1 Wing Chief Warrant Officer

Chief Warrant Officer (CWO) Dean Desaulniers was born in Chatham, New Brunswick and enlisted in the Canadian Armed Forces in Montreal in 1989 as an Airframe Technician.    

Following trades training in Borden he was posted to 425 Tactical Fighter Squadron at Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Bagotville to maintain CF-188 Hornets. After many different “Red Flag” exercises in the South and numerous NORAD exercises in the North, the now Corporal Desaulniers was posted to CFB Trenton where he was responsible for maintaining CC-130 Hercules and Boeing aircraft at 8 Air Maintenance Squadron (AMS).  

Following his return from Op APOLLO Roto 0 in 2002, he reluctantly left the flight line at 8 AMS to become an instructor at 426 Transport Training Squadron. In 2007 he was promoted to the rank of Sergeant and posted to 429 Transport Squadron where he was charged with the maintenance of the CC-177 Globemaster.  

In 2010, the newly promoted Warrant Officer (WO) Desaulniers was posted to the CC-177 Weapons System Maintenance Shop in Dayton, Ohio, as the Senior Life Cycle Material Manager for the Globemaster. He was subsequently posted back to CFB Trenton in 2014 for a year-long French course. Completing it ahead of schedule, he then returned to 429 Squadron as the Weapon System Officer Representative and Crew Chief.  

In June 2015, WO Desaulniers was promoted to the rank of Master Warrant Officer (MWO) and posted to the Aerospace and Telecommunications Engineering Support Squadron (ATESS).  During his time at ATESS, he held the appointments of Headquarters Flight MWO and Deputy Engineering Projects Officer.  

Promoted to his current rank in June 2019, CWO Desaulniers found himself within 403 Helicopter Operational Training Squadron (HOTS) lines as the Squadron Chief Warrant Officer of “The Wolf Pack”. After two short years at 403 HOTS, CWO Desaulniers attended and completed the Non-Commissioned Member Executive Professional Development programme at the Royal Military College of Canada. CWO Desaulniers has been selected for appointment as the 1 Wing CWO, eager to serve the folks of 1 Wing and is proud of the opportunity to be their Chief.