Ex-Cadet Balances Reserves and Civilian Life
Edited by 25366 Mike Shewfelt
15008 LCol Dave Morgan (RMCC, ’85) is currently the Commanding Officer of 37 Service Battalion as well as a senior investment advisor with the National Bank of Canada. He was commissioned as an artillery officer, specializing in Air Defense Artillery, and spent 20 years in the Regular Force. He served in Shilo, Manitoba; Baden-Baden, Germany; the UK; Ottawa; and Moncton, New Brunswick.
While in Germany, LCol Morgan had the honour of being the very first troop commander for the newly acquired GDF-005 Gun & Skyguard Radar system. He also worked for a couple of outstanding ex-Cadets, LCol Randy Stowell and then Major Bob Poirier. He did his Masters in Electronics and Guided Weapons at the Royal Military College of Science in Shrivenham, UK (where he met his wife) before returning to Ottawa in 1992. He served as the deputy project director for the Low Level Air Defense Project (LLAD), and did a tour with the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization mission in Israel and Syria before commanding 119 Air Defense Battery, which was equipped with the Air Defense Anti-Tank System (ADATS) that had been acquired under the LLAD project. He retired from the Regular Force and moved over to the Reserves in 2001.
LCol Morgan’s work keeps him busy. 37 Service Battalion consists of the former 31 Service Battalion in Saint John, New Brunswick, and the former 36 Service Battalion in St. John’s, Newfoundland. He splits his time between the two provinces, in addition to running his full time investment business. LCol Morgan credits RMC for providing him with the time management skills he needs to be able to accomplish all that.
“At RMC I had a full course load as an engineer (40 hours a week in 4th year), and if you could not learn to manage your time, then you were doomed,” he said.
He and his wife Janine have two children, Emily and Alexander. Emily (26173) is the CSL of 1 Squadron, and she will graduate in May of this year as an Intelligence Officer. Alexander attends the Commerce Program at Queen’s University and is a recipient of the Sobey’s D&R Scholarship, the largest in Canada.
LCol Morgan is currently gearing up for one more operational tour. He will deploy to Jordan in May 2014 as a Canadian liaison officer to the American-led Op Foundation. He wants one more tour before he hangs up his uniform for good.
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Update – RentThisLand.com’s ‘Farms for Rent’ Service Strikes A Deal on Dragon’s Den
Editor’s Note: Last month we brought you the story of 22545 Shannon Veurink (Travis), RMC ’03, and her family who pitched “RentThisLand.com” on CBC’s Dragon’s Den on March 5th. Now that the episode has aired, they can tell you how they did.
On first glance, farms for rent and farmland renting services may not seem like pressing needs. However, during their recent pitch on CBC’s Dragon’s Den, the Veurink farm family showed the Dragons that the Canadian market was well overdue for innovation in this area.
The response from the Dragons, and from people across the country since the episode aired, confirms what the Veurinks already noticed – farm land leasing had flown under the radar for far too long, jeopardizing the sustainability of one of Canada’s most vital sectors – Agriculture.
The Veurinks pitched RentThisLand.com, the only Canada-wide website squarely focused on farmland rentals. Unlike classified ads, which can be costly, time consuming and leave landowners uncertain about the value of their land, RentThisLand.com features a hassle-free tender process, where landowners can list farms for rent, determine the market value of their land and find the perfect tenant – at no cost.
In the Den, the Veurinks received offers from Arlene Dickinson, Bruce Croxon, and David Chilton, all offering exactly what the team asked for – or in Chilton’s case, more.
While the episode aired, Jim Treliving took to Twitter, saying the business “provides a much needed service for Canadian farmers,” and Arlene Dickinson tweeted, “I love this, it’s like a dating website but for farmland.”
Since appearing on the Den, RentThisLand.com found their perfect match with Bruce Croxon with whom they’ve now closed a deal.
Croxon said, “these guys really know land rental and every website feature enhances the leasing process” He said, ‘It’s really a no brainer choice for landowners and farmers.’
Landowners and farmers clearly shared that opinion, as registrations have been pouring in. The team has received messages of praise from across the country, crediting them with a great model to address a pressing need that sits at the crux of Canadian fabric – its vast array of farmland.
Croxon says, “Lavalife pioneered online dating and RentThisLand.com is pioneering online land rental matchmaking. This is a very solid website with way more than meets the eye.”
Next steps for RentThisLand.com involve implementing some of the strategic input from Croxon and his team, as well as continuing to optimize the technology providing the best farms for rent service in the country.
Who Should List Land on RentThisLand.com:
• Retiring or downsizing farmers who want to retain ownership of their land and receive rental income
• Non-farming children who are trustees or who have inherited farmland
• Investors seeking to find a great combination of price and stewardship for their asset
• Rural residents with unused farmland
• Real estate professionals who want to use a no-cost method of hosting a rental tender process for their clients
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Best wishes to Coach 7301 Earle Morris (Class of ’67) and his Team Canada Women’s Curling Team (Homan) who are competing at the Women’s Worlds in Saint John, NB all this week. At press time their record was 2 wins – 1 loss. More curling news