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Current Senior Regimental
Appointments of The Calgary Highlanders
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Colonel-in-Chief Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II has been
Canada's monarch since she ascended to the throne of the United Kingdom in 1952, being
crowned on 2 June. In 1981, Her Majesty consented to become Colonel-in-Chief of The
Calgary Highlanders. She receives regular reports from the Regiment on its
activities, and last visited Calgary in June 1990.
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The Regiment
received a new Queen's Colour from Her Majesty while parading before her with the King's
Own Calgary Regiment (RCAC). The Calgary Highlanders were one of the last Canadian
infantry regiments to replace the Union Jack with the new flag of Canada. Her
Majesty continues to take a keen interest in all of her Canadian Regiments.
From the Canadian Heritage Site:
"When the regiments of the
British and Canadian Armies were first formed, many had a royal patron who agreed to
become the ceremonial commander of the unit or its “Colonel-in-Chief.” Perhaps
foremost among the reasons for such patronage was the desire to reinforce, within the
ranks of the regiment, a loyalty to the Crown through this personal relationship with a
member of the Royal Family. The Colonel-in-Chief remains in close contact with his/her
regiment and takes a very personal ongoing interest in its well being and that of its
members. One of the most colourful and significant moments in the life of a regiment is
when its Colonel-in-Chief presents new colours: a flag bearing the insignia of the
Colonel-in-Chief, the regiment and, oftentimes, its battle honours). Old colours are
retired and given a place of honour as the new colours are first presented and marched
past the members of the regiment."
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Honorary Colonel Colonel Robert James Sinclair Gibson, CLJ, MMLJ
Robert JS (Bob) Gibson was born in Bently,
Alberta in 1946, the eldest son of a homesteader farming near Rocky Mountain House, and
was raised in a number of Alberta towns. By his fifth birthday, Gibson's father had
become employed with the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs as a farming instructor,
and the family of six moved to High Prairie. His childhood included activities with
cubs, scouts, sports teams, as well as service with the King's Own Calgary Regiment's
Cadet Corps in Gleichen.
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Colonel Gibson
graduated from Bow Valley Central High School in Cluny, Alberta, and joined the Royal
Canadian Navy as an officer cadet. After his initial year at the University
of Alberta, he worked for several years as a surveyor in the seismograph industry
throughout Western Canada. After leaving seismic, he returned to the University of
Alberta for another year and became a realtor, later joining Southland Canada and becoming
District Sales Manager for thirty-one 7-Eleven stores.
Becoming involved in real estate development led to a stint as Area
Manager for Western Realty Projects with responsibility for Southern Alberta. In
1976 he accepted a position as President of United Management Ltd., and ultimately
Managing Director of Alsten Holdings, Ltd., the holding company of the Singer Family of
Calgary, where he still serves.
In 1986, Colonel Gibson had acquired the
Bobtail Ranch in Penticton, BC, where he raises a commercial herd and pedigree Angus
cattle with his wife, Brigitte. His other interests have included sailing, flying,
and the military, and is a certified offshore sailor, fixed wing, and helicopter
pilot. He has served as Honorary Lieutenant Colonel of the 15th Edmonton Medical
Company, and assumed the same position with the Calgary Highlanders in August 2001.
That December, he assumed the position of Honorary Colonel with the Regiment.
Colonel Gibson sits on a number of committees
related to the Army Reserve and is active in many charitable works through the Order of
St. Lazarus as well as the Duke of Edinburgh's Award program. He has two sons and
three daughters.
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Honorary Lieutenant
Colonel
Lieutenant Colonel Skip MacDonald
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Commanding Officer
Lieutenant Colonel
Mike Vernon
Lieutenant Colonel Vernon was born in
Windsor, Ontario, in 1963. The son of a career army officer, he moved
regularly from base to base across Canada. He was an army cadet for four
years and during that time completed the Basic Parachutist Course. In
his final year of high school, he joined the Canadian Scottish Regiment
as a private. |
In 1981, Lieutenant Colonel Vernon attended
Royal Military College in Kingston, graduating four years later with a
Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature. He was commissioned in
Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, and completed a Master of
Arts degree at Dalhousie University in Halifax before joining his
regiment's Second Battalion in Baden-Soellingen, West Germany, in
September 1986.
In Germany, Lieutenant Colonel Vernon served
as a mechanized rifle platoon commander, completed the Basic Mortarman
Course, obtained his German jump wings, and played on his unit's rugby
team. When the battalion was repatriated in 1988, he was posted to Royal
Roads Military College as a newly-promoted captain and squadron
commander. One year later, he went to 3 PPCLI as second-in-command of C,
and later Administration, Company. He finished his Short Service
Engagement as a leadership and tactics instructor at the Infantry School
at Canadian Forces Base Gagetown. As a secondary duty, he edited the
quarterly Infantry Journal.
On leaving the army in 1994, he and his
wife, Sherri, moved to Calgary and shortly thereafter he spent a month
in Croatia as a freelance journalist. On his return, he began working
for CBC Newsworld as a researcher and later television news program
producer. He is currently a videojournalist for the CBC TV supper hour
news program "CBC News at Six". During the spring of 2002 he was
assigned to cover Canadian troops in Afghanistan and spent two months in
Kandahar, Kabul, and Bagram.
Lieutenant Colonel Vernon joined the Calgary
Highlanders in 1999. Since then, he has completed a number of staff
courses and served as the operations officer, officer commanding A
Company, and deputy commanding officer. In 2003 he was the deputy
commanding officer of Task Force Four, assigned to fighting forest fires
near Okanagan Falls, BC. In 2006 he completed the Combat Team Commanders
Course in Gagetown, New Brunswick. He was promoted to his present rank
and assumed command of the Calgary Highlanders in October 2007.
Lieutenant Colonel Vernon is married to
Sherri White Vernon and they a nine year-old son. In his spare time
enjoys reading , traveling, listening to music, mountaineering and
sailing.
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Deputy Commanding
Officer
Major Michael Owens, CD
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Officer Commanding "HQ"
Company Captain
Fiona McLean
Captain Fiona G. McLean was born in Glasgow,
Scotland; her parents settled in Calgary when she was thirteen. She
completed a bachelor of arts degree and at her father's suggestion,
and inspired by the example of uncles who had done National Service
in the United Kingdom, sought out a reserve force unit after
contemplation of the Regular Force as a career. The Calgary
Highlanders seemed a natural choice given her heritage. The Reserve
Entry Scheme Officer (RESO) Program followed her first undergraduate
degree, with phases 1 and 2 at CFB Petawawa and Phase 3 at CFB
Borden. She graduated from law school at the University of Alberta
in Edmonton and returned to Calgary and private practice.
Captain McLean's life as a commissioned
officer began in the Logistics branch, followed by a
reclassification to Infantry in 1996. She took a sabbatical from law
practice in 2004 for a deployment to Bosnia, first as a
Civil-Military Co-operation (CIMIC) Liaison Officer to the
international community, and then subsequently as Adjutant of the
Canadian National Security Element.
Since her return to Canada, Captain McLean has completed the Army
Tactical Operations Course, the Army Operations Course (Staff
College) and the dismounted infantry company commanders’ course. She
has also had experience working with other units on attached
postings, such as the Loyal Edmonton Regiment and 14 (Calgary)
Service Battalion.
Captain McLean has held a variety of
positions within the unit, including Platoon Commander,
Second-in-Command of Administration Company, Second-in-Command of
"A" Company, Operations Officer, and her present appointment as
Officer Commanding Headquarters Company. As secondary duties, she
also works with the Land Forces Western Area Civil-Military
Cooperation cell and has been an Aide-de-Camp (ADC) to the
Lieutenant-Governor of Alberta since 2001. |
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Officer Commanding
"A" Company
Major Kyle Clapperton
Major Kyle Clapperton
was born in Calgary, Alberta on 21 September 1975 and raised in
Airdrie, Alberta. Major Clapperton graduated from Bert Church High
School with an Alberta Advanced High School Diploma with Excellence,
having competed on the school cross-country, track and field, and
basketball teams. He went on to complete a Bachelor of Science
degree in Exercise and Heath Physiology and then a Masters of
Kinesiology degree in Exercise and Functional Fitness, both from the
University of Calgary. Major Clapperton has a personal interest in
occupational fitness testing and as partial fulfillment of his
Masters degree, competed a study titled “Training for long
distance load carriage in reserve infantrymen”. |
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In 1988,
Major Clapperton joined the local army cadet corps in Airdrie.
Highlights of his six years with 3016 RCAC Corps (Calgary Highlanders)
include the Leadership and Challenge course at the Banff National Army
Cadet Camp and the Basic Parachutist course. Major Clapperton joined the
Canadian Forces Primary Reserve as a Rifleman with The Calgary
Highlanders, finishing second on the QL 2/3 (res) infantryman course and
was accepted into the Reserve Entry Scheme Officers program. During the
1995-96 training year he was tasked as the course officer for a QL 2
(res) course run out of the Militia Training Detachment (Calgary). He
went on to complete Phase III, infantry dismounted platoon commanders
course and taskings as a Platoon Commander for several years of unit
training and unit evaluations. As Senior Subaltern in September 1997 he
became responsible for providing leadership to the other subalterns in
the Regiment as well as commanding the Colour Party as the Senior Colour
Ensign. During the 1998-99 training year he assisted with the junior
officer development cell, helping to prepare junior officers for their
phase training. In addition, during this time, he competed successfully
in the Mountain Man Challenge in 1997 and in 1998 competed as team
captain. Successful completion of the Militia Officers Staff Course
followed and Major Clapperton was tasked as a course officer on a
reserve QL2/3 Infantry course in Wainwright that summer, after which he
returned to his duties as platoon commander and Senior Subaltern in the
unit.
In
May 2000 he participated in the Basic NATO Course for Young Officers in
Brussels. In the following training year he was tasked as "A" Company
Second in Command and successfully completed the Intermediate Tactics
Course. During the 2001-2002 training year, Major Clapperton was tasked
as the Unit Training Officer. In July 2002, Major Clapperton
participated in the International Junior Officer Leadership Development
Seminar (IJOLDS) in Ronneby Sweden. In August 2002, he successfully
completed the Reserve Dismounted Company Commanders Course (ACT INF),
placing second on the course. During the 2002-2003 training year, he
successfully completed the Militia Command and Staff Course (Kingston).
Following Staff College, Major has served as the Unit Operations
Officer, Officer Commanding HQ Company and most recently, as Officer
Commanding "A" Company for The Calgary Highlanders. In February 2007, he
deployed to Kabul, Afghanistan as a trainer and mentor to the Afghan
National Army at the Kabul Military Training Centre.
Major
Clapperton currently lives in Calgary with his wife Devan and is
employed with the Calgary Police Service as the Physical Training
Supervisor, managing the service’s Fitness Unit. In that capacity he is
responsible for ongoing physical fitness testing and training of
incumbent police officers as well as the fitness training of police
recruits. In his spare time, he can be found in the mountains
competing in trail runs and adventure races during
the summer and telemark skiing in the winter. |
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Regimental Sergeant Major
Chief Warrant Officer
Emmett Kelly, CD
Chief Warrant Officer Emmett Kelly was born in Montreal, Quebec, where he
attended public school and later Dawson College. During his college years,
he joined the Primary Reserve as a rifleman in The Black Watch (Royal
Highland Regiment) of Canada, enlisting in 1982. In 1985 he completed the
Infantry Section Commanders Course at L’Ecole de Combat R22eR in addition to
his training as an infantry communicator, basic machine gunner and basic
parachutist. While with the Black Watch he advanced from the rank of Private
to Warrant Officer, and served in all possible positions within the rifle
company, including an extensive amount of time with the Reconnaissance
Platoon. In 1990, Warrant Officer Kelly was employed as a Platoon Second in
Command during Operation SALON, the Canadian Forces' response to the OKA
Crisis, and was attached to 5ieme Regiment Artillerie Leger de Campagne.
Warrant Officer Kelly left Montreal and transferred to Calgary in August of
1995 where he joined the Calgary Highlanders as a Platoon Warrant Officer.
From 1995 to 1999 WO Kelly filled all possible senior administrative roles
in the rifle company in addition to tasking as a platoon commander in 1998.
In 1999 he took a three year Class B position at the Western Area Training
Centre, Wainwright, as the Training WO where he completed the QL7 Infantry
course and was promoted to Master Warrant Officer in April of 2001. He
assumed the position of HQ Company Sergeant Major for the Land Force Western
Area Training Centre, Wainwright, during that time. MWO Kelly returned to
the Calgary Highlanders in 2002 where he has been employed as the "A"
Company CSM, HQ Company CSM and Quartermaster Senior Instructor. In January
of 2008 MWO Kelly completed the CWO Qualification Course at the Canadian
Defence Academy, St Jean Sur Richelieu, Quebec.
In
civilian life CWO Kelly is the Operations Manager for a major construction
management company. He is married with one son and two daughters. He was
promoted to the rank of Chief Warrant Officer in August 2008. |
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Pipe Major
Mister Michael Giles
Pipe Major Giles has been piping for over 18 years. He began his piping
career as a boy piper in the Canadian Scottish Regiment Cadet Corps in Victoria B.C.
Showing an aptitude for the pipes Mike progressed quickly and was playing with the
Regimental band by the age of 13 and continued to for 10 years. During this time
Mike also played as Pipe Sergeant with a civilian competition band on Vancouver island
called The Pacific Gael, with Rene' Cuson a well known piper and judge from the
island. |
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In his early twenties Mike moved to Vancouver and took over
as Pipe Sergeant of a well known band called Triumph Street and after a year took
over as Pipe Major. The band then merged with a former Grade 2 band called Sir John
A MacDonald. Work brought Mike to Calgary in 2004 where he played for fun with the Calgary
Police Pipe Band. In November of 2005 Mike found his way back to his true
love, military piping by being appointed Pipe Major of the Calgary Highlanders. Mike
brought a wealth of Military and Civilian piping experience to the Highlanders and looked
forward to a tremendous growth year with the band.
Pipe Major Giles' first year
resulted in a level of competitve success not enjoyed since Pipe Major Don Maxwell's
tenure; the Pipes and Drums earned the Best Pipe Band award for the Calgary Stampede
Parade, as well as Top Canadian Band overall. In High River in August 2006, the band
placed first in the Grade III Medley Competition of a field of five bands.
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Drum Major
Mister Jim Stewart
While his son Donald was learning to play
bagpipes in the Cadet Pipes and Drums, James (Jim) Stewart was no stranger to the band room
or Armouries balcony. His keen interest in the workings of the regimental Pipes and
Drums paid off when Pipe Major Rhodes enticed him to join the band as a civilian
volunteer. For a time, the Regiment paraded two Drum Majors; Kent Griffiths and his
protégé, Jim Stewart. Born in 1946 in Campbeltown, Argyllshire, Scotland, Stewart
brought a booming parade square voice to his appointment, with an appropriate Scottish
accent. Stewart's previous military experience had been as a submariner in the Royal
Navy from 1964 to 1972. In July of 1980 he moved to Calgary and worked steadily
afterwards as a City of Calgary Building Inspector. He and his wife Margaret also
have a daughter. The Drum Major's uncle had served as a drummer in the Argyll and
Sutherland Highlanders. Jim Stewart served as Drum Major until 2008.
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