Chief Warrant Officer Joseph Éric St-Gelais, from the small village of Ste-Jeanne-d ’Arc on Lac St-Jean, joined the Canadian Armed Forces on 19 January 1991 as an infantryman with the Voltigeurs de Québec. Until 1992, he worked on obtaining various core and trades qualifications. He then held various posts with the unit’s operations company.

 

In 1993, CWO St-Gelais was deployed to Bosnia-Herzegovina with the 2nd Battalion, Royal 22e Régiment for United Nations operation “Cavalier.”

 

Following his return in 1993 and until 2007, he held various positions and responsibilities with the operations company, and was also employed by LFQA battle school in Valcartier as section commander and instructor for various infantry trade courses.

 

In 2003-2004, he continued his military training to reach the rank of warrant officer. In 2007 he held the positions of platoon 2IC and quartermaster of the operations company. In 2009, he was deployed to Afghanistan as CIMIC (Civil-Military Cooperation) operator in the Kandahar sector. Following his return, he was posted to the operations company, while continuing his military training to reach the rank of chief warrant officer in 2016.

 

Following that, he held the positions of unit trainer and sergeant major of the operations company.

 

​Chief Warrant Officer St-Gelais is employed by Coractive, a leader in the development and manufacturing of fibre optics as well as a supplier of fiber laser for a variety of industrial uses. He currently works as a production engineer.

 

Chief Warrant Officer St-Gelais lives with his wife, Maria Alejandra Navarro