SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Students attending St. Patrick High School got a glimpse of a Canadian soldier's day-to-day life in Afghanistan on Wednesday.

Master Cpl. Jason Dyck, left, and Maj. Bastien Leclerc speak to students at St. Patrick High School during the school's Remembrance Day service. - Adrian Lysenko/NNSL

Two soldiers who were deployed to Afghanistan made a presentation to students during the school's Remembrance Day service on what life was like on the front lines over there.

"In my own experience, Remembrance Day was generic. I didn't have any family or anyone that we lost in the line of duty," said Maj. Bastien Leclerc, who spent 10 months in Afghanistan. "When I was there we lost 25 soldiers."

In Leclerc's presentation he showed life in Kandahar City from a Canadian soldier's perceptive.

"It makes it very real," said Leclerc. "The conflict is there ... We lost soldiers - most of them were from (improvised explosive devices) and some of them were from firefights, so I think it is time to remember."

Master Cpl. Jason Dyck gave a slide presentation showing the various vehicles used in Afghanistan and the country's terrain.

Loralea Wark, head of the school's social studies department, helped organize the service and hopes after seeing the presentation, students will see that war is not glamorous or fun.

"When they kill someone on a video game, it's a game. When that happens in real life, that person doesn't come back. They leave behind a family and a nation that mourns them," said Wark. "I think it's important for them to know real life isn't a game."

Last May, Wark was involved in a trip where 38 students from the school travelled overseas to the 65th anniversary celebrations of the liberation of the Netherlands.

Even with the soldiers' presentations, some students say it is hard to imagine life as soldier in Afghanistan.

"We have no idea what it's like," said Tanner Dolynny, a Grade 11 student. "We're very fortunate as Canadians, as North Americans, to have luxuries just given to us without working for them and

I think we should all be thankful."

At the end of his presentation, Leclerc showed pictures of soldiers who were killed while he was deployed in Afghanistan.

"What I hope they're going to remember is that maybe how lucky we are here and how very often we complain with our bellies full," said Leclerc. "If that only hits one kid, that will be great."

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