Major Jesse Knockleby, CD, PEng will retire from the Canadian Armed Forces on 11 July 2019, after more than 23 years of loyal and dedicated service to the CAF.  In order to honour Maj Knockleby’s service in the CAF and to wish him well in his retirement, a DwD will be held Friday, 28 June 2019 (1300hrs-1430) in Ottawa, ON (RV at Confederation Park). Attendees will participate in a 10-mile run along the Rideau Canal (bicycle and roller blade friendly route). There will also be an opportunity to say farewell to Jesse at 1600hrs at the Royal Oak, 329 March Road, Kanata. For planning purposes, please confirm your attendance to Maj Kevin Poirier (kevin.poirier3@forces.gc.ca) by 20 June 2019. Please send all congratulatory messages, anecdotes, photos, farewell messages to Maj Poirier.

Major Knockleby joined the Canadian Forces in 1996 after being accepted into the ROTP program in Calgary AB. Upon graduation from Kingston's Royal Military College in 2000, he was posted to 2 CMBG in Petawawa, Ontario.

Major Knockleby deployed to Afghanistan with a RCR BG in 2003 and again in 2008 with the Joint Task Force Afghanistan HQ (working with both PPCLI and RCR Battle Groups). Upon return from theatre with a coin from the TFK Comd, he was promoted and posted to 1 CMBG in Edmonton, Alberta and deployed with an LdSH (RC) Task Force for Operation Podium in support of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics (got another coin for the collection).

Maj Knockleby was then posted to Ottawa, where he worked as a Project Director in the Army Headquarters for two years. He was posted back to 4th Canadian Support Base Petawawa for a front row seat during Real Property Transformation in 2016 (no coins for that – but the Base Commander liked him well enough to toss him a coin).

He returned to Ottawa to work in the Real Property Operations Group HQ as the J9/J4 Real Property Compliance and Technical Services Director. While in this role, he completed the United States Marine Corps Command and Staff College Blended Seminar Program (in Camp Lejeune, NC – Hoorah!) – no coins from the Marines, but he did get a cool knife.

Major Knockleby has a BEng in Civil Engineering from the Royal Military College of Canada and is a licenced Professional Engineer in the Province of Ontario. He enjoys running, triathlons, coaching, martial arts and spending quality time with family. He has competed in Edmonton’s Mountain Man Competition (got the coin) and also Petawawa’s Iron Warrior Competition four times (coming in third twice and finally winning the event in 2018 – more coins). He has also ran the Boston Marathon twice, has completed a Full Ironman triathlon and won the Men’s Masters Marathon for the CAF Nationals in 2018 (do the medals count as coins?).

Major Knockleby is married to Marcia Jane Knockleby and they have four very industrious kids, Wyatt (12 years old), Everett (10 years old), Corbin (7 years old) and Natalie (6 years old). They will be settling down in Petawawa as he transitions to the civilian side of the Department. He is extremely thankful to his family for keeping him grounded throughout his career with the forces, and motivated/energized to do his best every day.

If accomplishment is measured in terms of promotion through the ranks in minimum time… he wasn’t very successful and he failed to achieve his own goal of at least getting at least to LCol before retirement (too much time doing PT perhaps?). However, in terms of meeting and working with interesting people, leading people with compassion and loyalty, keeping fit/healthy and balancing the needs of his family… he did all right (perhaps collecting enough coins along the way to warrant a nice rack to hold them all).

On a final note, Major Knockleby would like to pay his respects to the soldiers and friends he personally knew that fell during training and operations. Not a day goes by that he doesn’t think of them and their families. May we all do our best to honour their memory by working diligently in all our purposes and being skilled in our trades; while dedicating time to appreciating our own families and supporting them in achieving their goals, ambitions and dreams.