Afghanistan Memorial Forest
 

I was in Petawawa this weekend and stopped in on base to have a look around. Dad and I visited the Afghanistan Memorial Forest and this is what happens when you construct a memorial forest and fail to task or hire anyone to look after it. Simply disrespectful to the memory of Cpl Scherrer to allow the dead tree to remain standing.

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That's very sad, Ed :o

Cpl Scherrer, RIP :remember

icasualties dot org
 

This website is an open source tracker for casualties of recent wars. I've changed the search terms to show Cpl Scherrer, but if you work through the sorting conditions, you'll find information on all too many good men and women who've died in service.

http://icasualties.org/App/AfghanFat...herrer&rows=10

Years back we walked the grounds and where wondering why there was not a QR code to see the history of these fallen warriors. Now Base Petawawa, get CE out there and attend to that dead tree !!

Afghanistan Memorial Forest - Petawawa
 

I agree that it would be nice to be able to access the history of each person when walking the grounds, especially as the technology exists to do it. Much like having someone oversee the grounds keeping, this would mean that there would have to be a dedicated person to manage the database.

I have contacted the R22eR association about the dead tree and I hope that they will follow up by contacting the base. I also e-mailed Garrison Petawawa about it and I have since heard back from a base Public Affairs Officer that the tree will be replaced. Good thing I spotted it as it is anyone's guess how long that dead tree would have stood there. Sad when you think about it, no-one really seems to care about such things anymore unless you bring it to their attention.

I should hope that Petawawa declares the treed lot a dog free zone also.

Tree Replaced
 

I received an e-mail on Friday from the Garrison Petawawa PAFO that Cpl Scherrer's dead tree had been replaced and I was sent these low res images as proof. I hope the tree was watered after the photos were taken...

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This statement was also part of the message, "Please know that we do not neglect the forest and we do endeavor to check and replace the trees on an annual basis. We thank you for your dedication to the Forest."

Endeavor to check and replace the trees on an annual basis means to me that the Garrison tries to inspect the forest once a year and a dead tree could potentially remain in-situ for 12 months. I guess a weekly inspection and replacing dead trees as quickly as possible is too much to ask for a forest dedicated to Canada's Afghan fatalities. As someone who has visited many of the immaculate war graves in Europe, both Commonwealth and foreign, I am thankful that Garrison Petawawa is not in charge of running the grounds keeping Europe.

Offer to make QR code stickers to the appropriate website. Unless six levels in the chain of command are 100% in agreement, and get their influence noticed for Managing Change or Resource Management on their PERs, nothing will move quickly.