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Would you be terrified if your child joined the military?



April 2007

I would be proud if my daughter wanted to join the military. Maybe I’m a
little biased given that I am a former 13-year former Naval Reservist.
My father has also served in the Militia for the past 50 years, my
mother served in the RCAF Auxiliary, two of my great uncles served in
WWII and that my grandfather served in WWI. OK, I come from a military
family.

Overall, I had an enjoyable military career. I moved around a fair bit, which is
not the norm for reservists. Most reservists will serve with one unit
for their entire career, which usually ends with the member relocating
to job or school commitments. I served with 3 different units in 3
different cities and was attach posted to 2 other units for extended
periods. I served at numerous bases across the country while taking
military courses or undergoing training. I sailed up and down the east
coast of Canada and America.

I had some highs points and some low points in my military career. For a
period, my military career took a back seat to my civilian life and for a
2-year period, the military was my fill-time job.

I have no doubt that having served in the Navy contributed to obtaining
my current job as a police officer, given that policing is a
para-military profession.

Overall, I’m proud of my military career and the mast that I served my country
and my Queen. My only regret is that I never did an overseas tour with
either the UN or NATO or any other “special service”, such as a
posting to Alert or Germany. I did volunteer to go on the Canadian lead
NATO mission to Zaire, Africa (this was during my full-time service
period), but the mission was canceled less that a month after the first
wave arrived in the country. It was the only time during my 13-year
career that I was both willing and able to go overseas.

Why would I want to volunteer to go on overseas deployments? Well for many
reservists, it’s why they joined in the first place. When training with
their respective units, reservists are in “practice mode”, but when they
get into a real theatre of operations, everything they do is for real.
It seems to be the next logical progression in their training.

The fact that others have served overseas can also be inspiring to other
members of a military unit. You want to be a part of that group that has
served (overseas).

About the author

Bruce Forsyth

Bruce Forsyth served in the Royal Canadian Navy Reserve for 13 years (1987-2000). He served with units in Toronto, Hamilton & Windsor and worked or trained at CFB Esquimalt, CFB Halifax, CFB Petawawa, CFB Kingston, CFB Toronto, Camp Borden, The Burwash Training Area and LFCA Training Centre Meaford.

Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/would-you-be-terrified-if-your-child-joined-the-military/

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