Sgt Kirven joined the CF on the 6th of June 1986 as a Firefighter under the YTEP program. Within days he was standing in Cornwallis by the Bay of Fundy wearing a paper thin green short sleeve shirt in a snow storm wondering what the heck he had gone and done. After graduating Basic Training he was posted to CFB Borden where after a few months of hard labour on PAT Platoon he started his TQ3 course. Just prior to his TQ3 graduation he was told he was being posted to CFB Moose Jaw. Upon hearing this he asked the obvious question for an Ontario boy, “where the heck is Moose Jaw”? He quickly learned that the saying goes “Moose Jaw is six feet from the moose’s butt.”

In April 1987 he proceeded to his Moose Jaw posting and over the next five years Wayne had a great time hunting and fishing southern Saskatchewan. This wonderful period came to a rapid and shocking end when in July 1992 he was posted to HMCS Toronto as part of the ships First Crew. Over the next three years he spent twenty three months sailing the seas and visiting many foreign ports. The highlight of these port visits was seeing his families’ ancestral home of County Cork, Ireland.

He was posted to CFB Trenton in July 1995. During his posting his daughter was born. In March 2001 he was posted to CFB North Bay where he spent three years working in the Under Ground Complex (the Rock). After earning his MCpl’s and doing his part for NORAD, he was posted in July 2004 to the Canadian Forces Fire Academy. He spent the next four years instructing on almost every course type CFFA offered. In 2006 he was promoted to his current rank.

In August 2008 he came back out west on his posting to 4 Wing Cold Lake. His time in Cold Lake was well spent hunting and fishing in Alberta and Saskatchewan.

On the 30th of November 2011 Wayne will retire after twenty five plus years in the RCAF. He will move back to St. Thomas, Ontario where he plans to spend his time with family there and in North Bay.

Wayne had requested that he retire quietly and without any message, but he was convinced otherwise. There will be a small gathering at Club 54 in Cold Lake on the 17th Nov at 16:00 to celebrate his career. Any and all congratulatory messages, anecdotes and best wishes can be forwarded via email to Michael.Pletsch@forces.gc.ca