“Year after year we gather and shout commands in the Square,
Wait for the Governor-General, say a few words of prayer,
Lay our wreaths in order, mothers and big shots first,
In memory of those who have made it to the other side of the worst.”
– George Johnston, Canadian poet, Remembrance, 1966
Thank you to those who fought abroad in Afghanistan, who struggled to bring peace to a war-torn land. You are not forgotten.
My first post about Remembrance Day was in in 2010, when the war in Afghanistan was still going on.
Canada was engaged in Afghanistan from late 2001 to March 12, 2014.
40,026 regular and reserve members deployed to Afghanistan over those 12 1/2 years.
181 Canadian soldiers died there.
The men and women who returned still bear the cost.
Of the ~40,000 people who deployed there, 37% were receiving disability benefits in 2021-2022 (source).
70% of those receiving disability benefits are receiving it for mental health conditions, including Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
I remember a friend of mine who went to Afghanistan. When he returned, he was a different man. Troubled. Angry.
One of my cousins went over. It changed him, too.
“There is many a boy here today who looks on war as all glory, but, boys, it is all hell.” – William Tecumseh Sherman
I’ve never served in the military. My father did.
I don’t think he ever saw any combat. The closest he would have come to that was when he was deployed to Egypt for peacekeeping in 1963 (?), and my impression was that was pretty quiet.
We should not rush to war.
Leaders often overlook the human cost of war – not just those who are killed, but those who are wounded, physically and mentally.
Let’s take a moment to remember the men and women who fought for our country, who fought for our freedom. Let’s honour those who came back.
Thank you.
Hi Steve,
A central theme of yesterday’s coverage (on CBC) was that the shift to modern-day veterans has naturally been necessitated by the decline in surviving WW2 and Korea veterans (only 3,700 of the latter out of 1 million who served). Indeed, something like the last 20 mothers were those of children serving in the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan. The shift to modern-day veterans took place around the Millennium, with Bosnia and Afghanistan veterans’ mothers being selected.
By contrast, my Dad told me he remembered the veterans of the Boer War parading in Westmount, Montreal. That would have been, now, a century ago.
Seems we haven’t learned that war is, indeed, all Hell.
Thanks for sharing,
Eric