33 Year CF veteran – RMCC J3 Operations pulling the plug
Photos taken by Matt Telfser
RETIREMENT – MAJOR COLIN CRAWSHAW
On Thursday at the SSM a short and simple (as he wished it) retirement ceremony was held to honour and acknowledge 32 years and 255 days of dedicated service to the Queen for Major Colin Crawshaw. In attendance were his spouse, Nancy, the Commandant, the Chief of Staff and approximately 80 members of the RMC community.
Maj Crawshaw’s military career began in August of 1977 when he became an Air Weapons Technician, working, ironically, with the Navy (actually Maritime Command) as a torpedo loader in Greenwood, NS. He was then cross-trained as part of the then new F-18 program and was posted to 433e Escadre at BFC Bagotville, QC.
On 1 May 1986 he was appointed to the rank of Master Corporal and four days later was appointed Officer Cadet and attended UPEI as a UTPM. After completing a degree in Business Administration – Public Administration, he became a Logistics Officer. After a series of postings, to places such as the idyllic CFB Penhold, AB, and a two-year stint as the Commanding Officer of the Fighter Group HQ at CFB North Bay (as a Captain!), he arrived at RMC in August 2008 as the J3.
His first task as J3 was to assume the overall coordination for Reunion Weekend 2008. This was followed by the Christmas Ball 2008, where the concept of an onsite Ops Centre was tested and proven, mostly due to his hands on leadership style and visible presence throughout the evening along with that of his staff and the RMC Security Team. His team did such a great job that he was rewarded with the overall coordination of Graduation Week 2009.
In addition to these major planning exercises, he and his small staff coordinated visits by the Swedish Chief of Defence and a delegation from the United Arab Emirates, amongst many others. He oversaw the RMC coordination for events such as numerous weddings, the Canadian Cancer Society’s annual Relay for Life and the annual CDAI conference.
Behind the scenes he developed the first ever Business Continuity Plan for RMC, has led the review and rewrite of the Duty Field Officer instructions, oversaw the recent review and reissue of new parking passes, worked with others to ensure that the Security Control Centre was able to properly monitor the results of the soon to be completed Security Access Project. One of his more thankless tasks is to be the guy who seeks out augmentees for taskings such as Afghanistan, OP PODIUM, etc.
While at RMC he has continued the work of his predecessor to raise the visibility of the J3 shop and has helped validate the concept of having a J3 at the College.
I’ll close this article with a few quotes from several letters of appreciation from his Personnel File:
o [he is] not afraid to speak his mind but does so with tact and demeanour expected of a Senior Officer;
o [he] directly affects the morale throughout this HQ – a force multiplier – “Colin’s quote of the day”;
o every commander should have a Capt Crawshaw on his staff (and as COS I concur);
o went out of his way helping students; and
o was never less than the epitome of professionalism.
On behalf of the Commandant, staff, faculty and students of the Royal Military College of Canada, I wish Colin and Nancy all the best as they begin the transition to civilian life. They will be staying in the Kingston area at least for now.
Fair winds and following seas.
Yours aye
13789 Darren Rich (RRMC)
COS
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KINGSTON BRANCH CONTRIBUTING MORE WAYS THAN ONE!
Kingston Branch President Reg Watts (Left) presents the results of a Branch Heritage project to Museum Director Ross McKenzie (Right); the cataloguing and photographing of the Lt. D.W. Frederick (College # 1271) collection of College and War memorabilia. The collection of several hundred items is the first at RMC to be completely available digitally on a national database in both textual and graphic format for researchers. Branch volunteers spent over 6 man-weeks on the Frederick project which is now entering phase two, detailed analysis and scanning of several hundred military and personal documents which accompanied the collection.
Frederick was an award-winning track star at RMC and post-war was active in RMC Club life in Montreal and Hamilton. During WW1 he was a communications officer serving with the 268th Siege Battery in France, and later with the 129th Siege Battery with the army of occupation.
This is an example of several College heritage projects undertaken by the Kingston Branch Heritage Working Group.
Photo taken by Matt Telfser
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