Remembrance Day and a Totally Unrelated Topic, Running Music

Nov 11 is Remembrance Day in Canada and many other countries. My Dad served in WWII in the Royal Canadian Navy. He served on the HMCS Iroquois one of the Tribal Class destroyers. After the war he married and went back to gold mining in northern Ontario but ultimately felt he could support his family better by being in the military. 

My Dad in the RCAF

So this time he joined the RCAF and we traveled around Canada and Europe with him, living on military bases in Bagotville, QC, Chatham NB, in Germany and elsewhere. It was a good life and gave us a perspective about the world and human events. It obviously influenced his children as all of his 3 sons followed him into the military. 

My older brother was a Logistics officer, both in the Regular Force and as a Reservist, and did tours with the UN. He was almost killed when a Canadian Forces C-130 Hercules aircraft he was on crashed in northern Canada.

My younger brother is still in the Air Force and did deployments to the Middle East, Afghanistan and Croatia to name a few. He still works as a loadmaster on Search and Rescue aircraft back east. Both of his boys are now in the Canadian military as well.

I also served in the Regular and Reserves for 42 years, as a Logistics officer; transport, supply, air movements. I was never in such dangerous situations as the others but did deploy for six months to the Middle East at the airhead we had for supporting our troops in Afghanistan. I worked with the American Air Force in Germany for 3 years, one of my most interesting jobs.

Remembrance Day isn't just about the military members, of course, but it's also about the families. They travel around the country and world with their spouses and parents, trying to live normal lives while the military members deploy, are away on training, etc. Anyway, just wanted to say, Never Forget Those Who Serve with Honor.

Running Songs

I had a great run this morning. The weather was perfect and so was the music. One of the things I enjoy about running is when a perfect song pops up on my Walkman. Some have just the right beat that I find myself running to. Here are a couple of the songs that I find help motivate me.

1. Joe Jackson - Stepping Out. Check out the underlying beat. It's a perfect pace, eh?

2. Years and Years - King. Once again a great running beat and a song that just lifts you up.

3. Clean Bandit & Mabel - Tiktok. This song pops up and even if I'm tired I find myself singing along with it. It really gives me a lift.

4. The Donnas - Take it Off. I found myself sprinting to this, especially the middle bit and it was at the end of a 70 minute run. Great beat.

OK, get running! And have a great day!