HALIFAX — If the military mission in Afghanistan has exacted a heavier toll in any one part of this country, it is in its eastern reaches where generations have signed up and headed off to war.

Of the 53 Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan since 2002, a disproportionate 21 have come from or were raised in Atlantic Canada, a region that has a long history of sending its residents to conflicts around the world.

"This isn't something that's new -- this is an area that has recruited disproportionately higher in the military than other parts of Canada,'' David Charters, a professor of military history, said from the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton.

"If you look at the number of casualties incurred in Afghanistan, there's been a very substantial proportion from the Maritime region and that reflects the disproportionate number of Maritimers who serve in the Armed Forces.''

The military doesn't keep track of where its recruits come from originally, but keeps tabs on where they signed up for service.

Atlantic Canada's population is 7.2 per cent of the total in Canada.

However, According to recent figures, about 23 per cent of the roughly 5,900 people recruited into the military's regular force were from Atlantic Canada, while 26 per cent were from Quebec and 33 per cent were from Ontario. About 19 per cent came from the West.

That's not something that's likely going to change as Atlantic Canadians carry on a tradition of military service that dates back decades.

"People in Atlantic Canada have a long an honourable history of serving their country,'' said Alex Morrison, a retired lieutenant-colonel and research fellow at the Centre for Foreign Policy Studies at Dalhousie University in Halifax.

"Service in the military in Atlantic Canada is a family tradition. It's also an outgrowth of citizenship in the Atlantic provinces that people are glad to serve their country and one of the major ways they do it is by serving in the military.''

In a region that has historically had limited employment opportunities, the military provided an appealing alternative to life on the farm, in a fishing boat or at the mill, says Charters.

And when one family member signs up, others will often follow suit as is the case with several of the Atlantic Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan.

"Military families often beget military families, with the tradition being handed to grandfather to son to son to grandson,'' said Charters.

"It may well be the combination of tradition and social and economic options. And, Maritimers do have a sense of duty to country. I think it's been proven in past conflicts.''

Yet, that sense of duty has carried a terrible price for families in the region that have anxiously sent their sons off to war only to see them return in caskets.

In New Brunswick, comrades, family and friends were preparing Thursday to receive the latest casualties of the bloody conflict.

Master Cpl. Allan Stewart and Trooper Patrick James Pentland, 23, both of Petawawa's Royal Canadian Dragoons but originally from New Brunswick, died Wednesday after their armoured reconnaissance vehicle struck a roadside bomb near Kandahar.

Pentland's father, Jim, who also served in the military, spoke about how his son wanted to follow in his footsteps.

"A lot of soldiers come out of the Maritimes. I don't know if it's a way of life or just following the adventure,'' he said Wednesday from the family's home near Fredericton.

"I'm not sure. I know for myself that was pretty well what it was about. I think for my son it was a similar thing because he grew up in a military environment and he always wanted to be a soldier and he enjoyed what he did.''

Word of the deaths spread quickly across a country still grappling with the loss of six other Canadian soldiers on Easter Sunday. But for the families of other fallen soldiers, each new death forces them to relive their own tragic experiences.

"It certainly renews your memories and refreshes them. How could it not?'' Angela Reid, whose son Cpl. Chris Reid was killed last August, said from her home in Truro, N.S.

"We're very saddened by it and we know what they're going through.''

The loss of so many young men from one area has spawned a fraternity of grieving relatives, many of whom attend the funerals of soldiers they never knew and reach out to families they might otherwise have had little in common with.<

Reid and a handful of other parents have gone to the memorial services and funerals of several other troops killed in Afghanistan, including Cpl. Kevin Megeney, Sgt. Darcy Tedford and Warrant Officer Frank Mellish, who were all from the area.

She recently contacted Megeney's family to offer her condolences and support, saying this network has become a "family to us.''

"Although we're all different people and we didn't know each other, we definitely have this in common and we can reach out to each other and support each other,'' she said.

"When you embrace, you take comfort in the embrace because you know you're sharing the same thing. When you put your arms around them, you don't even have to say anything. It's just there.''