Yellowknife (Oct 25/06) - Two Yellowknife men officially joined the Canadian Forces in a ceremony at Joint Task Force (North) headquarters last Friday, and they're not alone.

By Nov. 6, seven Yellowknifers will have joined the armed forces since August, which recruiting officer Capt. David Burbridge said reflects a national trend of increasing interest in military careers.

"We've had a three-fold increase in applications from across the North," he said.

He attributes the rise to the media attention paid to the mission in Afghanistan, and the Forces' recruiting visits to 45 communities in the Yukon, NWT and Nunavut.

Tristan Hynes, 18, said he joined because it's a good career opportunity. He plans to train as an avionics systems technician, working on aircrafts' electronic systems.

"I can't fly planes because of my eyesight, but I still want to work with them. And I get to play with computers."

His mother, Bovina Beaudoin, said she supported her son's decision.

"I'm proud of him and I'm happy, but of course I'm a little nervous with what's going on in Afghanistan," she said.

Hynes is more wary of the basic training he's about to undergo.

"I'm sure I'll be saying 'I'll never run again,'" he said.

Robert Gregory, 33, is the third member of his immediate family to join the Canadian Forces.

His father chose a military career, and his sister, Leading Seaman Lori Gregory, is a resource management support clerk based in Yellowknife.

Gregory said he joined up because he felt mature enough to take on a career, and was tired of working in the bar business for 13 years.

He will train as a combat engineer, where his duties would be both constructive and destructive -- building and demolishing things like roads and bridges, and possibly removing mines and explosive booby traps.

"I read up on a lot of different careers and this sounded like the most interesting," he said.

He said he's not intimidated by the idea of working with mines and explosives. The risk, he said, is relative.

"I could get killed working here (in Yellowknife)," he said. "There's danger in a lot of jobs."

His sister, Lori Gregory, said their mother was concerned about her brother possibly being assigned to Afghanistan.

But as a fellow member of the armed forces, she believed her brother would get the knowledge to perform his duties safely.

"Everything we learn is in a safety-controlled environment and the training is very good," she said. "Even if he wants to blow things up or demolish things."

Lori Gregory also said sharing a profession would bring the siblings closer.

"We might be posted far apart, but we'll have a lot more in common now," she said.

Plus, for the first few years, she'll outrank him.

"I can tell him what to do now and he has to listen."