Emotional farewells for CFB Shilo soldiers

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This article was published 09/07/2013 (4684 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

CFB SHILO — When Natalie Pohjolainen fell in love with her military husband, she always knew there was a possibility of him being deployed overseas.

“I was so in love. We got married five months after we started dating, we planned a wedding in five weeks and I always knew there was a possibility, but I thought I’ll deal with that when it comes because this is the man I’m going to spend the rest of my life with,” she said watching her husband, Cpl. Krister Pohjolainen, chase their two-year-old daughter Elise around CFB Shilo’s training facility. “There’s no guarantees about tomorrow so I thought let’s enjoy today.”

Krister is part of the last group of soldiers based at Shilo being deployed to Afghanistan, where he’ll stay for at least four months. He was among the nearly 30 other soldiers saying goodbye to family and friends Monday morning.

About 350 soldiers from several military units based in Shilo have been deployed over the past month as part of the final rotation of Canadian soldiers serving with Operation Attention in Afghanistan, which ends in March 2014.

Operation Attention is the Canadian Forces mission based in Kabul that’s focused on training and mentoring the Afghan National Army. Depending on their assignment, their deployment could last anywhere from three to seven months.

“The hardest part is how much time he’s going to miss in our daughter’s life,” Natalie said, holding back tears. “The emotions come out when you least expect it … most of all just trying to be strong right now.”

For these soldiers, this is not a combat mission — it’s about helping build up the Afghan army. But having to say goodbye to those left behind is never easy.

“I fought tearing up here several times. Even right now, I’ll probably cry before I get on the bus. It’s very hard,” Krister said looking into his daughter’s eyes.

Krister will be part of a tag group mentoring other Afghan soldiers. Unlike when he was deployed to Bosnia several years ago, he said this tour will be completely different.

“I think the threat will be minimal because we’re not going out and actively fighting or anything like that we’re doing a mentoring role,” he said. “I’m looking forward to it. I want to help the country and I’d like to see them develop a well effective army.”

Krister has been in the military for 16 years and this the first time he’s being deployed since the couple married seven years ago. The family moved to Shilo just over a year ago and although Natalie said she has made some close friends in the area, her family lives outside of the province.

While her husband’s away, the Shilo Military Family Resource Centre will serve as a support system for Natalie. The MFRC offers counselling services, child and adult programming, and for parents with younger children like Natalie, child-care vouchers for six hours of free child care per month.

Those who live in Shilo can take advantage of on-site child care while those outside of the province get reimbursed.

“We’re often the family that they don’t have close by because often their own support is in another province … so to have us just to be there for them, just for child care, just a listening ear, just to provide a little diversion and what not is extremely important,” Shilo MFRC executive director Willemien van Lankvelt said.

While some families are familiar with saying goodbye to their loved ones for long periods of time, for others, this is their first time and may need that extra support.

“If we don’t reach out they’re sitting by themselves potentially not knowing what’s going on and feeling very isolated because there’s no family that can pull them out and get them going,” van Lankvelt said. “Yes they’re far away and it’s hard. I can’t imagine being in their shoes, but it’s not as isolated as it used to be because of social media.”

Now families can keep in touch over Skype, FaceTime and email as much as the Internet connection overseas allows.

With 32 MFRC’s across Canada, van Lankvelt said they are always looking for ways of improving the services they offer. One of the more significant changes was the addition of a family liaison officer designated for before, during and after deployment, she said. And the additional support doesn’t stop there.

“We’re working with families who have lost a spouse five years ago and we’re still in touch a lot. They’re entitled to services for the rest of their lives.”

While some soldiers spent their final moments before deployment holding loved ones close yesterday, those from out of town relaxed nearby in anticipation of the mission that awaits them overseas.

“I feel like we’ve been talking about this for a long time, since March when I found out I was going, so I’m really happy to be here,” said Capt. Jacklyn Power from CFB Petawawa, Ont.

This is Power’s seventh year in the military and her first deployment overseas. She and four others from Ontario have been in Shilo for the last two months training and preparing for what they could experience while in Afghanistan.

“They set up a lot of actors and they had Afghan music playing and fires burning inside the training area … with the combat first aid they had blood-squirting dummies and a whole warehouse built up with different urban scenarios, it was really well done.”

Their training also involved an education in Afghan culture, something that Power agreed was critical.

This group of soldiers will be entering Afghanistan during the holiest month of the Islamic faith, referred to as Ramadan, which takes place from July 9 to Aug. 8.

“We’re entering at a time when it’s very disrespectful to eat or drink in front of your counterparts,” she said. “The most important thing I learned about the Afghans is that it takes time to build a relationship with them and I really appreciated that.”

Another soldier said their cultural training will help keep them safe.

“They really focused on keeping us safe and us really knowing our jobs so that we don’t get hurt while we’re over there,” said Capt. Mike Harrison of CFB North Bay, Ont. “I’m just thinking about getting over there, getting the job done right and coming back with all my pieces.”

» lenns@brandonsun.com