Published November 16, 2021
After more than 35 years of loyal and dedicated service to the Canadian Armed Forces and the Canadian Military Engineers, MWO Normand Tardif, CD, retired on 16 September 2021. Congratulatory messages, anecdotes, and best wishes can be sent to MWO S. St-Louis at Sylvain.St-Louis@forces.gc.ca or Capt J.C.D. Tremblay at Dany.Tremblay@forces.gc.ca.
A DwD function will be held for MWO Tardiff at 11:00 hours on Thursday, 01 September 2022, at the Terminus Restaurant, 84C rue Jean-Proulx, Gatineau, QC. Please RSVP before 28 August 2022 to MWO S. St-Louis at Sylvain.St-Louis@forces.gc.ca.
MWO Norm Tardif was born in Chibougamau, QC, but was raised in Elliot Lake, Northern Ontario. He completed high school in 1983, after which he took a course in heavy equipment diesel mechanics at the Sault College campus Elliot Lake, graduating in 1984. After working as an apprentice mechanic at a General Motors dealership, Norm enlisted in the Canadian Armed Forces as a Crewman in Sudbury, ON, in 1986.
Norm completed basic training in Cornwallis, NS, followed by Crewman Training at CFB Petawawa. He served in Petawawa with the 8th CH and RCDs until 1988 when he rejoined the 8th CH in Lahr, Germany. This is where Norm saw the light. There was no future for him in the armored corps, so he requested an occupational transfer (LOTREP) to the Construction Engineers as an EGS tech.
In 1992, he, his wife at the time, and his dog and cat were posted from Lahr to CFB Chilliwack for QL3 training. From Chilliwack, he was posted to the ROCC in North Bay for five years, then to 5CER in Valcartier for 3 years with no wife or cat, only the dog. This is where he met his new spouse of 23 years, Annie.
Norm was posted to CFSME at CFB Gagetown in 2000 as a MCpl with the EGS instruction cell. In 2004, Frédérique was born and WO Tardif was posted to 4ESR for three weeks, during which time he never set foot in the building due to the birth of his daughter. Instead, he was returned to CFSME as the Standards WO for another two years. In 2006, WO Tardif was posted to Moncton, NB, as the EGS tech for 1 ESU, 3 SET. Norm did two tours in Afghanistan with 3 SET. He was promoted to MWO in 2007 on Camp Nathan Smith, Afghanistan.
MWO Tardif was posted to ADM(IE), DCAES, in Ottawa as the compliance officer for ammunition depots in 2011, then to CFD but attached to ADM(IM) as the CFS Leitrim facilities manager in 2013, and lastly to ADM(MAT), DCSEM, in Gatineau as LCMM for deployable gensets and other equipment in 2016.
Norm, Annie, and Frédérique all moved to Gatineau in 2011 where they all still live with a new dog, Boxy ☺. After more than 35 years with the CAF and the Engineer family, Norm accepted a civilian position within ADM(MAT) as a Senior Project Tech for Camp Sustain, with the hopes of actually retiring in ten to twelve years.