1
17thRecceSgt
Guest
Well, Friday night, I went to the Gala preview show of the Tattoo with HLs.
I was most impressed with the show, however 3 things stood out to me.
First, at the point in the show, where they mentioned our troops in Afghanistan fighting the good fight in a distant land, and they had some troops come onto the floor with the arid CAPDAT on, C7's, TV and helmets, the applause for our troops over there was immense, and was followed by a BIG standing O by the whole place (roughly 10,000 or so people).
In this particular part of the show, these troops in the AR CADPAT all came out with torches lit, and slow marched onto the floor. To end this "act", all the troops with the torches lit formed a semi-circle at the end of the stage (which is the floor surface in the Metro Center in Halifax). They did a special dedication to all of Canada's soldiers who have died in Afghanistan. As they read off each fallen soldiers name, a torch was extinguished. These were the only lights on in the place. The last name called, and the last torch to be put out, was for Capt Goddard. The place was silent, solemn, and near pitch dark on the floor. It was quite moving to be honest.
Lastly, during the Tattoo Parade that wound its way around the city, there was a float of troops in AR CADPAT again, with about 10 on each side of it marching. When they came out (we were at the start point of the parade by Citadel Hill), the crowd was clapping, and high-fiving the troops, and whistling and cheering like crazy...it was very good to see the support they had for our troops coming out in their actions Friday night and at the parade on Saturday.
Now, alot of these troops are PAT from Borden, or local PRes, I would bet that none of them have been outside Canada, and very few of them are probably MOC qual'd yet, but...the look on their faces at the parade when the crowd was going out of their way to say "thanks" and high-five them as they walked by, with people clapping and cheering...it was priceless.
Just thought some people would like to hear that.
Also, close to the end of the first part of the show, they always ask people that have or are serving in our Armed Forces to stand up to be recognized. There was 14 WWII vets there from the West Novies (WNSR), who they asked to stand up first, then the remainder of the military people stood up...the applause was long, loud and meaningful I hope, as I personally think it was directed to those 14 fine gent's in Section 19, as it should have been.
A good night, personally it solidified reasons why I serve, and why I will continue too, quite possibly in the Reg Frce again before summer's end.
I was most impressed with the show, however 3 things stood out to me.
First, at the point in the show, where they mentioned our troops in Afghanistan fighting the good fight in a distant land, and they had some troops come onto the floor with the arid CAPDAT on, C7's, TV and helmets, the applause for our troops over there was immense, and was followed by a BIG standing O by the whole place (roughly 10,000 or so people).
In this particular part of the show, these troops in the AR CADPAT all came out with torches lit, and slow marched onto the floor. To end this "act", all the troops with the torches lit formed a semi-circle at the end of the stage (which is the floor surface in the Metro Center in Halifax). They did a special dedication to all of Canada's soldiers who have died in Afghanistan. As they read off each fallen soldiers name, a torch was extinguished. These were the only lights on in the place. The last name called, and the last torch to be put out, was for Capt Goddard. The place was silent, solemn, and near pitch dark on the floor. It was quite moving to be honest.
Lastly, during the Tattoo Parade that wound its way around the city, there was a float of troops in AR CADPAT again, with about 10 on each side of it marching. When they came out (we were at the start point of the parade by Citadel Hill), the crowd was clapping, and high-fiving the troops, and whistling and cheering like crazy...it was very good to see the support they had for our troops coming out in their actions Friday night and at the parade on Saturday.
Now, alot of these troops are PAT from Borden, or local PRes, I would bet that none of them have been outside Canada, and very few of them are probably MOC qual'd yet, but...the look on their faces at the parade when the crowd was going out of their way to say "thanks" and high-five them as they walked by, with people clapping and cheering...it was priceless.
Just thought some people would like to hear that.
Also, close to the end of the first part of the show, they always ask people that have or are serving in our Armed Forces to stand up to be recognized. There was 14 WWII vets there from the West Novies (WNSR), who they asked to stand up first, then the remainder of the military people stood up...the applause was long, loud and meaningful I hope, as I personally think it was directed to those 14 fine gent's in Section 19, as it should have been.
A good night, personally it solidified reasons why I serve, and why I will continue too, quite possibly in the Reg Frce again before summer's end.
