Chair: Douglas Alexander Gardner CD2 (Captain, Retired)
Born to loving parents, whose father was a WW2 Canadian Merchant Navy veteran, in Owen Sound Ontario on 8 May 1956. He was taken by the sound of the Bagpipes at a very young age and this military inspiring instrument lead him to join the Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa Cadet Corps in Sept 1968, and received his Officer Commission scroll to rank 2nd Lieutenant as a Cadet Service Officer in May 1974. In Sept 1975, he enrolled as a non-commissioned member in the 28 Ottawa Service Battalion, where he added to his qualifications, the skills of Mobile Support Equipment Operator and Vehicle technician. During his three years as a militiaman he completed his first United Nation deployment in the Middle East.
Having now had a sampling of military life, Doug took a new course of action and in December 1976 was hired by the London City Police Department. He graduated from the Ontario Police College and began his Police Officer street duties in March 1977. Despite being challenged and attaining success as a rookie police officer the draw to return back to military life was too strong. He separated from the Police force and enlisted in the Regular Force on 10 Mar 1978. Although this enrollment was not with full support of the recruiting staff, but at his persistence was assigned to the Armour Corp as a direct entry to the Lord Strathcona’s Horse (Royal Canadians), in Calgary Alberta.
Doug was an experienced soldier and his leadership skills were identified by the Senior NCOs of the Regiment. He was given many opportunities to advance and tested his skills as a leader and soldier. He completed his second United Nations tour in Cyprus as a Section commander in 1979. He was qualified as an Advance Armoured Gunnery Instructor in Dec 1980 and promoted Sergeant by March 1982. For the next 10 years Doug worked as a member of numerous armoured vehicle troops and received multiple awards for leadership, gunnery and soldier skills. His performance as a gunnery instructor was in demand at the Regiment, on posting to the Armourd School and as an exchange instructor at the United States Armor School in Fort Knox, Kentucky.
After his tour with the US Army, Doug returned to Regimental duty and became the Squadron Sergeant Major (SSM) of C Sqn. In 1994 and as war in the Balkans had the world’s attention and as the SSM Headquarter Squadron he deployed on his third United Nation tour to Camp Visoko, Bosnia Herzegovina. After 16 years of regimental and gunnery school duty, Doug was posted to Ottawa to attend his second language training. Upon successful completion, he was promoted Chief Warrant officer and posted back out west to be the Base Regimental Sergeant Major of Canadian Forces Base Suffield. This experience was an excellent preparation for his next task of being appointed Regimental Sergeant Major of the LdSH (RC). The honor of being RSM was further elevated by the execution of the Regimental 100 year celebrations, associated with Celebration 2000.
Doug was commissioned again, to the rank of Captain in January 2001 and was then tasked to Land Force Western Area Headquarters, (LFWA (HQ)), as the Individual Training Officer. After three years in the LFWA (HQ) he was looking for something more challenging and requested a posting to an oversea position. Duty with North American Aerospace Defense Command in Colorado Springs, Colorado was different and challenging. After 6 years working inside the Cheyenne Mountain Operations Complex as part of the Missile Warning Center, Missile and Space Domain and finally with Standards and Evaluations it was time to head back home.
Doug retired on 11 September 2010 and since then has lived the life of a fulltime Recreational Vehicle person (RV’er). None of the above would have been remotely possible without his wife Alannah and their children Devon and Ashlinn.
