Change of command for Niagara’s regiment
The Lincoln and Welland Regiment celebrated a new commanding officer with a change of command parade Saturday.
The day began at St. George’s Church in downtown St. Catharines, where a service was held to commemorate the liberation of the Belgian town of Bergen Op Zoom during the Battle of the Scheldt in the Second World War. Following that, was a parade to the Lake Street Armoury where the change of command saw Lt.Col. Bruce Mair replaced by Lt.Col. Christopher Cincio.
Following an inspection by Col. Dan Stepaniuk, the 32 Canadian Brigade Group commander, the official change of command was signed on a table in the middle of the parade square while the members of the regiment and a small crowd watched.
Of the three years that Mair spent at the helm of the Links and Winks, it is the camaraderie that he said he is going to miss the most.
“Every time the army said we need people to do something, like the Syrian refugees coming in, the guys were tripping over themselves to help out with that. When deployments come up for Kuwait or any domestic deployment, there are always more volunteers then spots. It was a fantastic experience to be in charge of these guys.”
And then there was the regiment’s win in the Countess of Wessex Cup earlier this year.
“Countess of Wessex is our colonel in chief, every unit has a royal person attached to them,” said Mair. “She holds a competition for all the other units she is affiliated with, British navy, army units, air units. We got invited over to her competition. Our first time going was last year and just getting the guys over seas was an accomplishment. This year they went again and they won. I was absolutely thrilled. They beat out British regular units, so that was terrific. For a part-time unit to beat a regular unit, that’s awesome.”
Mair will be moving on to work with the Canadian Forces Liaison Council.
“We go around to employers and we try and convince them of the value, if they have a reservist working for them, of the value of letting that guy or gal go for training, for operations,” he said. “Because it hurts. If I lose my employee for two or three weeks or months, that might hurt my operation but there is benefits to it long term so I try and convince people of that.”
For the next three years, Cincio will be leading the regiment. He was born and raised in St. Catharines and now lives in Welland. He first joined the Lincoln and Welland Regiment in 1981. He is an inspector with Niagara Regional Police, overseeing regional operations, and he also deploys operationally as a tactical incident commander.
“My goals are two-fold: basically it is retention through good training and recruiting,” said Cincio. “I’m happy to be here. Happy to work hard for the regiment.”
Recruiting is a major focus of the regiment currently.
“The reserves are going through a lot of change right now,” said Capt. Conrad Flatman. “We have been given a mandate to grow so we are recruiting. We had a recruiting open house on Sept. 30 so we are trying to get the word out to the community that we are hiring men and women to join us. We are hoping to enter a big period of growth and it is one of the incoming commander’s priorities.”
Meanwhile, Cincio is looking forward to working as the commanding officer of the Lincoln and Welland Regiment. Its first training exercise will be a threeday stint in Meaford where it will train on FIBUA (fighting in built up areas) such as cities. There is a mock village in Meaford that is used for training.
“Soldiers of the regiment,” said Cincio to soldiers on the parade square following the change of command, “I look forward to training hard with you and to continue to build the regiment in order to look after this great nation of ours.”