Yellowknife vet on Remembrance Day post-Afghanistan
Cpl. Sean Sikora spent 6 months in Bosnia in 2003 and 6 months in Afghanistan in 2011
A Yellowknife soldier who served in Afghanistan says Remembrance Day has more meaning because he knew people who died during that mission.
"Since when I was younger, there's definitely been a big change — especially since Afghanistan took off," said Cpl. Sean Sikora.
"Mostly because a few of the guys that have been killed overseas I either worked with or worked for. So there's that extra bit of thought there."
But Sikora shakes his head when asked if Remembrance Day seems different to him because he is now a veteran himself.
"My tours were cakewalks compared to some of the guys who have gone and played on the sharp end of the stick," he said.
Sikora, 32, is originally from Chatham, Ont., and is married with children. He spent six months on a peacekeeping mission in Bosnia in 2003, and six months in Afghanistan in 2011. He was on one of the last tours, responsible for fixing military vehicles.
"I had a very easy tour compared to some of the other guys I've worked with," he said.
But he said there was a definite difference in the welcome home the soldiers got in recent years.
"I was in Yugo in '03. You come back from there, there was no big fanfare," he recalls.
"I was with one of the last groups coming back from Afghanistan to Edmonton, where we had the police escort, we had all the fire trucks and everything like that, and that was actually pretty awesome."