Former 4 Wing Commander BGen Dave Moar stands with Cold Lake Air Force Museum Curator Wanda Stacey at an event earlier in 2022. Moar recently completed his time as Commander of 4 Wing – Photo by Mike Marshall/Courier News
The outgoing Commander of 4 Wing is on to a new adventure.
BGen Dave Moar handed over command of the Wing to Col David Turenne in a ceremony on June 3rd. Moar had served as 4 Wing Commander since 2019 and admits stepping away from CFB Cold Lake was a hard task.
“My heart is truly in this base. The mission and the people here are what I’ve known for most of my military career. I’m sad to be leaving it, but I’m also excited for the base, as they are getting a fantastic new commander who comes in with quite a bit of experience and a fresh perspective on some of our strengths and challenges here at the Wing.”
Moar’s military career began in 1992 when he joined the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) in the Regular Officer Training Program. He received his wings in 1997 at CFB Moose Jaw and began a flying career in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). Like many commanders, Moar was no stranger to CFB Cold Lake, having been posted here several times in the past, including as Commanding Officer of both 409 Tactical Fighter Squadron and 4 Operations Support Squadron (4 OSS).
His time in command was during the COVID-19 outbreak and response. BGen Moar lists the way the 4 Wing community weathered the uncharted health storm as one highlight of his time as leader.
“Two years of my command were spent in a COVID environment. Some may say that COVID is not necessarily a highlight, but it allowed us to show both the innovation and leadership of those at 4 Wing. It was inspiring to see, when posed with a pandemic and what could have been a crippling challenge for us operationally, the Wing instead began leading the RCAF on initiatives to maintain our NORAD mission and the continuity of our operations.”
Moar says his hope for 4 Wing in the coming years is a smooth changeover from the CF-18 era of fighter capabilities into a new age of aircraft for the RCAF.
“It’s exciting and motivating to see new capability arrive at this Wing. The implementation of that capability requires more resources, such as people, aircraft, and support equipment. We’re trying to preserve those resources that we do have now to optimize our current CF-18 operations. As we move towards the future and implementation of a new fleet of aircraft, that will require resources.”
“What I wish for the members of CFB Cold Lake is that as this period of transition starts, they receive more resources and ensure that our members are not bearing a burden of implementing a new fleet, more so than the work they are currently handling.”
BGen Moar will now deploy under Operation FOUNDATION as the Director of the Combined Aerospace Operations Centre in Qatar. Op FOUNDATION is the CAF joint effort with the United States and other nations to counter terrorism activity.