Phil Duffy
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Jun 08/01) - Outdoorsman Yves Laroche has realized his boyhood dream of being a commanding officer in the Canadian Rangers.
"As long as I can remember my dream was to be in charge of the rangers," said Laroche.
"Now that I am the commanding officer of the Canadian Rangers 1 Division I would say it is everything I had dreamed it would be," he said.
Laroche was born in Latuque, Que., and first joined the Canadian Forces in 1981 under the Officer Candidate Training Program.
As a junior officer he served as a platoon commander, infantry company deputy commanding officer, and reconnaissance platoon commander.
In 1988 Laroche was posted to the Canadian Forces Base in Petawawa, Ont., as the operations officer with the Canadian Airborne Regiment. He was then sent to headquarters, also in Petawawa, as a regimental training officer in 1989.
Between then and today Laroche has held many commands including instructor, trainer, deputy commanding officer and, finally, in June of 2000, commanding officer here in Yellowknife.
"I have been in Yellowknife for two years and it really feels like home for me now. When I first came North I wasn't sure if I would stay, but now I'm pretty sure that I will never live south of 60 again," he said.
Among his many duties and functions, Laroche is in charge of 1,359 Canadian Rangers across the three Canadian territories.
Also included in his command are four southern ranger troops located in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia.
Laroche is an outdoor enthusiast who has an indoor hobby to offset his hunting, fishing, and other outdoor pastimes.
"I've always been very interested in writing as a hobby. Who knows, maybe writing for a living can be my new dream someday."
