In the footsteps of a Canadian hero

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This article was published 09/02/2017 (3221 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

CFB SHILO — Growing up, Gunner Krista Eaton had her fair share of role models in the military.

There was her father, Andrew, a radio technician who repaired equipment.

Then there’s her grandfather, great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather.

Each of their contributions influenced the “great respect” the native of Digby, N.S., always held for the women and men who serve in the military.

She found a hero, too, in the life of a woman she never met: Capt. Nichola Goddard, the first Canadian female combat soldier to die in combat. She was a veteran of CFB Shilo.

Eaton was in high school, Grade 11 she recalls, when she scribbled Goddard’s name and the date of her passing on the back of her goalie helmet. She still wears that mask today, during intersectional hockey games on base in Shilo, where Eaton herself is posted as a member of the Canadian Forces.

She saw Goddard, then and now, as a role model.

“I guess it’s the similarities, because I joined the artillery as a woman just like she did,” Krista Eaton, 22, said. “I feel a bit of a bond because of that.”

Goddard died May 17, 2006 near Kandahar in a Taliban ambush. The 26-year-old was the 16th Canadian soldier killed in Afghanistan.

She was a member of the 1st Royal Canadian Horse Artillery based at CFB Shilo.

Acknowledging Goddard’s sacrifice came to Eaton’s mind around the time she determined a career in the military was the right choice.

“I thought it would be a fitting tribute since I wanted to join the combat arms,” she said, noting she wound up joining the artillery, just like Goddard.

“It would represent her, the army and the artillery. A good tribute, a good reminder,” Eaton said.

As a kid, Eaton crisscrossed the country as the daughter of a soldier, following her father from Nova Scotia to Yellowknife. Once he retired from the military and became an RCMP officer, the Eaton family had stints in British Columbia before returning to Nova Scotia.

Ever since she was about eight years old, Krista Eaton has had hockey.

She’s played with girls and boys as teammates, and now straps on the goalie pads whenever a netminder is needed at Shilo recreational games.

Every so often, somebody asks about the tribute on her helmet.

It’s one of many deserved recognitions to Goddard’s sacrifice, Eaton notes.

“There’s lots of tributes to Capt. Goddard — they named a middle school in Calgary after her. This was just kind of my own little piece, my own little tribute.”

As a woman in the military, Goddard also serves as an inspiration in a field where men comprise the majority.

Eaton has certainly heard from people who think wearing the uniform is a man’s job.

“You just have to prove yourself,” Eaton answered. “My dad said it pretty good — say if you’re on a run, you never have to be first but you never want to be last.”

In short, you have to fit in — like many military personnel before Eaton who belonged.

“If you want to pick any sort of role model in the CF (Canadian Forces), there’s thousands of them,” she said. “There’s lot of people who gave their lives for our country who should be remembered and never forgotten.”

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