Biography: Warrant Officer (Ret'd) Marvin MacNeill, CD

Warrant Officer (Ret’d) Marvin C. MacNeill, CD, was born 24 Dec 1970 in Calgary Alberta. Growing up as a dependant in a military family, he enrolled in the Canadian Forces under the Youth Training Employment Program (YTEP) in June 1988. Upon completion of the YTEP in Petawawa ON, he was posted to the 8^th Canadian Hussars (Princess Louise’s) in Lahr, West Germany, and completed his 12-month contract. Marvin re-enrolled in the CAF on 5 July 1990 and was posted to Lord Strathcona’s Horse (Royal Canadians) [LdSH(RC)], based in Calgary, Alberta.

WO (Ret’d) MacNeill’s various positions and appointments during his 29 plus years of service with the Regiment include: Experience within every Sqn and fighting vehicle the Regiment has used, including all variants of the Canadian Leopard 1 and Leopard 2 family of tanks, and is also fully qualified on the US Army M1A1 Abrams. He was a troop Sergeant in B Squadron, LdSH(RC) for the first Tank ROTO in Afghanistan in 2006 and also returned as the B Squadron Operations Sergeant in Afghanistan in 2008.  WO (Ret’d) MacNeill was the first Leopard 2 Troop Warrant in Canada serving with A Squadron LdSH(RC) and was the first tank commander to fire the first 120mm Canadian Leopard 2 round on Canadian soil on 1 June 2012 at the Combat Training Centre CFB Gagetown N.B. He then held positions as the Squadron Quarter Master Sergeant for A Squadron and the Regimental Transport Warrant Officer. WO (Ret’d) MacNeill was the Regimental Pipe Major for the Strathcona’s Pipes and Drums band and was one of the original and founding members in 2000.

WO (Ret’d) MacNeill’s extra Regimental appointments include a 2 1/2 year posting at the Canadian Maneuver Training Centre (CMTC) January 2009 – August 2011 in Wainwright, Alberta, as an Observer Controller Trainer (OCT) as the Tank Team WO and was involved with training every ROTO of Tank Squadrons since 2009 until the end of the Afghanistan combat tank operations. During this time, he was also employed as an OCT with the US Army in Ft Irwin, CA, training US Army soldiers for deployment to Afghanistan and was also tasked to the British Army Training Unit Suffield (BATUS) to train British soldiers for their deployments to Afghanistan. WO (Ret’d) MacNeill held the position of the Regimental Operations and Training Warrant with the British Columbia Regiment (Duke of Connaught’s Own) in Vancouver, B.C., from July 2013 until his retirement from the CAF in April 2018.

WO (Ret’d) MacNeill has deployed on multiple overseas operations that include: Op CAVALIER (Bosnia 1994) as a TOW Gunner within Battle Group Combat Support Sqn, Op PALLADIUM ROTO 0 (Bosnia 1997) as a Cougar Gunner, Op KINETIC (Kosovo 1999) as an Assault Trooper/Section 2 i/c within Recce Sqn, Op PALLADIUM ROTO 12 (BOSNIA 2003) Coyote Gunner/OC Operator, Op ATHENA ROTO 2 (Afghanistan 2006) as a Troop Sergeant within B Sqn where he received a Task Force Commendation and Op ATHENA ROTO 5 (Afghanistan 2008) as the B Sqn OPS SGT where he was awarded a Battle Group Commanders Commendation.

Marvin has been married to his amazing, understanding and forgiving wife Evelyn for 25 years and has three children, Joanne, Kianna and Connor and is still employed with DND as a Civilian Contractor for the National Defence Identification Services (NDIS) with the BC Corps of Commissionaires as the only IDENT Operator for Mainland B.C.

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