Dias, Ricardo

Major Dias joined the Canadian Forces as a reserve Radio Teletype Operator with 745 (Edmonton) Communication Squadron in 1993. While he was attending the University of Alberta, he was accepted into the Reserve Entry Scheme for Officers and was commissioned in 1996. While at 745 Comm Sqn he served in a variety of positions: Troop Commander, Recruiting Officer, Assistant Operations Officer, Course Officer and finally Deputy Commanding Officer. During his time in the Reserves, Maj Dias had the opportunity to deploy on domestic operations including Northern Canadian deployments in support of Sovereignty Operations and OP ABACUS (Y2K).  He was also fortunate to serve overseas twice as a Reservist in Bosnia on OP PALLADIUM as part of a Multinational Headquarters.

Maj Dias transferred to the Regular Force in 2005, where he was immediately posted as the Operations Officer for 1 CMBG HQ and Signal Squadron. He deployed with the Squadron as part of Op ARCHER to Kandahar, Afghanistan in 2006. This mission was in support of the Multinational Brigade (Regional Command – South) Headquarters and Signal Squadron, part of the US led Op ENDURING FREEDOM.  He was awarded the CEFCOM Commander’s Commendation for his work with the Afghan Mission Network, which connected coalition partners on a shared network, providing mission critical information to those who needed the most. He was then deployed on Op PROTEUS, Jerusalem as a projects staff officer and Deputy J6 in the US Security Coordinator in support of the Middle East Peace Process.

Major Dias visited Crestwood in February 2016, when a number of Grade 10 history students interviewed him for this project.