will take place at the Earl of Bessborough, CFB Trenton, on 28 February at 1400 hrs.  Anecdotes or retirement wishes may be sent to LCol John Michaud Jonathan.Michaud@forces.gc.ca.

Born in Trenton ON, Lieutenant-Colonel K.B. (Ken) Brooks enrolled in the Canadian Forces in June 1989, graduating from the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston ON, in 1993.

After completing his Airfield Engineer phase training in 1994, he was posted to 8 Wing Trenton where, in 1995 he was deployed to Haiti to establish Base Camps for UN Forces and then in 1996, briefly served in Eastern Africa on OP ASSURANCE.

In 1997 he was posted to CFB Esquimalt where, in 1998 he led the Royal Canadian Navy’s first ever ground deployment of Military Engineers to the Canadian UN Camp in Golan Heights Israel to carry out much needed infrastructure upgrades.

In 1998, Lieutenant-Colonel Brooks completed his firefighting specialty training and was then posted to 19 Wing Comox as the Wing Fire Chief.

After 4 years in Comox, he was then posted to 22 Wing North Bay, first as the Wing Construction Engineering Officer, and then upon promotion to the rank of Major he assumed the position of Wing Logistics Officer.

Between August 2006 and February 2007, Lieutenant-Colonel Brooks was deployed to Kandahar, Afghanistan, as head of the Engineer Support Unit. In this capacity, he was responsible for the establishment and maintenance of Canadian-owned and occupied infrastructure both at Kandahar Airfield and outlying locations. His unit was responsible for the construction of the ball hockey rink at KAF.

In 2007, upon return from Afghanistan, he was posted to the Canadian Expeditionary Forces Command where he fulfilled the role of a Senior Watch Officer an in July 2008, he was posted to CFB Borden where he assumed the position of Commandant Canadian Forces Fire and Chemical Biological Radiological and Nuclear Academy. Promoted to his current rank in 2009, he assumed the position of Base Technical Services Officer at CFB Borden.

Effective Jul 2013, Lieutenant-Colonel Brooks assumed the position of Canadian Forces Fire Marshal at National Defence Headquarters in Ottawa. During the period of March 2015 through November 2015, Lieutenant-Colonel Brooks was deployed as an Assistant Canadian Defence Attaché at the Canadian Embassy in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, in support of OP IMPACT.

In August of 2016, Lieutenant-Colonel Brooks was posted to the Canadian Forces Air Warfare Centre at 8 Wg Trenton as the Branch Head for both the Doctrine Development and Analysis & Lessons Learned Branches. Ken is married to Jennifer Brooks and has two sons, Jordan and Connor.