2012 Birchall Leadership Award Dinner
November 8, 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Canadian Forces Base Halifax – Juno Tower
The RMIM Patriot Award
The Patriot Award is presented for exceptional and patriotic action on the part of an individual, group, or corporation and is to recognize their outstanding support to Canada’s defense or to our allies. The award is the Royal Military Institute Medallion mounted on a plaque accompanied by or embedded in a scroll depicting the action. The award can be presented for a singular act or for a long time commitment to our Allies and to the men and women who serve in Canada’s Armed and security forces. The award was established in 2001.
Outgoing CDS, General Walt Natynczyk, Mrs Gisele Gagne and RMCC Club / Branch President, Jacques Gagne.
Branch President, Jacques Gagne and Mrs Gisele Gagne, representing the Royal Military Colleges Club of Canada were in attendance, Saturday October 27th for the 2012 annual Royal Military Institute of Manitoba (RMIM) Awards Dinner held at the Fort Garry Hotel. A recipient of the 2012 “Patriot Award” was one of Winnipeg’s favorite sons; Chief of Defense Staff, General Walter J. Natynczyk.
General Natynczyk enrolled in the CF – ROTP program in 1975 and attended Royal Roads Military College until 1977; when he transferred to Royal Military College St-Jean to complete his studies in Business Administration. General Natynczyk is a member of the Class of 1979. The incoming CDS, newly appointed Lieutenant-General Tom Lawson is also a member of the Class of 1979.
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Back in 1966, I took a step that had a significant beneficial impact on my future – I applied for a Canadian passport. I was planning international travel and because I had been born abroad I could see a potential problem getting back into Canada, even though I was a graduate of the Royal Military College of Canada and was serving as a regular officer in the Canadian army.
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24974 Richard Lim Joins CISM Golf Team
“After a rather successful summer of golf, I was honored to be selected to the CISM golf team that competed at the 7th World Military Golf Championships in Jacksonville FL. The remainder of the 6 male and 2 female team was comprised of CWO Stuckless, Maj Lowdon, Maj Ridyard, Capt O’Donnell, Sgt Cameron, Capt Gelinas and MCpl Escabar.
After arriving in Jacksonville, we had the great opportunity to play a practice round at TPC Sawgrass. The course is the host of The Players Championships, and is on many a golf enthusiast’s bucket list, including each member of our team. The course was in immaculate shape. The highlight of my round was a par on the famous island green of the 17th hole.
The following day we began our tournament with the official practice round. It was our first day to meet the participants from the other nations represented which included Bahrain, Estonia, Germany, Italy, Namibia, Netherlands, Pakistan, Spain, USA and Zambia. It was quite an experience to rub shoulders with players from these countries and to learn what occupations they fill in their militaries.
The tournament format for the male division was four days with four of the team’s six scores counting each day. After day one, we were in a distant second place behind the Americans. The Americans increased their lead each following day with multiple sub-par rounds. Meanwhile, we became involved in a heated battle for second place with Bahrain and Spain. The course on NAS Jacksonville was playing wet and very difficult for the entirety of the tournament and on the third day it got the best of our team when Bahrain was able gain an eleven stroke lead for second place going into the last day. Unfortunately, we were not able to make up the difference and finished in third place, six strokes behind the second place Bahrain team.
In addition to winning a team bronze medal in the men’s division, we also captured a silver medal in the women’s team division, a gold medal in the men’s senior division (Tony Stuckless), and a men’s senior division bronze medal (Tom Cameron). It was quite an honor to hear the Canadian National Anthem because of CWO Stuckless’ gold medal win. Along with our tournament medals we won the Fair Play award, awarded to the team that best exemplifies the motto “friendship through sport.” This award was a great honor for our team as all the participating countries voted on it. It was great way to end a fantastic week and experience.
I’d like to thank Jason Price, our team manager and MGen Forgues, our Chef de Mission and Patron of Golf, for all their hard work behind the scenes to make the tournament an experience I will never forget.”