Sapper Brian Collier was killed by an IED Blast in Kandahar on July 20, 2010. He was 24 years old. His younger sister Jennine Collier has written an exclusive column for CP24.com talking about her fallen hero and the impact his death has had on the family.

This Remembrance Day will be the second most emotional Remembrance Day out of 20 that I have endured in my life time.

Growing up, I always wore my poppy and observed two minutes of silence. It was always difficult for me to reflect on the WW1, WW2 and Afghanistan soldiers who were killed. Yet this Remembrance Day is so much harder to face because my older brother, Sapper Brian Collier was killed in action in Afghanistan on July 20, 2010 at the young age of 24.

Some Canadians don't know how many of our beautiful men and woman have sacrificed their lives in that unforgiving Taliban-infested country. They also don't know the devastation it leaves to a family of the fallen soldier. Here is the story of my brother from the heart of his sister, the middle of his three younger sisters.

Brian Collier - a lifetime defender

Brian was born on July 6th, 1986. He was raised all his life in the small town of Bradford, Ont. He grew to be an older brother to my sister Shannon, and then he heard the news of another sister on the way and named me Jennine, after the Ghostbusters. After already having two sisters, Brian told us if he was going to have another sister he was going to run away. Then to his surprise, my parents gave him the gift of yet another younger sister named Lauren, but he did not run away when she came home. They grew to be very close to each other.

As a young boy Brian loved fire trucks and dressing up as superheroes. At family get togethers, Brian would always be leading the pack of my many cousins. They all looked up to him and would follow him everywhere. When my sister and I would be playing with our Barbies, Brian would come save our Barbies from a non-existing explosion with his G.I. JOE, never missing a chance to be an annoying older brother. Reflecting on my child hood makes me wish I could just go back to these moments and let him interfere with our games one more time.

Brian played rep hockey and was a solid defenseman. He then grew to become a solid defender of his beloved Canada. In high school, Brian would never let a bully get away with picking on another student. If Brian saw someone fighting, he would stop the violence. Back in those days no one would have known that Brian's peacekeeping in the hallways would bring peacekeeping to a country filled with a more destructible type of bully -- the Taliban.

Brian had an extraordinary amount of friends and was well known around town. He had such a huge presence when he stepped into a room filled with people and was always the centre of attention. He had a positive attitude, was full of joy, he supported all of his friends, and knew he could count on them as well.

'He promised he would be back'

After graduating high school, Brian decided he wanted to join the military and defend his country. He told my family from the beginning that he wanted to be part of the mission in Afghanistan.

After completing basic training at CFB Base Borden, he decided that he wanted to be a Combat Engineer. Brian had all the traits of an engineer. They have to enjoy the outdoors, be physically fit, have good hand-eye co-ordination, and be self-reliant. The job of a combat engineer is to ensure that troops can safely live, move and fight on the battlefield. They build bridges for the troops to travel, drive tanks, and most dangerously, detect and dispose of mines, and other explosives such as an IED (Improvised Explosive Device). After completing his engineer training, Brian was part of 1CER (1 Combat Engineer Regiment) in Edmonton, Alberta. He decided to be based from there because of his great love of the outdoors and snowboarding on the mountain tops.

Before departing to Afghanistan, Brian came back home to Bradford. He spent a lot of time with all of his friends. He was always in and out of our house, going to visit old friends who he hadn't seen for a long time. He even made a special trip to Base Borden to visit his favorite Sergeant Tracer Nechelput from basic training. He seemed to make peace with everyone he knew before leaving.

The day before he had to leave Bradford to depart from Petawawa, our family had a small going away party for Brian. He told us he didn't want one at all because he didn't want to be sad to leave. Most of my family was there. He spent his precious time with our family, saying goodbye, telling everyone he was going to be okay. It was especially hard for him to say good bye to his beloved Nana. He always took care of her, going to her house to cut her grass, and spent visits with her listening to his favorite music.

After my family left my house that night, it was my sisters and my turn to say our goodbyes. My older sister was crying and told Brian how scared she was for him. He told her he would be okay and to stop crying, but her tears were contagious to me and I joined in on the goodbye. Brian gave us a great big hug and promised he would be back.

Brian departed the next day to Petawawa, only allowing my parents and my younger sister to go with him because he didn't want Shannon and I there, knowing we would be too emotional. He insisted on my parents meeting his sergeant, Martin Goudreault. They ended up going for a coffee with Marty's parents as well. Marty promised my parents he would look out for Brian as it was his third tour to Afghanistan.

Wounded but wouldn't leave

Brian departed to Afghanistan on mother's day. Leaving behind my dad, his mother and his three sisters. We always received phone calls from him. He would tell my mom how bright the stars were at night time, and how the landscape of the country is beautiful in its own way, and would hold the phone in the air for her to hear the fighter jets.

Brian would always call home and ask for my dad. I think he told my dad things that he knew the rest of my family could not hear, being the horror stories of war.

On July 6, 2010 (Brian's birthday) we got a strange phone call at 2:00am. It woke my entire family. My heart sunk as I knew the only phone call we could get at that time would not be a good one. Brian had been injured in an IED explosion. His sergeant Martin Goudreault had been killed. Brian was very upset on the phone. He lost one of his brothers. Due to his injuries, Brian had to stay in Kandahar airfield to get better both physically and emotionally before going back on the field.

Brian had an option to come back home, but he told us he wouldn't leave behind his buddies. After he returned back to work a couple of weeks later it was hard for me to fall asleep, knowing he was in danger walking the villages in Afghanistan.

An unimaginable loss

My dad, my little sister and I had a ritual of going camping to Killbear Park every summer for a week in July. The night of July 19 I could not sleep at all for some reason. I kept on waking up in my tent, tossing and turning.

In the early morning of July 20, 2010 which is my moms birthday, I heard a car pull up to our campsite. I heard it running for about 30 seconds and then heard two car doors close. I heard footsteps walking up to my dad's tent and looked out the tent window to see two OPP police officers tap my dad on the shoulder. I screamed, probably waking up the entire campground. I knew exactly what they were going to say to my dad. So did my dad.

"Sir, are you James Collier?" they said. "Your son Brian has been killed." The moments after were frantic. All I could think was that they had made a mistake. I just wanted to get home as soon as possible to see my mom and my other sister Shannon. They were a two hour drive away. It seemed like forever.

After finally getting home, I was overwhelmed with a home filled with family, friends, and strangers, not to mention news stations lined up outside of my house with their cameras. We had experienced sympathy from the entire country that coming week. We received letters from across the country. We even got letters and gifts of thanks from people in the United States.

Driving down the highway of heroes when Brian finally landed back on home soil was a life-changing experience. Knowing how proud Canadians are of my older brother was outstanding. I have never been so proud of anyone in my life. He laid his life down for not only his own country, but for the children of Afghanistan.

This Remembrance Day is not going to be any easier than last Remembrance Day. My family is honored to be able to be accompanied by Brian's fellow comrades who served with him in Afghanistan. We will be spending the day at Base Borden.

Not a day that goes by gets any easier. My emotions and my family's emotions will always be numb. Every day we are missing someone huge in our life. The last post brings memories of my brother's funeral. Remembrance Day is not a day to only reflect on those who have fallen, but reflect on those families of the fallen as well, for we have lost something greater than what the country has lost.

I lost an only brother, as did my sisters. My mom lost a son, my dad lost a son and a best friend. My Nana lost her oldest grandson, my aunts and uncles lost a nephew, my cousins lost a cousin. We all lost a soldier, a protector.

Lest we Forget.