Master Corporal Terry Cash, a 38-year-old infanteer, has been a member of the Canadian Forces since 1990, but his most fulfilling and proudest moments are tied to his recent tour in Afghanistan.
Cash, a member of the Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa, was deployed for over seven months, from Sept. 15, 2008 until April 29, 2009. He considers this tour to be the biggest accomplishment of his military career.
He was stationed in Kandahar City at Camp Nathan Smith, where he worked as part of the Provincial Reconstruction Team. One of his most memorable moments on tour was a three hour trip by convoy to Spin Boldak, a small town near the Pakistani-Afghani border in southern Kandahar.
“Plenty of interesting people in Afghanistan, none that really stand out from others. We did have an old local Afghan that lived in our camp and worked there. Popeye had worked for the Russians when they were there, was an extremely hard worker,” explained Cash. Unfortunately, the local worker was eventually found murdered.
In addition to Popeye’s death, Cash lost a good friend to an IED strike, along with 19 other Canadian soldiers throughout the same tour rotation. Those kinds of situations are what define Remembrance Day for him. “Honouring the memory of those who have gone before us and have sacrificed their lives. They gave us all so we could live the way we do,” he said.
Cash joined the 2nd Battalion Nova Scotia Highlanders in February 1990 and transferred to the 1st Battalion Royal Canadian Regiment, a regular force unit, in December of the same year. He released from the military in January 2000 and re-enrolled with the Camerons in November 2006. His time in the regular force included tours in Croatia and Bosnia.
MCpl Terry Cash was born in Sydney, Nova Scotia. He moved to Halifax at the age of five, and moved back to Cape Breton for a year. That’s when his career with Canada’s army began.
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