| Biographical Note |
- Harold A. 'Hal' Skaarup, son of Aage Christensen Skaarup and Beatrice Leah Estabrooks, married Faye Alma Jenkins. Major Harold A. Skaarup is a Canadian Army Intelligence Branch officer stationed at NORAD headquarters on Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado Springs, Colorado in 1999. He is one of Elijah Estabrooks' many descendants who have served in the military. Other military ancestors to the Estabrooks clan in include Captain William Hacket of Amesbury and Salisbury, married to Hannah Ring in 1710. Their daughter, Mary, born on the 1st of August1728, married Elijah on the 13th of November 1750. Another of Elijah’s relatives was David Fletcher, who was also an officer in the Colonial army, and had the right to a grant of 2,000 acres. Major Hal Skaarup is an Army officer presently serving in the Intelligence Branch of the Canadian Forces (CF). He has had a continuing interest in history from the days when his parents took him exploring medieval castles in Europe as a child. (Hal's father, Aage C. Skaarup served in the RCAF at No. 3 Fighter Wing in Zweibrucken, Germany between1959 and 1963. Aage retired as a Canadian Force Warrant Officer in 1973). Hal joined the Canadian Militia while attending the College of Trades and Technology in St. John's, Newfoundland in 1971. He later became an officer through the Reserve Officer University Training Program (ROUTP), and after completing his training at Shilo, Manitoba, was commissioned in1973. In 1974 he completed his Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree, graduating from Nova Scotia College of Fine Arts and Design (NSCAD) in Halifax. Between 1977 and 1981 he was a member of the Canadian Forces Parachute Team, the 'Skyhawks', participating in air shows across Canada and parts of United States. He is still an active skydiver with more than 1700 jumps to date. As a reserve intelligence officer, Hal served a two year tour of duty in the Headquarters, Canadian Forces in Europe (CFE) in Lahr, Germany from1979 to 1983. In the summer of 1983, he transferred to the Regular Force and he was then sent to the Canadian Forces School of Intelligence and Security (CFSIS), first student, later as an instructor. Between 1984and 1986 he served as an intelligence analyst in Ottawa and then from1986 to 1989 as the Regimental Intelligent Officer (R Int O) for the Canadian Airborne Regiment (CAR). As Captain in the CAR, Hal went to the island of Cyprus on United Nation's (UN) duty from 1986-1987. (In 1988, all those who had worn the 'Blue Beret' on peacekeeping duties were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.) The following year he completed the Canadian Forces Staff Course (CLFCSC, also known as Fox Hole U), in Kingston, Ontario. On completion CLFCSC in 1989, Hal was again posted to Lahr, Germany where he served as the Intelligence officer for the 4th Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group (4 CMBC), with the First Canadian Division (Forward). This came at one of the most interesting periods of change in modern European history, with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Gulf War. In 1992, he was posted back to CFSIS. On promotion to Major in 1993, he became the Officer Commanding (OC) the Intelligence Training Company, and later the Distance Learning Company at CFSIS. In 1994, Major Skaarup was posted to CFB Gagetown, New Brunswick, as the Intelligence Directing Staff (In DS) officer in the Tactics School (TAC SCH) at the Combat Training Centre (CTC), where he was also 'dual hatted' as the Base G2 Intelligence Officer. Between instructing on and participating in numerous field exercises as the commander of the 'Enemy Forces,' he completed his Master of Arts Degree in War Studies through the Royal Military College (RMC), receiving his degree on graduation in May 1997 at Kingston, Ontario. In June 1997he was posted to Sarajevo on a six month tour of duty as the Commanding Officer (CO) of the Canadian National Intelligence Centre (CANIC) in support of the Canadian Contingent of the NATO led Peace Stabilization Force (CC SFOR) in Bosnia-Herzegovina. While in Sarajevo, he took the opportunity to stand in the footsteps of Gavrilo Prinzip, the young anarchist who fired the 'shot heard round the world,' in 1914. In June 1999, Major Skaarup completed the year long Land Forces Technical Staff Course (LFTSC) with RMC's Department of Applied Military Science (AMS) in Kingston. He is presently posted to Colorado where he is the Chief of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) Exercise Intelligence Section, J2SZ on Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado Springs. If you have questions or comments on the story of Elijah Estabrooks, his e-mail address is: h.skaarup@@worldnet.att.net
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