Meet the RMR’s NCO’s: Sergeant Jonathan Carson
“Meet the RMR’s NCO’s” is a series where we profile a different NCO each month for readers to get to know the folks who make up the ‘backbone of the army’
Westmount, Quebec – 12 November 2022: Sergeant Jonathan Carson grew up in Vancouver and joined the Regiment in 2011. His military career has taken him around the world and across Canada. As if he’s not being busy enough as a first year law student at McGill University, he’s also serving as the Company Sergeant Major for the RMR’s Bravo Company (the operational rifle company).
Highly trained (Advanced Small Arms, Civil Military Cooperation Operator, Civil Military Cooperation Staff Officer, Psychological Operations Operator, and the usual qualifications of an Infantry NCO), he has certainly made the most of his 11-years in the army. Not only has he served with the Canadian Rangers in the arctic, his overseas deployments also include:
- Operation Unifier, Ukraine, 2016
- Operation Presence, Senegal and Mali, 2019
- Operation Reassurance, Latvia, 2021-22
There are few Army Reserve NCO’s who have as much operational experience as Sergeant Carson, and when you’ve seen so many things it is hard to nail down the coolest thing he’s ever done, but we pressed him to give us one and he responded: “I’ve been incredibly lucky to have a busy and exciting career, so picking one moment would be tough. The first time I stepped off the plane in Mali and was confronted with the expanse of the desert was an incredible experience. Seeing the Northern Lights in Nunavik was amazing. Going to Latvia to track Russian disinformation was a great professional and intellectual challenge.”
When asked his favourite memory of serving with the RMR, he replied that it was being deployed in flood-relief domestic operations that had a large impact on him: “Working on Operation Lentus with an RMR platoon, working in our own community was great, both for the camaraderie and knowing that we were helping Canadians in a very direct way.”
We also asked him what he liked the most and the least about serving in the RMR, and he told us: “My favourite thing about the RMR is the culture. A friend of mine from another regiment recently described us as a band of “ethical criminals” and I couldn’t agree more with him. That willingness to bend the rules and take liberties to get results is what keeps me coming back.” What he likes the least is surely a sentiment shared with so many others in the Regiment… “Why does Levée Day start so early?”
His advice for young soldiers in the Regiment is “Raise your hand. Even if you’re not entirely sure what you’re getting yourself into. I went on my first tour because I showed up to an unrelated tasking and happened to be talking to someone. Volunteering and showing up are the best ways to get the opportunity to do bigger and better things.”
Thank you for setting the standard, Sergeant Carson.
