Wood takes reins at base

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This article was published 14/07/2021 (1817 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Canadian Forces Base Shilo will soon have a new base commander at the helm.

Lt.-Col. Chris Wood is set to take the reins of the Westman base in a change-of-command ceremony on Thursday.

“Since my arrival, I’ve been touched by not only the welcome wagon that’s been rolled out for me but how focused everyone is on getting the job done and doing what they need to do,” he said by phone from CFB Shilo.

The ceremony will look different from past editions due to COVID-19 public health restrictions, but Wood said there will still be 25 people allowed.

Wood grew up on a farm outside Cornwall, Ont., and joined the military at 18 after spending a year in the reserves.

“My parents instilled this idea of help out where you can and when I look back to those years when I was trying to figure out what I was going to do, where I was going to go school, the military seemed to indicate an exciting career and someplace where I could help out,” he said.

“In high school, I think ‘Top Gun’ came out and I definitely wanted to be a fighter pilot at some point.”

He studied chemical and material engineering in university before going on to serve in the military as an armour officer and maintenance officer fixing land equipment. He also worked at the naval base in Esquimalt, B.C., fixing land-based equipment operating on naval ships.

In the summer of 2006, he was deployed to Afghanistan, where he worked out of Kandahar as the officer in charge of maintenance.

“The opportunity to deploy internationally is an extremely rewarding opportunity for any soldier, sailor, airman or woman,” he said.

“It opens your perspective to what Canadians are like and what we can bring to other cultures, other countries. These opportunities are where we demonstrate our expertise, so it was certainly a rewarding experience.”

As base commander, he said he wants to champion support for the families who call the base home. Wood said his own family plans to arrive from Ontario in August and his wife is a teacher.

“I feel it’s a privilege to not only champion the support for families locally, but also through my headquarters,” he said.

Wood plans to live on the base and to stay in tune with the challenges and needs of the immediate community.

He said he is trying his hand at welding and raised honeybees in Ontario.

“I didn’t bring any of my bees, they’re back in Ontario, but I hope to learn some of the best practices out here and try to get a hive to manage while I’m out here,” he said.

While Wood brings hobbies with him into the role, he said the majority of his time will be spent dealing with some of the “complex issues” of base command. Some parts of the base itself are aging and infrastructure repairs are needed.

“If I can progress those and make a measurable forward movement in them I would be very happy with that.”

Lt.-Col Wood steps into the role after the death of the former base commander, Lt.-Col Jeff Lyttle, in May. Lyttle was 46 when he died of cancer after 26 years of service in the military.

“The military is a small community… we had been talking earlier in the year and he was certainly a compassionate and engaged leader,” Wood said.

“The base, impressively, has continued to complete its tasks, but I’m not confident they’ve had the opportunity to grieve … I want to acknowledge that tragic loss and be sensitive to that transition and give folks time to grieve and recover as we move into the summer.”

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