As we draw closer to Remembrance Day and pay tribute to the heroes who have served our country, it's important to recognize and honour the families that stand behind them.

Laura Talsma is a local Cochrane resident and her husband Captain Bryce Talsma served in the military from 2006 - 2011.

Talsma says that having a service member as a partner brings her much pride, but says that the reality of that partnership is also one with many sacrifices.

"Before people go on tour there's so many other times that they're gone, doing training with their platoon or with their company for team building exercises," says Talsma. "Often families don't even see their service members leading up to them going on tour."

Talsma says that her husband toured in Afghanistan from 2009 -2010. She says that he was training prior to that and after spending months apart, he arrived home just days before their wedding.

"The planning of our wedding was on myself and my support system," says 
Talsma. "He showed up four days before our wedding and then he was back on training exercises again leading up to leaving on tour."

Talsma says that she was a newlywed; married for just three months and expecting their first child when her husband left for his tour to Afghanistan. She says that not being together for these major life events was extremely hard on them both.

"Ultrasounds and feeling the baby move for the first time, that was all on my own," says Talsma. "I didn't have my partner with me to go and get pickles at 11:00 at night, those things that we take for granted."

Talsma says that communication was also a challenge and it was limited.

"Bryce was in a forward operating base so we talked on a satellite phone," says Talsma. "You know when you're talking to someone and there's like a ten-second delay before you can speak or they can hear you?"

Talsma says that many times their phone conversations were interrupted by military action and she recalls a particularly stressful phone call on her birthday. 

"It was my birthday and Bryce had called me and all I could hear was a loud explosion and then the phone cut off," says Talsma. "When some action happens they close down all communication in the area, so then I didn't get to talk to him for another day and a half. The next time the phone rings you're absolutely terrified that somebody's calling you to tell you your partner isn't with you anymore."

Captain Bryce Talsma did make it home to his wife, seven days before they welcomed their first child.

"All of a sudden he comes home and there's this enormous wife just about to pop a baby out!" says Talsma. "I'm so very thankful that he was home for the birth because there was a couple of other gents out of the company that didn't catch the birth of their first babies."

Talsma says that for her family, Remembrance Day is a time to look back on their journey, the challenges they faced and to remember and honour the friends they lost along the way.

To all those who have served or are currently serving our country, and the families that support them, we say "thank you from the bottom of our hearts."