After more than 30 years of loyal and dedicated service to the Canadian Armed Forces and the Canadian Military Engineers Branch, MWO John Reith, CD, will retire on 16 September 2022. Anecdotes and retirement wishes may be sent to Capt S.G. Leslie at Simon.Leslie@forces.gc.ca. 

MWO John Reith enlisted in the CAF as an Artillery NCM on 27 September 1990, serving until November 1999. Less than two years later, he enlisted again as a Construction Engineer in 2001. The first nine years of his service were comprised of Basic Training at CFB Cornwallis, NS, RCA Battle School at CFB Shilo, MB, and the Second Regiment Royal Canadian Horse Artillery in Petawawa, ON. During his time with the 2nd Regiment, Gunner / Bombardier John Reith was employed as a gun detachment member, the Troop Sergeant Major’s driver, a communicator in the Regimental command post, and for a short period, as an ambulance driver. He served with Delta, HQ, Firing and Echo Batteries. John was fortunate to deploy on Canada’s final United Nations Peacekeeping Tour to Cyprus, on several small unit exchanges with the USA, and on domestic tasks, such as sovereignty operations in the Canadian Arctic and avalanche control in BC. John was also a member of the Regimental Gun Race team two years in a row, which provided the opportunity to tour across Canada and perform at air shows and heritage day events.

Upon re-entering the CAF in 2001, John was sent to Akerley Community College in Dartmouth, NS, for QL3 Apprentice training as a Construction technician. He achieved the honour of top student on the OST (outside school training) course. As a result, John was able to choose his first posting as an Engineer, which was Halifax without hesitation. During his time at the Naval Construction Troop in Halifax, John deployed on a TAV to former Yugoslavia, where his unit received the TF Comd’s Commendation for decommissioning an operations base ahead of schedule and under budget.

In 2007 as a Cpl, John was posted to CFB Comox, where he participated in several projects and four foreign deployments: the first to Jamaica on Ex Tropical Hammer, then to Camp Mirage in Afghanistan as an HLTA backfill, then to Camp Nathan Smith in Afghanistan with ROTO 8 of the KPRT as the camp carpenter in 2010, and finally to SLOC DET KUWAIT ROTO 0 in 2011 as a MCpl.

John spent the next three years as a Sgt at the Canadian Forces Leadership and Recruit School in St Jean, QC, instructing and assisting with numerous BMQ and BMOQ courses. Shortly thereafter, he attended the QL6B CE Superintendent course at CFSME in 2015, from where he was posted to 1 Combat Engineer Regiment in Edmonton, AB. John held the Construction Tech Supervisor position as a Sgt and upon promotion to WO, became the Tp WO. During this time, he undertook several large projects at CFB Wainwright and CFB Suffield and deployed to Camp Canada on Op IMPACT in Kuwait.

John’s next posting to RPOU(W) kept him in Edmonton as the Ops Superintendent and acting Detachment SM. He was promoted to MWO in 2019. A year later, he was posted to CFB North Bay as the Construction Engineering Troop SM and later as the Replenishment & Engineering SM.

After 30 years of dedicated service to his country, MWO John Reith will be retire from the CAF on 16 September 2022. He wishes to thank everyone with whom he crossed paths during his career as it was an honour. He deeply appreciates his sons, Scott and Alexander, and his wife Michelle, who have been tremendously supportive throughout the years.