Greetings! As we commence the Christmas holiday season, I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself and provide you with some thoughts on our Institute and my vision for the next three years. Before I do that, I would like to thank Bob Myhill and Gary Coulter for their dedication and hard work over the last six years as our President and Vice President.

First of all, I am excited to take on the responsibilities of this important historical organization. I am passionate about promoting, encouraging and communicating defence and security issues. Our country has a tremendous history of rising to the occasion and performing well in conflicts around the world and supporting security here at home. Disappointingly so, this country has let our military and security forces dwindle and become incapable of fighting in this turbulent and dangerous world. We need to be able to share our defence and security ideas and communicate our support for stronger, versatile and more capable defence and security forces to our politicians and Canadians here in Kingston and the local area. There needs to be a sense of urgency about defence, and we need to remain relevant, growth oriented, and progressive as a United Services Institute.

I enrolled in the Forces in 1980 and served for 38 years as an Armour officer (Royal Canadian Dragoons) in our Canadian Armed Forces. I commanded at all levels up to and concluding Division Command. I deployed to Bosnia twice, Ethiopia/Eritrea, and a couple times to Afghanistan as Canada’s last war fighting Commander in Kandahar and our last Canadian Commander leading the NATO Training Mission in 2014. I have served a number of times with the US forces including time as the Deputy Commanding General for III Corps (“America’s Hammer”) and J5 for US Central Command Headquarters responsible for all countries in the Middle East including Afghanistan and the Stan countries. I recently completed my appointment as Colonel of the Regiment, Royal Canadian Dragoons and I was a Board member for the Corps of Commissionaires here in Kingston. I live just north of Kingston on Buck Lake, and I am married to Katrin and we have two children, Stephanie and Derek who is serving as an officer in The Royal Canadian Regiment.

My intent as the President is to reinvigorate our institute and recruit from across our retired and serving security forces, first responders, academia, and across our political and business community. We need to promote forward thinking, free discussion and careful reflection on defence and security issues. We already benefit from a membership with considerable experience across all facets of life, both military and civilian, and with contacts with the defence and security communities who can provide the meaningful contribution we need. I need the entire membership to help me connect better with our community. I am in the process of inviting local mayors and MPs and MPPs in the Kingston area. I also want to connect better with CDAI in Ottawa to be able to contribute to their capabilities and to potentially conduct a defence forum here in Kingston with our business and local leaders to discuss defence and security issues. I am now also in contact with other USI’s across Canada.

Our Canadian Armed Forces capabilities and strength as a NATO partner has significantly decreased over the last 10-15 years. We are not meeting our agreed to NATO target of two percent of our GDP and the size of forces has dropped to an unacceptable level in recent years compounded by a recruiting and retention crisis. Our government has been promising more but there is no sense of urgency, and they have not been executing a slow-moving plan to meet the two percent commitment and to also to increase the size of our Forces. Short of mobilizing, this country needs to drastically change its direction and build a larger, more capable and technically proficient force. I do sense that we may be starting an upswing as far as Defence goes, but we need to make sure that we keep the pressure on. We will continue to meet every third Thursday of the month except for the summer months of July and August, and December. We will also return to sending out our regular Bulletin, where all will get an update on future activities and read thought-provoking articles recently published on defence and security issues. All of you need to become recruiters and reach out to the local populace. Of significance, we commence our 100th year starting in 2025 and we intend to organize a formal dinner in October to recognize and celebrate our centennial.