We have contacted numerous ex-cadets from the fifties through to the new millennium and plan to feature them in the coming months to give readers a chance to catch up with names and faces from each of the respective CMCs. If you would like to contribute to this column, please feel free to email me (Ken Eady) at s25247@rmc.ca
– 12017 Luc Bernard (CMR 1988)
Is an abstract landscape artist in Vancouver B.C. who works with the encaustic medium in which pigment is applied in layers of melted wax. He studied Commerce at the Royal Military College of Canada. He studied sculpting and encaustic painting at the Ontario College of Art and Design and the Toronto School of Art. In 2007 he won the Federation of Canadian Artists Grand Prize Award. With his paintings, he tries to say something about the ephermeral, capturing a moment of observation. He donated ‘Cumberland, 1999’ encaustic on panel to the 16th Annual Art For Life Gala Dinner and Fine Art Auction held Saturday Nov 14th, 2009 at the Rocky Mountaineer Station in Vancouver BC. In 2008, Vancouver Magazine recommended keeping Luc Bernard as one of ten artists to keep squarely in your sights.
http://www.artforlife.net/index.php?p=4_7
/ http://www.elliottlouis.com/Artists/Luc_Bernard.asp
http://www.wallacegalleries.com/index.php/component/option,com_gallery/id,11/task,cv/
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– 14963 Colonel Daniel Genest (RMC 1985)
14963 Colonel Daniel Genest (RMC 1985) took command of 5 Area Support Group on 30 January 2009. He was born in Grostenquin, France, on 4 December 1963. He enrolled in the Canadian Forces in June 1981 and attended the Royal Military College in Kingston, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering in May 1985. He then completed his military engineering training and was assigned to 5 Combat Engineer Regiment for the first time, remaining there from January 1986 to July 1988. During this period he held, in succession, the positions of troop commander, Officer Commanding 55 Support Squadron and Adjutant. In June2004, he was promoted to Colonel, and held the position of Chief of Staff at Land Force Quebec Area and Joint Task Force (East) from August 2004 to July 2007. He then worked as Director Military Capability Management within the Chief of Force Development Division at NDHQ until January 2009.
http://www.army.forces.gc.ca/5gss/bio-eng.asp
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– 15450 Colonel Norman Saulnier (CMR RMC 1986)
Was promoted and assumed the duties of Deputy Commander, Canadian Forces Recruiting Group in the summer of 2009. Colonel Norman Saulnier enrolled in the Canadian Forces in 1981 attending le College Militaire Royal de St Jean and the Royal Military College of Canada before training as an Aerospace Engineer. With postings to 427 Squadron, 1 Wing Headquarters and 16 Wing, he has held command appointments at the section, flight, unit and wing level. Colonel Saulnier has held staff positions as a Deputy Aircraft Engineering Officer in the National Defence Headquarters, As A4 and A6 in 1 Wing Headquarters, as A4 Maintenance Readiness in 1 Canadian Air Division Headquarters and as the Assistant Defence Cooperation Attaché in Washington, DC. Colonel Saulnier holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical) from the Royal Military College, a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Ottawa and a Master of Science in National Security Studies from the United States National War College.
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Carpe Diem
By A/SLt 24498 Noelani Shore (RMC 2009)
Vancouver native 22691 Major Daniel Kucherhan (RMC 2003) is the Regimental Administration Officer at the Canadian Forces Joint Signal Regiment (CFJSR). He graduated with a degree in Computer Engineering (Hardware), and what he likes most about this degree, is that it gave him a basis for logical thinking.
“All problems in my mind are logical, and stem from learning of computer engineering,” Maj Kucherhan explained.
While his degree taught him the basis of logical thinking, RMC gave Maj Kucherhan a more valuable lesson.
“The greatest thing RMC taught me was efficiency in learning new things, and being able to face those complex problems of tomorrow,” he said.
Maj Kucherhan joined the CF in 1998, and RMC was a great opportunity for him in terms of the leadership training.
“When I look back on it now, there are few other universities that offer leadership training, and RMC gives you everything that you need to be a leader in one big package,” he said. “I wanted to join the CF so I could give something back to a country that’s done so much for Canadians.”
Maj Kucherhan enjoyed his time at RMC, and feels that recruit camp was a good learning environment.
“My experience on recruit term was amazing. I still look up to the people who were in charge of me, and I have the utmost respect for them because of the way they treated us. They were hard on us, but they also knew when to ease off, and treat us with a lot of compassion. It was probably the greatest professional development opportunity of my life,” Maj Kucherhan said.
He had the opportunity to be on the other side of recruit camp, and acted as Cadet Flight Leader in his fourth year.
“As CFL, I had an excellent experience with first year cadets, when they first came in. We pushed them hard and had a lot of fun, and it was very rewarding to just see their expressions at the end of First Year Orientation Period (FYOP),” he said.
Maj Kucherhan was very involved during his time at RMC, and he found that because he was so busy, he got more out of the college.
“RMC is what you make it. At the college, if you’re involved heavily in things, the payoff is enormous. If you choose to be a ghost cadet, then, unfortunately, you may not have the same experience as others who do more,” he said.
Maj Kucherhan was briefly involved in the pistol team, but his main focus was getting out and playing intramural sports.
“I’d play up to three intramural sports a night. Great workout, great cohesion and teambuilding. Because I was so heavily involved in the squadron, I made a lot of friends and I got the chance to interact with a lot of people,” he said.
Maj Kucherhan was first posted to the CF School of Communication and Electronics, but after completing phase 4 of his Signals course, he was posted to CFB Valcartier.
“It was a very eye-opening experience, and allowed me to learn French, which has definitely helped me along the way. It is, however, hard to maintain. Kingston is fairly bilingual, but it’s a constant challenge. I’ve been lucky in that I’ve been given a lot of secondary duties, such as the Unit Coordinator for Official Languages,” he explained.
In post-RMC life, Maj Kucherhan noticed that he had the foundation of leadership, but he was exposed to a much wider array of complex situations.
For Maj Kucherhan, communication is the language of leadership, and it is important to get to know people in order to communicate with them effectively.
“Essentially, I think leadership is sorting out chaotic situations, and making it simpler so that your team can succeed,” he said.
While Maj Kucherhan has not been deployed, he looks forward to an eventual deployment with CFJSR, as it is an operationally high-readiness unit.
He has taken advantage of opportunities for professional development, and he is most proud of finishing the Basic Parachuting Course in Trenton.
“That was a very rewarding course. Very physically intense, but also very systematic. Where else can you get paid to jump out of airplanes? The physical aspect was the most difficult. It’s been run for so many years that that it’s so technical in nature, and that’s probably the easiest part of the course, but mentally and physically, it’s very demanding,” he explained.
Maj Kucherhan took a lot away from his experience at RMC, and learned to take in the benefits it had to offer.
“The time flew by – it really picked up near the end. Don’t blink. But you just have to enjoy the time, Carpe Diem, and be as involved as you can.”