After serving in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) for 35 years, Scott Short moved back to his hometown of Williams Lake in September 2023 with his wife Brandy.
“I still have a few friends and lots of extended family here,” he said.
A mechanic with the CAF, his first posting was in 1989 with the 1 Service Battalion in Calgary.
From there he went on to serve in Edmonton, Comox, Sault St. Marie, Chilliwack and Vancouver.
During his career he was deployed to Cambodia, the former Yugoslavia and twice to Afghanistan.
Short said he does not like to dwell on the sights he saw when stationed in war zones, but offered his own observation.
“When you are deployed you see how horrible we can be to each other as humans, but then you see the other side which is the strength some people have to endure.”
The last four years in the CAF he spent in Vancouver doing more policy advising and less mechanical work, he said.
Born in Regina, Sask., his parents Clifford and Dorothy Short moved to Williams Lake when he was two.
He has a sister, Sheryl Short.
“My dad said at the time he could not find work to support a growing family so he started heading west until he found a place he liked and landed in Williams Lake.”
Clifford was hired at Lignum and then went to West Fraser, working there until he retired.
Growing up, Short attended Glendale, Anne Stevenson and Columneetza schools, graduating in 1987.
As a high school student he knew he would probably join the RCMP or the Armed Forces, he recalled.
After high school he took a welding program at Cariboo College, but when he finished there were not many jobs in trades available.
“I happened to be in the unemployment office and there was a recruiter for the Canadian Armed Forces there that day. I sat and chatted with him and that was it.”
While in Calgary he met Brandy, whose father was also in the service.
“She did not come into this relationship blind. She kind of knew what she was getting into,” Short said, adding they moved a lot.
Moving is good because children see more of the country than most children do, but forming relationships can be a challenge, he added.
When they do make friends they form strong bonds, and because of that both of his sons Ryan, 30, and Caleb, 28, stayed on Vancouver Island.
“It has been an interesting 35 years,” he said of his years in the army, adding he met people from all over the world.
“You can come from all these different countries, gather together as members of armed forces and we always had the same complaints.”
The army is more than a job, it becomes a lifestyle, he said.
“It’s the camaraderie. You make these bonds with people.”
In August 2015, Short received the Meritorious Service Medal from the Governor General of Canada for his role leading the search and rescue of an injured hiker off Mount Arroswmith on Sept. 22, 2013.
“Initially we headed up to stabilize and we wanted the 442 Transport and Rescue Squadron out of Comox to come with the helicopter to winch him out, but the way the winds were they couldn’t get the helicopter stable enough,” Short recalled. “So we kept just working him down the side of the mountain so that we could find a spot the Comorant could come, but the terrain would not allow for it.”
The rescue lasted almost 24 hours and involved transporting the hiker 1.2 kilometres down the mountain to a waiting ambulance.
It constituted one of the longest rope rescue operations in B.C. history, noted the Governor General of Canada in its write-up about Short’s medal.
When Short was 17, he joined search and rescue in Williams Lake, and over the years joined search and rescue units in other cities.
“When you move around a lot you have to find some way to fit into the communities you move to. Because I started out in search and rescue here back in the mid 80s, it just seemed like a natural extension. You gravitate toward what you know, right?”
Recently Short started working at Walmart as a compliance lead, a job he is learning more about as the days unfold.
“There’s no stress,” he said of the job.
When he is not working, he enjoys exploring the backcountry on his dual-sport motorcycle and is looking forward to hunting, fishing and camping in the region again.
On Remembrance Day he plans to attend the ceremony at the cenotaph in Williams Lake.
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