Nova Scotia/Nunavut Command of The Royal Canadian Legion www.ns.legion.ca 7 Craig joined The Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada in 1990 at the age of 16. In 1991, before his 18th birthday, he completed the basic parachutist course in Edmonton on serial 9109 and then became a member of the Parachute Company. In December of 1993 he transferred to the regular force and was posted to the 2nd Bn Princess Patricias Canadian Light Infantry; a childhood dream of his after observing the unarmed combat instructor in the movie The Devil’s Brigade. While serving in the 2nd Bn, he deployed to Bosnia in 1997 on Roto 0 of OP Palladium under NATO’s Stabilization Force or SFOR. There was a lot to process in the aftermath and near conclusion of the Balkans War, he recalls and the memories of that time, good and bad will never be forgotten. Upon completing four years with 2PPCLI, he returned to The Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada. In around 2001, Craig moved to Barrie Ontario, where he transferred to the Grey and Simcoe Foresters and in 2007 was attached to 1RCR for pre-deployment training in Petawawa. In 2008, Craig deployed to Afghanistan as a Sergeant/heavy weapons mentor within the Operational Mentor and Liaison Teams otherwise known as OMLT. In December of 2008, upon the OMLT teams taking casualties, he was promoted toWarrant Officer (while so employed) and switched roles to mentoring an Afghan National Army Company as the 2i/c (2nd in command). Upon returning to Canada, Craig moved back into the Greater Toronto Area and once again, rejoined The Queen’s own Rifles where he filled many rolls such as Recce Platoon 2i/c, Direct Fire Support Platoon 2i/c, RQMS and Course 2i/c for many courses. In 2021, Craig took up an opportunity to teach at 5CDTC Det Aldershot where he worked as an instructor and course 2i/c on several NCO and Officer leadership courses. In 2023, after over 33 years of service as an infantry soldier, he was released due to injuries sustained during his service. In 2014, Craig had joined the Royal Canadian Legion at Branch 322 Ajax Ont. as a way to help support his fellow veterans. In 2016, Craig was one of the Co-Founders that stood up the Legion’s OSI Special Section, otherwise known as BSO Legion OSI. The mandate of this special section was to promote mental health awareness and fight mental health stigma. BSO Legion OSI was ratified at Convention in St John’s NFLD of that year and Craig held the position of 1st Vice President at ratification. In 2019, Craig became the National Coordinator for Operation VetBuild, a program which incorporates hobby as a means of building and sustaining good mental health. He developed this program and incorporated it into BSO Legion OSI’s offering of services. Operation VetBuild now supports veterans and their families in branches across the country. When hearing that there was an opportunity to do more for veterans through the Legion, he applied for the role of Executive Director of Nova Scotia Nunavut Command and to his excitement was offered the position in which he has taken on in September of this year. After 33 years of military service and 9 years as a volunteer within the Legion, Craig feels that this is the transition that he needed, to continue to serve Canada and its veterans. He also feels that the skills, the discipline and the friendships that he has forged over his years as a soldier and Legion volunteer will be his greatest assets. WO Craig Hood (Ret’d) is NS/NU Command’s new Executive Director Craig Hood CD, WO (Ret’d)
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