Veterans and Legion members in North Battleford gathered Friday afternoon to commemorate and remember those who made sacrifices serving Canada in the mission in Afghanistan.
The brief ceremony at the cenotaph in North Battleford was part of the National Day of Honour to pay tribute to Afghanistan veterans. Similar ceremonies were held around the country including in Ottawa where the prime minister and governor general attended.
The ceremonies at the cenotaph were organized by Royal Canadian Legion Branch No. 70. Branch president Oral Fladeland admitted the local ceremony was organized at the last minute at the request of the federal government - mirroring similar concerns expressed by the national Legion, who say they received little advance notice to properly organize tributes across the country.
"There was some scrambling going on," said Fladeland. However, in the end there was a good turnout to the ceremony of local legion members and others, including Mayor Ian Hamilton and Battlefords-Lloydminster MP Gerry Ritz.
There was general agreement at the event that the contributions of those who served in Afghanistan are worth remembering, and Fladeland said it would be "an annual event from now on."
Master Cpl. Byron Rodriguezt, joined in laying wreaths honouring those who died in the mission. Rodriguez, who lives in Hafford, said he served in Afghanistan as a medic in 2008, 2009 and 2010. He was a group commander in back-to-back tours of duty with the Queen's Response force there, he said.
"My job was, if a unit went out and got in trouble, my job was to go and bring them home, in whatever pieces you came back with, that was my job."
As a result he has seen some hair-raising things there. "2008, I lost 15 good friends; 12 of them I put in body bags to send home."
He has been wounded himself, having his nose partially amputated and having been shot in the leg. Rodriguez earned a Sacrifice Medal as a result, among a number of his honours.
The ceremony brought back a flood of emotions, he told reporters.
While Rodriguez lost many friends there, he felt it was worth it and that Afghanistan has changed for the better because of Canada's involvement.
"I know there was a reason why we went there, there was a purpose why we went there. And I'm so proud that our government actually chose for us to go there. We've done a lot of good," he said.
"People don't realize that, but we have changed that nation. They needed us to be there. We provided medical help, which they never had before. We built their schools housing, schools, hospitals, we paved their roads. We give them some education. We built water-purifying units. We did so much and tried to give the people a chance to be like us - we didn't want to change them, but just show them there was a better way to do things. And that's why we were in Afghanistan."
Rodriguez also has little use for critics of the mission, such as one author who put out a book last fall claiming Canada lost the war.
"He wasn't there," Rodriguez said. "He was here at home with a beer in one hand watching the football game. But we were out there fighting, it makes a difference."
Another Afghanistan veteran at the ceremony was Gordon Whitton. He served on Task Force Orion in 2003 and on Operation Enduring Freedom in 2006, in reconnaissance both times.
Now a parks foreman with the city, Whitton admits the experience was a tough one.
"You think about it every day," said Whitton. "I think about Afghanistan like it was last week."
His tour lost 18 people and then another 100 were wounded, "some serious, like no legs, to the odd scratch."
He lost many of his good friends on the tours afterwards. Whitton remembers teaching in Wainwright, Alta. and hearing on the news about people who were killed.
"They tell you the name and sometimes you find out it's a really good friend of yours," said Whitton.
As for whether it was worth it, it all came down to an individual perspective, he said.
But he points to the good that came of it, including the efforts to help build Afghanistan's army to allow it to become self-sufficient so that the other forces could leave.
"You know, we did do some good. My commander said because of every tour that goes in there Afghanistan's a better place, and he's right."
CORRECTION: In the original version of this story, Cpt. Mike Pratt, who attended the ceremony, was referred to as a veteran of Afghanistan, however we have been informed that this is not the case. Feb. 22, 2016.
