Private Josh Klukie

Private Joshua Klukie was born on 16 February 1983 in Shuniah, Ontario. He attended Hillcrest High School in Thunder Bay, Ontario where he was an enthusiastic member of his basketball team. He later graduated from the Paramedic Program at Confederation College.

Following employment with various civilian companies Josh enrolled with the Canadian Forces on the 22 October 2004. After enrolment, he proceeded on Basic Military Qualification training in St. Jean, Quebec in November 2004 where it was noted by the staff that he was very kind, pleasant and extremely cooperative, in all a very good student who showed great potential for the future.

Early on in his career, Pte Klukie's high degree of physical fitness was noticed which earned him the Physical Fitness Award for his course. During his infantry qualification training his outstanding level of physical fitness and team-player attitude aided in his successful completion of training. Thereafter he moved to his home unit, 1 RCR, in July 2005 prior to deployment with his company on Operation Archer in Kandahar in August 2006.

Josh was an exceptional athlete and a committed soldier who was extremely dedicated and proud of his profession. Originally, upon enrolment he had only planned on serving three years with the military but his recent experiences in Kandahar made him change his mind and focus on making this his career citing the fact that this was what he wanted to do with his life. He had a bright career in the future for him and had aspirations of joining Joint Task Force Two.