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| 15 Wing Commander Col. Marc Bigaouette and his wife Marie Emond are shown at 15 Wing this week. Times-Herald photo by Lisa Goudy |
Two years have flown by for 15 Wing Commander Col. Marc Bigaouette, his wife Marie Emond and their three children.
“It’s been a fantastic two years for us,” said Bigaouette. “The memories we will bring from Moose Jaw and our time at 15 Wing are the best and it’s true for us. It’s true for our kids as well.”
After serving as the commanding officer of 15 Wing Moose Jaw and the military director of the NATO Flying Training in Canada Program (NFTC) since August 2010, Bigaouette has been posted to London, England where he will spend one year as a student at the Royal College of Defence Studies.
“The departure is usually the toughest time of any tenure because it’s a separation,” said Bigaouette.
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Regina Leader-Post: Commander of 15 Wing Moving On
MOOSE JAW — Two years have flown by for 15 Wing commander Col. Marc Bigaouette, his wife Marie Emond and their three children.
“It’s been a fantastic two years for us,” said Bigaouette. “The memories we will bring from Moose Jaw and our time at 15 Wing are the best and it’s true for us. It’s true for our kids as well.”
After serving as the commanding officer of 15 Wing Moose Jaw and the military director of the NATO Flying Training in Canada Program (NFTC) since August 2010, Bigaouette has been posted to London, England where he will spend one year as a student at the Royal College of Defence Studies.
“The departure is usually the toughest time of any tenure because it’s a separation,” said Bigaouette.
“When we get to a new place, we make it our home,” added Emond. “It’s one of those things where we learn to focus on the wonderful moments and then on the relationships. We’ll stay in touch with people. We need to focus on the good and not so much on what we’re leaving behind. It makes it easier.”
Bigaouette, Emond and their two youngest daughters, 16 and 13, leave for London on Aug. 22. Their son, 20, will be staying in Saskatchewan to study at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon. Bigaouette’s replacement, Col. Paul Goddard and his wife Annette will take charge on Monday.
“Paul is, I do believe, the best choice for this wing. He has been here twice already,” said Bigaouette. “He is now the director of our air force training so there is no better preparation to take over command. I think he’s going to be a fabulous wing commander. He’s a Regina boy so he knows Saskatchewan well.”
Bigaouette first joined the military in 1980 and obtained his pilot’s licence in 1986. He stressed the importance of family to be successful in the military.
Wherever he goes with his family, their objective is to make things better. Their objective in Moose Jaw was to get closer to the community.
“We wanted to communicate that sense of family to all the young pilot officers and everybody that contributes to making pilots,” said Bigaouette.
“They’ve got to realize that the more you put in to this organization, the more you put in to the community, the more it gives back to you.”
“You will not find a Canadian city that’s so much in synchronization with its local military,” he added.
15 Wing Moose Jaw has another base in Portage la Prairie and a squadron in Cold Lake.
“The people of Moose Jaw probably don’t realize it, but the wing here is no longer about the Moose Jaw operation exclusively,” said Bigaouette. “15 Wing as an entity, as an operational entity now looks after pilot training from one end to another and it’s not only in the Canadian context. It’s also in the international context.”
He said an example of this was during his last operational tour in Afghanistan in 2008.
“Because (other pilots) know that all Canadians are trained through Moose Jaw, they would come to us and they would ask us not where we went through pilot training, but when we went through Moose Jaw,” said Bigaouette. “There is very much a connotation of excellence that comes with the name Moose Jaw and if people from Moose Jaw know what the name of that city means into military circles in terms of excellence and in terms of professionals, they’d be very proud of that.”
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