More than 1,400 Canadian military members are deployed in Europe right now. One of those members is Pamela Collen’s husband.
“He said he wanted to go and I said that’s totally fine,” Pamela Collen told Global News.
Pamela and her husband Scott live in Minnedosa, a town two hours west of Winnipeg.
Her husband has been serving in the Canadian Armed Forces for more than 20 years as an infantryman. He served in three tours in Afghanistan but a few months ago he was asked to fly to Latvia.
“It’s a little different this time because it wasn’t a combat tour,” she says.
The reality she explains is that her husband will be gone for six months.
“They will be training the Latvia army. Yeah, so it’s not like it’s combat or anything but they’ll be there as a presence for NATO.”
The Canadian Joint Operations Command told Global News that Canadian troops are part of two missions in Europe related to Ukraine efforts currently, Operation REASSURANCE and Operation UNIFIER.
The missions are there as part of NATO assurance and deterrence measures, as well as assisting with security force training.
“There’s always worry there, you know, anything can happen, so I’m hoping everything will go well and by the sounds of it, everything will go smoothly.”
When Scott Collen arrives home at the end of the year, he can successfully mark his final tour with the Canadian Armed Forces before he retires.