Buzz a little louder at Aldershot

It's not hard to overlook.

Tucked away just over a mile from Kentville's northern boundary - and aside from the odd explosion and rattle of gunfire during training sessions - Camp Aldershot maintains a modest profile in Kings County.

The camp staff is nearly 90 military personnel strong, with a comparable number of civilians on the payroll. The busy facility's varied rank and trade courses for reservists and regulars run year round, with trainees from across Canada and around the world. Local police forces use the facility, as do the area's youth - in Air and Army Cadet units.

The paychecks of military staff, trainees and civilian support workers and the market the camp provides for local products and services shouldn’t be overlooked. Not by a long shot.

It's not only for the money it brings in - or national and international attention or the appeal of history - we should take an interest in the facility.

It's been part of our collective lives at various intensities for more than a century, since the first militia concentration in an unfinished camp in 1903. It was one of the camps established by Defense Minister Sir Frederick Borden of Canning in response to the glaring need for better training for conflicts, such as the then-recent South African War. Borden's son, Harold, was killed in action during that war. The young horseman's monument stands today in the centre of Canning.

The community has since experienced the camp's intensity in the World Wars and as the home station of Cold War Black Watch regular force units in the 1950s. Then, thousands of soldiers, their families and local support workers depended on the camp. It was, in fact, a local industry.

We are slowly seeing a revival of this intensity, though not near that experienced in earlier decades. The facility has been growing over the past two decades, from the West Novas' armoury in the 1980s to the $32 million revival of the past decade.

Long-time camp detachment commanders - and often shameless promoters - such as Majors John Harrison and John Sutcliffe had done well to attain the facility's efficiencies and infrastructure; and, as time permitted, community profile. Current detachment commander Maj. Jamie Hunter wants to build on that.

The current Afghanistan mission has certainly contributed to the buzz at the camp - though it is also due to the overall increase in attention paid the Canadian Armed Forces. The Armed Forces have a Connecting with Communities program, aiming for a closer co-operation with Canadians. This is especially pertinent for the Valley. We host two major facilities - Aldershot and 14 Wing Greenwood - and we are slowly coming to understand, not only are regular force members from our area serving in the Afghan mission, so are a number of reservists - including West Novas - who have continued to live among us as they prepared for their military careers.

It's an exciting part of our community, bringing young people among us - young people who are part of the bigger world picture and all that means.