LCol Todd Sharp was born and raised in Summerside, Prince Edward Island. He became an Air Cadet in 1979 with 53 RCACS, and it was there that he was introduced to military flying. The first aircraft he ever flew in was the CH-113 Labrador and CC-115 Buffalo, and he knew from that time on that he wanted to be a military aviator. He was awarded gliding and power scholarships and achieved the rank of WO2.
He joined the Canadian Forces in 1984 and graduated from the Royal Military College with a Bachelor of Arts in History before taking year-long Air Navigation training in Winnipeg. He received his Navigator Wings in 1990 and commenced his operational flying career with 413 Transport and Rescue Squadron back in Summerside, PEI and then in Greenwood, Nova Scotia on the CC-130 Hercules. He instructed at the Canadian Forces Air Navigation School, and then returned to Transport and Rescue flying at 435 Squadron where he was promoted to Major. He returned to the Maritimes back to 413 Squadron as the Squadron Operations Officer before heading out west to join 442 Squadron in 2005 as Deputy Commanding Officer. After a short staff tour at Canada Command Headquarters in Ottawa, he was selected to attend the Advanced Command and Staff Course in Shrivenham, UK. He also earned a Master of Arts in Defence Studies from King’s College London. Promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel in 2009, he stayed on in Shrivenham as Directing Staff until his selection to return to Comox, BC as Commanding Officer of 442 Transport and Rescue Squadron. This would be his last flying tour – on the same Buffalo aircraft that he first flew as a Cadet back in 1979.
In 2014 he assumed his duties as Senior Staff Officer – Air and Missile Defence, as a member of the Canadian Joint Delegation to NATO in Brussels, Belgium. There he learned how to be a military diplomat. He retired from the Canadian Armed Forces in 2018 and has remained in Brussels to work permanently for NATO.
