Following is my Canadian Armed Forces biography as read at my Departure with Dignity on June 11, 2026.
Captain Daniel Wheaton, CD enrolled in the Canadian Armed Forces in February 2003. With no prior cadet experience, he began his career at 318 Woodstock Royal Canadian Army Cadet Corps, quickly taking on responsibilities supporting weekly training, administration, field exercises and marksmanship training. These early years laid the foundation for what would become a diverse and impactful 23-year career in the Cadet Instructors Cadre.
Over the course of his service, Capt Wheaton served on the staff of cadet corps across New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, including 148 Charlottetown RCACC, 3037 Miramichi RCACC, 3015 St. Martins RCACC, and 2531 Eastern Charlotte RCACC. He served as Commanding Officer of 140 Kingston Peninsula RCACC, and of 311 HALIFAX Royal Canadian Sea Cadet Corps in Hampton. Most recently, he served as Commanding Officer of 3034 RCACC, leading the relocation of the corps from Browns Flat to Grand Bay-Westfield.
Capt Wheaton’s career included significant involvement with Argonaut Cadet Training Centre, where he served in a wide range of roles across 17 summers. His positions included platoon commander, mountain bike training coordinator, and officer in charge of sports and recreation. He later served as assistant chief instructor, then as Officer Commanding the General Training Company, and Officer Commanding Bravo Company where he led the expedition courses. After a pause for the COVID-19 pandemic, he returned to serve as Chief Administration Officer, Chief Training Officer, and finally as Adjutant and Coaching and Mentorship Officer. As a major, he provided continuity through a period of immense change at the training centre, as a longstanding member of the Argonaut team.
Beyond Argonaut, Capt Wheaton spent two summers at Rocky Mountain National Army Cadet Summer Training Centre. A highlight of this period was summiting Mount Des Poilus at 10,070 feet above see level during a glacier hiking expedition—an experience that fostered his passion for adventure training.
For nine years, Capt Wheaton served as Officer in Charge of the New Brunswick South Expedition Site. He also led expeditions along the Klondike Trail in the Yukon. He led the first Regional Spring Expedition, a coastal hike at Cape Chignecto, NS, the first Reginal Fall Expedition, a mountain biking race along PEI’s Confederation Trail, and he led snowshoe trekking expeditions in Happy Valley-Goose Bay. He led a national sea kayaking and coastal hiking expedition in Cape Breton and Eastern Shore, NS, and a national hiking, biking and canoeing expedition at Ontario’s Algonquin Provincial Park and along the Petawawa River. In 2019, Capt Wheaton became the Regional Expedition Training Officer for Atlantic Canada, a role he held through the COVID-19 pandemic. During this time, he supported the safe delivery of more than 100 outdoor adventure activities at a time when much of the country had paused in-person training. His leadership ensured cadets across the region remained active, engaged, and connected to the program.
Capt Wheaton served as a cadet biathlon coach, twice coaching teams representing PEI at the National Cadet Biathlon Championships in Valcartier, Quebec.
In addition to his training and operational roles, he served in several key leadership and culture support positions. He was an advisor on the Cadets and Junior Canadian Rangers National Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Group, Co-Chair of the Regional Cadet Support Unit (Atlantic) Professional Conduct and Culture Committee, and trained as a Positive Space Ambassador Training Facilitator and as a Workplace Harassment Advisor and Military Grievances Assisting Officer. He was trained as a Sentinel with the Canadian Armed Forces Sentinel Program, a peer support network led by the Royal Canadian Chaplain Service.
In addition to training youth, Capt Wheaton delivered training to adult leaders, instructing on Basic Officer Qualification Courses and CIC Occupational Training Courses in Gagetown, canoe instructor and trip leader courses in Whitehorse, and the Expedition Leader Course in Gimli, Manitoba. He also provided training in youth development to members of the Canadian Rangers supporting the Junior Canadian Ranger program.
Capt Wheaton earned the Canadian Forces Decoration second clasp in February 2025, marking 22 years of dedicated service.
Born in Sussex, New Brunswick, Capt Wheaton grew up in communities across the province and completed much of his schooling in Carleton County. He studied Journalism at Holland College in Charlottetown and has worked as a newspaper reporter, résumé writer, and house flipper. Following his release, Capt Wheaton looks forward to slowing down, building a quiet forest retreat in the woods of New Brunswick, working part time in a church office, studying theology part-time, riding his new mountain bike, and trying to grow things in his greenhouse.
