On October 30 I attended a commemoration for Master Corporal Byron Greff, 3rd Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry out of Edmonchuk. He's the young soldier who died in the recent vehicle-borne suicide bomb here in Kabul. There were about 100 Canadians at the memorial, I guess. Mostly soldiers, but also a smattering of civilians like me.
Two things went through my mind during the commemoration. First the sheer tragedy of it. MCpl Greff, only 26, was just back from R&R where he attended the birth of his newborn baby daughter. That's the only time that little girl will ever see her father.
Second, was the suddenness of it, the randomness. There's likely nothing he or anyone else could have done, no training that could have prevented this. There were, I believe, 17 people killed in that attack. It could have been any one of us.
You get used to your routine on base here--breakfast, work, gym, joking around--day in and day out, and it's easy to forget where you are. Right in the middle of Afghanistan.
My buddy the Sergeant Major is a wise man. He asked me soon after I got here what made me come. I told him the money, because I tell everyone the money. His usual grin disappeared from his face and he said, "Nobody's here for the money, man." And he's right. When something like this happens--a father taken from his children--the money doesn't mean a whole lot. That won't get you through. Duty and honour will. Courage. Not that I got any of those things, but maybe they'll rub off if I hang out with the solldiers long enough. Maybe that's why I'm here--so that my kids might understand how important they are. That those virtues are the reason we live in an oasis of serenity in North Vancouver, Canada. It didn't just happen.
Remembrance Day is coming up. Sure going to feel different sitting in the thick of it. I'm pretty proud to share it with a bunch of Canadian soldiers though. Spare a thought for MCpl Byron Greff and his family, and all the other Canadians soldiers. I can vouch fo the fact that they are doing Canada proud over here.
Nicely said.
ReplyDeleteIndeed. it speaks to the root of making the decision for you to take this on. I have no problems with soldiers dying for their country in a volunteer army. I have a very, very big issue with a life taken for no purpose. A civil government has an absolute obligation to ensure that no life is wasted, where each life is paid to defend a set of ideals and responsibilities that define a country. I'm not sure how this applies to Afghanistan in 2011 but I would like to believe that everyone in the decision making process doesn't forget this because I feel small in doing the only paltry things I can do - never forget and never pass a soldier without thanking them for their service.
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