Choices, care, ‘creating luck’ mark military career
If there was a game plan to being a wing commander, Colonel Luc Vachon may have run it.
He joked in 2024, arriving in Greenwood from a director post at Canadian Joint Operations Command, he’d now have time to play hockey. Did he get enough time on the ice through his two years here? He did, last playing with the base senior men’s team at CAF nationals earlier this year: “the greatest team ever.
“I love the military. I knew no one and, my God, was it the right thing to do.”
July 9, Vachon comes to the end of his role at 14 Wing Greenwood in a change of command ceremony; he will also retire from a 34-year Canadian Armed Forces career in the next few days.
At 17, his parents didn’t want him to go paint-balling with buddies – “they thought it was too violent. Two months later, 120 pounds – including the change in my pocket, I told my parents, ‘This is what I want – to be an army medic.’ The military was calling. Mom said no; Dad said yes – and, I found out later, he didn’t think I’d actually make it!”
Vachon started in 1992 as a Reserve 52nd Field Ambulance health care administration officer. After university, he transitioned to the Royal Canadian Air Force Regular Force in 2000. He aimed for pilot, but found his position, with the combination of math and “non-office” work he liked, as an airborne combat system officer (navigator) aboard the CP140 Aurora.
“Two “TSN Turning Points,’” says Vachon: “I was working at 407 Squadron in Comox as a captain, doing the minimum of what was asked. I had a chat with the commanding officer – he walked me around and showed me all the stuff people I respected were doing. They were putting in the effort; known, trusted, present. I changed my view – I studied, started to get involved, got more stuff done.
“It’s all about creating your luck.”
“Turning Point” number two came in 2015, with a choice he and his wife, Captain Lindsay Williams-Vachon, said they’d never make.
“We said we’d never do IR (imposed restriction),” Vachon says. Juggling two military careers and two very young children, they’d decided his career would be the priority.
“Both are important, but she’s supportive: you can’t be a wing commander without a supportive spouse, and her chain of command has been phenomenal.”
The choice: take a year to be the executive assistant to the commander of 1 Canadian Air Division – in Winnipeg.
“I had another good chat with a commanding officer: he said, ‘what you want now is not something you will want later.’”
The reward for the IR term, followed by a deployment leading Air Task Force – Iraq and then as deputy director for 1 CAD fleet readiness; was his fourth career posting, “home” to Greenwood, as the commanding officer for 405 (Long Range Patrol) Squadron, in 2018.
“My first posting to Greenwood was in 2006, and it was easy to fall in love with the Valley. Lindsay’s parents are in Middleton. I loved 405 Squadron – a great tour.”
But, in just two years, the family was off again. Vachon joined the faculty at Canadian Forces College Toronto and then became the Joint Air Component Coordination Element director with Canadian Joint Operations Command.
“I thought there was no way being a wing commander could beat being CO of a unit – but it was the only way back to Greenwood for us. We wanted to come back. One of our daughters is in Grade 6 – and she’s been in five schools. We decided as a family, let’s push for this; it made sense as a good, smart time for us.”
As Vachon took command of 14 Wing in 2024, he felt he “didn’t think I’d be leaving.
“I’m ‘old’ – I was 26 when I joined the Regular Force. You need the stamina. Mental health-wise, it gets draining. There is the time away. I’m on the phone all the time – you care so much.
“Your focus needs to be right.”
The care started soon after his arrival. His HQ office had “not enough orange; all grey:” artwork, crests, emblems and achievements highlighting 14 Wing’s long range patrol aircraft and operations. He asked 413 (Transport and Rescue) Squadron for suitable décor and received a recovered lifejacket from a July 2024 SAR call, complete with lights, whistle and crest. The 413 rescue crew’s names are markered on, including Major Michael Girard.
“I was a lieutenant or captain back in Comox; he was a second lieutenant there – here, this was his first mission in command.
“A focus on SAR would be in my lessons learned from my first year: I did not focus enough on SAR. But – they are self-sufficient. They do so much that is so amazing, and then they say, ‘Just doing the job.’”
SAR carrying their workload day-to-day, combined with the “Operate as One” wing-wide motto that shows up in long range patrol, support units, morale and welfare services, and “we’re ready all the time.
“It’s easy to highlight the wing and what people do. When I hear other wing commanders talking when the boss goes around, and highlight all the great stuff? I’m biased. We’re doing amazing things, important things – left, right and centre. There is no micro-managing from above: we get our guidance; we run with it. We get our stuff done. They have 100 per cent confidence in us.
“I am so proud of what 14 Wing is doing.”
All of that, plus the pace of transition now on the wing: new aircraft, new capabilities, new personnel, new infrastructure to handle it all. Vachon, in his civilian life, will take on infrastructure project coordination for 14 Wing.
“I’ve already been doing it, and there are all different priorities,” Vachon says. “But, it’s tracking the right priorities, working between Real Property Operations and the wing commander. The scope is known, I will have predictability – and reduced stress.”
The family moved out of the wing commander’s house last month, back into the Valley home they’ve kept through all their postings. Vachon is collecting photos for his depart with dignity event, and is looking forward to that first year in his new job, with fewer “curve balls” on the immediate horizon.
“When I was a kid, I’d see armed forces members, or get pictures of myself and autographs after a Snowbirds show. I love the military and, holy s**t, it was amazing.”
14 Wing Greenwood marks change of command July 9
Thursday, July 9, 14 Wing Greenwood will mark a change of command ceremony, as Colonel Luc Vachon relinquishes his duties to the incoming Colonel Angie Thomas.
The ceremony is by invitation, at 2 p.m. in 11 Hangar, with a reception to follow at the Annapolis Mess. Dress is military DEU 1A, and business attire for civilians.
