A Coffee with Jon Alexander, Veteran of the Canadian Armed Forces

In honor of Remembrance Day, we welcome Jon Alexander, a veteran of the Canadian Armed Forces and former Corporal, for a very special conversation about service and the transition home.

Jon, an Alberta native, recounts his path from graduating high school in Spruce Grove to his intensive year of training across Canada, which took him through Quebec, Wainwright, and Edmonton. He then details his deployment to Afghanistan, where he served with the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI). We delve into his time on the base, discussing the reality of military life, gaining insights into local culture and food, and reflecting on Canada's vital and respected reputation as a global peacekeeper.

Jon addresses the elephant in the room, confirming the legendary rumor about the Tim Hortons on the Canadian base, and offers an honest look at the emotional challenge of transitioning out of the military. He shares how he met his wife while beginning his civilian life and discusses his eventual career shift, which saw him take business courses from Athabasca University before finding success in the medical sales sector, where he currently works with Permobil in Edmonton.

This episode is dedicated to Cam's cousin, Corporal Richard Sonnenberg. We encourage you to wear your poppies and appreciate the profound service of all who have worn the uniform. 

Let us know your thoughts in the comments and leave us a review!

Follow Coffee in the Park with Jennifer and Cam on our social medias

Instagram: https://instagram.com/coffeeintheparkwithjenandcam

Website: https://www.coffeeinthepark.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/coffee-in-the-park-podcast/

Transcript

0:01

Hi, I'm Jon Alexander, and you're listening to Coffee in the Park with Jennifer and Cam. So, word is, it's gonna snow. Have you found your snow brush yet? That's a good question. Actually, until you just said that, I never thought of it. These are important things. No, I know, because it's supposed to snow, what? Tonight or tomorrow night? Tomorrow, Thursday, Friday. Yes, so wherever you're listening to us, somewhere in the world, here in Alberta, it's supposed to snow, which means winter's coming. Winter is coming. It is, and so yeah. But anyway, hey everybody, thanks for listening. We're coming to you live from the Wall Coffee Roasters in the heart of beautiful downtown Acheson. So if you hear some noise in the background, some machines whirring, kids screaming, although there's no kids here today. Well, not today. No, we've never had adults scream, which is good. It's because we're at the coffee shop. We are. And if you haven't been to The Wall, you need to come to The Wall. Check it out. I think, Mike, I heard this morning some conversation about potential Christmas, new Christmas coffees coming out. This is exciting. But he hasn't announced it yet. So maybe we can be the breaking news. Maybe we can. We love breaking news. We can try it and let everybody know how it is. Exactly. So yeah, so that's what's happening, folks. And so thanks again for listening. We really appreciate it. If you've been listening the last little while, I hope you've enjoyed the show. We've had some great shows. We have another great one today, but we've had some really great shows. And we want to remind you that Coffee In The Park with Jennifer and Cam is brought to you by Wing Snob. Wing Snob, where their wings are always fresh, never frozen, Cam. That's right. With 16 different flavors, four rubs. Delicious. Best wings you're ever going to have in Edmonton. Again, if you're not living in Edmonton, I'm sorry. I don't know if like, skip the dishes will like, take them to like Germany or anything like that. But I'm telling you folks, these are some of the best wings you're ever going to have. They are amazing. Like Jennifer said, they are fresh, never frozen. And they got up. What's your favorite flavor? I ask you this every show. What is your favorite flavor? You know what? I might be changing my mind since last week. Remember when we had wings last week? We had a new flavor. We did. What? Mango Habanero? Mango Habanero. Oh, unbelievable that Mango Habanero. So hey folks, you need to get down there. And by the way, tonight is game night for the Oilers. And they have an Oilers package. They do. Is that the right way to say it? From Wing Snob? An Oilers package? A special game pack of wings. A game pack of wings. And so you want to check that out. So if you're wondering what am I going to feed the family tonight, just go to Wing Snob. Go to www.wingsnob.ca. Ten locations in the city of Edmonton. And the best wings you're ever going to have. I promise you that. I love them. Actually, we had somebody last week who listened to the show, sent me a text saying those were the best wings I ever had. Exactly. So yeah, check it out. Also want to tell you that we're brought to you by our friends over at Mprint Sign and Print Solutions right here in Acheson, Cam. That's right. Some of the best printers you're ever going to find for whatever you're printing needs. Everything from business cards to pamphlets to booklets to... They did a great banner stand for us. Banner stand. I love our banner stand. I know. And they even wrap vehicles. And go ahead and say it. I know because they say it every time. I say it every show. They wrapped a helicopter. They wrapped a helicopter. And so these people at Mprint, Jan and Don are absolutely amazing. And their team over there, they'll come anywhere to you. They'll serve you. And they are amazing, do amazing work. And they just keep getting better all the time. So thank you for sponsoring Coffee In The Park with Jennifer and Cam. Mprint for all your printing needs, mprint.ca. And make sure you check them out. So yeah. So thanks folks. Hey, I'm excited about today's show. To me, this is a very special show, Jennifer. It is a very special show, Cam. For so many reasons. Because Remembrance Day is coming up. That's right. And it has new meaning for me. My mom passed away a year ago. And when we were going, most of you know my story. My dad passed away when I was two years old. I didn't know a lot about my dad. And then when we were going through my mom's stuff, I found pictures of my dad. I knew my dad was in the military, but I didn't know much about it. But she, and my mom hadn't shown me these. I found all kinds of amazing pictures of my dad in uniform. And things and accommodations he received. And all those kinds of things. And suddenly, I have to be honest, this particular Remembrance Day is taking on a bit of a new meaning for me. And I always loved Remembrance Day. When we lived in Vancouver, we took our youth down to the Cenotaph on Remembrance Day in Vancouver. And that was phenomenal. But this year, it's just a little special. And we have a great guest. I think that it's going to make it even more meaningful. We do. So let's kick it off. Let's get on to it. Let's introduce our guest. Our guest today is a veteran of the Canadian Armed Forces, and he'll tell us a little bit more about that. So we'd like to welcome today, Jon Alexander. So welcome, Jon. Welcome. Thank you. Good to have you here. Yeah, I'm glad to be here. Thanks for picking me. So before we get into a little bit about your background, tell us where you started. So you were here in Edmonton, based at the garrison. Yep. Yep. Based in Edmonton over at the CFB Edmonton there. Right. So I was with the first Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group, and then that I was part of the first battalion of the Canadian, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry. Okay. Cool. Okay. And we're going to get into that. Right. Yes. But here's the first question. The first question. The most important question, actually. Jon, tell us about where you grew up. Where were you born? Where did you grow up? Are you an Albertan? Are you a transplant? No. I was born here in Alberta. I was born in Edmonton over at the Misericordia Hospital. Oh. At the Mis. Okay. Yeah. Born there. And then I started my life out in Wetaskiwin. It was where my family was. Then they transitioned over to Devon. I think my parents got new jobs out there for a little bit. And then Devon is when kind of my family broke up. So when my father actually ended up leaving and my parents split. Right. So then my dad stayed there. And then I moved with my mom out to Spruce Grove. Oh, okay. And that's where I kind of stayed out in Spruce Grove up until kind of not that long ago. So, right. So you're a Groveite. Yeah. What is that? You're a Groveite. I don't know if that's what we call ourselves. Was that what you call you guys? Groveites? I don't know. Yeah, I've never heard that. Never? Well, I'm just shooting in the dark. I don't know what you call them. So where did you go to high school? Did you go to high school in Devon or Spruce Grove? No, I went to high school in Spruce Grove at the Comp. Okay, so the Comp? Yeah. Oh, okay. They're building a new Comp. I heard that. Okay, so that's pretty cool. Graduated from high school, then what? Then straight into the military. Okay. It was a young age that I knew I was going to the army. So is it something you wanted to do for a very long time? Yeah, that was the only future I saw when I was a kid. I knew I was going to the military and I wanted to do something that I could be of service and do something cool and meaningful, and that's what the army was. So a question about that, did you have family, was there history of people in the military before grandparents? A little bit. So my mom's side of the family is from the Netherlands, from Holland. My opa, he fought in the war over in the Netherlands. So I don't know to the fullest extent of what he did, but all I know is I remember him telling stories. I think he was a medic at the time and he would be in the medic and he would help bring people out after they got injured and he would tell little tiny bits of stories but never go into full detail. So how young were you when you actually started giving very serious consideration to the military? I'd say probably from 10 to 12 years old. Is there outside of your grandfather, is there anything that kind of sparked that? Did you see, did you go to something or somebody came to your school or just? No, it's just something that just has always been there. You wanted to do it. And so from that point on, were you a bit of a military history buff or did you dig into it a little bit? No, it was more just like, yeah, that's what I want to go do, but I can't do that until I'm 18. So I may as well just continue to live my life. So you didn't do cadets or? No, I didn't do cadets or anything. Yeah, cool. Okay, another, this is a bit of a controversial question though. Oh, controversy on the podcast. No, it can be. Okay. So, Army, Air Force, was it a tough choice? Did you know? No, I knew Army. You didn't want to fly. No, if I wanted to be in the Army, I wanted to be a soldier. You didn't want to sail. Yeah, infantry and go and carry the heavy stuff and shoot all the big guns.They get very particular. Don't. No, I know. Yeah, there's a lot of rivalry between the branches. Yeah, I was going to say, because, yeah, that's right. Yeah, everywhere you go, it's the Army, the Navy, the Air Force. Yeah, so that's cool. You knew what you wanted to do. Did you know that, was there anything specific you wanted to do in the Army? Did you want to specialize in something, or is that something they kind of brought out in you when you enlisted? Yeah, it's kind of when I went in there, I knew I wanted to go infantry. And then once I'm in the infantry, then there's only a certain kind of special branches. You can really go from that point in the infantry. Then you can go to the like a recce squadron, which are like your guys that go in ahead of the things and spy and kind of draw the pictures and give you all your intelligence for the main branches to come in. Or you can go to kind of like a sniper where the snipers go out and do their stuff. What did your family feel? Were they okay with it? Was your mom okay with it? Yes, I think she had the normal mom stuff where she was afraid what might happen to me as I go into that. She knew that I was dead set on going into the military and that's what I was going to do regardless. And Canada, I mean we fought in both world wars. We fought in the Korean War for sure. But Canada for the most part was known as a peace keeping country. And we sent people all over the world in very difficult situations. So it's not like Canada was actively involved in war since the last world war. But I guess there's always that sense that yeah, we did. And we'll talk about that in a minute. Well, it was post 9-11 that when I went into it. The whole Afghan conflict was in full swing when I joined. So I kind of knew that that's where life was going to take me. So tell us about that. So 9-11 happened and you thought, okay, it could be a different scenario here. Yep. So 9-11 happened. I remember I was still in junior high at the time. So I remember going into school and they have all the intercoms on telling the whole story. And everyone's just sitting there at the age of not really fully understanding what's going on. Right. But it was a game changer for the world, obviously. And a game changer even for peacekeeping countries like Canada. It was a game changer. So everything changed. And yeah, okay. So now you now you saw it maybe through a little different lens and what could happen. Graduated from high school. Yep. And then went straight into basic training. Here in Edmonton? At the garrison? No. So basic training takes you out to Quebec. So Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu. So that's where all the Canadian Forces go for their three-month basic training. So that's where everybody, regardless of the branch, where you're going, what trade you're going to do, everybody goes for that three months. So everybody has that baseline training. So how do you shoot a gun? How do you carry? How do you run? Give you that initial discipline that you're going to take out into your trade. How was that? You always hear stories about basic training, like, or see it in the movies. Yeah, that's right. It's probably not really the way it is, but you see it. How was that? I'd say it really gives you that eye-opener. So you're going there, you're getting your head shaved, you're learning how to march everywhere. Everything is by the book. And if you stray from that book, then you're getting yelled at, you're getting punished. Was there ever a moment where you thought, I don't know about this? No, I was looking for that experience. I wanted it to the next level, even. You see all those kind of interactions on the movies and the TV shows of everyone. The crazy drill sergeant. Yeah, the Navy Seals, guys, yeah. Did any of your class not make it? Yeah, there was a few that would drop out. Yeah, I just, I'd drop out. Yes, you would have. Well, the minute they shaved my hair, because that would have been it. Nobody told me this. Nobody said they were going to do this, but anyway. Okay, so that's pretty, three months in Quebec. Were you there in the summer or the winter? That was over the summer. Over the summer. Yeah, so I didn't have to go through any crazy winter over in Quebec, but I got lots of exposure to the winter later on. Yeah, for sure. No, I think me too. If I had to do that, the basic training in winter, that would have been another reason to come home. He would've quit. I don't think I could have done that. Okay, cool. So you finished three months of basic training. Tough? Tough enough. Gives you that good baseline, like, okay, yeah, I can do this. And then knowing that infantry is my future and the infantry school is going to take it to that next level and the next step and really dig deep into basically warfare training. Yeah. So then after Quebec, then where were you stationed? So from Quebec, then I went out to Wainwright here in Alberta. That's the main kind of infantry school for Western Canada out there. Yeah. So after basic training, they kind of, your infantry and they decide, okay, what kind of battalion and regiments are you going to go and join? Because there's three main infantry regiments throughout Canada. You have the PPCLI out west here. Right. You're going to have the RCR, the Royal Canadian Regiment out in Ontario. And then you're going to have the Van Doos out in Quebec. Okay. So I know that Jennifer, she is a bit of a history buff and a military history buff. She has an amazing background in some of this. Princess Patricia. Light Infantry. Let's talk about that for a second because in Canada, that's a big deal. And in the World Wars and in other hotspots, you guys, you're some of the elite. Give us a bit of history on the Princess Patricia. I'm probably not the best one for the history of everything. Right. But it goes way back, right? Oh yeah. It goes way back. Way back to your first World War. Your first World War. Because you always, well, I know this only because I watch the history channel. And I love the war shows on the history channel. They talk a lot about the Princess Patricia Light Infantry. And they were amazing fighters. They were skilled and tenacious and brave and all those kinds of things. One of the unifying ones is on the shoulder flashes is the PPCLI. And it's basically a white lettering on a red background. Right. So all the people that are part of the regimen would have that shoulder flash on their shoulder. And I know throughout the wars, that's where they got the nickname the Red Devils. Because everybody would see that little red flash through everything. And they were going out there doing kind of very intense acts of bravery and saving a lot of lives. That's pretty cool. That's really cool, I think. Yeah. So yeah, you were known. There's a history there. When people saw that flash, you guys were... So does that mean part of that particular infantry was training tougher? Was it harder? Was it more specialized, more skilled? No, I don't know exactly what it would be, whether it would be like just that regionalized basis. So the PPCLI is primarily out on the West Coast here. So we have basically, there's three battalions. So you have two of them in Edmonton, your first and your third. And then second is out in Winnipeg, out in Brandon, Manitoba. Yeah. So I don't know if it's just a regional basis that Westerners are just a little more fiery than the rest of the country. But that was also a little bit of rivalry between regiments. I was going to say, yeah, that may be true. Yeah, that's pretty cool. So then Wainwright, what, where did that take you after Wainwright? So right after Wainwright was into Edmonton. So Wainwright was kind of the infantry school. So that's where you go and get, learn all your infantry tactics, all your basics of warfare and how to do all your different weapons and different kind of explosives and all the other things that you're going to get into. And then once you graduate from that is when you're actually placed with a regiment. You're actually assigned to a regiment. That's when I became a member of the Ppcli and that's where you get your cap badge and you made it. In essence, you graduated your school. And so like you talked about Cam, Canada was known for peacekeeping missions. When you were going through all of this, was there ever a point where you thought this is an area or there's a specific country that I really want to go to? Or was it just wherever they're going to put me, they're going to put me? Yeah, it was more wherever they're going to put me, they're going to put me. But it's already at that point, we knew Afghanistan was what it was going to be. Right. Because they kind of had, it was already a fairly well-oiled machine at that point. There are fairly numerous revolutions of soldiers going over to Afghanistan and fighting alongside with the US and the British forces that were there. Canada was very involved. Yeah, very involved. Yeah, very involved. We had our own area of operations that Canada was in charge of leading in front. And basically, that's where we broke apart. We were no longer peacekeepers at that time. We were going in and we were doing village clearances and we were trying to basically secure the country. Well, talk about that a minute. Let me ask you a question, Jonathan. Like, how is the Canadian military viewed by other countries? Like, you know, everybody, of course, they think America, they're, oh, they're, you know, ah, ah, ah. But how do those countries view the Canadian Army, view you guys? What, how do they look at you? I'd say initially most of them don't even realize we exist. They just, you talk to a lot of the US forces and they don't even realize we don't have summer. So they think we're all living in igloos and we're all just winter all the time. But then once you start dealing with them, you start talking to them and they see how you're operating, how you're actually working, I think they gain a new level of respect because the Canadian military isn't very large. We don't have a lot of people in it in relation to the most other countries. We're very, I guess, unique because we're all very cross-trained. It's where the US and other forces there, this is your machine gunner and you know that machine gun from top to bottom, and that's what you know and you're specialized in, but you might not know the other weapons. Whereas Canada, you're trained in that weapon, and that weapon, and that weapon, and that weapon because you have to be able to do any job that's given in front of you. Again, the reason I ask that question is because when I do watch some of these History Channel shows and you hear about the battles that Canada was involved in, and how in many of them we were the, I don't know how to say it, we saved the day so to speak. We were like, when you hear about the stories of the Canadian military army and those people at D-Day, what role Canada played that was instrumental, and then I know this for fact and I'll talk about it in a bit, but even in Afghanistan, I know Canada was very instrumental in what was going on there, more than just we're sending troops over. It was pretty key. Yeah, we were part of the whole plan. Yeah, you guys were in there. So you packed up to Afghanistan. Yeah, so basically out of Wainwright is into Edmonton, and then it was basically the workup training. So how much time did they give you when they said you're going to Afghanistan? It's about a year, year and a half of training. So they really prepare you ahead of time to go into there. So you're going through and you're doing lots of very realistic trainings. You're going to live fire training. They actually we go out into Wainwright and down to Southfield and we do cross training with the US and the British forces as well. And then it's also even taking it to the next level where they bring in actual actors. So you're going in like a massive game of laser tag in a sense. So it's a very fancy laser tag. You have real time actors that are portraying enemy forces or just civilian forces. And you have to actually properly operate so that you know if something happens like this, you get a chance to be corrected before something happens. I want to be one of those actors. How do you get that gig? That's a pretty cool gig, I think. Anyway, so a year, you train for a year? Yeah, it was about a year and then it was off to Afghanistan. Yeah, right. And were you excited? Were you nervous? Were you apprehensive? Were you full of... Yeah, I'd say... You were ready to go? Yeah, I'd say excited over everything and then a little bit of nerves in there because this is the real deal now. But it's also, this is kind of a year and a half worth of training and lead up to get to this point to go and actually do the job. How did your mom feel about that? Oh, there were a few tears. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's the, because before you go, you have to prepare for the worst. Yeah, that's right. This might be the final goodbye or might not be. Yeah, yeah. So... It must be, you know, tell us a little bit. I mean, I know you're not... You're kind of out on your own, right? Like you have your own encampments and everything ready to go. But it still had to be a big culture shock to be over in Afghanistan. Oh, yeah. Yeah. When you get over there and you see the lay of the land, how people are living, that's something you've only ever seen on kind of TV before. You've never really seen it in real life. But when you see it in real life, this is how people don't have wooden houses. They're living in mud houses. They're living in villages. And there's the call to prayer. So that cultural difference between just even the religions is five times a day. You have this big loudspeaker going off across the whole countryside, calling everybody into prayer. Yeah. And those are very unique cultural experiences for people who have never experienced that. Is it true that the Canadian base had a Tim Hortons? Oh, absolutely. Yeah. I had to ask because I heard that. And so was it like real live Tim Hortons? Was it like tastes like Tim Hortons and everything? Yeah, at the time it was Tim Hortons. I only got to have it once. Oh, really? Yeah. Because basically that was our transition years. We came into the Kandahar Airfield, which is the big airfield that all the forces kind of shared. As soon as I heard that, that Tim Hortons was in Afghanistan. You know, another story, just on the side note of that, there's a company in Spruce Grove, Brickhouse Beef Jerky. Best Beef Jerky you're ever going to have. They don't sponsor us, but it really is the best beef jerky. They produce it in Spruce Grove. And we know them. We had them on the podcast, actually, a while back. And I remember one time they were telling us, we were ordering it to give to our customers at Christmas time. And I said, what's the furthest order you ever had? And he said, we had a number of military guys in Afghanistan who knew about their beef jerky, contacted them, and so they packed up big things of their beef jerky and sent it over to Afghanistan. And they said that was, they were proud, so proud to do it for the military, but just it was so cool that they were sending stuff over to Afghanistan. So that was really cool. Now, that was one of the amazing things when we were over there, is that we'd all of a sudden get care packages every once in a while when we're back in base and we kind of have access to everything again. And just the amount of packages that would show up that people from Canada would just put together and just send over so it can go to some random soldier just as a little taste of home and a little kind of experience to kind of just break the monotony of what you're doing over there and bring it back to, yeah, this is what we're doing it for. And I can imagine what it was probably like to get those packages and like just like, yeah, it feels like home again a little bit for a few moments, but cool. So you're in Afghanistan. What was your role? What did you do when you were there? So I went over there and so one PPCLI, so we're the Mechanized Infantry. So basically mainly we were operating out of LAVs, so Light Armored Vehicles. So it's an armored vehicle that has a 30 millimeter cannon on the top. So you're going to have a driver, a gunner, crew commander, then you have eight soldiers in the back. That would get out and do any operations on foot. So I went over there as a gunner and a signaler. So I was the one in the turret for that 30 millimeter gun. And then for all of our foot operations, I'd be the signaler carrying the radio on my back and doing all the communications. Yeah. Wow. I can't imagine. This is incredible. And sort of every day and obviously life-threatening. Yeah. So we kind of went on to a cycle as you'd have a certain amount of time. So you'd probably for a week, you'd go and you do foot patrols and you just go out into the villages and you just be a, we call them presence patrols. We're just being out there showing our presence that we are here securing this village and trying to keep that local population safe. And then we'd go through another tour where we'd be on a quick reaction force. We'd part of the EOD disposal, so that's for all your IEDs, all your explosives. Because it's not a traditional warfare that was being fought over there, it was guerrilla warfare. So they're blending in to the population and just, I guess the fire superiority that we had as a conventional armed force is we could outgun any force that was over there. So their approach to that is we're not gonna stand up and we're not gonna shoot at them with traditional rifles. We're gonna go and we're gonna plant bombs and we're gonna try and surprise them. So we'd find those bombs and we'd have to dispose of them, which the really cool thing is that once you found a bomb, it wasn't just go and pull it out and get rid of it. You'd bring in the specialist and they would try and dismantle that bomb and then they would fingerprint it and they would do forensic evidence on that and they would try and actually coordinate who is the leader that is putting this in. Because a lot of the people putting the bombs in weren't actually Taliban or enemy forces. They'd be a local farmer that would be just trying to make ends meet and get paid to put it in there or they'd be coerced into doing it. So it's trying to make that ethical decision on not everybody is a bad guy. So that leads me then to another question is how were you accepted by the local people? How did the Afghanis- Into the villages. Yeah, into the villages and that. Were you looked at as the enemy? Were you looked at as peacekeepers? Were you looked at as a saving force? How were you viewed by the locals? Yeah, it really changed by the individual village. So really the individual village and how I guess far in the safe territory they were and what the political affiliation of that village was. So every village has their village elder and their leader that would kind of dictate their political leaning of that village. And some would be very appreciative and they would love having us in there. You'd walk into the village and all the kids would come running over and just high fives and they're just happy as can be. You go into another village and everyone is keeping their distance and everyone's staying and giving you a little bit of stink eyes and then other villages you knew that if you're going in there you're going to find things that are not good for you. I can't imagine actually. Just listening to you talk about it, I just can't imagine. That must have been so unique, such a unique experience. It's incredible. And again, knowing that every day there's a threat there and every step there's a threat there and yeah, pretty incredible. So how long were you in Afghanistan for? So Afghanistan was seven months total on tour. So you're there and then everybody that's on tour gets basically a three week kind of reprieve. So you can either choose to come back to Canada or you can go and take just a little vacation somewhere else. So basically, I took a little vacation off to Australia and went there because I thought it'd be a little too hard to come back home, see the family and say, OK, I got to go again. Speaking of that, was your how were you able to, while you were there in Afghanistan, could you connect with your family, were you able to talk with them? How was that? So when we were kind of back at base, we'd have some satellite phones that we could use to actually call back home every once in a while. It's a little bit of a time change. So it's hit and miss on when you can actually connect. I don't think your mom would mind getting up at any time to talk to you. But yeah. So yeah. Wow. So and did you have a certain period of time you could talk and then that was it or you just were able to talk for a while? Yeah. It really depended on what that day to day life was. Because no day was the same really for us. It was all depending on what operations had to be done. Incredible. I know this is going to sound like a really dumb question, but this is how my brain thinks. How is the food? It's an valid question. Well, I can only imagine, again, the military has to probably bring everything over from Canada. How is it? Is it good food? Is it eat well? Yeah, again, you get the whole spectrum. Sometimes you're eating kind of dusty food on the side of a road, and other times you're sitting in base. And when you're in base, like the military cooks, they know what they're doing. Like their job is to cook. And like some of them are like Michelin star rated chefs, and they're cooking high-end meals for you. Because food is a big morale boost. The best for the troops, absolutely. That's pretty cool. Wow. I think one of the coolest ones is we were kind of just in the middle of one of our kind of operations for village clearance. Yeah. And we're sitting there. It's really hot, really dusty, really dirty. And all of a sudden we'd get like a supply run by helicopter come in. And all of a sudden this helicopter drop the supply run and take off. And then we're all sitting there doing our job. And then all of a sudden someone comes running over that there's ice cream, there's ice cream, there's ice cream. So they actually they helicoptered a pallet of ice cream in for us as we're doing this operation as a little kind of morale boost. Yeah, that's really cool. I love and you know, and I'm going to tell you why I asked part of that, because we found out that my dad actually was a cook in the Army. That's what he was. And so, you know, I always thought that's kind of cool. Like, I don't know, maybe sometimes the cooks are, receive the least praise, but yeah, like you said, it's such a morale boost for you guys to be able to eat well and eat good and then do your job the best that you can. So, yeah, I was always very appreciative of the cooks. They're the ones, they're waking up super, super early in the morning, and they're hittin the stove and they're cookin and if you're friendly to them, they're givin you a little bit of extra food on the other end of things, so you're gettin a little bit better. Oh yeah, they'd be my best friends, guaranteed, yeah. I know. So you went, you took a bit of a break in Australia and then what happened from there? So then it was back to Afghanistan and kind of finishing up the rest of the tour. So then basically it's kind of, once you get into that kind of last month of the tour, is when you get a few weeks of the other forces coming over, you're doing a little bit of handover, a little bit of kind of intelligence transfer where you're saying, yeah, this is what we've been doing, this is what we're kind of seeing out there, handing it over to them so that they can take over and continue on the operation that we're going as we're transitioning back home. Is that the average length of the tour of seven months? Yeah, most for your kind of your active, your combat forces, we're sitting about that kind of six, seven months for the support personnel that were over there. They were doing more of about a year turnaround. And then there were some that were, they break them up a little bit. I mean, that it's got to be important to have that changeover. Just, you know, physically, mentally, emotionally. Yeah, you can only keep your kind of brain and your body going at that level for so long before you need a break. So tell us what was it like coming back? What was for you? Was it an easy transition back? I'd say it was a fairly easy transition back because we knew we were coming back again. We knew Afghanistan at that point was starting to wind down and we were slowly starting to pull our forces out of Afghanistan. So you didn't think you'd be going back? No. So the future, I knew a tour again wasn't probably going to be in the cards for me. So at that point in time, I would sign my initial three-year contract for military service and then you could choose to extend after that point. So when I was in Afghanistan, It was when my actual contract actually came up. So it's like, I have no idea what I want to do. So I signed another three-year contract. So I knew I had three years after being in Afghanistan, that I still are going to be in the army. So I'll get back to Edmonton and then it's just transitioning back into day-to-day life again. And we didn't and we won't. Maybe another podcast another day, talk about some of all your true experiences back there. Your team that came back, your squad that came back, everybody have an easy transition? Or do you know of guys that it was a little more difficult for? Was it because of what had happened or what they'd seen or what you'd experienced over there or any of those things? Was it? Yeah, I don't think anybody, I guess, really struggled with the experience over there and how that transition back. It was more of the getting back into Canada than getting back into just normal life. What's a normal life? Yeah, so like you're over there, your head's on a swivel, you're looking at every shiny thing on the side of the road. Of course. You're keeping your spacing from every other vehicle, whereas now you're back in a civilian population that's not at war, that doesn't have all those issues. No one's keeping their space from you, no one's keeping that, every shiny thing. You don't have to worry, it's just a piece of garbage on the side of the road. Yeah. So it's just getting your brain used to that. Then it's also a little bit of that separation that starts happening as people start getting out, is, okay, my tour is done and I'm done with the army. They get out and they now move back home to Winnipeg or Ontario. So you get that actual physical separation from the people that you were with. Sure. Your mom must have been happy to have you home. Yeah, she was definitely happy. Your family, you're married. Yeah. Were you married when you got back or? No. So I met my wife when I was already transitioning out of the military. So I got in my last year of service when I met her. Yeah. That was one of the driving forces of why I wanted to get out of the military, is looking at my future in the military as a soldier, is, okay, if I'm going to stay into this, there's a lot of broken families, there's a lot of broken bodies as you start aging in the military and doing that job. So it's okay. While I was still young, I knew I should probably get out and put my kind of name in the hands of someone else. What was your rank? I was a corporal when I got out. Yeah. Okay. That's cool. And yeah. So you transitioned out. Did you know what you wanted to do when you were done? Did you have a career? No. Absolutely not. Yeah. I knew I didn't want to be in the army more. I wanted some control over my own life and kind of choose my own destiny kind of thing. So I knew when I got out, I have to do something. So I'm okay. I don't want to go oil field. That was one thing that I kind of eliminated right off the bat. I'm like, sure, the money's probably great, but you're living in very military like conditions. So you're traveling for a lot of the period of time. You're living in camps, you're eating food, you're at the discretion of kind of who's controlling your paycheck. So I knew that was probably not something I wanted to do. So I wanted to kind of get into more of a business world. So I ended up kind of going to Athabasca University and taking some online business courses while I transitioned and got a job in Edmonton. So I ended up getting a job with a vendor that sold wheelchairs. And that company is? Is EcoMedical. EcoMedical. There you go. And you've been with them for? No. So I was with them for about 9-10 months. Right. Yeah. So I went into there and kind of learned the world of wheelchairs in a sense. So it's a world that you have no idea even exists unless you know somebody that needs the equipment or you just trip and stumble upon it like I did. I had a friend that just, again, he tripped and stumbled and fell into it and I saw what he was doing. And it's a pretty good line of work. Yeah. Left them and went to? Left them and I went to a company. At the time it was called Advanced Healthcare, which has now turned into a company called Permobil through a couple acquisitions. And that's who you're with now? That's who I'm with now. For how many years you've been with them? So this will be 11 years doing this role now. So tell us maybe your thoughts today on Remembrance Day as a whole. There's a lot that's changed in the world. There's a lot that's going on in the world. And I think, first of all, and I want to say this, thank you for your service. Thank you, thank you, thank you. You know, for yourself to go and do what you did. And for so many before you and people that are serving now, I think we need to take a step back and say thank you. Yeah. Because I feel that with everything going on, and everything that has gone on, we forget. Yeah. Right? 100 percent. Of why we are, who we are as a country. And Jennifer, what worries me is that we're not, we're not teaching the next generation. Because we're not actively right now involved in combat. Kids now have no idea. They don't even really understand Afghanistan. The World Wars are so far removed from them. But it's because of those things, because of what you did for us, Jonathan, that we have the freedoms that we have today. This is why I took my youth every year to the Cenotaph in Vancouver. I wanted them to see that. I wanted them to remember and hear the stories. This is why in our household, and I'm not ashamed to say it, we don't start Christmas until after November 11th. And for all of those who are listening, that work at, say at malls and things like that, don't put your stuff up until after November 11th. Because this, we need to remember. And we need to thank you, and we need to remember. It's huge. It must be, and I hope, or maybe not, I don't know, but is there an enormous amount of pride for you that you were able to serve our country this way? How do you feel? Like, what do you, 11 years out, 12 years out, what do you feel today? Yeah, I'd say I'm very appreciative of what I kind of went through. Yeah. And then it's also in comparisons, like remembrance day to me is a lot of remembering the fallen, so the friends that I lost, or the people I know, but also all the soldiers that came before me. So all throughout the world wars is like going through a little bit of combat experience and a little bit of what warfare looks like. And then you compare that to what the world wars would have been like. It's like what I went through was nothing in comparison to what some of these guys did. So it's just really remembering what they went through, what that history was, and trying to learn from it so that we can, I guess, get better as a population. I read this morning, I was just reading through it, World War I and World War II, we lost 35, 35 to 36 million military personnel in those two wars, million, 36 million personnel. And the world is, for us anyway, and the Western world is safe today because of that, and because of what you did, and yeah, pretty amazing. Wow, can you believe we're on the final question? Final question for Jonathan, here we go. Okay, we asked this to all of our guests. What is the best piece of advice that you've been given, either personally or professionally, that you still carry with you to this day? It's hard to pick just one, really. You can give us multiples. Sure. Yeah. Give us lots, yeah. Yeah, I guess one is, I guess on the family side of things is really the big one is with kids. So I have four kids at home, so I got four boys, and the big one is just taking advantage of every single moment that you have with them. Yeah. Just knowing that time is going to go by so fast. Yeah. That's what I've definitely noticed, is that that time goes by so fast. So if you're not truly enjoying it, and truly doing what matters, then you're missing out. That's good. That's great advice. That's good stuff. Again, thank you for your service. Yeah, you're very welcome. Thank you for what you did, your sacrifice, and it was. And folks, we wanted to do this show today because both Jennifer and I, we just feel this is really important. And we have a lot of listeners around the world. Some of you will celebrate Remembrance Day or November 11th. November 11th, yeah. In different ways, in different countries, and that sort of thing. But in Canada for us, this is a very important day. And yeah, we've never done this before for any of our shows. And today, I want to dedicate this show today. I have a cousin, Corporal Richard Sonnenberg. He was an airman in Afghanistan, actually one of the top airmen and helicopter pilots in Afghanistan. Richard passed away a couple years ago in my family. And it was devastating and he was a great person. Richard, I miss steak sandwiches, had muggins with you. I know your kids miss you enormously, your family, your mom, all of us, we miss you hugely. And I just want to say, Richard, thank you for everything you did. Pretty special. Yeah, absolutely. So everybody on November 11th, stop, take a moment. Take a moment. Remember, and whatever you're doing, just stop. We're not doing anything so busy that you can't just stop and take a moment. And if you haven't, get your poppy. Get a poppy. That's right, get a poppy. Support our veterans, get a poppy. That's right, support them. And if you see a veteran, thank them. Just say thanks for what they did. So everybody, thanks for listening today. Thank you, Jonathan. Great, great to have you with us. Make sure you tell everybody about the podcast. Tell your friends, tell your coworkers, tell your neighbors, tell your enemies. If you don't have a friend, make one just so you can tell them about the podcast. And check us out at www.coffeeinthepark.com. And don't forget to check out our sponsors, Wing Snob and Mprint. And we've got one more special thing we're going to do. So don't hang up on us yet. Just stick with us. Take time to do that. And to hear it from somebody who lived it. You know, it's incredible. It is. And for those listening, November 11th is the recall to the end of the First World War hostilities that ended the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918. Yeah, the guns went silent. They did. And they said it would be the war to end all wars. But then, of course, we went into World War II. And again, subsequent battles, different countries, different places, different times. But this World War I and Remembrance Day brings us back again to remembering those who sacrificed their life. And Cam, we have to remember how fortunate we are to live in Canada. Yeah, we really are. There are wars going on across the world right now. And we are a safe, happy, healthy country because of our veterans. Yeah, you're right. And that's why I said earlier, I think it's so important that even we talk to our generations, our young generations about this, nobody likes to talk about war. But the reality is, is like you said, we have our freedoms today because of the men and women that sacrificed their life to keep us free. And the goal should always be that we are a safe, free nation for our children and our grandchildren. And so yeah, it's a pretty important thing. And I'm really glad this year we took the time to do this. I really am. I feel great about it. Me too. And so to end it off, we want to recite in Flanders Field. Yeah, Flanders Field was a poem that was written by John McCrae in the First World War. And John McCrae was over in Europe. And he was and saw a large cemetery, so to speak, that had a number of people who had given their lives. And there was a large poppy field there. And it inspired him to write in Flanders Field, which has become synonymous now with November 11th and the importance of remembrance. In Flanders Fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, that mark our place; And in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie, in Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe: 43:54

To you from failing hands we throw the torch; Be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow in Flanders Fields.