We had a very interesting experience this afternoon. The main local army reserve unit had a display set up in the park, complete with a flying Griffon helicopter, all kinds of guns and rocket launchers, and a whole lot of people with assault rifles. As many of you may know, I'm actually a big admirer of the Canadian Forces and pretty firm believer that we/our armed forces and other government agencies should be in Afghanistan. I'm comfortable enough with the military that I walked around most of the displays with the girls. True to her nick name, action girls sat up in the turret of a "G-Wagon" lightly armoured vehicle. A fun half hour...But... There was something very, well... sobering and wartime about the whole event. It felt like the recruiting fairs that were such a part of the first part of WWI. Maybe that's accurate, maybe that's not... I honestly don't know. Maybe I've finally come to the point in my life where, for me, the military in the necessary sharp end of the stick in a democratic and free society rather that something to idealize and dream about. I certainly don't have any less respect for it, even if my unease with it is new and unavoidable.
Basically, I believe in Canada having a strong armed forces and that we should be prepared to fight when its the moral thing to do (as in Afghanistan). I'd like to think that the fact that Canadians in uniform are dying in Afghanistan stops me from thinking this blindly or without, thinking more about it. It just seems a little more serious now that we're in our first sustained combat of my lifetime. Maybe it has something to do with being a parent...
B.
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