Learn English with the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks at a memorial service in Halifax, Canada to honour veterans of the Canadian Armed Forces who lost their lives in the line of duty in Afghanistan.
00:00:00.000You are listening to The Blueprint, Canada's Conservative Podcast.
00:00:09.040Is the Prime Minister actually saying that taxpayers should be on the hook when he breaks the law?
00:00:20.420What is it going to take for the Prime Minister to have any respect for any laws in this country that may curb his out-of-control behaviour?
00:00:30.000All these deficits leading to nothing but burying Canadians in taxes.
00:00:40.000Thank you. Thank you for that amazing introduction and the amazing weekend so far here in Halifax.
00:00:51.000I'd like to take you back to April 3rd of 2010.
00:00:56.000I'm lying on a stretcher in a grape field in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
00:01:01.000I could taste blood and sand grit all through my mouth.
00:01:04.000My fingers were dangling off my hand only held by flaps of skin.
00:01:12.000My left leg was torn, my left leg was gone and my right leg was torn to the bone and twisted like a corkscrew.
00:01:21.000This unimaginable scene is what I thought were going to be the last moments of my life.
00:01:30.000Three years prior to that, on my 18th birthday, I signed up to join the Canadian Armed Forces.
00:01:38.000This is the first adult decision I have ever made and it was to serve my country.
00:01:56.000I wasn't even old enough to buy a beer in most provinces but I was old enough to serve and possibly die for my country.
00:02:13.000Now take a moment and think about that.
00:02:16.000Think about still being a kid and making that choice.
00:02:20.000A choice that could put you in a combat zone, in some far off land and when you haven't even travelled east of your home province.
00:02:31.000I started my initial training that January after my graduation and I was eventually posted to the 1st Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry.
00:02:45.000I was a member of Delta Company, a rifle company that deployed to Afghanistan that October in 2009.
00:03:02.000I remember telling my parents that we were going to one of the safest areas and when in actual fact it was probably the most heavily IED'd in the whole country at the time.
00:03:15.000In the first three months, Delta Company found three metric tons of IED making material and we suffered two losses by Christmas.
00:03:27.000On October 23rd, 2009, my own platoon suffered our own loss, Lieutenant Andrew Nuttall.
00:03:35.000Lieutenant Nuttall was our platoon commander from Victoria, BC.
00:03:39.000He was a surfer dude that loved hitting the waves in Tofino in his spare time.
00:03:45.000He was our big brother and our fearless leader.
00:03:48.000They flew our platoon out to Cantarire Field to his tennis ramp ceremony.
00:03:55.000And to say goodbye to our leader, our friend, our brother who just turned 30 earlier that year.
00:04:11.000That day to me, and to the contrary to what a lot of people think, that day to me was the worst day I experienced in Afghanistan.
00:04:22.000The heat of the tarmac, the smell in the air, and the feeling of his flag draped over his coffin is what haunts my dreams that night.
00:04:31.000At the end of my tour, when all my company brothers and sisters returned home, Delta Company returned with five less members that were killed in action, and six of us that were seriously wounded.
00:04:46.000The story is not much different than the countless of other stories that veterans share in their time of service.
00:04:53.000It's a calling, and some even answered that calling earlier.
00:04:58.000Some joined the reserves at 16, and some joined the regular force at 17.
00:05:04.000Now imagine, imagine having that burning desire to help make the world a better place in some way.
00:05:12.000Having a love for your home, so deep, that you want to keep the things that go bump in the night, at bay, even if it could possibly kill you in the process.