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True test of courage
'Editorial, Chronicle-Journal, 4 Mar 07'
IT’S the type of thing young men and women shouldn’t be thinking about, making arrangements for their own funeral. It’s something most of us don’t even consider seriously until deep into our lives, if at all.
But for the young men and women of the Canadian Forces who go to Afghanistan, whether members of the regular forces or reservists, it is just one of many sobering duties they undertake before they leave Canadian soil, and join their comrades participating in this country’s most dangerous military mission since the Korean War, more than half a century ago.
As reported in The Chronicle-Journal March 1, a group of reservists from Thunder Bay are getting ready to head off for pre-deployment training before being sent to Afghanistan early next year. Among the tasks these reservists have been completing before they leave is settling their personal affairs at home, such as updating wills and making arrangements for burial, just in case they never come home.
Of course, all who we, as a nation, send into combat hope to return safely after their tour of duty. And of course, all of us, whether supporters of the mission or not, hope that is the case.
But as we well know in Thunder Bay, where we have lost young men to battle in Afghanistan within the past year, the dangers are real and this mission is indeed within a combat zone.
Such details as preparing wills when readying to deploy bring home to all of us who are not in the military, and who do not have family or friends in the military, that this is indeed serious business.
And it is in such knowledge of some of the things that have to be taken care of before deploying that the rest of us, in whose name these fellow Canadians are serving, can fully understand the courage it takes to serve in such a manner.
We salute that courage.