Meritorious Service Decorations - Military Division
Meritorious Service Medal
Awarded on: 2007-09-27
Invested on: 2009-02-13
Major Lutes was deployed as the officer commanding Patrol Company, Kandahar Provincial Reconstruction Team, Operation ARCHER, in Afghanistan, from July 2005 to February 2006. With only a conceptual operations framework, he skillfully trained and led his company through Canada’s first exposure to a sustained suicide explosive device campaign. His tact and diplomatic skills in a complex cultural environment were critical to successfully engaging and building lasting relationships with key Afghan and multinational partners.