After more than 20 years of loyal and dedicated service to the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) and the Canadian Military Engineer Branch  Warrant Officer James Vanderlinden, CD (bio attached), will retire 16 Apr 2017.  Warrant Officer James Vanderlinden has elected not to have a DWD. Anyone who wishes to send a farewell message or share a story can send it to WO Gerald Wood

Warrant James Vanderlinden was born in Dominion Nova Scotia; he joined the Canadian Armed Forces on 17 Apr. 1997 as an Infantryman. Upon completion of his QL3 course in Dec of 1997, his first posting was to 2 RCR at CFB Gagetown. During his time with 2 RCR, WO Vanderlinden participated in the Quebec Ice Storm relief efforts as well as deploying to Bosnia in 1999 as part of SFOR.

Feb 2003 WO Vanderlinden left the infantry trade to become a firefighter completing his QL3 on 4 Dec 2003. His first posting as a firefighter was to 12 Wing Shearwater from Dec 2003 to Feb 2007. During his time in Shearwater, he completed his QL5 course in 2005.

The next turn in WO Vanderlinden’s career took him to the HMCS Athabaskan as a shipboard firefighter. The next 3 and a half years proved to be very busy travelling the world with a number of sailing missions including OP CARIBE with the HMCS Fredericton. In 2008 he was promoted to MCpl and in July 2010 he was posted to 12 Wing Shearwater where he was immediately sent to CFB Borden to complete his QL6 course. While on course he was promoted to Sgt Dec 2010.

Upon completion of his QL6, Sgt Vanderlinden spent the next 2 years as a platoon chief. In Jul 2012 saw him posted back to the Atlantic Fleet as the Senior Firefighter on the HMCS St. Johns. The next year and a half was spent mostly at sea including a northern sail for OP NANOOK. Sept 2014 Sgt Vanderlinden was posted to Personal Coordination Center Atlantic PCC (A) where he was responsible for the manning of firefighters on ships. Nov 2015 he was promoted to his current rank of WO, he completed his ILP Spring of 2016 and was posted to CFB Greenwood Jul 2016. During his short tenure in Greenwood WO Vanderlinden was Gold Platoon’s Platoon's Chief and was also deployed to CFS Alert for 6 weeks.

WO Vanderlinden recently accepted a position as a DND FR2 Fire Prevention Officer with the CFB Halifax FD and he will retire from the CAF on 16 Apr 2017. WO Vanderlinden, his wife Sarah and their 3 children Madison, Kayla and Josh will remain in the Halifax NS area as they begin this new chapter of their life.