Lieutenant Jami Carter (Suchan) and her husband Corporal Shane Carter were in Estevan this past weekend and made a beeline to this year's Remembrance Day services on Friday, with a fresh perspective on what happens when you find yourself in armed conflicts.
These two young members of the Canadian military are now proudly wearing their Afghanistan campaign medals, the Campaign Star.
The two trained engineers met on a training exercise in Florida shortly after graduation and were married when their military schedule allowed. Shane has been in the military now for eight and a half years while Jami is now into her ninth year of military service. They are currently stationed in Winnipeg but were in Estevan for the weekend to be with Jami's family including her sister Stacey who had just given birth.
Shane Carter said he was deployed to Afghanistan in Canada's first rotation into that country to fight back the Taliban in 2003. An artillary man, with his fellow military team were charged with the duty of protecting supply movements along the very treacherous roads in and out of Kabul.
Jami was deployed later and a series of articles explaining her duties and daily routines was carried by The Mercury during her six-months of engagement that later earned her the Expeditionary Forces Command Medal for performing duties well beyond expectations which was presented to her by a three-leaf lieutenant general.
Jami was called upon to use her engineering skills practically every day during her period of service in and around the Kandahar base of command.
"It was a period of heavy building, working on more infrastructure, there was a lot of work to do," she said.
The couple has been in Winnipeg for nearly three years and said they are pleased with the overall positive work that Canadian troops were able to perform in that hard-pressed country. Seeing young girls now going to school, farmers getting out to produce more traditional crops and markets re-opening are all signs of slow, but sure, progress for Afghanistan. They feel that with about 1,000 Canadian troops now working quietly in the background on educational and training items for the Afghan police and military, there will be a continuation of positive service.
"We're in the background now in Afghanistan, teaching the teachers, letting them learn. It should be good," said Shane.
