[Editors note: Prior to his arrival at CFS Alert, Major Todd Murphy was the Squadron Commander of Lancaster Squadron at Canadian Forces School of Aerospace Technology and Engineering (CFSATE) 16 Wing Borden.]
CFS ALERT – Major Todd Murphy succeeded Major André Delhommeau as the Commanding Officer of Canadian Forces Station (CFS) Alert during a change of command ceremony in Canada’s most northerly inhabited location on January 31, 2012.
Major Delhommeau, posted to 8 Wing/CFB Trenton, has spent the last six months as the Commanding Officer of CFS Alert, in charge of the more than 60 members of the station, who support Canadian Forces missions through signal intelligence facilities.
“It has been a great experience”, says Maj Delhommeau. “But I’m looking forward to being home with my wife and kids.”
The incoming Commanding Officer, Major Todd Murphy, of Witless Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador, has now assumed responsibility of the station located only 817 kilometres from the geographic North Pole, for the next six months.
“I am very excited to assume the command of Alert”, says Maj Murphy, “it will be a new experience for me to live this far north”.
The ceremony was presided by Colonel Sean Friday, Wing Commander at 8 Wing/CFB Trenton and attended by 8 Wing Honorary Colonel Armin Quickert and John Williams, the Mayor of Quinte West.
The station was first settled in the early 1950s as a weather station of the Joint Arctic Weather Station (JAWS) System. On Sept. 1, 1958, Alert began its operational role as a signals intelligence unit of the
Canadian Forces. At that time, it became the Alert Wireless Station and was under the command of the Canadian Army. On April 1, 2009, the Air Force took command of CFS Alert and it is now a unit of 8 Wing/CFB Trenton.
