I shed a few tears about this weeks ago, but this article appearing in yesterday's Globe and Mail started them all again. Blue skies, fair winds and soft landings/Ex coelis.
This obit appeared in yesterdays Globe and Mail, Canada's national newspaper.This man was the most influential person on me in my Army career. I felt privilaged to reciprocate a long owed favour when he was being screwed about by his CO in 2000. He really cared about all those that worked and served alongside him.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl...=mike+rafferty
OTTAWA -- There was nothing Lieutenant-Colonel Mike Rafferty wouldn't do for his soldiers. That had nothing to do with rank, either. He cared as much about his enlisted men as he did his fellow officers, an attitude that may have cost him promotions, but he really didn't care; soldiering was all he wanted to do.
To Mr. Rafferty, a larger-than-life character who was one of Canada's best-known army logistics officers in the past four decades, soldiering meant one thing: taking care of the troops.
Twice a year, at Thanksgiving and Christmas, he made his soldiers an unusual offer. If anyone was stuck and had nowhere to go, they were "welcome to come to my house and have dinner with me and my family."
When Warrant Officer Phil Paquette of 28 (Ottawa) Service Battalion heard that, he couldn't believe it.
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"I'd never seen that in my life. He was the best CO we ever had. He was like a father to everybody in the unit. He worried about everybody, from the regimental sergeant-major to the youngest private."
Mr. Rafferty commanded 28 Service Battalion from 2000 to 2005 but was seldom in his office. He only went there to hang up his coat and preferred to spend his time with his soldiers.
"He always made it a point to [visit] every section, ask how things are going, see if we needed anything," said W.O. Paquette, a supply technician. "It didn't matter if you were a private, he asked your opinion,"
Mr. Rafferty, who arrived at the militia battalion in 1998 as a major after 30 years in the regular army, took pride in attending every weekend field exercise. "He never missed one. He got 'cammed' up like we did and he was there with us, carrying his rucksack and C-7 rifle. If the boys were doing it, he was there too."
Captain James DeBruin of CFB Petawawa remembers one particular exercise, held in January of 2003, where the troops spent two days practising their winter warfare skills. It was cold and snowed a lot, but that didn't faze Mr. Rafferty.
"The snow and ice had frosted his handlebar mustache and eyebrows, and he looked like Old Man Winter," he said. "He'd go up and down the column, laughing and joking, making everyone laugh. But at the same time, carrying the load he was carrying, he led by example. No one fell out, despite the really bad weather, because of his sense of humour and leadership. At the end, he turned to me and said, 'I really love this stuff. And to think, we get paid for this!' "In December of 2004, Mr. Rafferty put his money where his mouth was when he heard that one of his militia soldiers had lost his job just before Christmas. He went to a bank machine and withdrew a sizable sum. "Take this and buy toys for your kids and groceries for your Christmas dinner."
Mike Rafferty was 13 when he joined the Royal Canadian Sea Cadets in Winnipeg. Generations of his family had served in the military and he loved the order and discipline, eventually rising to "chief of the corps." He also played both ways -- offence and defence -- for his high school football team.
In 1968, Mr. Rafferty joined the air force as a pilot trainee. That didn't work out, so he re-mustered as an army logistics officer and served across Canada and in the Middle East. In 1978, he was appointed transport officer of the CFB Petawawa-based Canadian Airborne Regiment. Already sporting his parachutist wings, Mr. Rafferty took to the airborne like a duck to water and made a total of 106 jumps.
Nine years later, in 1987, Mr. Rafferty took command of the Canadian Forces Parachute Maintenance Depot, at CFB Edmonton. This meant he was ultimately responsible for the repair and packing of the hundreds of army parachutes used across Canada.
Retired chief warrant officer Vern Seyffert was serving at CFB Calgary when Mr. Rafferty gave him a call a year later. They first worked together in 1980 -- Mr. Seyffert found him "rough and tough" back then -- and had become close friends. "[He said], 'Come to Edmonton, I need a sergeant-major who can jump out of airplanes.' I went home, discussed it with my wife and I decided, okay, if he needs me, I'll go. We had fun."Mr. Rafferty made a major contribution to humanitarian relief when he was senior Canadian movements officer at the headquarters of United States European Command, from 1992-95, in Stuttgart, Germany. For his efforts he was awarded the U.S. Army's Meritorious Service Medal.
Using his logistics expertise, he helped organize and delver $500-million worth of humanitarian aid to southern Turkey, Rwanda and Bosnia-Herzegovina. "[His] superb staff planning skills coupled with his operation logistics expertise contributed to the ultimate success of numerous major humanitarian operations within the European theatre," the citation said.
Michael Albert Rafferty was born on March 27, 1948, in Winnipeg. He died of a heart attack on May 6, 2006, in Ottawa. He was 58. He is survived by his wife Leslie, whom he married in 1983. He also leaves his daughter Maggie, father Bert and brothers Timothy and Patrick.
My condolences to his family... RIP 
