Michael Greer:  

tte Islands were I held the position of Senior Foodservice Manager of the Station. Unfortunately this was at a time of Canada’s military down sizing, and we closed the Station in July of ’96. Although, while there I was fortunate to be part of the pilot program for integrating the CFM (Certified Foodservice Manager) qualification from the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservice Association for military chefs. From there, I took an all new path. I was promoted to Warrant Officer and posted to Victoria, (Esquimalt) BC, home of Canada’s Navy of the West, as Chief Cook of HMCS Ottawa. After moving to Victoria, I was off to Halifax for 6 months getting her sea ready. We Commission her in Sep of 96 and sailed through the Panama Canal. The next few years were a good learning curve, adjusting and training for the all the Navy ways. Being the newest and most recent Frigate, HMCS Ottawa was in line to provide others with a long overdue rest. We prepared (Battle Group Work ups) with the US Navy, and their aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in preparation for a 6 month Peace Keeping tour in the Persian (Arabian Sea) Gulf from July to December of ’98. Foreign ports included; Hong Kong China, Malaysia, Phuket Thailand, Muskat Oman, Kuwait City Kuwait, Dubai UAE, Melbourne & Sidney Australia, and Pearl Harbor Hawaii. During my 3 year stint as Chief Cook with the Navy, I had an amazing team of junior chefs, and we were awarded Best Food and Service, both coasts by Sea Training 2 years running, and won an international military culinary competition in Portland Oregon at the Portland Rose Festival in 97. In 1999 I was offered a promotion to MWO and a posting to CFB Edmonton, which has converted to Canada’s largest Army base and units in the West. As the girls were pretty well settled in school at this point, we didn’t want to move them again. Not to mention we love the Island. So, with 21 years of service, at 38 years old, I retired with a full pension.