‘Remembrance Day is important to commemorate fallen soldiers, and those still serving’: CAF member

Susana Aguilar-Barreto is in the Canadian Armed Forces. She’s a Montrealer with Peruvian roots. She says being in the military has helped shape her into the woman she is today.

“Remembrance Day is an important day when we commemorate our fallen soldiers, but also the ones that are still serving,” said Aguilar-Barreto.

“The woman I am today is because of everything that I have to do in the Army, work, side courses, or anyone I met. They always bring something really interesting in place, so I take what I believe will make me better. I think it’s very nourishing.”

Susana works as an HR Administrator in the military but credits her high school best friend with encouraging her to join

“I actually did it because my best friend in high school joined. He decided to take this challenge and he brought me with him. Here I am seven years later and I really love my job. I love the Army. I really found a family here.”

While being in the army brings no shortage of challenges, for Susana, it’s all about scheduling.

“So for me, because I’m a student, I’m doing a Bachelor’s right now, so it’s to really be able to give time to my studies that I really care about that are really important for me, but also my job, which is the Army, and that I really love. So it’s really to balance my time.”

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As for advice she may give to anyone thinking about joining the military.

“Do not be scared to join. It might look, maybe, scary because it did for me when I was younger, but just to take that little courage to just apply, try it out. Sometimes it seems impossible or it seems like it’s not for us, and it actually it can be. So you don’t know until you didn’t try it out.”

As for what Remembrance Day means to her:

“It’s important because the world we know today, or the Canada we know today, was not like this before their sacrifice, before the wars. So it’s important to be grateful for them because they sacrificed a lot. Some soldiers didn’t come back, some did, but they were not the same again. So it takes a lot of courage to do what they did, and so we have the duty to remember them and to thank them.”