B0171 Major (ret’d) Gilles Brière (RMC ’90) is a remarkable engineer from Quebec with extraordinary stamina, a talent for logistics and an unshakable desire to serve mankind. On May 24, 2003, the Canadian Council of Profession Engineers honoured Gilles Brière, ing., with the Meritorious Service Award for Community Service for his selfless contributions to world peace. Faced with the horrors of war, ever-present danger, often with primitive living conditions and long periods of separation from family and friends, Mr. Brière has served as a civilian peacekeeper with the United Nations since 1994. However, Mr. Brière’s first experience with UN peacekeeping came in 1981, when, as a member of the Canadian Army, he served as a blue beret in Cyprus. The experience touched him deeply. In 1990, after completing a degree in engineering management at the Royal Military College in Kingston, Mr. Brière placed his name on the UN military volunt eer list. He soon found himself in Cambodia, a country ravaged by two decades of violent conflict and chaos, including the extraordinarily brutal rule of the Khmer Rouge. He was handed responsibility for complete logistical support for the advance team and later the full contingent of 21,000 UN peacekeepers. As a logistics specialist, Mr. Brière locates suppliers for every possible necessity peacekeepers need to live and work. He negotiates the contracts and arranges safe delivery of the goods often to highly remote locations. For without supplies there would be no missions. Without missions there would be no peace. His work in Cambodia earned him a UN Certificate of Praise.