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Topic: Afghanistan - 2nd Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment - 2007 (Read 13724 times)
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Mike Blais
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A ROYAL CANADIAN "NEVER PASSES A FAULT"
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Canadians, Afghans on joint show-of-force mission
Graham Thomson
CanWest News Service
Saturday, March 24, 2007
FORWARD OPERATING BASE GUNDY GHAR, Afghanistan — Under cover of darkness, with the moon a mere sliver in the night sky, Canadians launched a new operation in southern Afghanistan this weekend.
More than 200 troops teamed up with a large contingent of Afghan Army soldiers to swoop down on the Zhari district of Kandahar province in a meticulously planned exercise designed to drive out the remnants of the Taliban and bring some desperately needed security to the troubled region.
It is called Operation Marguerite. And you didn’t know about it until now. Not because it’s top secret but because the operation hasn’t grabbed the news media’s attention.
Marguerite is a discreet and modest operation, unlike her cousin Medusa, which saw Canadians fight a bloody conventional battle with the Taliban last summer and fall.
The objective of Operation Marguerite is to move through the district in a show of force, meet with local villagers, engage any Taliban who stand and fight — and when the area is deemed secure, set up a new police check point.
The backbone of the operation is Charlie Company from the 3rd Battalion of the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry in Edmonton. For them, it is a typical operation and for anyone tagging along as an observer it offers a glimpse into the day-to-day life of soldiers in a war-zone where the fighting is unconventional and “asymmetrical.” That’s the military’s way of describing suicide bombings, land mines and improvised explosive devices.
By the end of the first day, Operation Marguerite will bump up against all three.
The objective of the operation is simple enough but as an observer you quickly realize nothing in Afghanistan is simple.
Walking alongside the troops past fields green with newly emerging life, there is an initial rush of springtime optimism as smiling farmers take time to wave as they tend their crops nourished by recent heavy rains. For the first time in months roadside ditches and culverts gurgle with the sound of running water. Then you spot a red or pink flower amongst the green, the first blossoms of the season, and realize you are surrounded by fields of illegal poppies.
And later in the day, soldiers will discover one of the culverts is wired with an anti personnel mine.
The news brings the snaking column of Canadian and Afghan soldiers to a halt as radios crackle in both English and Pashto.
The soldiers find a detour through a vineyard as a team of combat engineers is dispatched from a nearby fire base to examine the device and blow it up. This is how the day ended.
It began with the column splitting into two parallel lines to allow troops to protect each other’s flanks as they carefully, and politely, searched villages and compounds. The echelons inched forward and several times came to a halt when word came that Taliban fighters had been spotted nearby.
Then came word over the radio of a possible suicide bomber on a motorcycle — just as a motorbike approached a team of Canadians. Afghan soldiers quickly waved him down and after a detailed search let the driver push the motorbike on his way.
At another point troops discovered a mortar bomb in a farmers’ field and engineers blew it up on the spot. All day there were reports of Taliban — but none materialized.
If the Talibs were out there in the fields watching, they were not showing their faces or firing a weapon.
No wonder. With more than 300 troops and a convoy of armoured vehicles, the coalition troops made an unattractively powerful target.
The only shots fired this day were two, accidentally, by an Afghan soldier standing guard as troops took a break. In a flash everyone was on their feet with weapons ready. No one was hurt and even though accidental discharges are rare no one seemed rattled.
“This is a normal patrol for us,” said Sgt. Chris Broggi of Edmonton. “Every time I’ve been out I’m finding UXOs (unexploded ordinance) and what-not.”
Broggi has only been in the country six weeks but says as far as he can tell the majority of farmers welcome the troops.
“Just about all the people that I talk to and I’ve been all over the place lately feel a lot safer now and they’re actually really happy to see us come through on a patrol.”
But this region is still on the razor’s edge. Last Tuesday, two IEDs exploded near here wounding a Canadian soldier, injuring a dog handler and killing his bomb-sniffing dog.
Canadian military officials estimate 80 per cent of local residents could swing their support back behind the Taliban if the Afghan government fails to provide aid and security to the region.
That presents the government with a dilemma. Poppies are the feedstock for druglords, warlords and the Taliban.
Yet, if the poppy fields are destroyed as is required by law, the farmers will turn against the government.
One answer would be to destroy all the poppy crops and compensate the farmers but that requires a level of planning, bureaucratic organization and money that is simply lacking inside the Afghan government.
There is nothing simple or easy about this country and its problems.
The only thing straightforward here is the goal of Operation Marguerite — to show residents that Canadians and Afghan troops can work together to improve security one village at a time. It is usually slow, often dangerous and always dusty under a hot springtime sun.
“This is what I joined the army to do,” says Cpl. Jason Anderson. “It’s dangerous, yes, but with the equipment we have and the training we have it’s a lot more dangerous for the Taliban here than it is for us.”
Edmonton Journal
gthomsonthejournal.canwest.com
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1RCR 1977-79 Depot (Italy PL), B Coy, Mortars, Pioneers, D Coy (CFB London)
3RCR 1979-82 M Coy, Pipes & Drums, Sigs, Mortars. (CFB Baden-Soellingen)
1RCR 1982-88 Mortars. Dukes, Cyprus-Welfare NCO 84-85, Injured, WO&Sgts Mess, (CFB London)
1988-92 Med-remuster to HELL/ 35 DU, CFB Baden
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A ROYAL CANADIAN "NEVER PASSES A FAULT"
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March 25, 2007
Canadian soldiers see increase in bombs, rocket attacks
By JOHN COTTER
GHUNDY GHAR, Afghanistan (CP) - With a loud thud, a roadside bomb erupts beneath a Coyote armoured vehicle in clear site of Canadian troops dug in on a dusty, sunbaked hill overlooking green poppy fields.
"I-E-D!" soldiers shout as they point toward a cloud of greasy blackish-grey smoke rising from the improvised explosive device just over a kilometre away.
Members of the battle group's reconnaissance squadron fall silent until radios crackle with word that their comrades are safe.
The bomb blew one of the Coyote's eight wheels off.
"Starting about a week ago we have been finding IEDs on all the roads around here pretty much every single day," said Maj. Steve Graham of the Royal Canadian Dragoons.
"The fact there has been a spike of IEDs tells me that the places we are going and things we have been doing are starting to hit closer to the areas the Taliban have been working in."
Roadside bombs, random rocket attacks and suicide bombers are the main dangers Canadian troops face so far this year in their efforts to bring security to Kandahar province.
The pitched battles in the Panjwaii area last summer, where Canadian and Afghan forces along with NATO air power killed hundreds of Taliban, have forced the insurgency underground.
Graham, whose force is lodged deep in a dangerous part of Zhari district, said their goal is to help the Afghan army and police stabilize the area.
The squadron conducts presence patrols and meets with village elders in the lush agricultural zone between the main highway and the Arghandab river - the main watercourse in the parched province.
The idea is that the show of force and the friendly diplomacy will help win the people over into supporting the Afghan government.
But the sprawl of mud-brick buildings, poppy fields and grape vineyards is an insurgent infiltration route toward Kandahar city and was once part of the Taliban's power base.
Fighting such a faceless enemy is frustrating for the soldiers of the Gagetown, N.B.-based Royal Canadian Regiment battle group.
"They are not going to stand up and fight," said Graham, who is from Winnipeg.
"We have been here for a month and not once has anyone stopped to point a rifle at us. They are working in very small numbers. The only way they are going to have any effect against us is by hiding mines in the roads or lobbing rockets at us from three kilometres away."
The challenges faced by the soldiers at Graham's outpost perched on the edge of the Red Desert are shared by all Canadian forces in the Kandahar region.
Military maps are pockmarked with ugly black dots topped with red flames - each symbol marking the location of a roadside bomb detonation.
Last week, one Canadian soldier was wounded when a bomb-detection dog, tired at the end of a long day, actually sat down on a device, setting it off.
In the last few days the battle group has come across four IEDS.
The troops, who drive around in armoured Coyotes, LAV-3s and RG-31s, are well-shielded from roadside bomb blasts, but the danger is still there.
The soldiers appear to take the threat in stride.
Some, such as Capt. Mark Sheppard of India company, even joke about close calls.
"We were driving flank security on this road and our LAV drove over a double-stack of Chinese anti-tank mines," said Sheppard during a break in a patrol near Sangsar, a Taliban hot spot in Zhari district.
"They use two saw blades separated by inner-tubes. When the weight of the LAV comes on they touch the circuit and you go boom. But it didn't go off - so it's all good."
Some of the troops are more fatalistic.
"There is nothing you can do about it," said one private from Charlie company at a checkpoint as Afghan National Army troops swept a village for Taliban.
"You just hope that it isn't you."
Rockets have also been fired at the battle group's task force in Maywand district and at Canadian forces in Ma'h Sum Ghar. There were no injuries.
No one takes the threat for granted.
Troops in vehicles radio each other with reports of farmers digging too close to roads.
Villagers, fed up with losing their own people to the indiscriminate weapons, sometimes tell the Canadians about roadside bombs.
Like the heat and ever-present dust, IEDs are another ugly fact of life in Afghanistan.
"To be blunt, if every time a vehicle hit an IED, if every time a soldier died there was talk about us pulling out of here, it would just encourage the Taliban to keep doing it more," Graham said.
"The fact is we have to show them that it doesn't matter what they do to us, we are here until the job is done."
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1RCR 1977-79 Depot (Italy PL), B Coy, Mortars, Pioneers, D Coy (CFB London)
3RCR 1979-82 M Coy, Pipes & Drums, Sigs, Mortars. (CFB Baden-Soellingen)
1RCR 1982-88 Mortars. Dukes, Cyprus-Welfare NCO 84-85, Injured, WO&Sgts Mess, (CFB London)
1988-92 Med-remuster to HELL/ 35 DU, CFB Baden
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A ROYAL CANADIAN "NEVER PASSES A FAULT"
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The Afghan police investigator who made the only arrest in connection with the killing last year of Canadian diplomat Glyn Berry in Afghanistan now fears retribution for his police work and is appealing to Canadian authorities for protection.
Capt. Sher Ali Farhad has fled with his family from Kandahar and has sought safe haven in Kabul after receiving death threats and learning on Saturday that the suspect he locked away is now a free man.
"My reaction, of course, is that I'm worried," Farhad told the CBC through an interpreter. "I feel like I'm in danger."
Police had twice arrested Pir Mohammed, most recently in December 2006 for attempting to pass through a Kandahar City checkpoint in a car flagged by Afghan intelligence as a potential bomb threat.
He was detained for the first time in early 2006 after police found a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, a Kalashnikov rifle and a picture of a Taliban leader in his home, but Mohammed walked out of prison two days later because influential tribal leaders persuaded authorities and Kandahar's governor to release him.
Farhad believes Mohammed's connections to those powerful tribal leaders in Kandahar could endanger him and his family. He is seeking protection or even asylum in Canada.
Continue Article
Afghan National Police chief Asmatullah Alizai also urged Canada and other countries to heed his officer's request for help, saying it would "send a positive signal that with the problems we face here, the international community is supporting us."
Still, Farhad is far from being the only police officer seeking help from Canada because of his efforts to bring law to his country, and officials at the Canadian Embassy in Kabul have so far refused to comment on his case.
For the time being, Farhad said he is on the run — moving often from shelter to shelter.
"I am just living one week at one friend's house, one week in another, just a few days in each place," Farhad said. "It's too dangerous for us to stay in one place for too long. I am living like a refugee in my own country."
Last month, in an exclusive interview with the CBC, Mohammed maintained he played no part in the January 2006 suicide car bombing that killed Berry, the 59-year-old Canadian envoy. Mohammed said the minivan used in the attack, which was last registered under his name, was sold before the bombing, although he admitted he had no documents to prove the sale.
Three Canadian soldiers were also wounded in the same attack.
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1RCR 1977-79 Depot (Italy PL), B Coy, Mortars, Pioneers, D Coy (CFB London)
3RCR 1979-82 M Coy, Pipes & Drums, Sigs, Mortars. (CFB Baden-Soellingen)
1RCR 1982-88 Mortars. Dukes, Cyprus-Welfare NCO 84-85, Injured, WO&Sgts Mess, (CFB London)
1988-92 Med-remuster to HELL/ 35 DU, CFB Baden
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A ROYAL CANADIAN "NEVER PASSES A FAULT"
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Greening of Arghandab valley a time of concern for Canadian battle group
Canadian Press
Monday, March 26, 2007
SANGSAR, Afghanistan (CP) - The greening of the Arghandab River valley is a time of hope for Afghan farmers but a time of concern for troops of the Royal Canadian Regiment battle group.
The hot spring sun is starting to transform stark brown fields and vineyards into a lush canopy that will soon provide cover for the Taliban. Major David Quick said Afghans have told the Canadians to expect more insurgent activity.
From sandbagged observation posts on the rocky heights of Mah' Sum Ghar to patrols in Zhari district to the mobile armoured column operating in Maywand, Canadian troops are watching.
At the same time, the battle group is trying hard to win over people to the government of Afghanistan and undermine any community support for the insurgents.
A new Afghan police post has been built near Sangsar in the heart of Zhari's opium poppy growing area and more checkpoints are planned.
© The Canadian Press 2007
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1RCR 1977-79 Depot (Italy PL), B Coy, Mortars, Pioneers, D Coy (CFB London)
3RCR 1979-82 M Coy, Pipes & Drums, Sigs, Mortars. (CFB Baden-Soellingen)
1RCR 1982-88 Mortars. Dukes, Cyprus-Welfare NCO 84-85, Injured, WO&Sgts Mess, (CFB London)
1988-92 Med-remuster to HELL/ 35 DU, CFB Baden
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A ROYAL CANADIAN "NEVER PASSES A FAULT"
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Two Canadian soldiers injured by suicide bomber
Updated Tue. Mar. 27 2007 8:30 AM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
Two Canadian soldiers were injured in Afghanistan Tuesday when their LAV-3 armoured vehicle was attacked by a suicide bomber west of Kandahar City, in the Zhari district.
The soldiers were travelling in a small convoy just east of Patrol Base Wilson when Taliban fighters began launching rocket-propelled grenades, military officials confirmed.
The platoon, from the Royal Canadian Regiment battle group, drove through the attack but was then hit by a car suicide bomber in an area known as Ambush Alley.
Capt. Matt Allen, the commander of the convoy, praised the response of his soldiers.
"They were brilliant, their performance was outstanding,'' Allen told The Canadian Press.
"It seemed like an hour but it was under a minute. And then things were sorted out and we kept going.''
The convoy managed to return fire on the Taliban but there were no reports of enemy casualties.
After the suicide bombing attack, the convoy managed to link up with troops of Charlie company, 3 Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry.
Initial reports said the convoy had driven over a roadside bomb.
One of the injured soldiers suffered a broken arm and is being flown to Germany for treatment. The second soldier suffered minor injuries. Neither reported their injuries until after the attack.
"They continued to perform their jobs like there was nothing wrong with them,'' said Allen.
"When the opportunity presented itself to stop and assess it, that's when they reported their injuries. It was amazing.''
The military has not released the names of the soldiers involved.
Roadside bombs, random rocket attacks and suicide bombers are the most common dangers facing troops as they struggle to bring security to the Kandahar province.
The coalition battles in the Panjwaii last summer killed hundreds of Taliban and forced the insurgency underground.
With files from The Canadian Press
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1RCR 1977-79 Depot (Italy PL), B Coy, Mortars, Pioneers, D Coy (CFB London)
3RCR 1979-82 M Coy, Pipes & Drums, Sigs, Mortars. (CFB Baden-Soellingen)
1RCR 1982-88 Mortars. Dukes, Cyprus-Welfare NCO 84-85, Injured, WO&Sgts Mess, (CFB London)
1988-92 Med-remuster to HELL/ 35 DU, CFB Baden
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A ROYAL CANADIAN "NEVER PASSES A FAULT"
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Canadian convoy ambushed twice
Graham Thomson, The Edmonton Journal
Published: Tuesday, March 27, 2007
KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan -- In a carefully planned attack, insurgents launched two ambushes against a single Canadian convoy Monday night as it was travelling on Highway 1 west of Kandahar City.
In the first attack, the convoy came under fire from small arms and rocket propelled grenades 25 kilometres west of Kandahar.
The convoy pushed through the ambush with no injuries and no damage to the armoured vehicles.
However, 15 kilometres further down the highway, insurgents detonated a car bomb that caused minor injuries to two Canadian soldiers and limited damage to one armoured vehicle. There are no reports of any civilian casualties.
The attack came just 10 days after a suicide bomber targeting a Canadian convoy in the same area killed two children.
In a separate incident in the same vicinity on Monday, two Canadian soldiers were injured in a highway accident. Their LAV-3 armoured vehicle collided with what is known locally as a "jingle truck" -- a transport truck that is decorated with vibrant colours and metal ornaments.
"During the accident the turret of the light armoured vehicle was forcibly swung around, pinning one soldier and injuring another," said military spokesman Maj. Dale MacEachern.
The soldiers were treated at a Canadian-led hospital at Kandahar Airfield. One has already been released, the other's injuries are not considered life- threatening and there is no report of any civilian injuries.
Canadian soldiers have discovered that driving on Kandahar's roads can be a tense experience as local residents often behave erratically by North American standards, weaving in and out of traffic and even driving down the middle of the highway.
Last month, 13 soldiers were injured when their convoy was involved in an accident.
No one was seriously hurt.
gthomsonthejournal.canwest.com
Journal columnist Graham Thomson reports from Afghanistan.
Check out his blog at www.edmontonjournal.com
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1RCR 1977-79 Depot (Italy PL), B Coy, Mortars, Pioneers, D Coy (CFB London)
3RCR 1979-82 M Coy, Pipes & Drums, Sigs, Mortars. (CFB Baden-Soellingen)
1RCR 1982-88 Mortars. Dukes, Cyprus-Welfare NCO 84-85, Injured, WO&Sgts Mess, (CFB London)
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A great job by these guys , very nice to hear and know they will all be okay..ranrad
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RCAF,CAF, converted RCR?,1RCR 74-77 CD: SSM (Nato);CPSM,;UN-Cyp.; UN- Golan
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A ROYAL CANADIAN "NEVER PASSES A FAULT"
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Hillier warns of more Afghan suicide bombs, booby traps
March 27, 2007 - 17:22
By: JOHN WARD
OTTAWA (CP) - Spring in Afghanistan will see Canadian soldiers facing renewed attacks by suicide bombers and roadside booby traps, warns the military's top general.
Gen. Rick Hillier, the chief of the defence staff, acknowledges Taliban insurgents will step up their attacks as the weather warms. But he rejects the notion of a Taliban spring "offensive." "I don't think that's really the kind of terminology which describes what the Taliban will try to do and is indeed trying to do now," he told reporters after a speech Tuesday to the Canadian Club.
"We know we're going to have a surge of the Taliban, that's without question. They are going to try to do things during the campaign season, the better weather season, that they could not do during the winter months."
The insurgents with throw a variety of tactics at the Canadians.
"We think it will be a mixture of improvised explosive devices being used more frequently and . . . we will have more suicide bombers. They'll try and combine more of those two things with small ambushes, hit-and-run tactics."
A Royal Canadian Regiment patrol ran into just such a combination Monday night. Two soldiers were injured when their armoured vehicle fought its way out of a rocket-propelled-grenade ambush only to be hit by a suicide car bomber.
But Hillier said the soldiers are already working to neutralize those methods.
"We're taking a whole variety of measures - we being NATO with the Afghan security forces - to pre-empt much of that, to focus our intelligence and our operations to take away their agility to do those kind of things."
He also hinted that Canadian special forces - the shadowy warriors whose operations are normally shrouded in secrecy - are once again out hunting Taliban leaders.
"Trying to help neutralize those leaders is a key part of their role and that is what they'll continue to do," he said.
Hillier added that NATO is waging an offensive of its own in Helmand, to the southwest of Kandahar, with the aim of blocking routes the Taliban can use to bring men and equipment into the country from Pakistan or to escape NATO pressure.
Once the Taliban have been swept out, the Afghan army and police can provide a continuous presence to keep the insurgents at bay.
He said similar tactics were used in the big Canadian offensive last fall and seem to have worked. Afghans are returning to their homes, rebuilding and preparing for spring planting.
He said the Canadians work closely with Afghan security forces in their area of responsibility.
"As we move to that area, it's the Afghans who are in the front. It's the Afghan police who are staying behind, supported by their army and backed up by us to give the people the confidence to move back in and get on with their lives ."
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1RCR 1977-79 Depot (Italy PL), B Coy, Mortars, Pioneers, D Coy (CFB London)
3RCR 1979-82 M Coy, Pipes & Drums, Sigs, Mortars. (CFB Baden-Soellingen)
1RCR 1982-88 Mortars. Dukes, Cyprus-Welfare NCO 84-85, Injured, WO&Sgts Mess, (CFB London)
1988-92 Med-remuster to HELL/ 35 DU, CFB Baden
1992 Medical release. God Bless you all!
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A ROYAL CANADIAN "NEVER PASSES A FAULT"
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Elite forces 'tool of choice' in Afghanistan
Canadian Special Forces regiment and the Joint Task Force 2 successful in disrupting Taliban, 'neutralizing' enemy leaders
Mar 28, 2007 04:30 AM
Bruce Campion-Smith
OTTAWA BUREAU
OTTAWA–Canada's special forces teams have become the "tool of choice" in Afghanistan where the shadowy soldiers are targeting Taliban leaders, Gen. Rick Hillier says.
And he suggested yesterday that the elite forces – which include the newly formed Canadian Special Forces regiment and the Joint Task Force 2 – have had success in their secret missions to disrupt insurgent operations and "neutralize" enemy leaders.
"They have had significant impacts in Afghanistan," the chief of defence staff said yesterday in a speech to the Canadian Club of Ottawa. "Our special forces are the tool of choice. They are in incredible demand.
"We've watched the results over the last couple of years in particular, growing their capacity to conduct operations here at home when needed and around the world."
Military commanders have always been tight-lipped about the capabilities of these specialized units, which have been operating in Afghanistan since late 2001.
Hillier described the job that these units have been asked to do.
"They're playing a role in support of our mission in Afghanistan ... and of course trying to mitigate the Taliban threat and in particular their leaders who intimidate, coerce people into doing things," he told reporters after the speech.
"At the soldier level, trying to help neutralize those leaders is a key part of their role and that's what they'll continue to do. Beyond that I would not say anything more."
On the home front, Hillier apologized for the military's poor treatment of families of Canadian soldiers injured and killed in action and vowed to do better. "I apologize for that myself. We'll make amends for it and we'll get it better if we have wounded soldiers or worse next time out," he said.
Families complain of bureaucratic red tape, saying they are often stonewalled in their requests for information about their loved ones.
For example, Ben Walsh condemned the military police who probed the death of his son Master Cpl. Jeffrey Walsh, who was accidentally killed in Afghanistan last August, saying the family was kept in the dark while the investigation dragged on.
The military ombudsman as well has called on commanders to be "more compassionate, more proactive, more understanding" in their dealings with families. Next month the ombudsman is expected to issue a report again scolding the defence department on the topic.
Hillier struck an optimistic tone about the Afghanistan mission, telling the audience that he has seen real progress in his four visits to the country during the last six months.
The Panjwaii district west of Kandahar – scene of a massive Canadian offensive last September – is returning to normal with "tens of thousands" of people moving back to the region, he said. Auxiliary police stations now dot areas that were once "hotbeds for the Taliban."
"The Afghan National Army is present in large numbers, larger than we've ever seen in the south before, and folks are back getting on with their normal life.
"Men come up and talk to our soldiers. That's the first time that's occurring in numbers in the Panjwaii since we've been there. They tell us where the Taliban are and what they're trying to do."
Still, he cautioned that he expects to see more insurgent attacks over the coming months like the one Monday when an ambush and suicide bombing injured two soldiers.
"We know we're going to have a surge of the Taliban," he said.
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1RCR 1977-79 Depot (Italy PL), B Coy, Mortars, Pioneers, D Coy (CFB London)
3RCR 1979-82 M Coy, Pipes & Drums, Sigs, Mortars. (CFB Baden-Soellingen)
1RCR 1982-88 Mortars. Dukes, Cyprus-Welfare NCO 84-85, Injured, WO&Sgts Mess, (CFB London)
1988-92 Med-remuster to HELL/ 35 DU, CFB Baden
1992 Medical release. God Bless you all!
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A ROYAL CANADIAN "NEVER PASSES A FAULT"
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Attack on convoy injures two Canadians
SPERWIN GHAR, AFGHANISTAN (Mar 28, 2007)
A Canadian convoy was fired on with rocket-propelled grenades and small arms, then hit by a suicide car bomb as it moved through "ambush alley" in southern Afghanistan. Two Canadians were injured, military officials said yesterday.
The attack happened as Canadian troops are bracing for more attacks with the arrival of warmer weather. Spring foliage transforming the barren Afghan landscape also provides cover for insurgents lying in ambush.
The Canadian two soldiers were wounded when the blast from the suicide bomb damaged their LAV-3 armoured vehicle Monday night, minutes after the convoy fought through a Taliban ambush.
The convoy of three LAV-3s had come under fire by rocket-propelled grenades and small arms a few kilometres east of Patrol Base Wilson in Zhari district, officials said. The suicide bombing happened on the outskirts of Kandahar city, in an area commonly known as ambush alley.
Captain Matt Allen, commander of the convoy, had nothing but praise for the way his soldiers, members of the Royal Canadian Regiment battle group, responded to the Taliban attacks.
"They were brilliant, their performance was outstanding," Allen said as tired troops unloaded a LAV-3 that had four tires destroyed in the attack. "It seemed like an hour but it was under a minute. And then things were sorted out and we kept going."
One soldier suffered a badly broken arm and would be transported to Germany for treatment. The other soldier suffered minor injuries. They were not identified.
Allen said his soldiers, members of 6 platoon, Hotel company, bounced back quickly from the attack.
He cited the performance of the two injured soldiers, who didn't report they were hurt until after the attack.
"They continued to perform their jobs like there was nothing wrong with them," said Allen, from Lindsay.
"When the opportunity presented itself to stop and assess it, that's when they reported their injuries. It was amazing."
After the suicide car bomb exploded, the convoy continued to limp along until it linked up with troops of Charlie company, 3 Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry.
Allen said the plan is to fix the damage and move on. "Change the tires, good to go," he said.
Units from the Gagetown, N.B.-based battle group have been reporting a spike in roadside bombs and random rocket attacks this week in the Zhari, Panjwaii and Maywand districts.
Military officials have said they don't expect the Taliban to engage them in stand-up fights this year, after hundreds of insurgents were killed in battles last summer in the Panjwaii.
Gen eral Rick Hillier, the chief of defence staff, told reporters in Ottawa the insurgents will throw a variety of tactics at the Canadians.
"We think it will be a mixture of improvised explosive devices being used more frequently and . . . we will have more suicide bombers, Hillier said. "They'll try and combine more of those two things with small ambushes, hit-and-run tactics."
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1RCR 1977-79 Depot (Italy PL), B Coy, Mortars, Pioneers, D Coy (CFB London)
3RCR 1979-82 M Coy, Pipes & Drums, Sigs, Mortars. (CFB Baden-Soellingen)
1RCR 1982-88 Mortars. Dukes, Cyprus-Welfare NCO 84-85, Injured, WO&Sgts Mess, (CFB London)
1988-92 Med-remuster to HELL/ 35 DU, CFB Baden
1992 Medical release. God Bless you all!
Pro Patria
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Mike Blais
SSM (NATO Bar), CPSM, UN-Cyp, CD
Ultimate 2000+ Member
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A ROYAL CANADIAN "NEVER PASSES A FAULT"
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Military families in Halifax area given video phone access to Kandahar
Canadian Press
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
HALIFAX (CP) - Military families in the Halifax area now have a new, more intimate way of keeping in touch with loved ones serving in Afghanistan.
The Family Resources Centre at Windsor Park has been given video-teleconferencing capabilities. It means family members and troops posted to Kandahar can see each other as they catch up on their lives.
Telecommunications company Eastlink is providing the equipment as well as the 10-megabit Internet service to make it all possible.
Col. Roch Lacroix, chief of staff for Land Forces Atlantic, says the service will be a huge morale booster.
Similar communications setups are already in place at other Canadian Forces bases.
The perils of sniffing out safety on Afghan roads
JOE FRIESEN
From Wednesday's Globe and Mail
KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN — Sergeant Sheldon Herritt stared through his ballistic glasses at the ground ahead. Something wasn't right.
An expert in roadside-bomb detection, he had been summoned to the scene of a Canadian convoy stuck on a stretch of road in Panjwai. A few hours earlier, a Coyote surveillance vehicle had struck a mine and gone off the road. The soldiers were trying to recover it, but they had to ensure there weren't more mines in the way. It was painstakingly slow, and in three hours they still hadn't reached the Coyote.
Sgt. Herritt turned to the soldiers massed behind him and called for a bomb-sniffing dog. He had worked with dogs in the past, always with success. But he had never met this crew before, a U.S. handler and his German shepherd. They worked for American K-9, a private company hired by the Canadian military to do dangerous work.
Sgt. Herritt brought the man and dog forward to the site, then pushed everyone else 20 metres back.
What happened next left Sgt. Herritt and the dog handler in hospital. The dog met a worse fate. It was not the kind of thing the sergeant had any reason to expect.
An engineer with 12 years in the Forces, Sgt. Herritt is the first line of defence in a war that, suicide bombers aside, is fought at a distance, against an invisible enemy.
Roadside bombs are one of the Taliban's most effective weapons. The risk involved in planting them is minimal, and they can inflict significant damage to coalition forces and Afghan police and army vehicles.
He focused his eyes once more on the suspicious area. He watched the dog approach the spot, and prepared for it to react. If it barked, he'd clear the site and call for the bomb-disposal unit, whose robots and heavily protected personnel are scarce assets in war.
He waited. The dog stepped closer, snuffling its way along the ground. Maybe it's a bluff, he thought. Maybe it's the innocent remains of a day's work for a local farmer. The dog took another step. It was right on top of it.
And then it blew.
The blast wave hit Sgt. Herritt like a baseball bat to the chest, throwing him through the air before planting him backward on the ground.
He lay in the dust for a moment, thinking he was dead. And then the next breath came, and he knew he was alive. He looked down to check his limbs. They were all still there. A surge of adrenaline raced through him. He jumped up to take charge of the scene.
He saw the dog handler lying on the ground and badly injured. He screamed for a medic, who came running up from the convoy. He scanned the ground for the dog, but it had been blown to pieces.
And then he looked down again, and saw the dark stain of blood seeping through his camouflage. Assured that the other wounded were being treated, he limped back to the safety of the convoy and lay down under the cover of an armoured vehicle.
A medic cut open his pants, revealing a tennis-ball-sized chunk of flesh missing from his right leg. There was a gaping wound of a similar size in his left arm. His face was bloody, and a hole had been blown through his left ear.
The medic slipped off the vest of body armour covering Sgt. Herritt's vital organs. He could see it was peppered with shrapnel on the outside. Amazingly, nothing penetrated the armour.
He and the wounded dog handler were whisked away by helicopter and treated at the Canadian-run hospital at Kandahar Airfield. Sgt. Herritt underwent two successful operations. The dog handler survived, but was in serious condition.
It was a day when Canadians were told briefly of a soldier who suffered only minor injuries. Sgt. Herritt chuckles wryly at the description. Nobody asked him how minor the injuries are, he said.
A week later, he's limping severely, but is able to move around with a cane. Scabs have formed on his face, and his wounds are bandaged.
He said he still can't quite believe the bomb went off. Sniffing dogs are normally very reliable. But in this case, the dog triggered the explosive.
At first he lay awake at night, wondering if everything was done correctly. He's convinced he did everything he could, and his superiors have reassured him that he did. It came down to the dog, and the dog made a mistake, he said.
"The dog was doing his job, and for whatever reason he was having an off day. I don't know why he missed it but he did. It happened."
Sgt. Herritt said he plans to stay in Afghanistan, rather than go home to recuperate. He considers himself lucky to be in such relative health, and wants to get back into battle as quickly as possible. "Being a section commander, you want to look after the guys in your section," he said. "I'm their boss but I'm also their caregiver in a way."
Two more Canadians were injured this week when a Canadian convoy was fired on by rocket-propelled grenades and small arms, then hit by a suicide car bomb as it moved through "Ambush Alley" in southern Afghanistan.
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1RCR 1977-79 Depot (Italy PL), B Coy, Mortars, Pioneers, D Coy (CFB London)
3RCR 1979-82 M Coy, Pipes & Drums, Sigs, Mortars. (CFB Baden-Soellingen)
1RCR 1982-88 Mortars. Dukes, Cyprus-Welfare NCO 84-85, Injured, WO&Sgts Mess, (CFB London)
1988-92 Med-remuster to HELL/ 35 DU, CFB Baden
1992 Medical release. God Bless you all!
Pro Patria
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ranrad
Ron [Andy] Andrews
Ultimate 2000+ Member
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Mans best friend , and even when having an off day of bombsniffing , his "people pals" were at least spared the fate he endured...wounds mend ,scars heal.. especially when one lives...the sign of life at a scene of carnage... those who demonstrate their pain, generally survive....good boy or girl pooch, RIP... ranrad
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RCAF,CAF, converted RCR?,1RCR 74-77 CD: SSM (Nato);CPSM,;UN-Cyp.; UN- Golan
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Uncle Bill
Veteran 100+ Member
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R.I.P. to the Canine Soldier. 
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Mike Blais
SSM (NATO Bar), CPSM, UN-Cyp, CD
Ultimate 2000+ Member
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