‘We’re going to be war fighters’: New commander of 3rd Battalion
The new commander of the Edmonton-based 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, was to the point when he gave his vision for the unit.
“We’re going to be war fighters,” Lt.-Col. Adam Moore said Wednesday, shortly after dismissing his new soldiers for the first time. “We’re going to be ready to answer Canada’s call, whether that be in support of Canadians in need here at home or whether the government decides Canadian soldiers are needed abroad.”
Moore officially took command of 3 PPCLI after a ceremonial parade at Canadian Forces Base Edmonton. Current and former members of the well-known western Canadian unit were in attendance.
“It’s very humbling to be afforded the opportunity to command the greatest soldiers in the Canadian Army as part of (3 PPCLI),” said Moore, who previously served as a platoon commander with the unit during Operation Apollo in Afghanistan in 2002.
His most recent post was as chief of staff for 1 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group, also headquartered in Edmonton.
Ceremonial scrolls arrived at the ceremony via two paratroopers who jumped from a Griffon military helicopter flying at approximately 5,000 feet.
In his farewell speech to the soldiers he had commanded for two years, outgoing commander Lt.Col. Derek Prohar explained with a mix of humour and solemnity how joining the PPCLI in 2001 changed his childhood definition of a hero.
“If you’re ever wondering a what or why ... if you’re ever in need of some inspiration, I’ll offer you this: if you can handle shorts that are a little too short, moustaches that are really bad, haircuts that aren’t quite regulation and language that ... would make a dock worker blush, if you’re ever in need of a hero, I know the place for you.”
Prohar deployed to Afghanistan four times. He earned a Medal of Military Valour while attached to U.S. Special Forces, as well as a Meritorious Service Medal for work with the Afghanistan National Army.
The PPCLI also had a change of appointment for its Colonel of the Regiment, a ceremonial position. W.B. Vernon, a retired majorgeneral, was replaced by retired brigadier-general V.W. Kennedy.
“The role of Colonel of the Regiment is core and essential to our functioning as a total unit,” said former governor general Adrienne Clarkson, who was appointed the regiment’s third Colonelin-Chief in 2007.
Clarkson is the only Canadian to have held the ceremonial position since the regiment was founded in the First World War.