Sergeant Vince de Boer will retire from the Canadian Armed Forces as a Firefighter, after 14 years of service.

Born and raised in Calgary, Alberta, Vince graduated high school in 2003 and worked for several years at the well-known Calgary Exhibition and Stampede. It wasn’t until his early adult years when he decided his life needed a sense of direction.

After joining the Canadian Armed Forces 2005 as an Infantryman, he completed his Basic Military Qualification in St-Jean, QC, followed shortly by his Soldier and Basic Infantry Qualification in Meaford, ON. By 2006, he was posted to 3 P.P.C.L.I., at CFB Edmonton, AB.

Two years later, he began workup training for deployment and was subsequently loaded for deployment to Afghanistan in 2008, with the Battle Group, as part of Task Force 1-08. Shortly after the plane landed back in Edmonton, he was promoted to Cpl.

After his repatriation, he volunteered to take an attach posting to 1 P.P.C.L.I. in order to deploy back to Afghanistan in 2009, again as part of the Battle Group, with Task Force 3-09.

Upon his return to Canada, Vince accepted an Occupational Transfer to Firefighter in 2011. He was posted to CFFCA Borden, for his QL3 Apprentice Firefighter course. After completion of his QL3, he was posted to 14 Wing Greenwood, NS where he served 6 years as a Crewman, Crew Chief and Fire Inspector. In 2014, he returned to Borden to complete his QL5 when something unexpected happened, he met his future wife, Amanda. Amanda and Vince were married in 2017.

During this year, Vince was also promoted to MCpl and posted to CFFCA, Borden ON as a Fire Instructor. In 2019, he was promoted to Sgt.

With sincere thanks and gratitude for the opportunities and lessons-learned while part of the Canadian Armed Forces, Vince will humbly release on 1 Oct 2019 and return to academia to gain knowledge of the natural world. Vince will attend the Urban Forestry Program at Algonquin College and start his new career in Arboriculture.