Lieutenant-Colonel D.M. Gray, CD

Commanding Officer

Lieutenant-Colonel Darryn Gray joined the Canadian Armed Forces as a Direct Entry Officer in 2002, and on completion of Armour Officer Training, was posted to Lord Strathcona’s Horse (Royal Canadians).

While employed within the Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Gray served as Tank Troop Leader and Administration Officer of A-Squadron, Troop Leader of the Ceremonial Mounted Troop which performs musical rides and ceremonial duties on horseback across Western Canada, was Second-in-Command of Tank Squadron (B), and served as the Regimental Operations Officer. Lieutenant-Colonel Gray was also privileged to serve as Officer Commanding of Tank Squadron (A) from 2014-2016.

During his extra-Regimental Employment, Lieutenant-Colonel Gray served within 1 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group Headquarters in the Operations and Planning cells, and later served at 1st Canadian Division Headquarters as a Divisional Planner in the Future Operations Branch. While employed in the National Capital Region, Lieutenant-Colonel Gray worked at both the Strategic and Operational Command Levels where he was employed within the Chief of Force Development’s Concepts and Capability Development team, supporting the development of the Future Operating Environment helping to define future Canadian Armed Forces capability requirements. Lieutenant-Colonel Gray also served in the Chief of Defence Staff Office, before moving to his most recent position as the G34 within the Canadian Army Headquarters, responsible for the Canadian Army’s vehicles, ammunition, and equipment, facilitating the lethal/non-lethal donations to Ukraine.

Lieutenant-Colonel Gray’s Operational experience includes three overseas missions. The first (2006) was with Task Force 1-06 in Regional Command South, as part of the Canadian-led, Multi-National Brigade Headquarters in Kandahar, Afghanistan. During his second deployment to Afghanistan (2009), Lieutenant-Colonel Gray served as the Task Force Kandahar Deputy Operations Officer. With his third overseas mission (2013), he deployed on a humanitarian mission in the Philippines following Typhoon Haiyan, as the J3 for the Canadian Forces Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART).

Lieutenant-Colonel Gray holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from the University of Windsor (2001), a Master’s in Organizational Leadership from Norwich University (2014), a Master’s in Defence Studies from the Royal Military College of Canada (2017), and is a graduate of the Joint Command and Staff Programme (2017).

When not at work, Lieutenant-Colonel Gray enjoys spending time with his amazing wife Jennifer and their two wonderful children, Sadie and Cody, playing lacrosse, camping, hunting, and doing home renovations.