After growing up in Saskatchewan I wanted to see the world.  I joined the miltary in 1963 with the militia and joined the Regular Force in July 1967 (at about the time of the integration of the Armed Forces) and ended up with a Navy trade.  Great, now I’ll really get to see the world.  Nope, I ended up in Inuvik, NWT as my first posting.  Then after 6 months I got a first class all expenses paid ticket to Alert, Nunavut.  Well I could see the world from Alert as I was standing on the top of the world. 

Looking back on it now, that was probably the best time of my life and like a lot of people, once you get ‘snow’ in your veins, you never get it out.  I always remember my time in the North as the best times I had.

 However in 1975, after 12 years in the military (4 militia & 8 reg force) with a 2 year trip to Bermuda and another 6 month tour in Alert, I took a different turn in my career and decided to join the Royal Canadian Mounted Police as a Telecommunicator Operator.  My first transfer was to North Battleford, Saskatchewan.  This was going home for me as I was born 30 miles south of North Battleford in Wilkie, Saskatchewan. 

In 1996 the RCMP in their wisdom decided to create one communication center for the province of Saskatchewan and decided on amalgamating the 6 communication centers into the center in Regina, Saskatchewan.  So after 21 years in North Battleford I made the move to Regina. 

There definitely was a difference from working in a smaller center like North Battleford (7 people) to the super center of Regina (50+ people). 

I served in Regina for almost 9 years and in Feb 2005 I decided that I had enough.  I took my retirement after 30 years with the RCMP plus 8 years in the regular Canadian Armed Forces (I didn't claim or pay back my militia time) for a total of 38 years service to Canada.

I moved to the small town of Hanley, Saskatchewan. Population approx 500 people.  The lifestyle is so much quieter and laid back.  It took me almost a year to actually settle into the quiet and peaceful surroundings of a small town.  I’m not sure that I’m still fully settled in, however, I do feel a lot more comfortable in the town environment than I was when I first moved here.