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Retirements
Retirement Maj Tom Rippon
Although 39 CBG will be sending out a msg to invite msgs/anecdotes, I am
unsure of when that will be. Therefore I will tell you that Tom retired at the
end of July and will be "dined" out on the 27th of Sep in Victoria, as per the
notice below.
* Tom Rippon joined the Provost Corps as a Military Police Officer from
1965-1968. In 1977 he rejoined 11 (Victoria) Service Batallion as the Officer
Commanding the Military Police Platoon. He later became the Adjutant, and then
the Officer Commanding Administration Company. He then joined the Victoria
Detachment of Militia Area Pacific as the SO2 Administration where he finished
his career as the 39 Canadian Brigade Group Personnel Selection Officer.
* Personal traits and work ethic: He will be remembered for the extraordinary
dedication he showed in his interactions with people. He was the only PSO in the
lower mainland, Vancouver Island and BC interior for many years, and followed a
grueling schedule in order to fit in all the requests for interviews. He
mentored people who were completing various levels of post secondary education,
and provided wise counseling and career advice when it was needed. He was the
quiet administrator behind many commendations for people whose extra time and
effort would otherwise have gone unrecognized. He was committed to ensuring
that every action of his and his staff was ethical, forthright, and in the best
interests of the army. He served with pride, and went many extra miles for many
people. He will be greatly missed.
* Retirement plans: He will continue in his capacity as Associate Faculty Professor, Royal Roads University, as well as publishing and presenting
papers at national and international conferences. When not doing this, he will
be at home riding his HOG.
I am hopeful that some of you will take a few minutes out of your busy
schedules and send a short msg for Tom to be read at the luncheon.
To hopefully facilitate this process and ensure the msgs are received by
the key people - Pls send wishes to Willow LCol, cc. Capt Charlotte Edwards as
follows: Willow LCol SJ@39 CBG HQ@Vancouver; charlotte@edwardstreehouse.com
Retirement LCdr Chris Lyon
LCdr Chris Lyon[pictured above in CANPAT] enrolled in the CF 22 Aug 1978 as a MARS Officer. He attended HMCS VENTURER and served aboard HMC Ships COWICHAN, SASKATCHEWAN and MACKENZIE. In Apr 1980, he transferred to the Personnel Selection Branch and was trained in Esquimalt by Maj Freeman Anderson. His first posting as BPSO was CFB Shearwater (1981). Two years into the job he was accepted for PG training at Saint Mary's in Halifax. He was the second military graduate in the new IO programme having been preceded by Karl Wenek. On graduation, he was posted to CFPARU in Toronto where he served from 1985 to 1988. Notable projects were the development of the Canadian Forces Attrition Information Questionnaire, Review of the CF performance Appraisal System and Soldiers perceptions of Combat Stress. In 1988, he was posted to NPPP Maritime Command Headquarters in Halifax as the Branch's first Command Personnel Applied Research Coordinator. An exciting position, there were great opportunities to build a Navy Personnel research capability.
Key, projects and activities included Mixed Gender Integration programme, Navy Ethics Programme, MARS Assessment Centre, the development, implementation and participation in the first CF and Navy Critical Incident Stress Debriefing Team and Navy Stop Smoking Project.
The next adventure on this CF journey was as a teacher at Royal Roads Military College where he served from 1992-1995. It was a great experience and it provided an opportunity to work with so many of the officer corp in the CF today. Unfortunately it was a sad time as they closed the College and this presented unique challenges to help keep the psychology department going in that last year and contribute to the efforts to keep Roads as a University. LCdr Lyon shifted across the Harbour and served in Esquimalt as a member of the BPSO shop from 1995 to 97. An interesting time, he had the opportunity to develop a computerized questionnaire and feedback system for the Fleet Repair Unit and delivered a Junior and Senior Leadership Harassment in the Workplace training. He was the Base's first Harassment Advisor. In 1997, he was introduced to the Army as the Area PSO for LFWA. Four weeks into the job, he found himself on a plane to Bosnia where he completed interviews and reports for 68 soldiers in two and a half weeks. The Army was in transformation with new structure, new bases and the challenges were many. PSOs were few and the main effort was to provide services and put the soldier first. Also many new programmes had to be served and new PSOs to be trained. In 2000, LCdr Lyon was deployed to Bosnia as an Operational Psychology Advisor and on return to Canada was sent to Borden as BPSO in 2001. In 2002, he returned to Edmonton and continued his job as APSO until 2005 when he was posted to CLS Ottawa as the CPSO and LPCP4 Army Personnel Research Coordinator. During this time he developed the Human Dimension Themes for the Army of Tomorrow and a research programme that encompasses, soldier attributes and competencies, professionalism and ethics, culture, morale cohesion and trust, decision making and resilience. A career of 31 years, that spans four decades, LCdr Lyon is the longest currently Regular Force serving member in the PSel Branch. He and his wife, Lela plan to stay in the Ottawa Area and enjoy the pleasures of full retirement. Ready Aye Ready.
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Last Updated 23 Sept 08
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