Derek Neary
Northern News Services

NNSL (May 25/98) - When they get together to recount their days as kid brothers, it's hard to believe there were ever any hard feelings between Keith and Shannon Fahie.

The brothers Fahie are both serving Canadians in Yellowknife -- Keith, 39, as a constable in the RCMP and Shannon, 35, as a master corporal in the Canadian Armed Forces.

The Fahies were raised in Greenwood, N.S., the sons of career soldiers. Their father, Gilbert, was an air-frame technician and retired as a sergeant. Mother Virginia, was a secretary for the base supply officer.

"We're air force brats," Keith says proudly. "It was a no-nonsense, regimented lifestyle."

At least, it was on most days. Like all brothers, the Fahies took certain liberties with each other.

They recall a car trip to the clinic when they were aged eight and four. They were to wait while their mother, a diabetic, went inside for a brief checkup.

They decided to entertain themselves with what they could find in the back seat -- a pillow and an empty pop bottle. Keith would hide his head behind the pillow and Shannon would take a swing at it. It proved to be a matter of time before Keith didn't cover his head fast enough.

"I split him wide open," Shannon says.

With blood streaming down his face, Keith wandered into the clinic in search of his mother. The physician kept asking, "What happened here?" His mother thought he had been hit by a car.

Eventually Shannon came in and confessed, "I hit him over the head with a pop bottle."

Almost 10 years later, Keith got his revenge, of sorts. While mom and dad were at work one day, 17-year-old Keith pushed Shannon right through the drywall of their home while the two were fooling around.

"It made a hole in the shape of his body," Keith recalls with a smile.

Keith recalls that their father wound up giving them "a little talking to."

"Dad was strict but he was good," Shannon says. "He was fair," Keith adds.

It wasn't all brotherly warfare between the two. There was a time when Shannon gouged his leg after going over a culvert on his bicycle. Keith picked him up and carried him home.

"Do you kids need hockey helmets?" their mother asked upon their entrance.

Keith says, "We had the school of hard knocks."

Both members of the air cadets, Keith rose to become a chief warrant officer and Shannon a sergeant.

Growing up in a military atmosphere, the young Fahies were encouraged to serve the country.

Keith was determined to join the RCMP by Grade 10. "The die was cast, you might say," he recalls. "There was lots of push. Mom had great expectations."

One day before his RCMP medical, at the age of 20, Keith and Shannon began to grapple over a piece of chicken. Shannon bent Keith's thumb to the point where it was nearly broken.

"He chased me through the house all day," Shannon says, laughing.

Keith interjects, "If I would have caught him I would have a criminal record."

Keith passed the medical. From that point he endured the standard "six weeks of hell" in Regina. From there, he was posted to Baie Verte, Churchill Falls, Deer Lake, Corner Brook and Forteau, Nfld., Liverpool, N.S., and then to Yellowknife.

Shannon joined the Forces in Halifax in 1983. He spent 10 weeks in Gagetown, N.B. completing recruit training. After that, he served in CFB Baden, Germany; CFB Borden, Ont., and now in Yellowknife.

They didn't cross paths for 19 years with the exception of holidays at home with their parents.

After arriving in Yellowknife, Keith's assumed the role of RCMP court liaison. He spends many hours sitting in on cases, conferring with the Crown, filing documents and co-ordinating transportation of prisoners.

"He's just like Bull on Night Court," Shannon offers.

Not long after settling in Yellowknife, Keith became aware of the Canadian Forces Northern Area Headquarters. He sent pictures and a video to his brother and asked him to request a posting here.

"I didn't really know about it. It's not a big unit,"

Shannon said. "When you think about the North, you think cold. When I got the video I said, 'Wow.'"

He began to inquire and found out that there was only one position for someone of his rank and trade -- mobile support equipment operator. It just so happened that the incumbent was on his way out.

"It's just a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," Shannon said, adding that the air quality and clean, clear water alone are huge attractions.

He now acts as a transport supervisor, and co-ordinates cadet and ranger ground transportation, among other things.

Now that they're back together, the tormenting can continue. When Shannon was on his four-day military winter survival course, braving -40 C weather in January, Keith sent him a gift via the driver who came to pick them up. It was a frozen hamburger.

"That's the kind of brother he is," Shannon said, and they both laughed.

They say their parents were elated to hear that they're together but remind them that they're far from Nova Scotia, to where Gilbert and Virginia have retired. "They always want us to come home," Shannon said.

"For us just to be in the same province is lucky. Really, it's astronomical odds to get here," Keith says, adding that people tease him about having connections with Jean Chretien. "Over a period of 19 years, it was a hit and miss deal. Now we can line things up and do it."

Keith's wife, Jeanie, and Shannon's wife, Shannen (he insists she's number 1, he's number 2), both work at Wal-Mart.

Keith's children, Amanda, 15, and Jennifer, 13, have had a chance to get to know their cousin, Kyle, 10.

"We've been making up for lost time since I've been here," Shannon says.