Colorado Springs – Colorado
NORAD Logisticians and the 50th Anniversary Flag Relay
By MS Amanda Forrest, Head Cashier, CFSU(CS) Photo by MCpl Lois Gouthro
On 3 July 2017, the Logistics 50th Anniversary Flag departed Ottawa, to begin its journey around the world. The flag’s first leg of the relay would be to visit OUTCAN operations and bases throughout Europe, the Middle East and the United States, before making its way back to Canada to begin the Canada-wide portion of the relay. The flag arrived in Colorado Springs as the last stop of the OUTCAN part of the relay on 15 September. During its short time here in beautiful Colorado Springs, the Logistics staff were able to take pictures with flag and sign the official Logbook. A few of us also had the great opportunity to take the flag to Garden of the Gods to get a couple of great shots of the breathtaking scenery.
On 18 September, the day started like any other Monday for us Logisticians here in Colorado Springs. With the arrival of the flag, we showed our pride in a fitting manner; a picture of most of our support personnel in front of one of four Canadian airplanes that were donated as displays to Peterson Air Force Base. Upon completion of this photo, we congregated in our building for a small celebration. LCdr Jim Baird-Foley, Deputy Commanding Officer CFSU(CS), gave a brief historical background of the Logistics Service, before the cutting of the cake. Here, we kept with the tradition of youngest and oldest members to do the honorary cut. Capt Tammy Dupuis and Cpl Kim Tourigny-Lambert cut the cake – we won’t reveal their respective ages.
While the Logistics Service is large in numbers, when we were given the time to read over all of the names of those who signed the Logbook before us, many were able to recognize names of former colleagues and friends. It felt like it was a mini-reunion. CFSU(CS) celebrated this milestone for the Branch with a delicious cake and good conversation reminiscing about previous postings and tours of duty.
The last day our unit had the flag, Sgt Eric Dion, WO Laurene Stanners and Capt Tammy Dupuis and I set out to the Garden of the Gods to take advantage of the beautiful scenery Colorado Springs has to offer. The day could not have been more perfect to capture these great moments. Along our routes to various locations within the park, many people stopped and asked what we were doing. We took the time to show our pride as Canadians and explained why we had this flag and were taking lots of pictures with it.
Canadian Element NORAD (CANELEMNORAD) supports all members who work with NORAD across the United States. CFSU(CS) is the support unit that manages all the financial and administrative matters for not only the 146 members within Colorado Springs, but also for our six detachments in the United States including Rome, NY; Elmendorf, AK; McChord, WA; Tyndall, FL; Vandenberg, CA and Tinker, OK. In total there are 296 Canadians serving with CANELEMNORAD. Of those 296 members, we have 28 Logisticians.
The time the flag was here in Colorado Springs was a great experience and we were all honoured to be a part of it. Here’s to another 50 years!
