After more than 23 years of loyal and dedicated service to the Canadian Armed Forces and the Canadian Military Engineers, LCol Joel Chartrand will retire from the CAF on 16 October 2020.  Due to current gathering limitations, a small DWD ceremony will be held at NDHQ Carling Campus Ottawa on 16 Oct 20. Attendance will, unfortunately, be limited to invitees only. Congratulatory letters and anecdotes can be sent to Maj Dave Jane at david.jane@forces.gc.ca or LCol Chartrand can be contacted directly at joelchartrand@yahoo.ca.

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LCol Joel Chartrand will retire on 16 Oct 20 after completing over 23 years as a Construction Engineer. LCol Chartrand joined the CAF in 1997. Following his graduation from RMC in 2002 as a Mechanical Engineer and completion of Phase Training in 2003, was posted to CFB Borden. During his time at Borden he was exposed to both the Fire Service and Urban Planning, two specialties that would shape his career. In 2006 he was posted to 3 Wing Bagotville as the Wing Fire Chief, this was followed by a posting to the Canadian Forces Fire Marshal office in 2008. During his time in Ottawa he was promoted to Major and completed a tour in Afghanistan on the Operational Mentoring and Liaison Team (OMLT). In 2011 he was posted to the Canadian Forces Fire and CBRN Academy (CFFCA) as Commandant. After solidifying his fire service experience he chose to follow his desire to be an Urban Planner and was accepted into a post grad position at McGill University to complete a Masters in Urban Planning. Following graduation of this program in 2016 he was posted to ADM(IE) in Ottawa for a short posting before accepting an OUTCAN NATO position in the NATO Force Integration Unit (NFIU) Joint Engineer office in Latvia in 2017. He was promoted to his current rank in December 2019. Following retirement, LCol Chartrand will return to Europe as a digital nomad and will continue to grow his investment portfolio. He will also take advantage of this operational pause to re-center and enjoy life to its full extent.

Due to current gathering limitations a small DWD ceremony will be held at NDHQ Carling Campus Ottawa on 16 Oct 20, attendance will unfortunately be limited to invitees only. Congratulatory letters and anecdotes can be sent to Maj Dave Jane, david.jane@forces.gc.ca or LCol Chartrand can be contacted directly at joelchartrand@yahoo.ca.