I am afraid I had been a little uncommunicative lately. For those who wondered, the picture in my blog was of Mcpl Arndt. For those who have read my profile, you know my second job is as a bartender. The bartending I do is at a military mess in Edmonton. I had been in the militia when I was in university, and missed being around the kind of dedicated people who serve in the Canadian militia.
Since I normally serve the Senior NCO and Officer's messes, I did not know him well. I had served him a few times at parties, when I had been asked to help out in the Junior ranks mess. In fact, when I first saw the picture of him in the paper when he died, I remembered him as "the good dark rum guy." He had been the only person ordering the good stuff. My fiance knows him a little better, since she tended bar in the Junior ranks mess for more than a year. We were both saddened by the loss, especially since he is the first person we know killed in Afghanistan. There was less than a month left to go in the tour, and I was finally beginning to hope that the units I deal with might get through unscathed. It was not meant to be.
Since I normally serve the Senior NCO and Officer's messes, I did not know him well. I had served him a few times at parties, when I had been asked to help out in the Junior ranks mess. In fact, when I first saw the picture of him in the paper when he died, I remembered him as "the good dark rum guy." He had been the only person ordering the good stuff. My fiance knows him a little better, since she tended bar in the Junior ranks mess for more than a year. We were both saddened by the loss, especially since he is the first person we know killed in Afghanistan. There was less than a month left to go in the tour, and I was finally beginning to hope that the units I deal with might get through unscathed. It was not meant to be.
Sorry to hear about his loss, though.