7860

 7860 R.A.J.L.R. (Romeo) Dallaire

 Review 1969 

College of Entry: CMR

Original Degree from RMC:  BSc (General Science)

Other Education

Canadian Land Forces Command and Staff College

United States Marine Corps Command and Staff College

United Kingdom Higher Command and Staff Course

Harvard University Kennedy School Fellowship

Military Career

1969-1971:  Posted to new Artillery Regiment 5e Régiment d'artillerie légère du Canada (5e RALC) Valcartier and commanded a Troop to guard the Quebec National Assembly during the 1970 October Crisis that lasted three months.

1971- 1973: Promoted Captain and posted to Militia Training and Support HQ Quebec to oversee training and admin of two militia Artillery regiments(6 Fd RCA in Lévis and 62nd Fd RCA in Shawinigan. Attended the CAF Staff School and chosen for the Vietnam commission but was not deployed ultimately due to course damn it.       

1973-1976:  Posted to 1 RCHA in Lahr Germany in B Battery. One week after arrival we deployed for three month during Reforger exercices along East German border with over 100,000 US and German troops. Attended the Field Arty Staff Course in Gagetown for four months back in Canada. Led a Troop at the Nijmegen four day 160 km march through Holland.  Got married to Elizabeth at the Citadel in Quebec upon return to Canada.

1976 -1978: Attended the Army Junior Staff College in Fort Frontenac and posted to Gagetown as the Ops officer for the Artillery School.

1978 -1980: Promoted Major and commanded Q Bty in the Franco regiment 5eRALC in Valcartier.

1980 -1981: USMC Staff College in Quantico Virginia and had an outstanding experience with Marine classmates who all had two “One Year” deployments to Vietnam. Only 9 out of 40 survived injuries enough to continue to serve, and 11 were killed out of each graduating platoon of cadets in 1969.

1981-1982: Posted as Exec off to DComd of the Army in St-Hubert Quebec.

1982-1983 Promoted LCol  and posted to Deputy Chief of Staff and Quebec Militia Area

1983 – 1985: Took Command of 5eRALC Arty Regt in Valcartier to replace a great chap who was permanently disabled in a training accident.

1985-1989:  Posted to NDHQ in Artillery Capital Acquisition (DLR-2) and promoted to Col in 1986 to be Head of Army Equipment Requirements. Led the Army team in the writing of the 1987 White Paper on Defence that was ten years too late really and then saw it defunded to a whimper of what the real rust-out needs were for the army to fight in NATO.

1989 – 1991:             Promoted BGen and posted as Commandant du Collège militaire royal de Saint-Jean. It was a superb command experience and by then had three kids. I attended the British higher Command and Staff course and wrote the requirement for the four month Operational Level of War course in Toronto and became the current War College course of one year for Senior officers when I was ADM(Per).

1991 -1993: Took Command of the 5e Brigade in Valcartier.  Went to Cambodia where I had 300 troops deployed with the UN force and saw the Killing Fields results. Caught a virus that came back to life this last year and had me under heavy medication for nearly two months to get rid of it finally.

1993 - 1994  Appointed to Force Commander of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda with 48 hours notice to move to NY and then Africa for a year. Promoted to MGen while overseas. Was injured with PTSD and Moral injuries and did not realize it nor accept it for too long.

1994-1995  After two weeks leave from the tour and war/genocide in Rwanda, arrived in new job as DComd of FMC/Army right in the middle of the Somalia Inquiry mess.  Testified on Leadership development in the Army and discovered that we had nothing on paper and that it was all experiential based. A lot of denial that we had a serious operational deficiency and a lot of protecting the Airborne. I wanted it dismantled for five years to clean things up inside its Ethos and leadership (a lot of Airborne lobby push-back and lost friends in the debate) but the politicians did it for us as the Command structure in the CAF did not have the … to do it.

1995 -1996: Took Command of the Quebec Military Region under the Total Force concept.

1996-1997:  Post as COS to ADM(Per) and was given the job to implement the 41 Leadership recommendations of there Somalia Inquiry. Created out of this the CAF Leadership Institute in Kingston.

1997-1998:Chief of Personnel, NDHQ (ADM(Per) and promoted LGen. Went public with my mental injuries and started work on building our program for taking care of those affected (went to the US Veterans Dept to help the US based on their Vietnam experience) as well as bringing in the Quality of Life Program for the CAF.  Made formal university education a fundamental requirement of being an officer and education as an essential balance to the experiential background.  Wanted to bring a Spiritual/Moral dimension to our Officer Corps development.

1998-1999 Spent time as a witness at the Rwandan International Tribunal in Arusha Tanzania. Was on sick leave for 6 months due to the Operational Stress Injuries and the still acute lack of any serious medical reforms taking hold in the field to help us. I had crashed completely.

1999-2000: Came back as Head of the “Reform of the Officer Corps Study” with six PhD outstanding free thinking officers only to see it watered down to the lowest common denominator “buy-in” that ended up as the Officership 2020.

18 Apr 2000  Medically released from the Canadian Armed Forces with a one line note:”This officer cannot command troops in operations anymore” due to in juries sustained. So started serious psychological treatment for the next 25 years.

NAMIR, Rwanda, 1994

Civilian Career

2000-2004:  Senior Advisor to Minister of CIDA(part-time) on War affected Children. Went back to Africa at ebbing part of the Somalia War and in Sudan Darfur. Helped on policy and such. Wrote shake Hands with the Devil

2004-2005:  Got a Fellowship at the Carr Centre for Human Rights at the Kennedy School Harvard U to do research on Child Soldiers and started my NGO work that has led to creating and continued involvement in my Institute on Child Peace and Security at Dalhousie with offices in Rwanda and Uruguay and soon Australia to train military and police on how to prevent the use of children in war.

2005-2014:  Canadian Liberal Senator and Deb Chair of Defence/Security Cmte and Chair of Veterans Cmte. Left the Senate before retirement to work full time on the Child Soldier efforts, writing two other books and creating a leadership potential foundation in Quebec for kids from lower income families. Created the Genocide Prevention Group of Parliamentarians from all stripes.

2014- now. A lot of speaking and advocacy work. Was on Sec-Gen of UN Cmte on Genocide prevention and Principles of Peace International Group based in Geneva and other such matters. Spent a lot of time assisting PTSD/Moral Injury Vets and families. Wrote another book. Continuing work at Concordia U in the Montreal Institute for Genocide Studies.

2020 Divorced after more than 25 years living alone and away from family that stayed in Quebec City. Remarried a woman with whom I have found true love and who has essentially saved my life after too many attempts at suicide.

Advocacy

PTSD: Patron of Wounded Warriors Canada

Child Soldiers: Founder of the Dallaire Institute for Children, Peace and Security at Dalhousie University.

Youth Leadership: Founder and President of Fondation Romeo Dallaire

Genocide Prevention: Senior Fellow of the Montreal Institute for Genocide Studies

Peace: International Advisor to Principles for Peace

Participants of the Fondation Romeo Dallaire

Memberships

United Nations Institute for Training and Research

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Committee on Conscience

Royal Canadian Artillery Association

Books

Shake Hands with the Devil: the Failure of Humanity in Rwanda (2004)

Waiting for First Light: My Ongoing Battle with PTSD (2016)

They Fight Like Soldiers, They Die Like Children: The Global Quest to    Eradicate the Use of Child Soldiers (2010)

The Peace: A Warrior’s Journey (2024)

Family

Children: Willem, Catherine, and Guy (all either still or served in the Reserves for years including deployments overseas)

            Grandchildren: Victoria, Emma, and Gregoire

            Spouse: Marie-Claude Michaud

My wedding to Marie-Claude Michaud (2020)

 

EDITORS’S INSERTION

The above entry in this chapter is from Romeo himself.  Although we all know some things about his life and career, many of the details are not so well known.  FYI here are some other things that many of us will not be aware of:

Honours and Awards 

He has received honorary doctorates and fellowships from 35+ universities in Canada and the United States, including RMC.

Things named after him include: four schools, a street, and the CAF Dallaire Centre of Excellence for Peace and Security.

He was been awarded the following:

                Meritorious Service Cross (Canada) (1995)

                Vimy Award (1995)

                Officer of the Order of Canada (2002)

                Grand Officier de l'Ordre national du Québec (2005)

                Officer of the United States Legion of Merit

                Commander of the Order of Military Merit. (Canada)

                Governor General’s Literary Award for Non-Fiction (2004)

                Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for political writing (2004)

                Pearson Peace Medal (2005)

                Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012)

                Elie Wiesel Award, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (2014)

                Royal Military College Wall of Honour (2015)

                Nelson Mandela Award for Human Rights (2019)

                Adrienne Clarkson Global Citizenship Prize (2019)

      

   LGen (ret) The Honourable Romeo Dallaire