Sean Groves has been in some quite difficult places and has done some difficult things for more than three decades in the army as a combat engineer.
Now retired after multiple deployments abroad, including short periods in Afghanistan, easily admits that his experiences have molded it in a way that is seen and not seen.
And it is that kind of calm and meaningless force that your teenage son will admire and expect to emulate one day while the two embark on an extraordinary trip together.
The father-son duo is part of a small expedition, some of them veteran, who struck on Monday to row almost the entire length of the Ottawa river, starting in their headers in Lac des Olauais in the north of Quebec.
It is a five -week planned odyssey, more than 1,000 kilometers through a largely intact desert, dodging the rapids and living rustically.
On paper, they are doing it as a fundraising for Warriors WariDed Warriors Canada and the resilience programs offered by the beneficial organization.
‘Honest’ to have your son
Groves said he is “honest and really impressed” that his son volunteered to join the expedition.
“He had other options and chose us,” said Groves, who considers that fundraising is an opportunity to give back to the veteran community.
And then there is the advantage of sharing the experience with his son.
Will Groves said he knows that there are easier ways to raise money for charity, but for him that is not the point.
“I want to do something hard in my young life just to put things in perspective as I aged,” he said. “So 10 years later I can look back, when I am doing something difficult, I can be like, you know, what I am happening at this time was not as difficult as this little canoe journey that I did in 2025.”
The teenager said he has no illusions about the exhausting physical trip ahead, paddling eight to 10 hours a day. You can train for that, but it is arriving inside to find the strength to move forward in which you think you have to work.
“I am 18 years old and quite fit, but where it will be a challenge for me is the mental side of things,” he said. “I feel that I am not as hard mentally as some of the types that bind to us on the trip, or as my father or marked.
‘People are fighting’
The expedition, which will be divided into five different legs, was conceived by Mark Gasparotto, a former combat engineer who fought in Kandahar. He said that beyond the collection of funds, there is a broader message that they are trying to transmit to the Canadians.
“We are in challenging times and many people are fighting,” Gasparotto said. “And my key message is that resilience is a skill that can be taught and can be practiced. So you can learn to fight well, and the first principle of fighting well is to do difficult things: difficult things physical, emotional, mental, spiritual.”
As a frequent paddle on the Ottawa River, he said that the idea of the canoe of the river route comes from his cousin.
Gasparotto and forests form the core of the expedition, which will be increased to a dozen other volunteers who will join for shorter legs.
Throughout a large part of Canada, it has been a brutal season of forest fires and Gasparotto said the team includes the risks they suppose.
“There are currently no prohibitions in the areas that we will row, so Quebec during the first 400 kilometers and then is really along the Ontario-Quebec border,” he said. “There are many things that we cannot control, forest fires are one of them, so we will have to adapt if certain parts of the river close.”
