Dave Barton

Biography

After graduation, I began my armoured corps career with the 8th Canadian Hussars, followed by a posting to the Combat Arms School. Before returning for a second tour with the 8CH, I served on UN duty in the Sinai, where I met my wife Pam—an Australian working for the United Nations. We married in 1980 while I was serving in London, Ontario. Postings to Montreal, Germany, and Ottawa followed, and then I was sent to the Royal Military College of Science in the UK. In 1990, while at FMCHQ, I traded snowshoes for jungle boots and immigrated to Australia.

I continued to serve, at Her Majesty’s pleasure, in the Royal Australian Armoured Corps. Although I had not intended to do “twenty,” that’s how it turned out—they kept finding exciting things for me to do. First was the Australian Light Armoured Vehicle Program, which acquired a fleet of LAVs made in London, Ontario, leading to frequent trips back to Canada. Next came a tour evaluating new infantry and armoured systems, followed by postings on the tank side of the Army acquisition world. In 2004, I started up the Australian Tank Replacement Program, acquiring the US M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tank. My final posting was three years as the Australian Army Liaison Officer to the US Army Tank and Armament Command in Detroit. I think it was the Army’s little joke: “Send Davo back to the snow and ice—he won’t mind.”

Australia is a vast and diverse land. We lived in Canberra and Melbourne and were fortunate to see all parts of Oz. It’s a sporting and fun-loving culture, with plenty of golf, squash, tennis, and ice-cold beer. I also enjoyed ocean yacht racing with the Royal Australian Navy and, when not at sea, tinkering with classic British sports cars. After retiring in 2010, Pam and I—along with our 1972 Australian-made MGB—moved to England and spent four years in a lovely village in the Cotswolds, playing golf in the rain and drinking warm, flat beer. We moved to London (the Canadian one) in the summer of 2015, intending to stay put for a while. Maybe.

The most wonderful part of life as a soldier has been the marvellous people around you. This was clear on my first day at Royal Roads, and that feeling stayed with me for the next 43 years, across four armies and three continents.