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As my former colleagues in the teaching profession are mired in labour disputes, I cannot help but compare the challenges I faced as a teacher with my previous and concurrent service in the Canadian Armed Forces Reserve.

Especially the period in the late 1990s when I transitioned into full-time teaching after having served an extended stint as a full-time reservist with the Regular Forces. Which type of service, in hindsight, represented the biggest personal challenge?

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To me and my family, the greater challenges by far to my strength, sanity and time were my years teaching in public school. Surprised?

It is real-world experiences like this that fly in the face of popular assumptions placing teachers among the idle rich. The only time this veteran of both professions ever felt “spoiled” was, in fact, as an officer in the military.

The only time this veteran of both professions ever felt “spoiled” was, in fact, as an officer in the military.

As tough and demanding as serving in the Forces occasionally was, especially when we were deployed on operations and training, there is no escaping the fact that we came to rely on a very generous level of personal care and support that a unionized teacher wouldn’t dare dream of.