After more than 24 years of loyal and dedicated service to the Canadian Armed Forces and the Canadian Military Engineers, WO George Townsend, CD, will retire on 22 February 2022. Congratulatory messages and best wishes can be sent to MWO C.E. Farmer at Colin.Farmer@forces.gc.ca.

In 1988, at the age of 19, George Townsend joined the Canadian Armed Forces for the first time. According to the recruiters of the time, the best way to enter the PERI trade was to enlist as a Gunner in the RCA.

After boot camp in Cornwallis and battle school in Shilo, he received his first assignment at CFB Gagetown. Having completing three years of his contract, he requested a transfer to PERI. Ironically, he discovered that the PERI trade had been dismantled to become PSP. In 1993, following two more years with the RCA, he released from the Canadian Armed Forces to open a small business operating a lumber yard. After nine years in this profession, a catastrophe struck when the lumber yard was totally destroyed in a fire. Seeking to start a new chapter in his life, he re-enrolled in the Canadian Armed Forces as a firefighter in 2002. His first posting was to CFB Greenwood, where he spent his first years as a firefighter. In 2007, he was posted to his first ship, HMCS Protecteur, in Esquimalt. Four years on ship gave him the opportunity to travel the world and visit more than 20 different countries. He left the ship as a MCpl in 2011 and was reassigned to CFB Greenwood.

Eight months after his posting to Greenwood, he was promoted to Sgt and became the Wing Chief Fire Marshal. Shortly afterwards, he received the promotion to WO and was posted to 2 Wing (Expeditionary Squadron) as the Fire Training Warrant Officer for the deployed Air Task Force. His next assignment was with the Atlantic Real Property Operations Group at Willow Park Halifax as an Operations Warrant Officer. His final posting was back at CFB Greenwood as a Platoon Chief. The highlights of his career were three months in Portugal on TGEX, eight months of circumnavigation, and the Nijmegen march.