- Reaction score
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- Points
- 410
At a reserve unit, medals parades are almost invariably held in the evening or on a weekend.
Thus, it always seemed natural to me that families and friends could and would attend.
Furthermore, it caught me offguard when I learned a local medals parade would be held 0800 hrs on a weekday (i.e. making it inconvenient to attend for any family who work or go to school) instead of combining it with happy hour, or whatever (and, yes - I have to admit it's a moot point for me now since my father died over a year after I returned home from Roto 0, and now my mother's in hospital - I had hoped that they could have been present to see me get gonged, but I guess there's some good reason why it's been over 14 months - can't expect insignificant things like medals parades to happen in a timely fashion, can we ... ?)
However, this newspaper article heartened me - at least somebody from a subsequent Roto got to invite their families:
Thus, it always seemed natural to me that families and friends could and would attend.
Furthermore, it caught me offguard when I learned a local medals parade would be held 0800 hrs on a weekday (i.e. making it inconvenient to attend for any family who work or go to school) instead of combining it with happy hour, or whatever (and, yes - I have to admit it's a moot point for me now since my father died over a year after I returned home from Roto 0, and now my mother's in hospital - I had hoped that they could have been present to see me get gonged, but I guess there's some good reason why it's been over 14 months - can't expect insignificant things like medals parades to happen in a timely fashion, can we ... ?)
However, this newspaper article heartened me - at least somebody from a subsequent Roto got to invite their families:
Sat, April 16, 2005
Medals given out for Afghan tour
By CP
A GROUP of 1,200 Canadian military personnel received special medals yesterday to honour their service in Afghanistan. Such medal parades usually take place during a mission but the soldiers and civilian workers, who are based at CFB Valcartier, got to share the event with their families at home.
The medals are being awarded now because they were created only after the military personnel returned from Afghanistan.
Each member of what was called Operation Athena received one of two medals -- the Campaign Star for the soldiers and the General Service Medal for civilians.
The medals honour service in a dangerous region.