1. MASTER WARRANT OFFICER KB WILLIS RETIRES FROM THE CANADIAN ARMED FORCES HAVING SERVED 35 YEARS. A MEMBER OF THE COMMUNICATIONS AND ELECTRONICS BRANCH, HE PROUDLY WORE THE ROYAL CANADIAN AIR FORCE UNIFORM, MEETING MANY AMAZING INDIVIDUALS. HIS SERVICE PROVIDED NUMEROUS UNIQUE EXPERIENCES.

2. MWO WILLIS ENROLLED 13 SEPTEMBER 1983 A CLASS C RESERVIST. ATTACH POSTED TO CFB SUMMERSIDE AFTER BASIC TRAINING, HE CRAFTED HIS EUCHRE SKILLS, A PREREQUISITE FOR BASIC AIR WEAPONS TRAINING IN BORDEN. HE TRANSFERRED TO THE REGULAR FORCE 24 SEPTEMBER 1984, BECOMING A RADIO TECHNICIAN. AT CFB SHEARWATER HE WAS ACCELERATED PROMOTED TO CORPORAL AND WITNESSED ITS FIRST COMPUTER NETWORK INSTALLATION. IN 1989 HE MET SEVERAL SCIENTISTS AND CANADIAN ASTRONAUTS, WORKING AT THE DEFENCE AND CIVIL INSTITUTE OF ENVIRONMENTAL MEDICINE IN TORONTO. MWO WILLIS DEVELOPED TESTING EQUIPMENT AND VOLUNTEERED FOR ENVIRONMENTAL HUMAN IMPACT EXPERIMENTS. OFF DUTY, COMPETING IN KARATE AND BASE SPONSORED DISTANCE RUNNING KEPT HIM FIT.

3. TRANSFERRED TO CFB ESQUIMALT IN 1994, MWO WILLIS BECAME A STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS TECHNICIAN AND 740 COMMUNICATIONS SQUADRONS’ FITNESS INSTRUCTOR. TO KEEP BUSY, HE OPENED A CHITO-RYU KARATE SCHOOL AND LED FITNESS CLASSES AT EIGHT VICTORIA REC-CENTRES. BEFORE TRANSFERRING TO 19 WING COMOX IN 2000, MWO WILLIS JOINED THE NAVAL GUN RUN MILLENNIUM TOUR AS WHEELMAN AND FITNESS INSTRUCTOR. THE GUN RUNNERS, USING A TRANSOM CABLE TRANSFER, CONDUCTED HIS AERIAL-ACT PROMOTION TO MASTER CORPORAL AT THE CANADIAN NATIONAL EXHIBITION.

4. AT 19 WING COMOX, NOW AN AEROSPACE TELECOMMUNICATIONS INFORMATION SYSTEMS TECHNICIAN, MWO WILLIS ANNUALLY JOINED THE WTIS SNOW TO SURF TEAM AND OPENED ANOTHER KARATE SCHOOL. AGE 40 HE COMPLETED HIS FIRST AND LAST MARATHON. IN 2003 HE DEPLOYED TO GOLAN HEIGHTS AS NETWORK MANAGER, BECOMING THE UNIT FITNESS INSTRUCTOR, AND A KARATE INSTRUCTOR FOR CANADIAN AND JAPANESE PERSONNEL. AS SERGEANT, HE COMPLETED THE 2004 NIJMEGEN MARCH BEFORE RETURNING TO CFB ESQUIMALT IN 2005. BESIDES CONDUCTING TECHNICAL INSPECTIONS AND SUPERVISING CHANGE MANAGEMENT, MWO WILLIS LED THE BASE INFORMATION SERVICES SNOW TO SURF TEAM.

5. RETURNING TO COMOX IN 2008 AS AIRFIELD NAV/COMM WARRANT OFFICER, MWO WILLIS COMPLETED A BA IN APPLIED COMMUNICATIONS WITH ROYAL ROADS AND ESTABLISHED A LOCAL CHANGE AND CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT BOARD. PROMOTED TO MASTER WARRANT OFFICER AFTER 16 YEARS ON VANCOUVER ISLAND, HE TRANSFERRED TO 19 WING GREENWOOD IN 2011 AS WTIS MWO. HE ACTED AS WING LOGISTICS AND ENGINEERING CWO; ESTABLISHED A TELECOMS EMERGENCY RESPONSE TEAM; AND VOLUNTEERED, TEACHING KARATE TO KIDS. TRANSFERRED TO OTTAWA IN 2013, HE WORKED AT DIMEUS AND 76 COMMUNICATIONS REGIMENT AS INFORMATION SECURITY OFFICER, INFORMATION MANAGEMENT OFFICER AND SQUADRON SERGEANT MAJOR. MWO WILLIS AND HIS SPOUSE, STARTED TRAVELLING NORTH AMERICA AS COMPETITIVE WEST COAST SWING DANCERS.

6. MASTER WARRANT OFFICER MWO WILLIS HAS TWO CHILDREN,  ALONG WITH A GRANDSON. MWO WILLIS WILL ENJOY RETIREMENT, CRAFTING HIS WOODWORKING SKILLS AND TEACHING DANCE LOCALLY WITH HIS SPOUSE.

7. A LUNCHEON WILL TAKE PLACE AT MILESTONES GRILL AND BAR, 700 SUSSEX DR, OTTAWA ON THURSDAY, 12 APRIL 2018 AT 12:00 FOLLOWED BY LIBATIONS. ANECDOTES, MESSAGES, AND RVSP MAY BE SENT BEFORE 10 APRIL TO.