On his 37th year in the CAF and on his 32nd year in the PPCLI, CWO Robin Crane will retire on 07 March 2025.
Chief Warrant Officer Robin John Crane was born in St John’s NFLD on March 7th, 1970. At 18 he decided to enrol in the CAF Reserves and joined the Royal NFLD Regiment in January 1989.
While in the reserves he completed tours to Cyprus in 1991-92 and Bosnia in 1992-93. In 1993, he decided to join the Regular Forces and became a member of the PPCLI, moving to Calgary, Alberta, in January 94. While posted to Calgary he completed numerous courses and deployed to the Red River Floods. In 1997, he was promoted to the rank of MCpl and posted to Edmonton. While posted to Edmonton he deployed to Kosovo in 1999 as a Weapons Detachment Commander with A-Coy, the vanguard of the deploying Battle Group (BG). After the tour, he completed several career courses and headed off to the G8 security tasking in the Kananaskis Valley, BC, in 2002.
Promoted to Sgt in 2002, he then deployed to Bosnia as a Platoon LAV Sgt. After his return to Canada, he deployed to the BC fires as a rifle platoon 2IC and then eventually headed overseas again in 2004, this time to Kabul, Afghanistan as the Company Transport Sgt. In 2006, he completed his Infantry 6B and then returned to Afghanistan with the 1PPCLI BG and fought in Kandahar and Helmand Provinces. In 2007, he was posted to 3 PPCLI to become a CSM Mentor for the newly formed OMLT (Operational Mentor and Liaison Team). He deployed to Kandahar, Afghanistan as a Warrant Officer in 2008 and spent 8 months living and working directly with the Afghan National Army. Following this deployment, he headed back to 1 PPCLI where he became CQMS and eventually CSM of BCoy.
In 2009, CWO Crane was awarded the Medal of Military Valour and in 2010 he was awarded a Mention in Dispatches, both for his 2008 tour in Afghanistan with the OMLT.
In 2011, he was posted to CFB Wainwright as an Observer Controller with the Canadian Manoeuvre Training Centre where he spent two years training soldiers to deploy to Afghanistan. In 2012, he was promoted to Master Warrant Officer and posted back to 1 PPCLI in Edmonton as the CSM of C Coy. In 2013, he became CSM of Administrative Coy 1 PPCLI. In 2014, he attended a year-long French course to develop his second language ability. In 2014, he was inducted into the Canadian Order of Military Merit as a member (MMM).
In 2015, he was posted back to 1 PPCLI as the QMSI. In August 2016, he deployed to Jordan in the Middle East for 9 months as the SM of the CTAT Jordan Roto 0 and on his return to Canada resumed to his former job as QMSI of 1 PPCLI. In May 2017, he was promoted to CWO and posted to Wainwright as the CACSOR (Canadian Army Chief Standards Officer Representative) for 3rd Canadian Division.
In November 2018, he was selected to be RSM of 1 PPCLI and did his Change of Appointment (CoA) on 5 December 2018. In 2020, he deployed to Camp Taji Iraq as the RSM of the IMPACT – Training and Coordination Unit. In 2021, he was awarded the CDS Commendation for his time in Iraq, during which there were significant rocket attacks conducted against Allied Forces in Camp Taji resulting in multiple casualties. In 2022, CWO Crane became the UCWO of The Transition Unit Alberta/Northern Canada and will do a Change of Appointment on 31 January 25.
He sincerely thanks the Regiment for giving him the opportunity to spend 31+ years as a member of the PPCLI and the faith of the PPCLI leadership to let him fill the positions that he has held during his career. To all those great friends and mentors that he has met during his career he thanks you for that friendship and your leadership/guidance.
You are all Warriors!
Never forget the real job of the Infantry is to “Close with and Destroy the Enemy!” Everything else is secondary and if we forget this, then our soldiers will eventually pay the price with their blood.
CWO Crane is married to Catherine Crane and has two children, Bailey and Robert and a grandchild Paisley. He will retire in Morinville, Alberta, spending lots of time camping, fishing, motorcycling and working on old cars. He also plans on spending at least a month a year in Mexico to avoid Alberta’s wonderful winters.
There will be no Departure with Dignity ceremony held per CWO Crane’s wishes.
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