Major Jayson Geroux

Major Jayson Geroux was born in Burlington, Ontario, but lived a majority of his childhood in Aurora, just north of Toronto. He worked in the construction department for the Consumers’ Gas Company in order to pay for his university schooling, and graduated from Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, with a B.A. Degree (Honours) in History in 1993, specializing in 20^th century military history. He received his M.A. Degree in Military History from the Brigadier Milton F. Gregg, V.C. Centre for the Study of War and Society, the Military History department of the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, N.B. in 2020, where his thesis focused on the Canadian urban operations battle of Ortona, Italy during the Second World War (1939-1945).

In September 1995, he initially enrolled in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) as a Private (Pte), completing his Basic Training at the Canadian Forces Leadership and Recruit School (CFLRS) in St. Jean- sur-Richelieu, Quebec. He was then posted to Land Force Central Area Training Centre (LFCA TC) in Meaford, Ontario, to complete his infantry recruit training. Afterwards he was posted to Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Gagetown to 2^nd Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment (2 RCR), first as a C9 Light Machine Gunner in India Company, 8 Platoon. After representing the Battalion in the United Kingdom’s Cambrian Patrol competition, Pte Geroux was moved to the Reconnaissance Platoon where he became a Basic Recce Patrolman and Light Armoured Vehicle-25 (LAV-25) 25mm Gunner. During this time, he completed a number of courses including his Basic Communicator and Basic Parachutist courses, and also participated in Operation RECUPERATION, which involved the CAF supporting the provinces of Ontario and Quebec during the Ice Storm of January-February 1998.

Upon taking his commission through the Special Commissioning Program (SCP) in May 1998, 2^nd Lieutenant Geroux returned to CFLRS to do Basic Officer Training and was then enrolled in a 10-month Second Language Training (SLT) program at the Canadian Forces Language School (CFLS). After completing Basic Infantry Officer Training at the Combat Training Centre’s (CTC) Infantry School in CFB Gagetown, he was then posted to 3 RCR in CFB Petawawa, Ontario in September 2000. He deployed on Operation PALLADIUM Rotation 8 to Bosnia-Herzegovina in the Former Yugoslavia with 3 RCR’s November Company as 6 Platoon Commander from March-October 2001 for a six-month peacekeeping tour. After his promotion overseas Captain Geroux returned and did a short stint as the Executive Assistant to the 2 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group (2 CMBG) Commander, then returned to 3 RCR where he served as the Parachute Company second-in-command (2IC) and the Quebec (Combat Service and Support) Company 2IC. During this time, 3 RCR conducted a year-long urban operations training program that was focused on individual to small unit skills, of which Capt Geroux was able to participate.

Capt Geroux was posted to be the Operations Officer for the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada (Princess Louise’s) in Hamilton, Ontario, in July 2002. During his time there the unit focused on almost three years of individual and small unit urban operations training; the unit took advantage of Capt Geroux’s previous urban operations training with 3 RCR which allowed him to plan and conduct several urban warfare training exercises for the Argylls. He then returned to LFCA TC in July 2006 where he was a Training Company 2IC, Garrison 2IC, and the TC’s Operations Officer. In July 2011 he was posted to 1 RCR in Petawawa and held three jobs simultaneously as the Assistant Operations Officer / Training Officer / Echo (Combat Service and Support) Coy 2IC. He only spent three months with the Battalion before he accompanied 2 RCR overseas for Operation ATTENTION Rotation 1, where he did a 9-month operational tour of duty at the rank of Major (While So Employed) at the Kabul Military Training Centre (KMTC) in Kabul, Afghanistan, from February-November 2012, where he was the principal advisor to KMTCs garrison commander, an Afghan National Army Colonel. During his operational tour, Maj Geroux participated in the urban battle of Kabul on 15 April 2012. He returned to 1 RCR as a Captain for a few short months working in the 2 CMBG G5 cell before being posted back to 2 RCR in July 2013, where he was the Lima (Administrative Service and Support) Company 2IC. Upon his promotion to Major in May 2014, he was posted to the CTC’s Tactics School as Directing Staff (DS) where he was both DS and the Course Officer for the Army Tactical Operations Course (ATOC), the Infantry Dismounted Company Commanders Course (IDCCC) and DS for the Combat Team Commanders Course (CTCC). He then became the Officer Commanding the Counter-Improvised Explosives Devices (C-IED) cell in June of 2017. It was at the Tactics School where he was allowed to intensively instruct, plan and execute dozens of urban operations lectures and training exercises from 2014 to 2021 which specifically focused on urban warfare planning, tactics and sustainment from company to division levels. He was then posted to the 1^st Canadian Division Headquarters as the J7-1 in charge of international collective training exercises. For two decades he has participated in, planned, instructed and/or executed urban operations training exercises for many Canadian Armed Forces units; studied, researched, and published urban warfare history articles both online and in print; has participated in urban operations doctrinal publication boards; and has been the keynote speaker at several international urban operations conferences.

Major Geroux is married to Courtney Geroux (née Jones), a private business owner and banker, and they have two beautiful daughters, Lily Victoria Aurora (13 years old), Phoenix Charlotte Patricia (6 years old), and far too many pets. He is a passionate student of military history, collects military history books and paintings / prints, and enjoys creating military model dioramas. He also enjoys hockey and snowboarding in the winter, and mountain biking and baseball in the summer.