Enrolling in the military in 1997, Mark Gasparotto obtained an undergraduate in civil engineering from the University of Waterloo and a graduate of Royal Roads Military College. After completing his training at CF School of Military Engineering in Gagetown, he was posted to 2 Combat Engineer Regiment (2 CER) in PetawawaCER as a troop commander before being assigned to 2 CMBG HQ.

Mark has served in Bosnia as a psychological operations officer and later in Kabul, Afghanistan as Field Squadron second-in-command. During a second Afghanistan tour in 2006-07 in Kandahar, he received the Meritorious Service Medal.

Along with other sappers, he wrote and self-published the book “Clearing the Way: Combat Engineers in Kandahar.” Since that time, he has also served at the Tactics School at CFB Gagetown, as assistant chief of staff to the Chief Military Engineer. At the time the book was published, he had been promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel, commanding 2 CER. He and his wife, Shannon, have two children, Abigail and Emily.