Commissioned in 2000, Colonel Purdy served as a Military Police Officer with 2 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group and Garrison Petawawa prior to a promotion to Captain and occupation transfer to the Intelligence Branch in 2004.

As a junior Intelligence Officer, Colonel Purdy performed various training and intelligence operations functions at the Land Force Central Area Headquarters, Canadian Forces School of Military Intelligence and Canadian Special Operations Forces Command. He subsequently held sub-unit command positions at the rank of Major within the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command and the Canadian Forces Intelligence Command. As a Lieutenant Colonel he was appointed as the first Director of the Joint Targeting Intelligence Centre within the Canadian Joint Operations Command, commanded a unit within Canadian Forces Intelligence Command, and was employed as Deputy Director of Joint Integration on staff of the Chief of Combat Systems Integration. Colonel Purdy was promoted to his current rank in 2023, and after an operational deployment, commenced his current position as a Canadian Armed Forces Visiting Defence Fellow.

Colonel Purdy’s operational deployments include service as Intelligence Officer, 1st Battalion The Royal Canadian Regiment Battle Group – Afghanistan (2006-2007); Junior and Senior Intelligence Officer within several Special Operations Task Forces (2007-2012); Assistant Defence Attaché, Embassy of Canada – Jordan (2012-2013); and most recently, Commander of the Canadian Task Force in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Force Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Plans within the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (2023-2024).

Colonel Purdy holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Saint Mary’s University, a Master of Defence Studies from the Royal Military College of Canada and is a graduate of the Canadian Forces College Joint Command and Staff Program. He was named to the Order of Military Merit at the rank of Officer in 2018 and has been awarded the Chief of Defence Staff Commendation.