After more than 29 years of loyal and dedicated service to the Canadian Armed Forces and the Canadian Military Engineers Branch, MWO Wade Basson, CD, retired on 24 April 2022. At the member’s request, a Depart with Dignity ceremony will be held on 03 June 2022 – To be confirmed. Anecdotes and retirement wishes may be sent to Maj M.D. Hocquard at Michael.Hocquard@forces.gc.ca.

MWO Wade Basson was born in St. Thomas, ON, and grew up in Port Stanley. In May 1992, he joined the local reserve unit, the Elgin Regiment, as an Armored Crewman and deployed to Bosnia in 1994 with the Royal Canadian Dragoons. The Elgins became a Combat Engineer regiment in 1997.

Shortly after marrying his wife Chantall in March 2000, they moved to Gagetown, NB, where Wade started full-time work at CFSME. After playing hockey and golf with many of the people from CETS, Wade realized that there was more to being an Engineer than just blowing up things. In 2001, he decided to join the Regular Force as an RM Tech.

Following QL3 training, Wade was posted to 14 Wing Greenwood for the next five years. During that time, he completed QL5 training as well as a tour to the Golan Heights and TAVs to Camp Mirage.

In 2007, Wade was posted to CFSME and held positions as an Instructor, Section Commander, and Standards Rep. In 2012, he was posted to 1 ESU in Moncton, NB, prior to the Unit’s relocation to Kingston in 2013. While at 1 ESU, he deployed to Kuwait as the SET 2I/C during the camp construction for Op IMPACT. The following APS, he was posted to RPOU(O) Det Kingston as the RM Shop Sup for two years, which allowed his family time to reconnect after a long period of IR. In 2017, Wade was promoted to his current rank of MWO and posted back to 1 ESU as the 11 Sqn SSM.

In 2018, MWO Basson was posted to 2 CAD in Winnipeg as the Qualification Manager, which happened to be one of the more rewarding positions he held during his career. In the spring of 2021, both Wade and his wife had had enough of him working from home, so he requested a posting down the street at RPOU(W) Det Winnipeg as the SSM/Ops O, where he needed to be physically at work every day.

While at RPOU(W) Det Winnipeg, the opportunity to be hired as the Utilities Officer presented itself. The Bassons never intended to retire in Winnipeg as it’s too flat to enjoy cycling and far too cold! However, Chantall loves her job as a barn manager with over forty horses and six cats that she sees daily. Their son Owen, who is now 17, will graduate from high school this year and needs stability to become an auto mechanic. Thus, the time has come to stop moving and to establish roots within the community. MWO Basson is looking forward to going to Bombers games with Owen and Moose/Jets games with Chantall. He may even dust off his golf clubs and give that a try again if he ever gets off his bike.