Major Parlee was born and raised in Saskatchewan and joined the Canadian Forces in March of 1988 as a non-commissioned member in the 64th Field Battery, 10th Field Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery. He transferred to the regular force in 1990, joining the 3rd Regiment, Royal Canadian Horse Artillery in Shilo Manitoba. In 1992, he deployed on a United Nations Peacekeeping tour in Cyprus with the 1st Regiment Royal Canadian Horse Artillery, and deployed to Croatia on a second United Nations Peacekeeping tour in 1995 as the Sector Operations NCO, in Sector South Headquarters, Knin Croatia.

In 1996 Maj Parlee was selected to the University Training Program for Non-Commissioned Members and attended the University of Saskatchewan from 1996-2001, obtaining a Civil Engineering degree. Upon graduation from university, he was posted to 1 Combat Engineer Regiment in Edmonton, where he served as the Regimental Training Officer, Construction Troop Commander, a Field Troop Commander, Regimental Parachute Officer, and Assistant Regimental Dive Officer.

In 2004 he was posted to an RSS position in 33 Field Engineer Squadron (33 FES) in Calgary Alberta where he was the Operations Officer and Adjutant. During this time he completed the Army Operations Course at the Canadian Land Forces Command and Staff College.

In 2006 he returned to 1 Combat Engineer Regiment and was employed as the 2nd in Command of 12 Field Squadron, Regimental Parachute Officer, and Regimental Dive Officer. The Squadron deployed to Afghanistan on Task Force 1-08 in February of 2008 as part of the 2 PPCLI Battle Group and conducted combat operations in Kandahar Province until October of 2008.

Upon return from TF 1-08 he was promoted to Major and posted to 1 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group Headquarters, where he was employed as the G5 until June of 2009, when was posted to the Canadian Forces School of Military Engineering as the Officer in Charge of Army Diving. In July of 2010 he was posted the 3 ASG Engineer Branch as the Commanding Officer.

Major Parlee and his wife Brenda live in the Lincoln area with their six dogs. They have two daughters, Laura 24, and Lisa 22, and a son Samuel, 3 months old. Major Parlee will be retiring on 5 July 2012 and he plans on being a ‘stay at home dad’ for at least 2 years.