Tim Hortons (”Always fresh/Toujours frais”) is a Canadian institution: This coffee-and-doughnuts chain occupies a cultural space that’s up there with Molson, poutine or The Kids in the Hall. And now employees of Tim Hortons may be eligible for war medals, courtesy of an overhaul of the rules for Canadian civilians who work in war zones.
According to CanWest news service, Canada’s Department of National Defence has clarified the rules for how it recognizes overseas service. The changes, the news service states, “will include the controversial decision to allow Tim Hortons employees at Kandahar Airfield to receive medals from the Afghan war.”
Tim Hortons occupies a coveted corner location on the boardwalk at KAF (milspeak for “Kandahar Airfield”), pictured here. The boardwalk is a small welfare-and-recreation area that includes a hockey rink, plus a Pizza Hut, Burger King and a few Afghan souvenir shops.
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By: Brant
During World War Two, the Canadian military allowed that civilian members of support organizations like the Salvation Army who served in Europe were eligible for service medals - the "I was there" ribbon that more or less everyone got, whether they were a rifleman in the front line or a rations clerk who spent the whole war in Liverpool.
ReplyDeleteYes, with Tim Horton's it's a little different because they are employees of a corporation, that is under contract with the Department of National Defence to do its thing at KAF. Has the American military ever extended medals to its many civilian employees over the years, starting with the civilian sutlers (who made out so well in the Revolutionary war and War of 1812, selling inferior food to the troops)?