C. Michaud CO SALH

CO's Message
19 Dec 2011

Greetings

Soldiers of the South Alberta Light Horse,

On 16 October 2011, the SALH conducted its change of command and LCol Wayne took his final salute. The parade, held at CFB Wainwright, was a small yet professional event that witnessed both a march past and a roll past in honour of our outgoing CO. I can assure you that the Commander of 41 CBG was suitably impressed by the Regiment's turn-out. I would like to take this opportunity to thank LCol Wayne for his service the Regiment over the last 3 years. He has navigated the Regiment through some challenges and indeed, has handed over a Regiment which is recognized as one of the most active and gripped units in 41 CBG. I am happy to report that LCol Lockhart will not be escaping too far! He has graciously agreed to undertake the position of President of the SALH Regimental Association. As such, I am confident that our Association will continue to flourish and grow.

Col Stan Milner has also recently retired and handed over the reins to LCol John Ferguson. I cannot begin to express the Regiment's gratitude for all that Col Stan has done for us over the last 20 plus years. The projects and initiatives which Col Stan has initiated and/or supported are too numerous to list here of course! Rest assured that Col Stan will really not be going that far as he has graciously accepted the appointment of Chairman of the Board for the Foundation. With LCol John's capable leadership as incoming president, the Foundation is now evaluating future initiatives which also include the establishment of a Foundation "headquarters" at the Prince of Wales Armory in Edmonton.

Advancing forward, my intent is to continue to train our soldiers to be the best reconnaissance soldiers possible. The RSM and I recognize that a key enabler to this success will be the growth of the Regiment from its current strength of approximately 145 soldiers to its full manning capacity of 190. Along the way to reaching our manning ceiling, I hope that we can challenge our soldiers with exciting and innovative training which will serve our retention. To this end, I intend to provide the squadron commanders with the flexibility to address their respective regional strengths with respect to the delivery of training. For the remainder of the training year, their challenge will be to hone their sub-unit dismounted skill sets and prepare themselves for the upcoming collective training exercise "Cougar Salvo." I have full faith in the dedication and talent of the squadron command teams and their soldiers.

From a regimental family perspective, I am extremely pleased with the momentum that the SALHRA continues to generate. As word spreads, growth in inevitable and this newsletter is an excellent venue to strengthen our family bonds. I am particularly excited with the prospect of an Association led battlefield tour and keenly look forward to attending our social functions and gatherings.

I would be remiss to not take advantage of this opportunity to once again thank the SARVA for its continued service to our Regimental family. With Remembrance Day approaching, we must all endeavor to honour and remember our war dead and our casualties. I wish to particularly thank our veterans for their continued service, sage advise, and perhaps most importantly, for providing the SALH with the honour of perpetuating a proud heritage which is second to none in the Canadian Army.

In closing, the Regiment is blessed with excellent soldiers, exceptional veterans, and an outstanding regimental Foundation. It is my hope that we can continue to build our regimental brand within Alberta as; after all, we are the only regiment with "Alberta" in its name. I can ensure you that we are the envy of many other regiments across Canada!

Semper Alacer.

C Michaud
CO SALH