Mess Dinner

When a change of command occurs within the regiment, it's traditional to hold a mess dinner to bid the outgoing CO farewell and welcome the incoming CO.  After five years in command of the regiment, LCol Parent is to be succeeded by LCol Richard Garon, formerly of 6RAC. LGen (ret) Michael K. Jeffrey, the Colonel-Commandant of Artillery was the guest of honour for the event, which was of course supported by 3BAM.

I'll be honest and say that though they play an important role in the social lives of regimental members, mess dinners were never my particular cup of tea, and my inclination today is to generally avoid them, at least as a guest. However when the regiment's honourary colonel specifically requested in person that I personally shoot the photos for the dinner, it's very difficult....er pretty much impossible to say "no." Aside from being a colonel, Charles de Kovachich recruited me into the regiment in 1982 and was my course commander on my gunner's course. Put in this way, it's an honour to be asked to photograph the event and one should not decline such an honour. Quite frankly I enjoyed photographing the event far more than I'd have enjoyed being a guest, so things work themselves out.

The guest of honour was LGen (ret) Mike Jeffrey, Colonel-Commandant of Artillery. He gave quite a good speech, taking pains to mention the contribution that 3BAM was making within the world of Artillery, specifically thanking CWO (ret) Gilles Aubé for efforts of our organization, and to which our Sunray replied quite frankly that 3BAM is a team effort. Let's be honest, it is. Beyond these things, the event gave me the opportunity to put into practice those "fly-on-the-wall" shooting skills I usually neglect by working in a studio under controlled circumstances, with carefully controlled lighting. Eschewing flash for a lot of the event, particularly during the speeches, I cranked up the ISO on my trusty D800 and fired away at f.2.8. Shutter speeds were quite slow leading to a lot of motion blur, but sometimes it worked out quite well. What a wonderful piece of technology the D800 is, even if it wasn't built with this sort of work in mind. I did find myself wishing for image stabilization on my 24-70mm f.2.8 lens though.  I digress.

Among the guests was Colonel David Patterson, a former CO of the regiment and my former battery commander in days gone by. It was Colonel Patterson who enlightened me as to 3BAM's general existence all the way from Afghanistan where he was stationed at the time, in response to a Facebook post I had made the first time I saw 3BAM's FAT and one of its 25pdr guns being brought up the mountain on the back of a flatbed. Without this, I would not likely have ever come into contact with 3BAM and someone else would be shooting their photos and writing this blog. That's the electronic age for you! As I'm writing this blog, it's not 08.30 in the morning the day after the photos were shot and I am able to tell just how many 2RCA/3BAM members have already looked at the selection of photos I posted on the 2RCA FB page last night. I guess everyone checks FB in the morning right after turning on their computers. Phew! And here I was thinking it's just me! I digress. Colonel Patterson's chest full of decorations is testimony to a lifetime of service to country. I wish I had had the chance to speak with him a few minutes, but I was quite busy, and from what I could tell, so was he. Maybe another time.

To my surprise and delight, Capt Joe Tufenkdjian, RCAF was also in attendance. Joe is another former member of the regiment whom I have not seen in over 20 years. Though he was an instructor on my gunner's course in 1982, now he's a wing-wiper and aircraft commander, flying the C130J all over the world it seems, including missions to Afghanistan and Libya. Joe already had a pilot's license when he was in the regiment, so it seems logical that one day he would flying aircraft in Her Majesty's service.

MWO Laurent Guyon who also served with me in the regiment, but now serves with 30th Field in Ottawa was also present. I usually see him once a year or so at Magnan's Tavern in St-Henri when the old farts from a particular era get together for aneveing of food and drinks, usually in August. Laurent was severely wounded by an IED in Afghanistan several years ago, nearly losing a leg in the process. The Taliban however did not get the last word, and Laurent continues to serve our country and do an excellent job in his current regiment. He remains a very technical guy (Hey! He's an engineer, right?) and always has a lot of interesting things to say when we get together at Magnan's. Uusally, I don't have much to talk about at these things, other than old, old stories or new ones that usually involve a camera and some pretty girls, so mostly I just sit and listen. Just as well. A photo says a thousand words and I prefer to do most of my talking with a camera these days anyway.

At one point in the evening I was able to get a photo of Sgt-Maj Joao Barros, MWO Laurent Guyon and Capt Joe Tufenkdjian all together, which was nice as all of us served together in the regiment over twenty years ago. I wish I had been able to get a few more people from those days together in a photo, but with everything going on, that isn't very easy.

Another old buddy who was present last night was WO Craig Berendt, who's given the unit many years of dedicated service. Craig and I had the chance to chat a bit before the majority of the guests arrived, and he's seen here fixing a menu that had fallen over. I wish I could say that the photography went perfectly, but it didn't. In part because I spent most of the evening upstairs in the mess shooting photos of the goings on there, I was a bit off my game and not as well-prepared for the gunshots as I have been in the past and didn't have a chance to go over the procedure with the crew firing that night, so that the photos were nowhere nearly as good as the ones I shot back in November during the Canada Company event. In particular, my timing was off; I just couldn't seem to capture the flash as the gun fired, though I used the same technique as previously. No excuse: I was off my game. I'll have to do better this afternoon!

Before closing this post, I just wanted to mention the many 3BAM members who were present to last night to support the event. As usual, CWO (Ret) Gilles Aubé, LCols (ret) Yvon Bégin and Jaques Borne, Capt (ret) Maurice Noreau and his wife OCdt Monique Champagne, CWO Norm Roberge, MWO (ret) Tom Savoie, WO's (ret) Gilles Pelletier and Michel Ouellet, LSgt Marc-Antoine Hotte, Piper Wolf Poll, and Mr. Andrew Gregory. Please forgive any omissions, or mistakes; they will be corrected if brought to my attention. 

I also want to point out that today, March 24th is Sgt Philippe Dalphond's birthday. Philippe is another long-serving member of the regiment; someone I remember from the old days. He is a veteran of Afghanistan, and was in attendance yesterday, still walking on crutches after breaking his foot during his second tour in that far away and very dangerous place. Happy birthday Phil! Thanks for the service to country and we hope that your injuries heal soon.

Every blog needs a parting shot, and when you are a photographer as well as a blogger, this can have something of a double meaning. The work is not over this weekend. Yesterday was a mess dinner, today is the change of command parade and as i write this, I'm looking carefully at the clock, calculating how much longer I can continue writing before having to run off to CDN with my kit once more to finish the job I started yesterday. There goes the weekend! But let's forget that and remember that while everyone was having a good time last night, there are still Canadian troops including current and former members of the regiment, serving in a very dangerous place on the other side of the world. Stay low and keep safe folks!


Ubique!


Gary Menten
Photographer