Peace in the Middle East is virtually impossible to achieve because the hatred between factions is too deeply embedded, according to an Olds Legion member who served in Israel.
Bill Tolley served on North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) peacekeeping missions in Israel and Europe for 21 years, initially as a medic, later in supply.
“Take the recent Gaza war for example,” he said during an interview with the Albertan.
“Those people – it's scary to think about it, but they learn to hate before they learn to walk. They're taught that (by) generations and generations and generations of people. It's a way of life,” Tolley says.
“We wonder why the hell you can't get those people to go to the peace table and talk about it. It's because they've got no concept of what peace means,” he adds. “It doesn't give you any money, it doesn't give you anything to do. There's no reward for peace and there's a reward for fighting.”
While in Israel, Tolley served on the very contentious Golan Heights.
“Sometimes it was stressful, sometimes it wasn't. It was more interesting because it was in a more active zone,” he says.
Tolley says he encountered some scary incidents during that time but “I'm not allowed to say anything about them because we're still caught between some of them.”
“We had a few active things go on in the Golan Heights when (for example) people on the Syrian side got frisky,” he adds.
Tolley went to high school in Clinton, Ont. He joined the Armed Forces at age 17.
“In high school I was in cadets. When I was 14 I knew I was going to be in the Army. My stepfather was in the Air Force and I just knew I was going to be in the Army. That was my life's ambition,” he says.
“I tried at 16, but when I had the opportunity at 17 to join the military, I was in. I did my basic training in London, Ontario with the infantry. As soon as I turned 21 I was sent to Europe.”
Tolley and his family first moved to Mountain View County in 1979, initially to Water Valley. He was still with the military at that time.
At age 38 he got out of the military. Starting in 1980, Tolley worked for 15 years as a purchasing agent for Mountain View County. When a separation of the school board and the county occurred, he joined the school board as a maintenance co-ordinator.
In 2008, he retired in Olds.
Tolley says Remembrance Day (this Tuesday, Nov. 11) has deep meaning for him.
“I remember the people I served with; the people who were acquaintances and friends years and years ago. You always start wondering where they are and where they've been,” he says.
“There are some people in Olds that I know at the legion that have served in the same outfits I served with.”
