Coffee: The soldier’s drink of
‘choice and remembrance’

Story by Stephen J. Thorne

When times are tough and you’re far from home, it’s often the little things that mean the most. You’d be hard-pressed to find a soldier who wouldn’t put coffee near the top of that list.

“Of all the drinks, meals, and other fuels I have experienced in my life as a soldier, it is coffee that stands out as the stand-alone drink of choice and remembrance,” retired U.S. Army colonel Keith Nightingale wrote in Foreign Policy Magazine. “Of all the necessary assets and material, a cup of hot coffee competes with ammunition as a crucial soldier commodity.”

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Canadian Air Force becomes royal

Story by Sharon Adams

On April 1, 1924, Canada’s flying service was renamed the Royal Canadian Air Force. Its motto Through Adversity to the Stars is fitting indeed. In September 1914, just one month after entering the First World War, Canada sent one aircraft of the Canadian Aviation Corps to England.

It was only a decade after the first controlled powered flight, and military use of aircraft was still in its infancy. Italy had used aircraft for reconnaissance photography and to direct artillery fire in the year-long war with Turkey ending 1912. They had even dropped grenades from aircraft and are credited with the first military aerial bombing.

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April 1, 1734

The lighthouse at Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island is officially lit; the only other on the entire eastern coast of North America is in Boston.

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Skirmish at Duck Lake

Story by Sharon Adams

The Northwest Rebellion, or Northwest Resistance, depending on which side of history you are on, began on March 26, 1885, in Saskatchewan near the junction of two trails, one of which led to Batoche and the other to Fort Carlton. On March 26, a force of about 100 North West Mounted Police and armed citizens commanded by Superintendent Leif Crozier came up the trail to Duck Lake. They were met by Gabriel Dumont and his men. Words were exchanged; a scuffle broke out between a Mountie interpreter and a Cree emissary.

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U.S. army research gives new meaning to G.I. ‘Joe’

Story by Stephen J. Thorne

Ah, caffeine. That little pause that refreshes. But if you’re in the military, that cuppa joe or caffeine-laced energy drink can literally be a lifesaver. That’s why scientists in the United States military have spent 10 years researching the benefits of caffeine. They’ve come up with a mobile application called 2B-Alert, which can recommend how much of the popular stimulant to consume and when to consume it to optimize its effects.

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March 23, 1965

Fifteen RCAF aviators are killed when their Argus patrol plane goes
down in a night exercise off Puerto Rico.

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