After more than 18 years of loyal and dedicated service to the Canadian Armed Forces and the Canadian Military Engineer Branch, Sgt K.W. Virtanen, CD, will retire on 1 April 2025. A DwD reception will be held at Griffins Pub and Eatery on 31 March 2025 beginning at 1300. Please contact Sgt James at: Joseph.james@forces.gc.ca if you want to share anecdotes, photos, or any other congratulatory favors.

Sgt Kurtis Virtanen joined the Canadian Armed Forces in August 2006 as a reg force Combat Engineer with 4 Engineer Support Regiment (4ESR), in 42 Field Squadron. During that time, he participated in various regimental routines, courses, domestic deployments and training exercises.

In 2009 he was moved to 43 SQN and started work up training for Task Force Afghanistan ROTO 9. From May to November 2010 Sgt Virtanen was deployed to Afghanistan. Upon returning from Afghanistan, he stayed in 43 SQN and went on several courses: Improvised Explosive Device Defeat (IEDD) Assistant, Expedient Route Opening Capability (EROC), Advanced Combat Engineer Search, and EROC section commander course. He was one of 6 personnel to be first qualified to operate the Wolf C-IED vehicle. Sgt Virtanen spent 10 years in 43 SQN in various roles, as well as being a Canadian Armed Forces representative/liaison with other militaries with regards to high-risk search and EROC. In 2019 Sgt Virtanen followed his passion and went to K1 to work on small engines for a year, where he made a great reputation for himself as being a reliable, hard working, and exceptional problem solver when it came to small engines.

Sgt Virtanen was posted to Canadian Forces School of Military Engineering (CFSME) in August of 2020. During his time at CFSME he worked in MWD Troop as the Search SME and Search cell supervisor. Sgt Virtanen was a key person in planning and setting up the Advanced Search Course to be run in Canada. Since then, there has been two Advanced Search Courses run in Canada. While at CFSME Sgt Virtanen has taught on five BEOC 1.1, five BEOC 1.2, nine DP3A/RQ SGT, nine DP2/RQ CPL, and fifteen DP1/RQ SPR. In his five years at CFSME Sgt Virtanen has taught, mentored and influenced over one thousand Combat Engineers to have come through CFSME.

During Sgt Virtanen’s service he has gone on multiple other courses, such as Close Quarter Combat Basic, Close Quarter Combat Instructor, and Bridge Inspector. He has also had the opportunity to go to Israel, Chile, New Zealand, Australia, Germany, and USA. Sgt Virtanen will be retiring on 01 Apr 2025 and plans to stay living in his house in Geary. He plans to spend his retirement going to school for fabrication and welding. Upon completion of school he plans to open his own shop.