# Small town support, pathetic.



## lyned (5 Aug 2006)

Hello. I don't know if this is the right board for this as this is more of a frustrated rant than anything. My wife, 12 yr old son and my self live in a small MB town. What the hell, CARMAN, MB. Our son is serving with the 1st PPCLI, 1st Platoon, "A" Coy (Red Devils) in Afghanistan. FOB "Martello" actually. Since his deployment we thought that, being from a small town of approx. 2500 with an extensive military history of men in service in the 2 world wars, that the local "rag" would be interested in his story. NOTHING. I've e-mailed them myself without even as much as a "no thanks" in response, along with 2-3 other people that I KNOW of blasting the local paper. Now, a friend of my wife does restaurant placemats stating local history on them and she did a series about our son. They are in big demand at the local golf course, a couple of restaurants, people take them home instead of using them!. The LOCAL LEGION hall up till now, for reasons still a little hazy, didn't express any interest while a Legion hall approx. 10 miles away in SPERLING, MB with only 5 MEMBERS were more than happy to pay for the cost of printing, if I remember correctly, 500 mats for their hall. THANK YOU SPERLING VETS. We are extremley proud of our son for his career choice as we are proud of all those that have gone before him. This is not a project for profit, just for 10 cent a copy printing costs. Doe anyone else living in a small town encounter this pathetic attitude? You don't HAVE to support the mission but our troops DESERVE to be supported. Thanks for letting me sound off. We're not looking for a spotlight, just recognition for our son who CHOSE to do what he's doing because of his pride in our Military history.


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## Booked_Spice (5 Aug 2006)

Wow what a small world.

I have sent you a PM. If you can give me the email addresses of the contacts in Carman. I will see if I can do anything from my end.

You are absolutely right about support. When I went back to Carman/ Roland/ Winkler, this summer. I brought along lawn Ribbons and different support our Troops merchandise. We encountered several of people who didn't even realize that some of the boys that grew up in these small towns are fighting in Afghanistan. I applaud your efforts and I would keep trying.


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## Good2Golf (5 Aug 2006)

Lyned, you have every reason to be very proud of your son and his unit!  

Wow, that attitude floors me!    Maybe you could write a story about your son for the Sperlin local paper, then write a letter to the Editor for the Carman paper stating, "To read about one of Carman's own soldiers, see the article in the latest issue of the Sperling "????"!

PRO PATRIA

Duey


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## the 48th regulator (5 Aug 2006)

lyned,

I am proud to have you here.  Your Son, and your family are the examples of what it is to be CANADIAN.

Rest assured, that posting your experience on army.ca will be of a much better benefit to Canadians.  Why, well we are also a small community, one that you and your family are a citizen of.  One that has broader reach than a local paper.  So be it that they will not write your son's story.  You can post it here, and know that it will be appreciated by your fellow citizens.  

Thank you, and tell your son I hoist one for him.

dileas

tess


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## George Wallace (5 Aug 2006)

I was thinking that when your son came home to visit, that perhaps you could fill your yard with yellow ribbons and then perhaps take him over to the Legion in SPERLING, MB with its' only 5 MEMBERS and introduce them and thank them for their help to you over a couple of beer.  Perhaps embarrassing your local newspaper and Legion would do them some good.  Congratulations to those five gentlemen for giving you a hand.  It is only right that you take your son over to meet them when he visits.


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## military granny (5 Aug 2006)

lyned
Even though I was not born in small town Manitoba, all my family is there. We had three great vets on this site a while back that were in Manitoba, their stories are here for the world to read.Parkie, Jack and Buster touched a lot of people here and because they knew my grandparents we made fast friends. Parkie requested a picture of my son and his buddies in Afghanistan so he could go to his legion and brag to the "old boys club" that he knew some of the walking hero's of today. Lyned this is how most of the vets think of our sons and for your hometown legion to ignore the men and women that are in the CF, to say the least surprises me.I find small town papers find the CF and what they do too controversial, and keep out of it totally.Crappy on their part to ignore the walking hero's of today


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## lyned (5 Aug 2006)

"I am proud to have you here.  Your Son, and your family are the examples of what it is to be CANADIAN."
Thank you 48Th regular. We're fiercely proud of Canada's, unfortunately little known, battle reputation. 

To George Wallace: I fully intend to embarrass this town if possible. Some local businesses have already started posting yellow ribbons and at least one says they'll have a hotdog stand out when he comes home and, in their words, "to hell with the rest of this town". There is support from those that KNOW about him.

I thank everyone on this board for their support.


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## lyned (5 Aug 2006)

Military Granny. Parkie wouldn't be Alan (Sparkie) Park would it? 1st Can Para? If so, there is a man with a story to tell. Jumping into Normandy, 6 weeks fighting in Bastogne. Wow. Immence respect.

I mean no disrespect to the Carman Legion and it's members. The guy that was handling their public affairs didn't show any interest but he was also a  non-vet member, did everything but crawl under the tomatoes to hide when he saw my wife in the grocery store ;D. I will always fully respect the War Veterens of the Carman Legion..


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## military granny (5 Aug 2006)

Lyned
You can find Parkies stories here http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/41265.0.html

He was not only a great story teller but a fine man.


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## paracowboy (6 Aug 2006)

look, if the local paper, or anyone doesn't want to run a story, they don't have to. That's why we fight. If folks don't want to hold ticker-tape parades for their vets, they don't have to. We don't have to like it, but that's why we fight. Getting your panties twisted ain't gonna change their minds. It's just going to make them think you're an asshole.


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## Bruce Monkhouse (6 Aug 2006)

I agree with Para,.....yea, it may suck, but the freedom to do nothing is still one of the freedoms we fight for.  However, you also have the freedom to rail at their apathy.

If I may steal a line from a great Toby Keith song....
_
I don't do it for the money
There's bills that I can't pay
I don't do it for the glory
I just do it anyway_


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## the 48th regulator (6 Aug 2006)

We who serve, may feel that way Para, but the passion is different for a Parent wouldn't you agree?

dileas

tess


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## rmacqueen (6 Aug 2006)

Living in small town Ontario I have run into this situation before.  It may have more to do with the part-time nature of the paper than any actual indifference.  I have found that if you actually write the story for them they will often print it, especially if you have some photos that they could also use.  Small town papers are always in need of content but it is often a hobby for those involved and they are not willing to put much effort into actually "writing" anything.

Your pride in your son is justified and should be trumpted.  Give our best to him and our gratitude for the job that he is doing on our behalf


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## paracowboy (6 Aug 2006)

Tess,
parent or not, service member or not, getting all bent out of shape is not going to accomplish anything except piss off the very people you need to have on your side to accomplish your aim.


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## the 48th regulator (6 Aug 2006)

Agreed on that.

dileas

tess


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## FSTO (6 Aug 2006)

When I was on the PROTECTEUR during OP TOUCAN, I wrote a couple of stories for my hometown newspaper (Killarney MB) and they printed it with no editing at all. Small town papers are always on the hunt for filler and if you can supply it (and it is interesting) they'll print it.


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## paracowboy (6 Aug 2006)

rmacqueen said:
			
		

> I have found that if you actually write the story for them they will often print it, especially if you have some photos that they could also use.  Small town papers are always in need of content but it is often a hobby for those involved and they are not willing to put much effort into actually "writing" anything.





			
				FSTO said:
			
		

> When I was on the PROTECTEUR during OP TOUCAN, I wrote a couple of stories for my hometown newspaper (Killarney MB) and they printed it with no editing at all. Small town papers are always on the hunt for filler and if you can supply it (and it is interesting) they'll print it.


now, *this* sounds like productive activity.


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## mechanic_chick (15 Aug 2006)

Hello!

Just thought I would post that I am from a small town in Manitoba , also known as CFB Shilo. Here , I find ( which is obvious! ) that there is alot of support for the troops. Yellow ribbon on every fence , post and pole you could imagine. Brandon folk are really starting to ' come around '  and people seem to support our troops more then ever. Even though Shilo is a 2VP / 1 RCHA based base , we support all soldiers. I have also noticed that in Manitoba there are alot of little towns that have a gargantuan amount of Vets and active soldiers. It is unfortunate that Carman is not supporting your son in the fashion you would desire , and your disgruntlement with the outcome is very normal like any parents would feel Im sure. But , do know , your son doesn't have to be a 2VP soldier, or 1RCHA or even FROM Shilo to be honoured from the people and soldiers from Shilo. We support _all_ of our troops and there ARE people here supporting you!   It is difficult for Parents with their children in the Military regardless if they are based in Canada or on tour ( like my family ). Hopefully the little towns in this province pick up the slack , the Legions usually do alot of great work and I would love to see support from the town as well. 

Good luck with everything ,

Cheers ,
JESSO


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## 3rd Herd (15 Aug 2006)

In my scrap book I have several newspaper articles from the small town I taught in both about my past experiences and about current experiences of the troops today. Yes, I can understand your lack of support from your legion. In my case the ANAF was referred to as the "Ucluelet Construction Workers Club" not one single executive member was a former member. I t took two years to get them out and replaced and the club back to what it should have been. Wintering over in another small town in the interior of BC I was amazed at the number of articles found in the area small town papers. Some of the articles were down loaded from Can West, but quite a few were written by local part time reporters about members from their area. Next there was it seemed a constant flow of service personal on leave that were willing to give up some of their leave time to address cadet organizations,school classrooms aside from the informal legion briefings. 2 CER in particular produced and amazing compact disc of some of their adventures in Afghan. If I remember correctly the young Cpl spent about five days of his leave shuttling from small town to small town. While visiting in Edmonton last weekend I picked up a copy of the 'Western Sentinal' and found several stories that a more than a few small towns would be more than interested in, particulary the "mortar man trucker". That story in itself is slowly making it's way from truck stop to truck stop, "Hey did you here about the trucker in A-Stan who ..........." Life is what you make it.


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## tonykeene (16 Aug 2006)

This topic raises an interesting point about The Royal Canadian Legion.  I am a serving Reservist, and have been a Legion member in small-town Ontario for 20 years.  My Branch is far away from any base, so we don't have a military retiree community such as you might find in Trenton, Gagetown etc.

I have tried, repeatedly, to get my Legion interested in the CF today.  I've offered to speak, show slides etc, only to be politely refused.
At one Remembrance Day dinner, the guest speaker was a guy who showed slides of rural mail boxes, for goodness sake.

It has taken me a while to figure it out, but I believe the problem is this:

Years ago, faced with nosediving membership, the Legion opened its doors to anyone who was willing to support its goals and aims, which are mainly remembrance of First and Second World War vets, with a brief nod to Korea.  The Legion was expecting, I believe, that it would get a lot of new blood, from across all walks of life.  What they got instead was a very narrow slice of Canadian society, mostly older, white conservatives who wanted a safe place where they could pretend that it was still 1956.

My Legion Branch is just like a tiny piece of apartheid South Africa.  White, Christian and fearful.  They fear change, and all the agents of change, such as immigrants, all minorities, the French language and so on.

We have not had an executive member with any military experience, for ten years.

I've tried to get involved, tried hard to talk to them, to get them to make slight changes, to acknowledge the great diversity that makes our country.  It's like talking to a squad of North Korean border guards.

I have given up.  I'm considering joining the Canadian Peacekeeping Vets.


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## paracowboy (17 Aug 2006)

littlebug said:
			
		

> I was at Wal-Mart yesterday to pick up a few things before work, one of which was a bit of yellow ribbon to wear on my uniform.  I am truely disheartened that my restaurant has not hung a single yellow ribbon even though many of our customers are from the military family, so I will wear one instead.  Anywho, I made my way down to the fabric department, and was asked by saleslady #1 if she could help, I said I need ribbon, she said, let me guess yellow.  Well all the wider stuff is sold out, I only have thin ribbon left.  This was ok and touching at the same time - I wanted thin ribbon, but to know they were sold out was something special.  I choose my ribbon and go to wait to get it cut.  There was a lady in line ahead of me getting yellow fabrix cut - it seems that yellow fabric is as popular as yellow ribbon.  Saleslady #2 mentioned this, adn wondered why so many people were buying yellow yesterday.  The lady ahead of me and I explained how a group of soldiers were coming home and the yellow was to welcome them.  The lady ahead of me turned and asked if I had anyone coming home.  I struggled not to cry as I said no, mine just went over so that these guys could come home and that he would be back in February.  I lost it when she said "let me give you a hug to thank you for being so brave", and she did, right there in the middle of the fabric department.  She didn't have anyone coming home, just wanted to decorate her yard - she lives 4 miles out of town and wanted to do her part.
> I think this really is "Friendly Manitoba"
> Just wanted to share.


counter-point


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## mechanic_chick (17 Aug 2006)

Thats great! We need more people like this!


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## lyned (17 Aug 2006)

"The mission of The Royal Canadian Legion is “to serve veterans and their dependants, to promote Remembrance, and to act in the service of Canada and its communities.” In essence, the purposes and objectives of the Legion were born of the need to further the spirit of comradeship and mutual assistance among all who have served and to never forget the deeds of the fallen.
It is paramount that the Legion strives to pass on these goals and traditions to the families and descendants of our ex-service personnel and to raise this awareness among all Canadians." http://www.legion.ca/asp/docs/rempoppy/mandate_e.asp

This is what I'm talking about. Our son, along with many others, will be a 22 yr old veteran with no support from the local legion because in the words of the man in charge "we just don't do that" and "If we do it for him, we'll have to do it for everbody that comes home from Afghanistan". Paracowboy, I'm not "getting my panties twisted", those that care will show it. That's fine with us. It just floors me that our local legion, which we've supported in the past, won't show even the slightest support while, like I've mentioned, A very small town close to us with 5 members and no legion building does. This isn't just about our son. I've always been passionate about the lack of support and rememberance our veterans get. WW1 is forgotten, how many people know what we accomplished at Ypres, Vimy Ridge, The Somme, Passchendale, Mons. WW2 is all but forgotten along with Korea, Kapyong. The earlier post by tonykeene was exactly right as far as I'm concerned. Yes PC, you fight for the right of people to choose to show support or not, and I fully respect that. But, you also fight for my right to voice my opinion, and I also fully respect that. Those fighting now and those returning and vets of all past conflicts damn well deserve our respect. But, political correctness doesn't seem to allow this. Alright PC, fire away ;D


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## paracowboy (17 Aug 2006)

lyned said:
			
		

> Alright PC, fire away


I got nuthin', dude. Keep up the good fight.


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## 1feral1 (17 Aug 2006)

Lyned, sounds like you got some left wing ratbags in key positions there, and I don't think they speak for the whole town.

Cheers,

Wes


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## the 48th regulator (17 Aug 2006)

Unfortunately, I have seen that even in the legions of the big smoke.  

You get the mixture of both the old vets, and people who had a member of their family serve, create this mafia or clique.

They are fearful of the new influx of veterans because it knocks their little world out of balance.

I have seen it every year, as a group of us go to the local legion for new years and special occasions.  Shock to the gal who is a the president, and her "caucus" if you will, when they find out that a young character like me considers himself a "veteran"...with medals and stories even!

I then went to the legion in Bancroft Ontario, Talk about being treated like gold!!  That is the best legion, by far, I have ever been too!.  Everyone was like family, and when the old vets found out I was in the hall they all grabbed and sat me down to hear "My stories"!!  When I told them I was only there for a beer and to listen to theirs', They said the walls were bored with those stories!

Magic, just magic.  So in the end, it just matters on the legion I guess.

lyned, fight the fight and know that we are here to support you.


dileas

tess


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## 3rd Herd (27 Sep 2006)

Having just returned from yet another trip back to Vancouver Island, I was staying in Port Alberni. Went down to the hotel bar and had just ordered my refreshment when the bartendress asked about about the cammo bracelet I was wearing. A quick explanation and refreshments were on the house. A little later an older gentleman came and sat down, turns out he was a Captain retired from the 17/21 Lancers and we had been in Suffield at the same time. His other interesting carear point was service in Malaysia and his story is chronicled in "The Jungle is Neutral". As the night progressed more refreshments kept appearing for the two of us. Asking the bartendress who was responsible for this largess she pointed out several tables of mill workers. I went over to thank them and the foreman replied "None of us had the guts to join the military but you two over there both had and pass on to your buddies still in that we support them". The next evening I went into the dinning room for dinner and an older couple asked if they could join me, no problem. It turned out their son is x-Airborne and did I know him(yes) and did I know of a way he could track down some of his old buddies. I laughed and said the quickest method would be through this site and then wrote step by step instructions for them.


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## a_majoor (27 Sep 2006)

It is hard to understand that attitude in smaller towns. The most moving Remembrance Day parade I ever attended was at a small town, and it wasn't just the usual "Mayor, Chamber of Commerce, Local Legion" laying wreaths, but family members representing their own (some apparently continuing a tradition three generations old at that time[mid-1980's]).

Perhaps due to the passing of time, the personal links that bound people have faded. If there is no one left to lay a wreath for their Grandfather (A soldier of the Great War) or their elder Uncle (Korea), then the act of remembrance is no longer personal. I would hope that the families of our soldiers, past and present, attend Remembrance day in a visible fashion (laying a wreath or a poppy for a relative, perhaps) to remind everyone the true cost of freedom.


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## scas (24 Apr 2007)

Well, I personally think some of these small towns need a swift kick. My old town (Chatham, Ont.) used to have a bad attitude about the local unit (about 35 in total). We have 2 legions, but they leave us alone, and we left them alone. But for us, the watering hole along main st. was the place to be. When we went out, the six of us, would hit the downtown, and as soon as we got to a place we were basically welcomed by all staff and patrons. And this was before Afganistan began. After that mission began, and members of our unit deployed, certain establishments (no names), would basically throw a party for the guys leaving. Support like that is seldom heard of by guys in the regs, but its hopefully a start to some of the circumstances that others have faced.


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## Mike Baker (24 Apr 2007)

Our town supports the military 110%. I guess it is because there have been many people from here who have been in the forces, and connections to others that are in there now. Most people do have a yellow ribbon on their property, and most people, like at our school wear red on Fridays. Not bad for a town of less then 200!


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