Kingston Ontario Apr 1981 

I joined the Canadian Forces Apr  1981. The photo above is of my father giving me the oath of allegiance. My father (Bing Crosby), seen above, was a Captain in the Air Force. He was one of the first C-130 Flight Engineers and was the first Flight Engineer to bring the first C-130 into Canada. I plan on having his life story on the net as soon as it's completed.

1 Troop of 23 Field Sqn of 2 Combat Engineer Regiment

        During Operation "Otter" I was tasked as the troop Warrant Officer in charge of  bridge construction. The two photos above are of that construction. The second  photo is of the Bailey Bridge being placed into its final position by crane.  This bridge is constructed by hand with each piece weighing upwards to 576 lbs.  

  ICE STORM OF 1998  

    During the Ice Storm I was tasked as the troop Warrant Officer in charge of 1 Troop 23 Field Squadron, 2 Combat Engineer Regiment. The troop's task was to deploy, set up and support the local residents with firewood, food, and physical support where possible. The troops also spent many long hours watching key instillations and maintained an over watch on the community of  St Eugene in southern Ontario, plus a 100 km radius around the community. The troops would find themselves knocking on each and every door within our area of operations ensuring everyone was aware of our presence, and just what support we could provide in the way of generators, food, wood and transport. It was one of the only times that we, as Canadian soldiers, were able to support our own population. It was one of the most rewarding times of my life. 

This Photo is of the flood plain near the town of Sonageria along the Saba river

     During Hurricane Mitch a huge amount of water fell over a very short period of time. This caused tremendous flooding throughout Honduras, Central America. As Canadians, we deployed to the area of the Saba valley to the small town of Sonageria where we set up a medical station and water supply point. The Engineers' main task was to set up camp and provide water to the camp and local inhabitants. This, however, changed rapidly and became much more. Again I was tasked as the troop Warrant Officer in charge of the of the Combined Field troop, or Composite Troop, which consisted of Combat Engineers and Construction Engineers. 

    During my tour in Honduras I deployed on several reconnaissance missions, one which was looking for the bridge crossing the Saba River some 20 km from base camp. Once we reached the first river and crossed the small bridge 3 km from the main river, I was astonished to find out that under all the banana trees there was a bridge. To the untrained eye- me -it just looked like a very large pile of banana trees. I quickly named the bridge the 'Banana Bridge'. After several hundred meters, we came across a tree that had washed down from the mountains. It was in the area of 2 m across at the base and was some 20m in length. It was a massive mahogany tree with dark red grain. I will never forget the monstrous size of this tree, and when I looked at it, all I could think about was the power of the raging Sona River and how it moved this monsters tree some 50 km or more. But that was nothing compared to the Sona Bridge that was ripped apart and tossed around the valley which, hours ago, was a raging torrent of water. The bridge piers were ripped from the earth and rotated 180 degrees and then driven back into the earth several km down river. You have to understand that they must have  weighed some 20 tones plus each.  

BOSNIA 1997 (NATO)

During  my deployment into Bosnia I was tasked as the Squadron Operations Sgt. I lived near the small town of Zigon.  

During my tour in Bosnia I managed to make my way around the local countryside. The photo on the left is a tunnel through the mountains on the way to the Canadian camp "Camp Maple Leaf". .

                During my time in country I managed to spend my spare time carving fish and learning how to carve ball and claw legs the old world way. I used such woods as walnut and Yasen which, until Bosnia, I never new existed. But, to my surprise and excitement, does exist. Yasen, when finished in oil, looks like marble with light and dark veins running through in all directions. It looks outstanding on tables and doors. I carved several small tables and statues during the six months I was deployed..

                  The wood was from a local carpenter that was very skilled at making old cathedral doors from Yasen. He showed me several boards that were placed in the rafters of his shop. But, of course during the shop tour, he was inclined to tell me his life story and how he and his wife eluded the Germans when they overran Yugoslavia during the second world war. He, in fact, showed me the location where they had hidden during the war. It was in his backyard, by the shop, in an old woodpile! He and his wife hid from the Nazis there for  several hours! In his workshop, high up in the rafters, was the Yasen. He informed me that it had been placed there by him and his brother  before WWII, and had been there ever since. I had to explained my excitement when I saw the grain of the wood.  It was an astonishing dark marble color . Later that week I sat down with him and his wife for tea and found out that they were very much down on their luck and needed cash to purchase food and supplies. I, of course, offered him and his wife money. They, however, refused such things as a handout. So, he offered me the wood that had been sitting curing for several decades now in the rafters of his shop. I paid some 400 German marks for 10 sticks of the wood which, in Cdn dollars at the time, would of been in the area of 600 CDN dollars. I would estimate the cost of the wood to be in the area of 30 dollars a board foot, but I was satisfied with the price. After all, I was planning on just giving him the money as a gift.    

RWANDA 1994 

UNITED NATIONS MISSION TO RWANDA 

                 During my deployment to Rwanda I was tasked with Section Commander of a field section of Combat Engineers. Our task was to construct the camp in Kigale city. That task, however, changed into Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) or bomb disposal. I would spend the next two months with two detachments of Engineers and two UK EOD team members working for me as

SIERRA LEONE 

2001

UK TASK FORCE 

BLOOD DIAMONDS OR CONFLICT DIAMONDS 

Sierra Leone

                During this tour of duty I would find myself as an Engineer Advisor to the Sierra Leone Army Engineers. The last ten years of war had taken its toll on the country and the army was in shambles. As the Revolutionary United Front or RUF disarmed and moved back, we moved forward ensuring that the RUF had no place to run and hide as we set up fire bases throughout the country.  I would spend most of my time in the jungles of Sierra Leone in Fire Bases and Patrol Bases and leading several dismounted & Hind D Attack helicopter border patrols with Liberia.  

During my off time on the weekends, I would venture down to the local carving shop by the beach in Freetown to look at and carve local woods. During one such occasions I gave Tumba a carving magazine from the States. In the magazine were several North American animals and one of the pages had a cotton tail rabbit. Not thinking about it much, I spent several hours carving and watching the local carvers work since I would be deployed into the jungle the following days looking for the RUF. Three weeks later, I would return to the carving shop in Freetown to find several large carved  white rabbits sitting in the shop floor. When asked why carve a rabbit, the master carver replied "because it was in the book". It turned out that he had set his team of carvers to carve every picture in the magazine, not even knowing what a rabbit was or where it was from but, because it was in the magazine, it must be made. 

         In 2002,  I was promoted to the rank of Master Warrant Officer and moved to the position of Squadron Sergeant Major, 25 Support Squadron within 2 Combat Engineer Regiment based out of CFB Petawawa, Ontario. During the first year the squadron managed to deploy four times on several different mission.

I was deployed to Afghanistan from the 21st July 2003 to 31st Jan 2004 . My mission at the time was to be EOD, or Explosives Ordinance Disposal, Advisor on all EOD & Mine intelligence matters and to be an active member of the Kabul Multinational Brigade (KMNB) forensic team based in the City Of Kabul, Afghanistan. My second tour started in Apr of 2007 and was completed in Jan 2008, another long 9 month tour of duty as a Combat Engineer.

                        The photo on the right is of me standing beside one of my carvings in 2003 that I completed during my tour in Kabul. I decided that Kabul and the Canadian Camps needed a little touch of Canada. So, I set aside three hours a night during my time off to carve two poles 4.5m in length, or as my wife calls them 'Backyard Sculptures'.   I am told the Totem Pole now resides in the ISAF HQ compound.