Lieutenant-Colonel J.A.Y. Audet, CD
Commanding Officer

LCol Audet was born in Lévis, Quebec, and developed a love of military life after spending six years in the Canadian Cadet Movement. He joined the Reserve Force in September 1982 as a non-commissioned member of 6 Field Regiment (6 Fd Regt) in Lévis. While with the regiment, he completed various basic courses before joining the Regular Force as an officer cadet in September 1983 as part of the Officer Candidate Training Plan (OCTP).

He completed his artillery-officer training phases at the CFB Gagetown Combat Training Centre (CTC) in August 1984 and was posted to 5e Régiment d’artillerie légère du Canada (5 RALC) at CFB Valcartier from 1984 to 1988. He served with V Battery (air defence) as troop commander, command post officer and assistant adjutant of the regiment. He participated in Operation Snowgoose in Cyprus from August 1987 to February 1988.

LCol Audet was transferred to the Canadian Forces Recruiting Centre in Montreal in summer 1988, and became a military career counsellor, holding this position until 1991. He then went to CFB Chatham in New Brunswick, where he completed the ten month instructor’s course in air-defence artillery. From 1992 to 1995, he acted as an instructor for the leadership and Javelin missile cells, and as an assistant course officer on the gunnery instructor’s course. He was appointed Battery Commander (BC) of 4 Air Defence Battery, and his role was to provide training support.

In 1995, when CFB Chatham closed and the air-defence artillery school was moved to CFB Gagetown, he became the school’s operations officer. When the air-defence and field artillery schools merged, he became the first operations officer of the new organization. In 1997, he was transferred to the CTC as staff officer for the CTC DCO, and then worked as staff officer for the Chief of Staff. He completed the first part of the Land Force Command and Staff Course at Kingston in 1998. Upon his return, he was employed as BC of 128 Air Defence Battery (4 Air Defence Regiment (4 AD Regt)) until the summer of 1999. He then returned to CTC HQ and became the G3 Operations. He held that position until he was promoted to the rank of major and transferred, in the summer of 2000, to 5 RALC as the BC of X Bty. He completed his Command and Staff transition course at Kingston and in the summer of 2001 was given the major responsibility of commanding the Headquarters and Services Battery (HQ & Svcs Bty). During his two years at Valcartier, he also served as mayor of Courcelette.

He left in the summer of 2002 and became DCO of 4 AD Regt, a role he kept until he left to take the Canadian Forces Command and Staff Course in Toronto in the summer of 2005. He graduated from CSC 32 Smokey Smith and, in summer 2006, was transferred to NDHQ for the first time in his career as Staff Officer – Vice Chief of the Defence Staff (SO VCDS) under Lieutenant-General W.J. Natynczyk.

He was selected to take part in the Initial Baccalaureate Degree Program (IBDP) and completed his Bachelor of Military Arts and Science (BMASc) in April 2008. He was promoted to his current rank upon finishing his degree. In May 2008, he joined Land Force Command, where he worked at the Directorate Land Staff (DLS) as a DLS 3 until he was appointed as the new 4 AD Regt CO.

LCol Audet has been married to Sylvie Fréchette of St-Nicolas, Quebec, since July 1986. They have two daughters––Marie-Andrée, 21, and Émilie, 18––and they enjoy renovating, woodworking and taking care of their three horses.