Remembrance Week 2023

Once again I have an opportunity to reflect more deeply on the nature of remembrance in my life. While I think about war and conflict on a daily basis as a defence consultant and as someone who lives with PTSD, my thoughts always become more focused in the last week of October and the first week of November. For most of my life, my thoughts focused on the Second World War service of my father, grandfather, and father-in-law. More recently, I think about the service of friends and colleagues who are starting to leave our Earthly experience with the passage of time and accumulated service-related injuries. This afternoon I will be attending the funeral services for a colleague who I served with in 1st Field Artillery Regiment in Halifax, Nova Scotia from 1988 to 1990. I was a relatively young Captain, and he was a middle-aged Warrant Officer. We were both members of the “Regular Force Cadre” (RFC) within this storied Primary Reserve unit. The RFC was expected to support the Reserve Commanding Officer in ensuring that his unit used the most up to date technical drills and tactics within the context of their resource challenges. The RFC was also expected to model professional behaviour. I inherited a rather challenging circumstance in which these lines were blurred in a unit wherein personal relationships often trumped rank. It could have been a miserable posting, but it turned out to be one of my favourites, in no small part due to the unflinching support and loyalty I had from my older colleague. I think of selflessness in service when I think of him. RIP Jerry, END OF MISSION, Good Shooting, STAND EASY, your example will remain with me for the rest of my life.