KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — It'll be the pictures -- 97 of them, engraved in sombre black stone on the small square in the Canadian section of Kandahar Airfield -- that'll get Cpl. Orson Martinez.

"I've had a lot of friends that have died over here," said Martinez, a Canadian soldier stationed in Afghanistan. When he gathers at the square with his comrades Tuesday to mark Remembrance Day, those friends will be staring back.

"I'm going to be looking at my buddies' pictures up on the wall there. I always think of my friends who have passed away and I always think of their kids or their wives or whoever they left behind."

The fighting in this tragic country has brought the idea of military sacrifice home to a whole new generation of Canadians. But few will feel the pain as deeply as the men and women in the theatre where those most recent sacrifices have taken place.

"Emotion," said combat engineer Henri St. Laurent.

"'The Last Post' is always very emotional. To be honest, you hold yourself just to stay straight and keep a straight face. Maybe not to the point of tears, but it's ripping your heart apart, that's for sure. It's always hard."

Marking Remembrance Day in the country where their colleagues lost their lives makes a sombre occasion resonate even more deeply, said Maj. Brian Healey, one of the battle group's administrators.

"You could almost liken it to ground zero -- we know we've had soldiers here who've paid the ultimate sacrifice, and it'll just have more of a special meaning here, being here where the soldiers gave their lives for their country."

Many soldiers come from military families. For them, this Remembrance Day will be a chance to link past and present and reflect on a continuum of service.

"My thoughts will be where they always are on Remembrance Day, which is certainly with those that have gone before us," said Col. Jamie Cade, deputy commander of Task Force Kandahar.

"The sacrifices made in the First World War and the Second World War personally are always very important to me. I had family that were involved in both of those conflicts."

"It goes a long way back," said Warrant Officer Russell Arsenault.

"You think about all the sacrifices that all the armies did and that people did for their families and the rights that we have and we're doing a similar cause over here now."

Sacrifice is a theme that comes up often -- and not just the sacrifices of those who've died.

Maj. Brent Culligan has been working in the intensive care unit at Kandahar Airfield's hospital. During the month of September, he estimates that his medical workload allowed him an average of about one hour of sleep a night.

"I'll remember a bunch of the things I've seen come through the hospital here, just seeing the injured soldiers come in, the injured locals, the injured Afghan National Army, Afghan National Police, just the number that we've seen are overwhelming. I've never seen anything like this in my life.

"I just hope (Canadians) remember the sacrifice that these soldiers here and the families of these soldiers are making for what we believe to be a good cause."

"Even being over here is a sacrifice," said Arsenault. "I've got a little girl five months old at home, that's a sacrifice being away from her when she's growing up. My wife, the boys ... every day, when I go out with the platoon, myself and 39 guys are making a sacrifice."

Soldiers learn to avoid dwelling on the reality of what "sacrifice" could one day mean.

"I'm pretty much a fatalist," said Cade.

"I work with people that are incredibly well trained, very smart and savvy and I trust them -- as I hope they trust me -- and you do what you gotta do. You don't think about that, you just don't think about that.

"You stay focused on the job at hand, otherwise you become distracted."

Still, there are moments.

"If you're by yourself, yes," said Michael Henderson, a meteorological technician with an artillery crew.

"When you're with a group of guys, you usually don't think about it. The whole camaraderie, everybody puffs up their chest, and it's a lot easier to feel invulnerable and immune to it when you're one of one hundred and some guys in a group.

"When you're by yourself, you definitely think about your own mortality and what could happen."

Thoughts of home are another comfort.

"Keeping my family in a certain corner of my head kind of helps as well," said St. Laurent.

Healey said he wonders how Canada's current sacrifices will be remembered in the future -- whether Afghan battlefields such as Panjwaii and Zhari will become places of pilgrimage like other battlefields where Canadians have died serving their country.

"Will my relatives come back here in 50 years just like we've had people go back to France, to Germany, to Holland, to remember the Canadian sacrifices during the first two world wars?" he asked.

"Will Kandahar be a place where our relatives will come in the future? I certainly hope so."