Shilo soldiers deploy overseas

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This article was published 30/11/2024 (395 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

CFB SHILO — Two hundred soldiers left CFB Shilo on Friday to begin a deployment to Latvia, where they will train military allies.

Buses carrying the soldiers, who were escorted by police and firetrucks, rolled out of CFB Shilo on Friday morning. The soldiers are headed to Europe as part of Operation Reassurance, where they will train NATO soldiers on techniques and tactics involving artillery and infantry.

In the barracks, where many waited to board buses, Maj. Jason Brown told the Sun the mission could be summarized in three words — “deter and defend.”

Operation Reassurance — the armed forces’s largest overseas mission — will tap 500 people from Shilo for over the course of three weeks. The soldiers are being deployed to protect against any potential aggression aimed at NATO allies, Brown said. They will also train local soldiers, as part of the operation, which began in 2014.

Brown’s wife Theresa and their children Lily, 11, and Archer, 2, are already awaiting his return after the six-month-long deployment.

“I’d say that is the hardest part. Just having to spend six months away from them,” said Brown, who was outfitted in army camouflage gear in a room filled with hundreds of uniforms. “Personally, I’m going to try to video chat daily to stay connected to my family as much as I possibly can.”

Brown is one of many at Shilo who are deploying under similar circumstances over Christmas holidays and into the new year. Lt.-Col. Jordan Beatty was another soldier present in the barracks, with his family also there to see him off.

“It’s Christmas Eve right now for us,” he told the Sun. “We’re doing an early Christmas. So we just move the time up and pretend like it’s Christmas Eve. It’s important for the kids.”

He said his presents this year included Lego, and gear for the Nintendo Switch gaming console.

Beatty said he’ll be using the gaming console to also connect from overseas, with a plan to jump into virtual worlds like Minecraft with his children. It’s a way to loosen up with the kids, doing things they like, where the company is best, he added.

Nicole Taborowski, the deployment co-ordinator at CFB Shilo, told the Sun that an important part of a soldier’s deployment is what happens at home. That can be things that no one thinks about, like ensuring someone is in place to pay bills for them while they are gone, pick up their mail, and look after their home. And families are a big part of that too.

It gives soldiers the peace of mind they need to focus on their job, when they know their family is taken care of, said Lori Truscott, who manages public affairs for Shilo. In this line of work, Taborowski said the goal is “building resilience in families, while allowing them to know they are not alone.” She added,“We are here to support them. And we get it.”

As a military spouse, she has brought some of her own experience into the work. She said a lot of the time, people share the same concerns and experience the same issues.

Friday’s deployment is the first phase of the total deployment 500 soldiers this month, which is expected to finish before Christmas, said Truscott.

» cmcdowell@brandonsun.com