Nov. 11 this year will be like most Remembrance Days for Bob Szpak.
He will find a place to stand during the service in LangfordB次元官网网址檚 Veterans Memorial Park surrounded by hundreds of people, completely alone with his thoughts. Szpak spent six months with the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan in 2008, serving as a physiotherapist at the base in Kandahar, helping to try and heal Canadian soldiers and Afghan nationals wounded in the conflict.
B次元官网网址淢y thoughts on Remembrance Day are based on my personal experiences, and what my mother and father went through during the Second World War,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淟istening to God Save The Queen and O Canada always makes me proud to be a Canadian, especially based on the contrast with living in Afghanistan. You think about the people who sacrificed their lives for the good of others. You stop thinking about yourself, and think about the others that didnB次元官网网址檛 come back to give us what we have today.B次元官网网址�
Szpak, whoB次元官网网址檚 been married to Langford Coun. Lillian Szpak for 42 years, first joined the Canadian Forces in 1971. He left in 1980, before returning in 1983 until 1997. After another stint in private practice, he returned again until 2004. When the Canadian government made the decision to send troops to Afghanistan in 2008, Szpak volunteered right away. B次元官网网址淚 trained all of my life to serve my country and felt it was my duty to go,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淚t was demanding, but I felt like I made a positive difference.B次元官网网址� He served with 1 Field Ambulance based in Edmonton, and retired with the rank of captain in 2012.
Although itB次元官网网址檚 difficult for hin to speak about what it was like in Afghanistan, Szpak believes itB次元官网网址檚 important to try and convey a sense of what it was like, especially to young people. ThatB次元官网网址檚 why he agreed to spend time speaking about his experiences with a local Boy Scouts troop shortly after he returned from Afghanistan. B次元官网网址淚B次元官网网址檓 basically a shy guy, a little introverted,B次元官网网址� he said.
He was quick to add, however, that no amount of explaining can provide the right perspective. B次元官网网址淵ou canB次元官网网址檛 describe it unless you experience it,B次元官网网址� he explained.
The experience has left Szpak feeling that in the end, any type of war or conflict is unproductive because of the amount of pain and suffering that remains with the living when the fighting is over. He spends more time these days reading about the history of war and conflict, in part to try and gain a better understanding of what brings the world to that point of no return. B次元官网网址淲e live in a global village now, so everything that happens in the world affects you,B次元官网网址� he said.
B次元官网网址淭ragedies like the massacres in Texas and Las Vegas affect people instantaneouslyB次元官网网址hatB次元官网网址檚 much truer today than in the past. Forty million people died in the Second World War. My time in Afghanistan gave me a deeper understanding of what my parents went through. Before it was just a story, but now thereB次元官网网址檚 an awareness for the suffering they endured that I didnB次元官网网址檛 have before.B次元官网网址�
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