I don’t think there was an expectation, but I wanted to serve. As a kid, everyone wants to be in the Army, right?
Warrant Officer Jason Head joined the Royal Regina Rifles in 2007 at the age of 21. He wanted to serve in Afghanistan. Two years later, he deployed to Kandahar City with the Provincial Reconstruction Team (Nov 2009–May 2010), attached to 2 PPCLI (Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry).
I did all my trades courses and a couple of extra courses and went right into work-up training. So it was a pretty quick flashbang from when I joined to being deployed to Afghanistan.
He married his girlfriend in July, welcomed a daughter in September, then deployed weeks later.
Before I left, I wanted to make things right in case I did have to pay the ultimate price. I wanted to have that for my daughter and for my wife … it was hard. I was going through all these emotions: newly married, brand-new father, and then also trying to keep my focus on my job.
In Afghanistan, WO Head served as a C9 gunner working tower security, vehicle searches, and both mounted and dismounted patrols. He also spent a week on a three‑man security detachment at the governor’s palace.
Our day-to-day was pretty high tempo. If we did have downtime, we had a little pool there. We were the only base with a pool in Afghanistan.
Sometimes, the unexpected happened.
We had a hedgehog show up one day and decided to keep it … we didn’t know much about hedgehogs, so we tried to keep it, tried to feed it … and we found out the only thing it really liked was cheese slices.
Communication home was limited to brief, glitchy Skype calls. Returning to Canada brought its own challenges.
Going from being on guard duty one day, next day holding a baby … my daughter was eight months old at that time and did not know who I was. We have a picture of us. I’m holding her, and she doesn’t know who I am.
Today, WO Head works at the Regina Correctional Centre and continues to serve with the Royal Regina Rifles. With family ties to the James Smith Cree Nation, he carries pride in the legacy of the band’s Indigenous soldiers.
James Smith … it’s a big Cree-speaking reserve and they had code talkers back in World War II. It’s a very proud thing actually, what First Nations guys did in World War II …because no one could understand Cree. I wish we [still had code talkers] but that’s kind of lost now.
WO Head’s definition of service has changed over time.
When I first [joined], I thought I was just going to serve my country. But now I’ve got a lot more definitions behind the word ‘service.’ Loyalty, integrity, serving with duty and honour. That’s what I think of service now.