Four La Ronge-Raised Soldiers Headed For War Zone
Wednesday, October 07, 2009 at 14:46
The mother of an army sergeant says she’s impressed that four soldiers from La Ronge are all deploying to Afghanistan this fall.
Karen Storozuk’s daughter, Sgt. Jana Storozuk, heads to Kandahar province on Oct. 20, where she will join three other soldiers raised in La Ronge: gunner Duane Pajunen, infantryman Eric Hennie, and Cpt. Shelley Woodhouse-Gordon.
Storozuk says that’s quite a contribution from such a small community.
“To have that many going all at once — I mean, per capita, it’s pretty incredible,” Storozuk says.
“We’re all going through the same thing (as soldiers’ families). I mean, you hear what happens over there, and I feel for the other parents, because I know how I feel. You’re afraid. … No matter how old they are, or how far from home they are, they’re still your children.”
Kirby Woodhouse knows that worry first hand, as his own daughter, Cpt. Woodhouse-Gordon, left Sunday to work at the Kandahar airfield hospital as a mental health therapist.
However, Woodhouse knows that a willingness to serve in an active hot zone is part of the life Shelley and her fellow soldiers have chosen.
“We knew this from the onset, that she would be sent away…. We lost our son some years ago, and since then, a parent becomes a little bit more or even over-protective of the girls that are remaining in our family. So it is a worrisome thing,” he says.
As Pajunen’s mother Connie puts it, though, the soldiers have chosen to go in order to “help make a better life” for the people of Afghanistan — and that is what she will hold onto while her son and the rest are deployed.
A fifth soldier, Hennie’s brother Jack, is expected to deploy next year.
Meantime, the Canadian military says 30 soldiers from our province will be heading to Afghanistan by the end of the month.
The military recently ordered its depots in Saskatchewan to assemble a platoon of soldiers that could go over together.
Major Tony Engleberts of the North Saskatchewan regiment says this month’s deployment includes at least one First Nations soldier.
He says Aboriginal involvement in the military has been climbing for the last 20 years, and reserves such as the Beardy’s Okemasis First Nation have been supplying the Canadian military with a great deal of interest and possible recruits.
“This year especially, Beardy’s sent a lot of young people away on the Bold Eagle (military training) program, and they’ve really encouraged… these guys to keep coming out and keep working with the military on a part-time basis,” Engleberts says.
He estimates ther are around 1,000 active military personnel in Saskatchewan right now, with dozens of them being First Nations.