The Royal Canadian Legion’s definition of a Veteran is any person who is serving or who has honorably served in the Canadian Armed Forces, the Commonwealth or its wartime allies, or as a Regular Member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, or as a Peace Officer in a Special Duty Area or on a Special Duty Operation, or who has served in the Merchant Navy or Ferry Command during wartime.
Nicolas Durand spent six years honorably serving in the Canadian Armed Forces and never went overseas or into combat and he still deserves to be recognized as a veteran.
He spent his years of service in training, doing administrative duties and facilitating battles against wildfires - a formidable foe that took a lot from British Columbians in recent years.
Durand joined the army when he was just 21 years old on Feb. 13, 2013 and his release date was Feb. 26, 2019.
“It was a job I felt I could do for the rest of my life,” Durand said. “At the time I chose the army because I was feeling goal-less. I wasn’t really sure where I wanted to go in life, right? I felt if I could just put my eggs in that basket I wouldn’t have to worry about the rest of it - like where my next pay cheque is coming from.”
Like everyone, when Durand joined the army he went to basic training. He went to
He then got sent to the PAT which is platoon awaiting training and spent a summer in Wainwright, AB.
“Then I got on my trades course, which in Infantry is battle school,” Durand explained. That was another 13-week course.
“That’s where you lose most of the people,” he added. “We started battle school with 50 people and we graduated 16.”
It was a winter battle school so it was really cold, Durand said.
“Once you got through battle school you are qualified in your trade,” he said.
“Then I got posted to
He was posted to Charlie Company and he was rifleman number two.
“I went on exercises to Wainwright, to
In the military Durand has 40 jumps.
“So I spent a year in Charlie company, a year in Bravo company, and it took a year to get to the unit,” Durand said. “So that’s three years of my career right there.”
After that he got posted to ‘Niner’ Tac, a combat support company where he worked directly for his commanding officer and regimental sergeant major. He was there for the rest of his Canadian Forces career.
“Basically I was a modern-day squire,” Durand said. Everything to do with the logistics of any operation, Durand had to manage it, from transportation to communications and arranging for meals, he added.
“It was about the logistics of getting food to those 500 people, getting ammunition for those 500 people, where to put those 500 people that made tactical sense,” Durand said. “So that’s what I did.”
During his service time he was deployed twice to BC wildfires, the first time to
In
“We were also assisting the RCMP with road blocks,” Durand said. “It was a crazy time. What other kind of job gives you no notice and orders you to go to a forest fire? That’s what I signed up for and 16 to 24 weeks of my life were at those forest fires two years in a row.”
Durand wants people to know that service in the Canadian Forces doesn’t always mean combat.
“Some people when they hear I was in the military - the first question they ask is ‘have you ever killed anybody? Ever been to
He finds that attitude frustrating.
“I still risked my life in training, I saw my friend get shot in a training accident, I jumped out of airplanes as part of my job in the armed forces,” Durand said.
He’s now focusing on a future getting his education at the
He’s going to be a plumber.
