I Was A Soldier Once and Young.

Time has crept up on me and is now my enemy. Life has not been good to me in the past twenty years or so. I'm struggling to recount my past and to bring back my good memories.
Valour, truth, courage, Pro Patria, family, team, death before dishonour, VRI (Victoria Regina Imperatrix), medal, compassion, duty. What do all these words have in common? I was a soldier once and young.
When I was in my middle teen years I was struggling with my future, not that I really understood what future was all about. I worked at worthless dead end jobs. My life was heading in the wrong direction. I received no encouragement from my mother or anyone else for that matter. My father had deserted me when I was 13.
It was after seeing my friend's brother dressed in a sharp soldier's uniform that I knew the army was a place to go, learn something and become a somebody. So at the age of eighteen and very naive I joined The Royal Canadian Regiment.