BA Honours English ’05
After graduating in 2005, Mike worked at a number of jobs but he felt nothing fit as a long-term career. Finally, he joined the Canadian Armed Forces in August 2009 as an Infantry Officer and soon after left for basic training at the Canadian Forces Leadership and Recruit School in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC. He then went on to complete his training over the next 18 months or so at the Infantry School at CFB Gagetown near Fredericton, NB. Upon completion of training he was promoted to Lieutenant and posted to the 3rd Battalion of the Royal 22e Regiment (R22eR) at CFB Valcartier just north of Quebec, QC as a platoon commander in C Company.
Mike held the position for the better part of a year before beginning work-up training, being promoted to Captain and being deployed to Kabul, Afghanistan. He spent eight months in Afghanistan; two as a mentor at the Kabul Military Training Centre and six as a Duty Officer in the Tactical Operations Centre (TOC) at Camp Phoenix. Upon his return following the mission, Mike was employed as C Company Battle Captain for about a year, he is currently a Plans Officer in Goose Bay.
Mike is married with three small children (5, 3, 1) and is currently completing a Master of Public Administration from the Royal Military College. His military career was made possible by his degree from Carleton University as his entry plan to the CAF as an officer required that he have a Bachelor’s degree. He has had amazing and sometimes difficult experiences and faced a variety of challenges that he had never expected to see in the course of a career.
Mike would recommend a military career to any Carleton graduate who possesses personal fortitude, good judgement, a desire to serve Canada and a sense of adventure.