{"id":102829,"date":"2026-03-17T11:28:06","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T15:28:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=102829"},"modified":"2026-03-17T11:28:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T15:28:18","slug":"from-attawapiskat-to-latvia-soldier-happy-to-be-home-after-6-month-deployment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/17\/from-attawapiskat-to-latvia-soldier-happy-to-be-home-after-6-month-deployment\/","title":{"rendered":"From Attawapiskat to Latvia: Soldier happy to be home after 6-month deployment"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Marissa Lentz-McGrath, Local Journalism Initiative, TimminsToday.com TIMMINS &#8211; Growing up in Attawapiskat First Nation, Nigel Nakogee spent much of his time outdoors. Hunting geese and moose, snaring rabbits, and camping were regular parts of life. \u201cI\u2019m a bit of a hunter,\u201d he told TimminsToday. \u201cI hunted a lot growing up. Pretty much camped during my teenage years.\u201d Those early experiences on the land eventually helped shape his path into the military. Nakogee, now 24, serves as an infanteer with the Algonquin Regiment in Timmins. In November, he returned from a six-month deployment in Latvia as part of Rotation 2502. He left in June and returned home in November. While the six months felt long at times, the experience was rewarding. \u201cIn the moment, it felt really long, but it&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F03%2F17%2Ffrom-attawapiskat-to-latvia-soldier-happy-to-be-home-after-6-month-deployment%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Marissa Lentz-McGrath, Local Journalism Initiative, TimminsToday.com TIMMINS &#8211; Growing up in Attawapiskat First Nation, Nigel Nakogee spent much of his time outdoors. Hunting geese and moose, snaring rabbits, and camping were regular parts of life. \u201cI\u2019m a bit of a hunter,\u201d he told TimminsToday. \u201cI hunted a lot growing up. Pretty much camped during my teenage years.\u201d Those early experiences on the land eventually helped shape his path into the military. Nakogee, now 24, serves as an infanteer with the Algonquin Regiment in Timmins. In November, he returned from a six-month deployment in Latvia as part of Rotation 2502. He left in June and returned home in November. While the six months felt long at times, the experience was rewarding. \u201cIn the moment, it felt really long, but it... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F03%2F17%2Ffrom-attawapiskat-to-latvia-soldier-happy-to-be-home-after-6-month-deployment%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>From Attawapiskat to Latvia: Soldier happy to be home after 6-month deployment - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/17\/from-attawapiskat-to-latvia-soldier-happy-to-be-home-after-6-month-deployment\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"From Attawapiskat to Latvia: Soldier happy to be home after 6-month deployment - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Marissa Lentz-McGrath, Local Journalism Initiative, TimminsToday.com TIMMINS &#8211; Growing up in Attawapiskat First Nation, Nigel Nakogee spent much of his time outdoors. Hunting geese and moose, snaring rabbits, and camping were regular parts of life. \u201cI\u2019m a bit of a hunter,\u201d he told TimminsToday. \u201cI hunted a lot growing up. Pretty much camped during my teenage years.\u201d Those early experiences on the land eventually helped shape his path into the military. Nakogee, now 24, serves as an infanteer with the Algonquin Regiment in Timmins. In November, he returned from a six-month deployment in Latvia as part of Rotation 2502. He left in June and returned home in November. While the six months felt long at times, the experience was rewarding. \u201cIn the moment, it felt really long, but it\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/17\/from-attawapiskat-to-latvia-soldier-happy-to-be-home-after-6-month-deployment\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-17T15:28:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-17T15:28:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/17\\\/from-attawapiskat-to-latvia-soldier-happy-to-be-home-after-6-month-deployment\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/17\\\/from-attawapiskat-to-latvia-soldier-happy-to-be-home-after-6-month-deployment\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"From Attawapiskat to Latvia: Soldier happy to be home after 6-month deployment\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-17T15:28:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-17T15:28:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/17\\\/from-attawapiskat-to-latvia-soldier-happy-to-be-home-after-6-month-deployment\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":756,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/17\\\/from-attawapiskat-to-latvia-soldier-happy-to-be-home-after-6-month-deployment\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/17\\\/from-attawapiskat-to-latvia-soldier-happy-to-be-home-after-6-month-deployment\\\/\",\"name\":\"From Attawapiskat to Latvia: Soldier happy to be home after 6-month deployment - 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