Having the opportunity to work for Manitoba's Lieutenant Governor is an honour and privilege. That from Winkler's Mark Wilson, a Lieutenant Colonel with the Canadian Armed Forces, and an Honoury Aide de Camp for Her Honour Janice Filmon.

Wilson has been an Honourary Aide de Camp for seven years, and last month for the first time, was selected to escort the Lieutenant Governor into the chambers of the legislature to deliver the throne speech.

"Military officers are tasked to her (the Lieutenant Governor) as Honourary Aides de Camps and assist her in any way she needs. The throne speech is obviously one of the bigger events the Governor does, so she gets to choose whatever Aide de Camps she wants to use. So we apply and she selected me, and I was very pleased. I thought that was very neat."

Wilson said on the day of the throne speech, he escorted Lieutenant Governor Filmon from Government House, which is on the lawn of the Legislature. "There was a gun salute, which was neat because it was actually my unit, so she stopped and had a chat with them as well."

From there, Wilson said the Lieutenant Governor was escorted into the Legislature where she was greeted by a Guard of Honour from the Canadian Armed Forces and received the throne speech. The official party then made its way into the chamber. "So, my job is basically to help her in any way that she sees fit, and lend dignity to the event," explained Wilson.

The first moment walking into the chambers was definitely a moment that was a bit overwhelming, said Wilson. "My primary focus is Her Honour, to make sure that she's comfortable and has what she needs, but once you have a second you start looking around. And I thought it was neat when I looked out, I saw Josh Guenter, (Borderland MLA) who I had actually taught...some GVC alumni there. And further forward in the front row, you have Cameron Friesen (Morden-Winkler MLA)."

In addition to serving with the Canadian Armed Forces, Wilson is also a teacher at Garden Valley Collegiate in Winkler.

In 2007 Wilson was deployed to Afghanistan, and in 2017 he was deployed to Iraq. Wilson says that wide range of opportunities is the interesting part of being in the Canadian Armed Forces, going from the ceremonial work of being an Aide de Camp to being an artillery officer.