I’m in Ontario and this past week I got a couple of messages from family and friends in southern Ontario that their sons/nephews/friends who are in the army are going to be sent to either Poland or Ukraine in the next few months.

It’s really upset myself and my family because I have relatives who were war veterans who either died or were traumatized by war (in WWII and WWI). Most of my family and circle of friends all agree … no one in Canada should be sent to any war / conflict / fight / aggression / whatever you want to call it in Europe.

One of them said that they were going to be deployed to Poland but then that recently got changed to Ukraine. The messages about this one soldier came from a mother who is a friend of mine. She said that her son told her that it would be a combat role for him.

I am not certain if the young son is making up stories for his mother (as they have a difficult relationship). I’m partly wondering if the young guy is doing some strange path of going to Ukraine just to fight in whatever capacity (whether as a Canadian soldier or just a plain mercenary) just because he wants to.

So after hearing two separate families suggesting that they thought their relative was going to be sent to Poland or Ukraine in the next few months … is Canada sending … or going to send troops to Poland or Ukraine? Or is this something that their families have to worry about because some dumb kid is wanting to join a war on his own?

  • sbv@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    20·
    7 months ago

    A handful of Canadian troops are stationed in Poland and the Ukraine. They’re doing support/training, so I doubt combat is planned:

    Over 300 CAF personnel are currently deployed on Op UNIFIER.

    Since August 2022, approx. 180 CAF have been deployed to the UK to support the training of Ukrainian recruits.

    Since October 2022, Canada has deployed approximately 45 combat engineers to Poland to assist in the training of Ukrainian sappers.

    Since March 2023, CAF has deployed approximately 10 medical personnel to Poland to assist in the provision of lifesaving skills to Ukrainian soldiers.

    Other personnel are currently stationed in Europe working with Allies on a range of topics including the facilitation of military aid, alignment of future donations, as well coordination for the immediate and longer term training needs of the Ukrainian Forces.

    NATO countries have avoided direct involvement the war for two years. Seems weird that they would start now.

    • IninewCrow@lemmy.caOPEnglish
      28·
      7 months ago

      I appreciate that … but the news from this friend and her son was that they were sending him off to either Poland or Ukraine in a combat role. I heard a similar story from another military family but I don’t know them as well.

      This was very startling for all of us. This kid is about 25 - 27 been in the Canadian Forces for about three or four years now and is from the Norfolk region in southern Ontario. I know the kid as I helped him out with computer issues when he was younger (he was a real little shit on Limewire that ruined two family computers that I had to help them fix).

      I know the family and I trust what they say but I can’t for the life of me think that this could actually be true.

      Which makes me think that this kid is doing something else and is wanting to just head out to the fighting on his own.

      Unless there is an actual development happening where we are thinking of sending combat troops to Europe.

      • sbv@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        8·
        7 months ago

        Could the kid be running his mouth off? The handful of soldiers I’ve known have enjoyed tall tales. This might be the kid talking big.

        Unless there is an actual development happening where we are thinking of sending combat troops to Europe.

        I don’t know much about military stuff or his rank, but I’m guessing that kind of information wouldn’t be provided to rank and file soldiers until the last minute.

        • Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works
          4·
          7 months ago

          Officers get chatty. Soldiers hear things through the grapevine. But also, most rank and file are 18 year olds fresh out of high school, so they don’t always have the best judgement when it comes to understanding what they’re hearing, or separating fact from fiction.

        • IninewCrow@lemmy.caOPEnglish
          2·
          7 months ago

          I’m hoping so … I can’t ask too many questions to the mother because she doesn’t seem to really know either. So much of what I am getting is something that someone else heard through the filter of their worries as a mother.

          My personal worry is that it is either just miscommunication and someone is just not understanding something somewhere … or the kid is doing something weird on his own and is getting into something weird other than with the Canadian military.

          • Bonehead@kbin.social
            4·
            7 months ago

            I’m hoping so … I can’t ask too many questions to the mother because she doesn’t seem to really know either.

            That should have been your first clue. You’re getting 3rd hand information from someone not entirely familiar with the situation, getting information from a son that got limited information from their commander. Stop spreading misinformation…

      • magiccupcake@lemmy.world
        7·
        7 months ago

        Best explanation I can think of is a miscommunication somewhere in the chain, and that the deployment is not expected to see combat.

        • IninewCrow@lemmy.caOPEnglish
          2·
          7 months ago

          I’m thinking along those lines too … my other worry is that the young guy is going about doing something than with the Canadian military … which is even scarier to me.