Remembrance Day 2009

November 11, at 11:00 a.m., we take a few moments to reflect on the soldiers who have given their lives in service to their country. As you know, I served in the Canadian Armed Forces. My tour of duty included postings to Europe and the Middle East, as well as out west. My son Devon served in the Canadian Forces, and was deployed to Afghanistan with his unit while in 3 PPCLI. Because I was also married to a serving soldier, the military played a huge part in much of my adult life.

As I mentioned in a previous post, Remembrance Day is a hard one for me. I have friends in the US military who are in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Korea at the moment. I will always feel a connection to those in uniform; I am familiar with the pressures they are under, and I empathize with the problems doing one's duty can often bring about. I experienced some of them myself.

Most of all, I often think of what it really means to volunteer to serve in the Armed Forces. In Canada, we are not at war with anyone, but are involved in peacekeeping -- and increasingly, peaceMAKING -- activities abroad. While building much-needed roads and schools and hospitals, our soldiers risk attack from insurgents, death or injury from land mines and IEDs, and as the British recently experienced, even assault by those who could benefit most from military assistance.

We mourn the loss of each one of our servicemen and servicewomen.

What is rarely publicized are the peacetime deaths of military personnel who are lost in training accidents, vehicle accidents, airplane crashes, suicides, murders, and terminal illnesses. I have lost friends and comrades in all of these ways during my years of service.

For me, Remembrance Day is not only about remembering the sacrifices of all our military personnel in all of the wars, but also about remembering those in uniform who died doing their duty in whatever capacity they were assigned, and remembering all those who have served regardless of time or place.

Today, I remember Claire, Rod, Wayne, Dave S., Jane, Marty, Jerry, Les, Doug C., Alex, Andy, David W., Ron, John A., Derek, Myrna, Don, Laurent, Mike, Dennis, Bud, Greg P., Mick, David G., Pierre, Sybille, Art, Charlie, Marcel, Loretta, Donnie, Ken, Doug W., George L., Andre, Joe G., Geoff, Doug A., Gord K., Val, and others...

Je me souviens. I remember. Then. Now. Forever.