Who We Are 

Michael Perstinger's Story

Hi my name is Mike. I’m a former Infantry Seargent with the Canadian Armed Forces and served 23 years with the Canadian Grenadier Guards. Some highlights of my career was serving 2 tours in Afghanistan as well as the floods in St-Jean-Sur-Richelieux. I joined at 17 and grew up in the military where I was taught the meaning of hard work and determination. Later they taught me about leadership and organizational stewardship in the various positions I held in the organization.

I injured my back on my first tour to Afghanistan and just learned to deal with the pain. As the years progressed the injury came back time and again and forced me to medically retire. I started a career as a 3D animator in the gaming industry here in Montreal and have had a lot of really great as well as rather poor experiences. One thing that I have noticed is that there isn’t the same sense of bond and camaraderie that I had while serving. That’s why I decided to go back to my roots and launch this project. I’ve finally gotten better after letting myself take care of myself and I want to pass that on to fellow active service as well as veterans throughout the world. We really do have a unique bond through shared hardship. I want to get back to that in a meaningful way.

"The society that separates its scholars from its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting by fools." -Thucydides

Sgt (Ret) Michael Perstinger, CD

David Morrow's Story

My name’s Dave. I’m a former infantry officer with the Canadian Armed Forces and served as a civilian military cooperation officer in Afghanistan. I grew up in the Army, it taught me the valuable lessons of grueling hard work, the importance of a solid team, how to get shit done when the chips are down and how to motivate people in the worst of situations. 

I returned from Afghanistan injured and without a clear sense of direction. I fell back on my education and launched myself into a teaching career I hated. I neglected my back injury and became incapable of even lifting up my newborn son. My marriage was hurting and life was spinning out of control. I had to make a change. 

I hired a coach. I worked everyday on the basics. I learned I wasn’t broken, I just needed to put in the work to fix what had been neglected over 15 years of ruck marches and long range patrols. This experience with my coach had a profound effect on me and it inspired me to do the same for my fellow sheepdog community.

Train Hard, Fight Easy

Dave Morrow, M.A., BSc., BEd., CD