A few years before we moved into our house in the Ottawa Valley, our area was hit hard by the ice storm of 1997. The house we would eventually buy lost power for 21 days. The Canadian Armed Forces helped the folks in our county to get back on their feet. In the original Snowmageddon (Snowpocalypse?), Mel Lastman got more snow than one Torontonian should have to handle, so he declared a state of emergency, and called the CAF for help. When the Red River flooded, the army helped to fill sandbags. When Syrian refugees started arriving in Canada, the army helped settle them at CFB Borden before they went to their sponsored communities. Locally, our Regiment participates in events like Stuff-an-Army-Truck food drives before Christmas. The armed forces helps. That’s what they do.

This year, may we remember the peacetime domestic help that the military provides.