An Afghan veteran who visited Olds says he's heartened by signs he's seen that schoolchildren appreciate the sacrifices soldiers make on their behalf.
Josh Pelland, 33, of Three Hills, spoke to members of the Olds Rapids swim team late last month.
In 2016, Pelland became a paraplegic after falling off a cliff while climbing in Squamish, B.C. Now he's a motivational speaker and wheelchair hand racer, hoping to make the 2024 Canadian paralympic team.
When he turned 19, Pelland joined the British Royal Marine Commandos.
"Because we're part of the British Commonwealth we're able to do that. They're one of Britain's most elite fighting forces," he says.
"I was drawn to the hardness of the course, the basic training course. It's also the longest course in NATO for basic training. It's 32 weeks long so it's just over twice as long as any other country. So I was drawn to the adventure of it, the harshness of it, you could say; the challenge of it.
"So from there I did operations and training all over the world -- Central America, the Middle East, Afghanistan."
Pelland worked in a special operations force within the British military for six years.
He saw some pretty scary action in Afghanistan. He can't recall the specifics, but he remembers the fear and stress.
"When you're working alone with a team of six, seven Afghans and you're inserting into a village at night through the high cornfields alone in the dark, it can be kind of scary," he says.
"Also you know, various firefights; being surrounded, fighting your way out of that sort of situation."
Pelland is aware that memories of Canadians' involvement in various wars like the one in Afghanistan -- let alone the first and second world wars -- can fade as the years go by.
But he saw something that encouraged him.
"I recently actually went to the lieutenant-governor's pinning of the poppy in Calgary and I was really taken aback by the schoolchildren who were doing the poetry writing contest, the art contest in all the various schools," Pelland says.
"They're still living that kind of Remembrance Day as they get further and further removed."
He urges Canadians to not only remember those who served in various wars but also those who stayed behind, as well as the communities that supported them.
