Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on th ...

Joseph Jacques Charles "Charlie" Bouchard (born 1956) is a retired

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...

general. He has served as Commander of 1 Canadian Air Division / Canadian NORAD Region, the Deputy Commander of

North American Aerospace Defense Command North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD ), known until March 1981 as the North American Air Defense Command, is a combined organization of the United States and Canada that provides aerospace warning, air sovereignty, and protection ...

(NORAD) and Deputy Commander of

Allied Joint Force Command Naples Allied Joint Force Command Naples (JFC Naples) is a NATO military command based in Lago Patria, in the Metropolitan City of Naples, Italy. It was activated on 15 March 2004, after effectively redesigning its predecessor command, Allied Forces So ...

. On 25 March 2011, Bouchard was named Commander of the NATO military mission in Libya.

Biography

Joseph Jacques Charles Bouchard was born in the

Chicoutimi Chicoutimi () is the most populous borough (arrondissement) of the city of Saguenay in Quebec, Canada. It is situated at the confluence of the Saguenay and Chicoutimi rivers. During the 20th century, it became the main administrative and com ...

borough of Saguenay,

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...

, Canada. He enrolled with the Canadian Forces in 1974 under the Officer Candidate Training Plan. After helicopter training, Bouchard qualified in 1976 as a helicopter pilot. Bouchard has had a long career in Tactical Aviation within

Canadian Forces Air Command The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...

, which included flying positions in several squadrons, command of 444 Tactical Helicopter Squadron at

Lahr Lahr (officially Lahr/Schwarzwald since 30 September 1978) (); gsw, label= Low Alemannic, Lohr) is a town in western Baden-Württemberg, Germany, approximately 50 km north of Freiburg im Breisgau, 40 km southeast of Strasbourg, and 95&nb ...

in Germany, and command of 1 Wing Kingston. Bouchard has served in the United States as Deputy Commander for

Continental NORAD Region The Continental U.S. NORAD Region (CONR) is a component of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) that provides airspace surveillance and control and directs air sovereignty activities for the continental United States (CONUS). CON ...

and was standing duty at

Tyndall Air Force Base Tyndall Air Force Base is a United States Air Force Base located east of Panama City, Florida. The base was named in honor of World War I pilot 1st Lt. Frank Benjamin Tyndall. The base operating unit and host wing is the 325th Fighter Wing (325 ...

conducting Air Operation on

11 September 2001 The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...

. Bouchard would later become Deputy Commander of

1 Canadian Air Division , colors = Blue, green, yellow, and silver , colors_label = , march = , mascot = , equipment = , equipment_label = , ...

, and from August 2007 to June 2009, Deputy Commander of

, receiving promotion to

Lieutenant-General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

on taking up the appointment. In 2009, he assumed the position of Deputy Commander,

. On 25 March 2011, while continuing to serve at Naples, Bouchard was named Commander of "

Operation Unified Protector Operation Unified Protector was a NATO operation in 2011 enforcing United Nations Security Council resolutions 1970 and 1973 concerning the Libyan Civil War and adopted on 26 February and 17 March 2011, respectively. These resolutions imposed ...

", NATO's military intervention in

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Suda ...

. The Libya mission provided air cover to overthrow the country's long-time national leader

Muammar Gaddafi Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi, . Due to the lack of standardization of transcribing written and regionally pronounced Arabic, Gaddafi's name has been romanized in various ways. A 1986 column by '' The Straight Dope'' lists 32 spellin ...

— a mission in which fighter jets played a massive role. Bouchard was replaced in October 2011 as Deputy Commander Allied JFC Naples by a fellow Canadian Marquis Hainse, the position having fallen vacant while Bouchard served as the Commander of the NATO mission in Libya. Bouchard is a graduate of Canadian Forces Staff School; Canadian Land Forces Command and Staff College; Canadian Forces Command and Staff College; the National Strategic Studies Course; the Combined Forces Air Component Commander Course, Maxwell Air Force Base; the Generals, Flag Officers and Ambassadors Course at the NATO Defense College; and the Senior Executives National and International Security Program at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

. Bouchard also has a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science from the

University of Manitoba The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a Canadian public research university in the province of Manitoba.Lockheed Martin The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American aerospace, arms, defense, information security, and technology corporation with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It ...

announced Bouchard had been appointed "the country lead for Lockheed Martin Canada".

Medals and decorations

Bouchard's medal ribbons are as follows:

CAN Order of Military Merit Commander and Officer

CAN Meritorious Service Cross (military division) ribbon

UK Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal ribbon

He was a qualified RCAF Pilot and as such wore the Royal Canadian Air Forces Pilot Wings

Notes

References

External links

Canadian Forces Biography of Lieutenant-General J. J. C. "Charlie" Bouchard, CMM, CD
(English)
NORAD – J.J.C. Bouchard, CMM, CD, CFNATO – JFC Naples – Lieutenant General Charles Bouchard
, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Bouchard, Charles Royal Canadian Air Force generals Canadian Forces Air Command generals Harvard University alumni People of the First Libyan Civil War Recipients of the Legion of Merit University of Manitoba alumni People from Saguenay, Quebec Canadian military personnel from Quebec Living people 1956 births Commanders of the Order of Military Merit (Canada)