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New recruits eager to make a difference
Published by Canadian Forces Recruiting Group 1/27/2006
 On January 16th, 2006, three new members of the Canadian Forces were surrounded by reporters as they shook hands with their Attestation Officer, the Honourable Norman L. Kwong, Lieutenant Governor of Alberta. When interviewed, all three privates demonstrated the professionalism, maturity, and awareness necessary for members of the Canadian Forces. They understood and accepted the risk of being in the military, but were proud of serving their country in their occupation of choice. Read their testimonials in this article from the Edmonton Journal.
Edmonton's newest enlistees pragmatic about dangers
Jodie Sinnema, The Edmonton Journal
EDMONTON - Tracy Penne had given up trying to convince her youngest son not to enlist in the military.
The front page of Monday's newspaper, carrying news that a bomb in Afghanistan had killed a Canadian diplomat and seriously injured three soldiers, unsettled her once again.
"I don't like hearing about things like that, but I know we're going to hear about them a lot because that's the way it is," Penne said Monday while attending the enrolment ceremony for her son, Layne Painchaud, as a signal operator in the military.
Two other recruits were also inducted at the ceremony, held to mark the opening of a new, large recruitment centre in downtown Edmonton's Canada Place building.
"It worries me, but it would probably even worry me, too, even if he had a job in Edmonton," Penne said.
"You hear about the gang wars and things like that. He could get hurt here, too.”
"I think there is always going to be worry when it's your child that's out there. I have to let him go do what he wants to do."
Painchaud, 18, graduated from a Spruce Grove high school last year and opted to become a signals operator -- working with satellites, communications networks and encryption -- rather than an RCMP officer or a musician.
"I desire to help people in other countries," said Painchaud, unflappable despite reports coming out of Kandahar, Afghanistan. Danger, he said, "comes to everyone eventually. I'd go crazy if I thought about it all the time."
Peter Harcombe, from Fort St. John, B.C., signed up as an infantryman, a foot soldier who could be heading to the dangerous front lines.
"I'm nervous, as usual, but not really any hesitation (to go), no," said Harcombe, 19.
"From what I've heard, it's a great lifestyle and it's something I've always been interested in doing. I'm looking for a challenge. I'm not too much on desk jobs or anything like that. I wanted something where I could be active, serve my country."
Harcombe's father, Rick, said it's different reading about suicide bombers overseas now that his son could someday be a target. An environmental consultant in the oil patch, he said he thinks it's great his son has chosen the armed forces.
"I think we lose more people on our highways and (because of) medical reasons than we do overseas in the forces," he said. "I think it's a pretty admirable career for him to get into and I think he'll do well in it."
Elizabeth LeBlanc, 22, is following in the footsteps of her grandparents and parents by signing up.
"It's kind of a family tradition," said LeBlanc, who will become a meteorologist and do weather forecasts for military aircraft. News of the weekend bombing didn't change her mind.
"It just made we want to join even more, because we need our military to be strong," she said. "You know when you sign up for duty that there are things that can happen, chances you take to protect your country. You just do what you can ... just accept it and learn from it."
Lt.-Gov. Norman Kwong, who helped the three new recruits through the official ceremony, offered his best wishes to them and to other military personnel.
Reproduced with permission from the “Edmonton Journal”, January 17, 2006
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