12 Wing Commander

Colonel David Holmes

Colonel (Col) David Holmes

Colonel (Col) David Holmes, a native of Brantford, Ontario, joined the Canadian Armed Forces in 1994. He obtained a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering degree from the Royal Military College in Kingston in 1998.

After earning his Wings in 1999, Col Holmes was assigned to 423 Maritime Helicopter (MH) Squadron in Shearwater, Nova Scotia. He operated the CH124 Sea King helicopter as an MH pilot and served aboard HMCS Halifax, Fredericton, and St. John's. Notable achievements during his first operational tour include multiple deployments with the Standing Naval Force - Atlantic (STANAVFORLANT), two Operation Apollo rotations, and holding Training and Readiness Pilot and Deputy Operations Officer positions for the squadron. Between 2005 and 2008, Col Holmes took on various training and evaluation roles at 12 Wing Shearwater. These included serving as a pilot instructor at 406 Maritime Operational Training Squadron, a standards pilot with 12 Wing Operations, and the Pilot Officer with the MH Standards and Evaluation Team. During this time, he also became an Instrument Check Pilot and took the lead in the annual Waterbird program, which involved practicing water landings with a modified CH124 helicopter. In 2008, Col Holmes was promoted to Major and transferred to Ottawa's Directorate of Air Requirements (DAR). Within DAR, he served as the Project Director for the RCAF Night Vision Capability Omnibus Project and Director Staff Pilot for the Maritime Helicopter Project, which aimed to replace the CH124 Sea Kings with the CH148 Cyclone. In 2010, Col Holmes attended the Joint Command and Staff Programme at the Canadian Forces College in Toronto, concurrently earning a Masters in Defence Studies from the Royal Military College.

Upon his return to 12 Wing in 2011, Col Holmes became the Helicopter Air Detachment Commander for HMCS Charlottetown, deploying for Operation METRIC in the Mediterranean Sea and Operation ARTEMIS in the Arabian Sea and the Arabian Gulf.

Prior to his promotion to Lieutenant Colonel (LCol), he served as the Deputy Commanding Officer of 423 (MH) Squadron. In 2013, Col Holmes participated in Op FOUNDATION in Doha, Qatar, serving as the Deputy Directorof Combat Operations within the United States Air Force, Central Command, Combined Air and Space

Operations Centre. Col Holmes assumed command of 423 (MH) Squadron in May 2014, leading the Maritime Helicopter deployable capability on the East Coast and overseeing the daily Wing Flying Program in Shearwater until 2016.

After his command tour, Col Holmes was posted to the Strategic Joint Staff, where he served as the Officer in Charge of the Strategic Situation Centre and as the Desk Officer for Western Hemisphere and Asia Pacific Operations. He gained experience in civil-military cooperation as an Intergovernmental Emergency Management Committee member. From 2019 to 2020, Col Holmes served as the Deputy Chief of Staff for Training, Operations, Planning and Development and the National Air Operations Officer for the National Cadet and Junior Canadian Ranger Support Group.

Between 2020 and 2022, Col Holmes held the position of J3 Continental Officer at the Canadian Joint Operations Command. In this role, he directed Canadian Armed Forces Continental Operations, the Search and Rescue Enterprise, and National Commemorations and supervised the Canadian Forces Integrated Coordination Centre.

Col Holmes comes to us from Toronto having completed the National Securities Program at Canadian Forces College.

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