Commander Canadian Joint Forces Command - Biography
Lieutenant-General D.E. Molstad, CD
Lieutenant-General Darcy Molstad was born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta joining the Canadian Armed Forces in December 1996 through the direct entry program after completing a Bachelor of Science at the University of Alberta. He earned his pilot's wings in 1999 as a Golden Centenaire graduate and completed his operational training on the CF188 "Hornet" in 2000.
After a tour with 433 Tactical Fighter Squadron in Bagotville, Québec, he was selected for an exchange with the United States Marine Corps (USMC) in Beaufort, South Carolina serving with the 312th and 122nd Marine Fighter Attack squadrons. Other line and command appointments include: Deputy Commanding Officer of 410 Tactical Fighter (Operational Training) Squadron, Commanding Officer 425 Tactical Fighter Squadron, Commanding Officer 3 Wing / Canadian Forces Base Bagotville, and Deputy Commander Canadian Joint Operations Command. He was appointed to his current post as the inaugural Commander of the Canadian Joint Forces Command in 2025.
His operational experience includes extensive post 9/11 NORAD alert duties across Canada, a six-month rotation in the Western Pacific while attached to the USMC (2007), deployments as Air Task Force Commander for NATO air policing missions in Iceland (2012), Romania (2014), and in Hawaii for Canada's largest expeditionary Air Force contribution to a RIMPAC exercise (2016). Most recently, he served as the US Air Forces Central Command Combined Air and Space Operations Center Director in Al Udeid, Qatar, responsible for coalition air operations in the Middle East, Arabian Gulf, and Central Asia (2022).
His staff experience includes tours as the Officer Commanding 1 Canadian Air Division Fighter Standards and Evaluation Team, Senior Staff Officer in charge of Northern Employment and Western Hemisphere Engagement Strategy at Canada Command, Air Force Adviser to the United Kingdom in London, Defence Attaché to Iceland, Special Adviser to the Minister of National Defence, and two Director General positions at the Strategic Joint Staff, and Chief of Force Development.
Lieutenant-General Molstad is a graduate of the Joint Command and Staff Programme at the Canadian Forces College in Toronto and the USAF Air War College, Maxwell Air Force Base Montgomery, Alabama. He holds a master's degree in Defence Studies from the Royal Military College of Canada and a master's degree in Strategic Studies (with distinction) from the Air University in the United States. He is a Fighter Weapons Instructor and highly experienced pilot with over 2,200 hours logged on the CF188.
Before joining the CAF, he competed in pole vaulting at the national level and holds two junior national titles. He is married to an exceptional health professional and is the proud father to two extraordinary adult children. In his spare time, he acts as an Honourary Coach of the Montréal Alouette Football Club and is the Co-Patron for the CAF Triathlon Team.