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Topic: Afghanistan - 2nd Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment - 2007 (Read 13753 times)
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Mike Blais
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A ROYAL CANADIAN "NEVER PASSES A FAULT"
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Minister's rift with general erodes support, PM warned
'Public is getting the perception that Ottawa is all over the map'
ALAN FREEMAN AND JANE TABER
From Tuesday's Globe and Mail
Tuesday, July 31 – Online Edition, Posted at 1:00 AM EST
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper was warned Monday that the rhetorical duelling between Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor and his chief soldier, General Rick Hillier, threatens to undermine already waning political support for the Afghanistan mission.
“Afghanistan has got to be very high on the list of problems he [Mr. Harper] has to fix,” said David Bercuson, director of the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary, as the Tories prepare for a caucus in Charlottetown this week to plot their fall political agenda.
Mr. Bercuson and other military and political experts said that there are too many voices speaking out on the Afghan military mission.
“The public is getting the perception that Ottawa is all over the map on this issue, and this isn't the way to manage a war,” he said in an interview. “He has to improve the unity of the message of his people, find someone who will be the chief spokesperson or change out the Minister of Defence.”
Even one of Mr. Harper's close friends, former chief of staff Tom Flanagan, said he didn't think the situation could continue for “very long.”
“It strikes me as unusual to have the minister and the chief of the defence staff saying different things,” said Mr. Flanagan, a professor at the University of Calgary.
“All I can say is that it looks odd. It makes you wonder what's going on.”
But two senior Tories said Monday they believe the timing is wrong for a cabinet shuffle and that it's not the Prime Minister's style to make a move when his back is against the wall.
“The PM is not going to make a move when it's [the O'Connor/Hillier rift] in the news,” said one official. “He'll sort of take stock over the summer and figure out what he wants to do.”
Over the weekend, Gen. Hillier, once again seemed to take a different tack from Mr. O'Connor, insisting that it will take “a long while” until the Afghan National Army is ready to carry on the fighting against the Taliban now in the hands of Canadians and other North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces. A week ago, Mr. O'Connor had made a more optimistic forecast about the shifting of responsibility from Canadian troops.
The two men, who are not known to have particularly good personal chemistry, have frequently expressed different views on issues since the Tories took power 18 months ago. Just last week in a CBC interview, Gen. Hillier dismissed the idea of establishing new territorial defence battalions in Canada's big cities, a key element of the O'Connor-authored Tory defence platform in the past election, saying the last thing the Forces needed was new reserve units.
Wesley Wark, associate professor of history at the University of Toronto, said Mr. Harper must stop the public bickering.
“I don't think you can continue to tolerate distinct and publicly expressed differences between the CDS and the Minister of National Defence for too long,” he said. “Either the Prime Minister has to adjudicate or one of them has to go.”
Mr. Wark said that one problem is knowing exactly if and when Gen. Hillier is stepping over the line and getting involved in political affairs that are outside his purview. “The line is not clear,” he said. Unlike in the United States, where politicians have clashed with the likes of General Douglas MacArthur, Canada has little such experience.
“The line can be crossed in both ways,” said Terry Liston, a retired major-general and frequent commentator on military affairs. “The minister is not the commander in chief of the Armed Forces. The minister establishes policy but he does not direct the troops.”
“You can have a chief of defence staff who gets too political but you can also have a minister who micro-manages,” he said.
The problem is exaggerated in the current coupling of the gaffe-prone Mr. O'Connor, a former brigadier-general, and Gen. Hillier, whose straightforward manner and gift of the gab makes him ideal TV material.
“We have a minister that knows the military too well and who therefore knows all details, and we have a CDS who is very confident of himself and very much at ease politically,” Mr. Liston said, noting that the result is that each tends to “get in each other's way.”
Conservative MPs have not raised concern about the contradictions between the country's top defence officials as a problem, according to Tory sources. In fact, some MPs believe the so-called rift has been overstated.
“It does not seem to be a big deal to me,” said one veteran MP.
A senior Prime Minister's Office official said that “Gen. Hillier has and will continue to provide important comment on operational issues, which is his purview.”
With a report from Brian Laghi
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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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ranrad
Ron [Andy] Andrews
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Well, i for one DO NOT think the rift has been overstated... i agree with Mr Bercuson... real trouble is looming, and this of course has got to affect the troops as well, even tho they will try to keep outof it, there wil be those ill at ease over all this....and that is not to say anyone is out of line...just that differences are too abrupt.. too opposite... like one did not know what the other said...i hope it gets cleared up , and quick... ranrad
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RCAF,CAF, converted RCR?,1RCR 74-77 CD: SSM (Nato);CPSM,;UN-Cyp.; UN- Golan
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Mike Blais
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A ROYAL CANADIAN "NEVER PASSES A FAULT"
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Soldiers welcomed with open arms
By SHAWN BERRY
berry.shawn@dailygleaner.com
Published Wednesday August 1st, 2007
Appeared on page A1
As a Canadian Forces Airbus carrying soldiers returning from Afghanistan landed, two-year-old Noah Burke pressed his face against the window at the Fredericton International Airport.
"Daddy come," he said.
The boy smiled, turning quickly to glance at his mother, Dale.
Noah's father, Cpl. Chris Burke, was among the first soldiers from Canadian Forces Base Gagetown to return home Tuesday night after a dangerous six-month mission in Afghanistan.
"I'm just overwhelmed with emotions," Dale Burke said earlier in the evening, shortly before two CF-18 fighter jets raced overhead, catching the attention of everyone in the airport as the military passenger jet landed.
"I'm excited, it's surreal," she said.
After six months of waiting, she still couldn't believe the day had arrived.
"I know it's the day. I know this is the 31st of July. But I still don't believe that this is it."
She later spotted a glimpse of her husband through the window as he was processed at customs.
As the sun set, about 20 soldiers dressed in desert fatigues disembarked from the plane shortly after 9 p.m. to go through customs.
Some boarded the plane again to continue on to Canadian Forces Base Trenton, located in Ontario. Local soldiers were transported to CFB Gagetown where they were reunited with loved ones at the base gymnasium.
About a dozen people watched from the airport's fence as the soldiers took their first steps on Canadian soil in months.
It's a scene that will repeat itself every second day until September as the military moves more than 2,000 soldiers out of Afghanistan and rotates in a new group from CFB Valcartier in Quebec.
A flight with 58 soldiers is due to arrive Thursday evening to larger fanfare.
A total of 1,150 members with The Second Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment (2RCR) battle group, were in Afghanistan.
Approximately 650 of them were from CFB Gagetown.
It's a homecoming that has been tinged with sadness though. Seven of the soldiers from CFB Gagetown were killed in Afghanistan.
Outside the airport, Muriel Aiken tied bows on the signposts lining the route back to the base.
"We've been told how much this yellow-ribbon campaign has meant, and I felt this was a good way to show support to our soldiers as they return," she said.
Almost every pole, post and fence in Oromocto has been decorated with a yellow ribbon since the mission began.
"It's a huge sense of relief," said Oromocto Mayor Fay Tidd.
"When the troops left, there was almost an eerie silence around.
People weren't laughing and talking as much ... Mothers and their children were in the stores shopping, but everything was quite subdued."
Lee Windsor, deputy director of the Gregg Centre for the Study of War and Society, said the soldiers have plenty to be proud of.
Windsor travelled to Afghanistan earlier this year for a first-hand view of the work Canadian soldiers were carrying out on the ground.
"This is the one where we finally have seen Canadian soldiers establish presence and bring security to a large portion of the main agriculture areas outside the city," Windsor said.
"Before this rotation, Canadian soldiers were confined to a very small area around Kandahar city."
While much of the media coverage out of Afghanistan has focused on the number of casualties sustained, he said, the real picture includes advancement in Afghanistan that hadn't been witnessed until this rotation.
The first two rotations were involved in heavy fighting in a surprise attack from about 1,500 Taliban soldiers.
This impeded, almost halted, the Canadian army's security and reconstruction efforts.
But this rotation has achieved stability not only in the city, but in many areas of Kandahar province, he said.
Former CFB Gagetown commander Ryan Jestin agrees. He said the progress was evident when he visited the troops a few months ago.
"I saw kids running around the streets in Kandahar city, I saw a lot of people that were working with Canadians on development," Jestin said. "I think the guys will take a great deal of pride in really giving that pillar of stability to the province."
However, by moving farther out of the city, the troops exposed themselves to more danger, Windsor said.
"They were far more at risk than other rotations have been, especially to improvised explosive devices and ambushes," said Windsor.
With files from Canadaeast News Service and 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
1992 Medical release. God Bless you all!
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ranrad
Ron [Andy] Andrews
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Dang right they should be proud of themselves , as should all Canadians be proud of them....some would say they have accomplished the impossible....how to go soldiers... ranrad
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RCAF,CAF, converted RCR?,1RCR 74-77 CD: SSM (Nato);CPSM,;UN-Cyp.; UN- Golan
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Mike Blais
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A ROYAL CANADIAN "NEVER PASSES A FAULT"
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Soldiers back in N.B. after tour of Afghanistan
Canadian Press
Updated: Thu. Aug. 2 2007 9:28 PM ET
FREDERICTON — The latest Canadian soldiers returning from Afghanistan say the support of Canadians at home helped them deal with the loss of comrades during their six-month tour.
A lone bagpiper greeted about 60 Canadian soldiers as they arrived Thursday in Fredericton after serving six gruelling months in the Afghan desert.
As the troops from nearby Canadian Forces Base Gagetown emerged from an Air Transat chartered jet, they were met with stifling heat on the tarmac -- not unlike the sticky conditions they left behind in central Asia.
With the humidity factored in, it was 36 C when the jet touched down just after 5 p.m.
This was the second group of soldiers to return home after wrapping up the rotation.
Tears, hugs and broad smiles greeted them once they were bused from the airport to the base.
They marched in formation through the doors of the headquarters of the Second Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment, and into the arms of anxious family and friends.
Many of the soldiers expressed mixed emotions -- thrilled to see their loved ones, but feeling the sadness of knowing not everyone made it home.
Seven soldiers from CFB Gagetown were killed during the rotation.
"I knew the six RCR that died in the LAV accident," said Pte. Dallas Curran of Fredericton.
"It's pretty hard because a couple of them I knew before we went over and I got to know them pretty well."
Cpl. Brian Bannister from Newfoundland and Labrador described the six months in Afghanistan as difficult at times, especially because of the casualties, but he said support from home helped him cope.
"The support we got from people back here in Canada was unreal. It was great," said Bannister.
"We couldn't ask for any better and I just want to say thank you for supporting us while we were over there ... all the letters and e-mails, they were great."
Even before Master Cpl. Chris Lawrence of Fredericton marched through the doors at the base, his first duties had already been mapped out days before in conversation with his wife, Ashley White -- he was going to hug and hold his three-week-old son, Aiden.
Lawrence had been home for the birth, but had to return to Afghanistan for the remainder of his tour.
"That was the most difficult thing," he said.
White said Lawrence had some diaper duty at home, but had expressed an eagerness to get involved.
"He gets the night off but I know he wants to be involved, and wants to jump right back into things," she said.
The transition from the battlefield back into family life can be difficult.
The soldiers were given two days of "decompression training" before returning, and spouses at home were offered help as well.
The base's Military Family Resource Centre has been conducting reunion briefings.
"That's educating spouses and partners and family members what it's like over in theatre and what has been going on in their life, and giving them tips about homecoming and avoiding some of the stresses about how to become a couple again and become a family again," said executive director Beth Corey.
She said they tell families not to plan too many homecoming activities in the first week.
And she said families are encouraged to discuss the mission and the casualties.
"It's OK to be honest with your feelings about that," she said.
Acting base commander Lt.-Col. Paul Kearney greeted each soldier and welcomed them back to Canada.
He commended them on their work to rebuild in the area near Kandahar and consoled them on the loss of comrades.
"We're going to make sure that everyone who comes home understands what we did to try and make things easy for not only the families of the fallen soldiers, but also the families of those who were here who were dealing with this in their own way," he said.
Soldiers from the current tour will continue to return home over the next six weeks.
Of the nearly 2,500 Canadian troops in Afghanistan, over 650 were from CFB Gagetown.
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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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Mike Blais
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A ROYAL CANADIAN "NEVER PASSES A FAULT"
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Freedom tags mean home only days away for Afghan veterans
Andrew Mayeda
Canwest News Service
Saturday, August 04, 2007
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- The troops call them "freedom tags."
In the realm of military procedure, the tags certify that a weapon is in the right hands before a new rotation of troops arrives.
To the individual soldier, they mean that home is only a few days away.
The members of Hotel Company, a battle-hardened platoon based in Gagetown, N.B., were proudly displaying the freedom tags dangling from their weapons on Friday.
They are among hundreds of soldiers that are gradually being replaced by members of the Royal 22nd Regiment, a Quebec-based regiment known as the Van Doo.
"I'm pretty excited to get back home, back to my mom and dad and my family," said Pte. John Tobin. "It's been really hard for everybody."
The handover is also giving Canadian troops a chance to reflect on a six-month rotation that saw a drop in head-on clashes with the Taliban, but also a rise in the frequency of Canadian deaths.
"Last year, the Taliban and the insurgents thought they could go toe to toe. (We) quickly taught them that they're not going to win that way," said Maj. Alex Ruff, commanding officer of Hotel Company.
However, he acknowledged that considerable work needs to be done until Kandahar province is secure.
In recent months, the Taliban have shifted tactics to focus on suicide attacks and improvised explosive devices set along roads. Of the 22 soldiers who died in the latest rotation, all but four were killed by suicide bombers or IEDs.
"This is a challenging piece of terrain. It's going to take a long time to crack the whole Afghanistan situation," said Ruff.
Of the roughly 2,500 Canadian soldiers deployed in Afghanistan, infantry units such as Hotel Company face the harshest conditions.
The platoon spent almost six months living out of a convoy of vehicles parked in the desert. Soldiers bathe using "combat shower" kits or water bottles and eat packaged rations.
Hotel Company only returned to Kandahar Airfield, the sprawling base that accommodates NATO coalition forces, a handful of times.
"It still feels like we're going back out any day now. It hasn't really sunk in that we're going home yet," said Capt. Dave Nixon, who is looking forward to seeing his wife and two young children.
His comrade, Cpl. Dallas Woodworth, plans to get married next month.
"My fiancee's a phenomenal cook and she's already been getting shrimps and scallops and everything. We're going to have a wonderful meal, a glass of wine and get to know each other again."
The platoon was often the first Canadian unit to visit volatile districts in the northwest of the province.
As such, they played a key role in preventing insurgents from filtering over the border with Helmand province, where some of the heaviest fighting is now taking place.
Hotel Company was also frequently the first point of contact with local police and tribal leaders. Building such relations is viewed by the military as crucial to stamping out Taliban sympathies among the local population.
"People started to feel secure, and ... therefore a lot of families that had moved out have moved back, and businesses are starting to pick up," said Nixon.
Such progress carried a price. Six members of the platoon were killed by an IED on Easter Sunday.
"When we got back outside the wire, we had a job to do and we kept our heads down," said Tobin.
"When we actually had a chance to have time to ourselves, then we would think about them. I'm sure a lot of people will be grieving more when we get back home."
The military has established procedures to help soldiers cope with such trauma.
Instead of returning home directly, soldiers will spend four days decompressing in Cyprus. There they will be briefed by mental health officials on how to manage conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder.
"It's probably not a good idea the first day he comes home to have a family barbecue with 50 people," said Rakesh Jetly, a Canadian psychiatrist who works at Kandahar Airfield. "It's usually better to slowly reintegrate."
The military also offers mental-health and counselling services once they return home, he said.
"A lot of times, members will describe being a stranger in their own home. We prepare them for that," said Jetly.
amayeda@thecitizen.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
1992 Medical release. God Bless you all!
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Mike Blais
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A ROYAL CANADIAN "NEVER PASSES A FAULT"
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Soldiers, families begin anew
By SHAWN BERRY
berry.shawn@dailygleaner.com
Published Friday August 3rd, 2007
The sight of soldiers in tan uniforms returning from active service in Afghanistan unleashed a torrent of tears at Canadian Forces Base Gagetown, but that quickly turned into a stream of long-awaited embraces as troops were dismissed Thursday night.
As a throng waited by the front of a white cordon, anxious to catch a glimpse of their loved one safely home after six months overseas, Ashley White of Fredericton stayed near the back of the crowd.
Her three-week old son Aiden in hand, she knew her husband would find them.
"There's no better feeling in the world," Master Cpl. Chris Lawrence said moments later as he cradled his wide-eyed son in his arms.
While many of his comrades said they were looking forward to beer, steak or "a decent donair," Lawrence had other plans.
"Changing diapers," said the new father.
He couldn't wait to take on the additional duties of fatherhood.
As he rubbed the tuft of fine brown hair on the baby's head, he reflected on his experiences overseas.
"We lost a lot of good guys which was pretty bad, but also we had a lot of good guys, and they're friends for life."
Lawrence had his first chance to connect with his son -- who was born during his leave last month -- but he couldn't wait to see him again.
In fact, he and his wife had choreographed his arrival days in advance, agreeing he'd hold his son, get a pizza and go home to spend time together as a family.
While the plane touched down at 5:15 p.m., the two-and-a-half-hour wait loved ones went through as the troops cleared customs, turned in their equipment and talked to the military chaplain was an exercise in patience for some.
"I can't sit still," said 23-year-old Melissa Hunt of Halifax who travelled to the base Thursday to greet her fiancé, Pte. Andrew Ward.
"I've been counting down the hours for the last two weeks," said Hunt, who became engaged to Ward in April during his leave from duty in Afghanistan.
"I've been pacing around for the last few days," she said.
Soldiers arriving home were grateful to see their families again, but there were feelings of sadness knowing not everyone made it back.
Seven soldiers from CFB Gagetown were killed during the rotation.
Pte. Dallas Curran of Fredericton said the homecoming was emotional.
"I knew the six RCRs that died in the LAV accident," said Pte. Dallas Curran of Fredericton.
"It's pretty hard because a couple of them I knew before we went over and I got to know them pretty well ... It's sad."
Lt. Col. Paul Kearney, acting base commander, said the losses in Afghanistan are on everyone's minds during the homecoming.
"There is that bittersweet tinge to it because of the fact we have lost some fallen soldiers," he said.
"Some times the reality of the danger of the mission and the hazards associated with the mission come home. That's something that is accepted by the soldiers and managed by the families."
Kearney said soldiers are being given help to make the transition from the battlefield to the home front.
They received two days of decompression training before leaving Afghanistan, and while they'll benefit from a four-day long weekend, they're expected to show up for three half-days next week.
Military families have been offered briefings as well.
Beth Corey, executive director of the Military Family Resource Centre, said the organization continues to help families, advising them to slowly get back to their old routines.
Kearney said the reunion is just as much about recognizing efforts spouses have made while soldiers were deployed.
"The families have been separated from their loved ones for six months. The soldiers have been away in a hot, dusty, dirty, dangerous place. Now, today, we have this joyful reunion.
"It's a celebration of the fact that they're home safe and it's a celebration that their families are well and safely united. It's a bit of both."
Spouses have taken care of the kids, the chores and even their own careers, all while their loved ones were away, he said.
"It's an awful lot for one person to do. It's hard on them. There's an awful lot of sacrifice. That goes both ways."
If Kearney had his way, military families would be getting a medal of their own.
"They're getting a hero's welcome and it's what they deserve," said Corey.
It was a deployment made easier by the support the community displayed for soldiers and their families.
That was particularly evident in Oromocto where yellow ribbons dotted the landscape, firmly tied into bows on every lamp post and street sign in the town.
"Even as Canadians, I think we surprised ourselves," Corey said Thursday night.
Soldiers from the current tour will continue to return every second day over the next six weeks as 2,500 Canadian troops are rotated out of Afghanistan.
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
1992 Medical release. God Bless you all!
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A ROYAL CANADIAN "NEVER PASSES A FAULT"
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Well, I thought the article was very good reading but I can see the family's point. Thats being said, it is what it is and, as always, war is ugly.
The original artile is posted in earlier in this thread should any of you missed it and want to know what the problem is.
Doctor's gory tale angers soldier's family
ALAN FREEMAN
From Saturday's Globe and Mail
OTTAWA — The military has launched two investigations into the actions of a Canadian doctor and author, whose graphic description of a Nova Scotia soldier's dying moments in Afghanistan has unleashed a torrent of criticism from family and friends who say the account is tasteless and violates medical ethics.
The Department of National Defence said it has initiated a military police investigation as well as a summary investigation into the conduct of Kevin Patterson, a physician and novelist who worked at the coalition medical facility in Kandahar this year.
In the July-August issue of Mother Jones magazine, Dr. Patterson describes in gruesome detail the death on the operating table of Corporal Kevin Megeney, a 25-year-old reservist from Stellarton, N.S., who was shot in the chest in his tent at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization base in Kandahar.
The death, which has been described as resulting from non-enemy action, is still being probed by the military's National Investigation Service.
Details of the efforts to save the soldier's life are recounted by Dr. Patterson in the narrative climax of a 7,000-word memoir detailing his six weeks as a doctor in Kandahar.
“Corporal Kevin Megeney's uniform is soaked with blood where the bullet has entered his right chest, just below the armpit,” Dr. Patterson writes, describing the moment when the soldier was brought to the coalition-run base hospital.
Dr. Patterson's description becomes more vivid, detailing the massive bleeding from the wound and the desperate and ultimately unsuccessful efforts made by the surgical team to save Cpl. Megeney's life through an emergency operation to open his chest.
The doctor's grisly depiction of the young soldier's final moments on the operating table has angered George Megeney, Cpl. Megeney's uncle. The family is also close to the family of Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay, who attended the soldier's funeral.
“Certainly the family are not happy, not at all, ” Mr. Megeney, a retired police officer, said in an interview from New Glasgow, N.S. “It was very graphic. That doctor was way out of line.
“In my opinion, he breached doctor-patient confidentiality,” the uncle continued. “It was very unethical of him. He could've written it without naming him. … It was very self-promoting.
“This boy died less than six months ago. Put yourself in the parents' situation,” he continued. “This guy betrayed the trust of the Megeney family.”
Friends of the dead soldier have also expressed their distress in a series of postings on Mother Jones's website.
“I think this article should be removed,” wrote one reader, identified only as “a Nova Scotian.” “How awful to read about the death of your son and what the doctor did to him on the operating table in detail.”
“When I read this article, I was completely shocked,” wrote Donna from Pictou County, N.S. “I can't believe these graphic details are made public. Kevin's family is suffering enough. They don't need this.”
“Shame on you,” wrote Ed MacIntosh, saying he was disgusted by the account. “I hope you get sued too.”
Responding to the onslaught of criticism, Mother Jones's co-editor, Clara Jeffery, said in a posting on the magazine's website that she had contacted the family prior to publication and that Cpl. Megeney's mother had said that the article would help the family have closure.
Ms. Jeffery concluded that it would be a disservice to soldiers like Cpl. Megeney for the public to “live in denial about what happens in a war.”
Lieutenant-Commander Pierre Babinsky, a spokesman for DND, said the investigations will determine whether there have been any breaches of laws or regulations under the National Defence Act. The summary investigation will be undertaken by National Defence's health services group.
He said that civilian contractors like Dr. Patterson are subject to the National Defence Act and to the military code of service discipline. “They're well aware of their responsibilities and the laws that apply to them,” he added.
Dr. Patterson, 42, who has written a memoir of sailing to Tahiti as well as a novel tracking the history of an Inuit family, defended his decision to identify Cpl. Megeney in the article.
“His death was well covered in the Canadian media and it was already in the news that he had been shot in the chest and brought to the hospital where he underwent emergency surgery,” he said in an interview from his home in Salt Spring Island, B.C., adding that the corporal's identity would have been easily guessed by readers even if he had declined to name him.
In the past, when he has written about patients he has treated, Dr. Patterson said he had changed details of their identity to protect their privacy. But the case of Cpl. Megeney was different, because he had died and his name had been in the news.
“The fact is that writing about war is always charged,” he said, adding that it is important for Canadians to understand what the war in Afghanistan entails.
Asked whether he had gone to Afghanistan with the intention of writing about his experience, Dr. Patterson responded that he had signed up as a doctor but conceded, “I had an idea that I might write about my time there.”
A version of the account will be included in Outside The Wire, an anthology of writing about Canada's Afghan military mission co-edited by Dr. Patterson, to be published this fall. He has also written freelance material for The Globe and Mail.
Dr. Patterson, a native of Selkirk, Man., who put himself through medical school by enlisting in the Canadian Army, said he understood that the military's “instinct tends to be protective of everything that happens out there,” but said it was important that Canadians “understand what's going on there.
and.....
Mother: "I just wish I had seen it first’
Article about Stellarton soldier’s final few minutes upsets family
By CHRIS LAMBIE Staff Reporter | 5:49 AM
THE CANADIAN doctor who treated a Nova Scotia soldier killed in Afghanistan has come under fire for writing a magazine article detailing the final few minutes of Cpl. Kevin Megeney’s life.
A story in the recent edition of Mother Jones provides explicit details of the 25-year-old Stellarton reservist’s death.
"I just wish I had seen it first," Karen Megeney, the dead soldier’s mother, said Friday.
Her family was away on vacation when the magazine sent them an advance copy of the article.
"It was on the stands before we even knew about it," Ms. Megeney said.
Five months after Cpl. Megeney’s death, military police are still investigating. Sources have said he was shot in the chest in his own tent by a member of his own platoon.
"I know this may seem simple, based on the facts that were disclosed in the media, but doing an investigation in a combat zone is always a little trickier, especially overseas," said Lt.-Cmdr. Pierre Babinsky, a spokesman for the military’s justice system.
Ms. Megeney is not faulting the military police for their lengthy investigation.
"I know that they wouldn’t be taking this long if it wasn’t necessary," she said. "I fully trust them. They’re going to do the best job they can and that takes time. So if it takes a year, it wouldn’t put me out a bit."
In the Mother Jones story, Dr. Kevin Patterson describes the evening of March 6, when the soldier was brought into the hospital at Kandahar Air Field. He writes at length and in excruciating detail about his and other medical staff’s desperate and ultimately doomed attempt to save Cpl. Megeney’s life.
"Cpl. Kevin Megeney’s uniform is soaked with blood where the bullet has entered his right chest, just below his armpit. His eyes are wide open and his pupils fixed and dilated; there is no pulse. One of the men who brought him in says, ‘We were just walking by his tent and heard the shot. Sounded like a 9-mm. No idea what happened.’
" ‘We need a surgeon here right now!’ I holler. . . . Lt.-Col. Dennis Filips appears. . . . He takes a scalpel and runs it between the soldier’s ribs from his sternum around to his back. . . . Filips saws through the sternum and extends the incision around to the right chest; this is called a ‘clamshell’ incision and is done only in emergencies. It exposes the contents of the chest completely; surgical residents trying to sound hardened call it ‘opening the hood.’ Filips tries to find a bleeding vessel to repair, while I attempt to get my needle into his femoral veins, which are collapsed flat. One of the nurses finally gets an IV started in his arm; 10 units each of blood and plasma are ordered from the lab. Filips finds the bullet hole in Megeney’s inferior vena cava and aorta — the great vessels leading directly in and out of the heart. There is no cardiac activity at all. The lab tech arrives with armloads of packed red blood cells at the same time I manage to get a line into Megeney’s femoral vein. Filips says, ‘He’s been pulseless now for 20 minutes. We should stop.’ The room freezes as we all realize he is right.
"Megeney has red hair and blue eyes and looks cheerful even in death. We step back as one of the medics begins sewing up the enormous incision stretching around his chest. Someone says, ‘It wasn’t a pistol. It was a roommate’s rifle.’ . . . The military police begin swarming; everyone in the facility sags as the story comes out. An accident. Ten thousand soldiers who have to carry weapons in order to be served breakfast, and it is bound to happen sooner or later."
Readers posted several comments on the Mother Jones website, praising and condemning the text.
"Beautifully told account of a war that is hardly covered in what our U.S. media calls ‘the news’ and is mostly the latest breathless goings-on of celebrities," Anne McGravie said in a July 28 posting.
Another person who identified as being from Nova Scotia said in a posting the article should be struck from the site for the sake of the Megeney family.
"It’s horrible enough to loss a son over there. They do not need the details of the operating room."
Another person who was identified as a physician said the soldier’s name and the "graphic details" of his death should be removed from the website.
"This is a flagrant violation of patient confidentiality and medical ethics," R. Brisebois said in a July 30 posting.
A person who identified herself as a "Pictou County girl" wanted the entire article removed from the Mother Jones site.
"Those details of his death (do) not help our grieving process," she said in a July 31 posting.
Ed MacIntosh said in a posting no one from the soldier’s family knew about the story before it was published.
"How irresponsible of you as a ‘news organization’ to do such a thing," he said in an Aug. 2 posting. "Do you not investigate such things before you publish?"
That same day, the magazine’s co-editor, Clara Jeffery, defended the story in a posting.
"First, we sent a letter to Cpl. Megeney’s parents, uncle and sisters, ahead of publication, informing them that this 7,000-word diary of a doctor’s month of service at Kandahar Air Field did contain a scene involving the tragic death of their son; that it was written by a doctor present when Cpl. Megeney was brought in for emergency surgery; and that it would likely be disturbing to those close to him.
"We offered to send it to them or any intermediary they would like if they thought it would be too disturbing to read it themselves. I then spoke with Mrs. Megeney by phone at length. She assured me that the family would like to see the article and that she was a nurse and would read it before any other members of her family; she said it would help to have closure to know more about what happened. We heard from other members of the family who also wanted to read it. (One of them) after they did expressed the desire to write to Dr. Patterson ‘to express my appreciation to him for exhausting every effort to save (him).’ "
There was no way to write about the incident without identifying the soldier, the editor said.
"Doctors can and do publicly talk about how patients die when the story is already in the news — consider press conferences following tragic accidents. And there was certainly nothing in this account that disparaged Cpl. Megeney, who served his country admirably and died in a tragic accident.
"This was an extremely emotional story to work on. The account of Cpl. Megeney’s death was particularly poignant, but there were many other stories in there of death and injury to soldiers and civilians that are hard to read. But in our opinion, for the greater public to live in denial about what happens in a war does a disservice to those soldiers who serve and the civilians who are affected."
Another Nova Scotian said in a posting it was difficult to imagine that the Megeney family would be anything but grateful to Dr. Patterson for fighting to save their son’s life and writing such a poignant account of the horror of his death.
"Hard to read? Yes. Although the real tragedy is that these soldiers deaths are so easy to ignore. It isn’t pleasant, but we all need to open our eyes and see what is going on in Afghanistan and not forget the sacrifices these young men and women make."
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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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Young Ken
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I believe that if all MP’s should be forced to read an exacting account of each and every soldier’s death in the battle field. The MP’s sent them there to their deaths and maybe if they did have to face up to what their votes have done, they might take more care in how they use their votes.
All Canadians should also see what Ottawa is doing with their young men and women in the Forces after all it is in our name that they die and it is also our money or the lack of it, which may decide whether they live or die in the field.
The accounts of each soldier’s deaths though painful to the relatives might prevent yet another war and in most cases it further demonstrates the total senselessness of world conflicts.
In my opinion if I were to die in conflict, I would want the world to know how and why and not just be a 10 second blip on the national news for a day or two, if nothing with a better video bite comes along.
Hard to read, yes and God help us all when it no longer is.
Cpl Kenneth H Young CD (Ret)
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Ken Young
Kentar@telus.net
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ranrad
Ron [Andy] Andrews
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Thats the down side of this idea.. and we are seeing it thru TV exposure to blood and gore...it tends to desensitize people over time...to get used to seeing it , even accepting it.. while one on one had could say it is important to know, on the other it can desensitize and lead to  ?, as you send Ken... then God help us all.... ranrad
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RCAF,CAF, converted RCR?,1RCR 74-77 CD: SSM (Nato);CPSM,;UN-Cyp.; UN- Golan
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Mike Blais
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A ROYAL CANADIAN "NEVER PASSES A FAULT"
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Not much happening in reference to The RCR in Khandahar, lads.
The villagers, the vanquished and the Vandoos
Quebec's Royal 22nd takes on the challenge of trying to win Afghan hearts while carrying the stigma of operating as a foreign army
ALEX DOBROTA
From Wednesday's Globe and Mail
August 8, 2007 at 6:21 AM EDT
SHAH WALI KOT, AFGHANISTAN — Like many Afghan village elders, Haji Noor Mohammad has lost track of his exact age, but the long creases that line his face may well serve as a testament to the many years spent fearing foreign armies.
First, the Soviet Red Army indiscriminately bombed the arid countryside north of Kandahar and killed 40 of his fellow villagers on one occasion, Mr. Mohammad said. Then the Americans came. During the past two years, three Canadian patrols have also arrived, each pledging to help the villagers with building wells. So far, the village elder said, each has failed to live up to its promises.
So when armoured vehicles rolled through the dirt lanes of his village once again two days ago, sending children crying into the houses, Mr. Mohammad had little patience to answer the questions of the soldiers with Quebec's Royal 22nd Regiment.
"By God I tell you, I don't know where the Taliban live," he told Lieutenant Jocelyn Demetre, speaking in Pashto through an interpreter. "We are poor people. We are scared of you and we are scared of the Taliban. ... You should not come around with tanks. Our people will leave this place."
Such is the challenge the Royal 22nd, known as the Vandoos, will be grappling with during the next six months. They will try, as other Canadian troops have tried before them, to persuade villagers across Kandahar province to collaborate with them against Islamic extremists.
Equipped with helmets, ballistic eyewear, body armour and a multipocketed vest that makes them look like futuristic androids beside the traditionally dressed villagers, the Canadians will also carry the stigma of operating as a foreign army in a country that has weathered invasions since antiquity.
Still, the soldiers make an effort. In a bid to observe local customs, commanding officers with B Company sat bareheaded at shuras - meetings with elders - in villages across Shah Wali Kot. Last year, a Canadian soldier received an axe blow to his head after removing his helmet at a similar gathering.
"We're trying to win their hearts," Lt. Demetre said. "They respect courageous men."
But courage alone has failed to entirely sway the villagers of Shah Wali Kot. The soldiers of B Company returned to Kandahar base yesterday, after four days of crisscrossing the scorched region, with only some generic information on Taliban tactics. But they had no exact knowledge of hideouts or weapons caches, and had not engaged the enemy.
The Vandoos were briefed before the mission that the Taliban have organized a shadow government in the area, but villagers questioned by the troops said they had never encountered the Islamic fighters in their village. Instead, they all asked for wells and irrigation systems.
The region, often the stage of violent clashes between Taliban fighters and the International Security Assistance Force, is renowned for its lush orchards of pomegranate trees.
But years of war have damaged irrigation canals and the orchards, and drought has ravaged the crops. The Canadian International Development Agency said it has built more than 1,130 wells across Kandahar province and is planning to rebuild an irrigation dam in Shah Wali Kot.
However, the villagers there often fail to make the connection between Canadian troops and aid projects.
"We need wells," Mr. Mohammad said. He sat on a traditional rug below a thatched veranda, next to a hole in the ground - a work in progress dug with shovels by villagers, who climb down ladders to the shaft of the makeshift well.
"I will write that down," Lt. Demetre replied.
"That will be good," retorted Mr. Mohammad. "Because three times before, the Canadians have come, and promised, and haven't done anything."
In the next hamlet of mud and straw houses, the Vandoos received an even colder reception. As a Canadian light-armoured vehicle manoeuvred to form a security perimeter, it rolled across an onion field, crushing part of the harvest and angering Niaz Mohammad, the field's owner.
"I worked for four months to grow this to sell it," a livid Mr. Mohammad told Lt. Demetre. "This is my life."
The troops left, promising to compensate Mr. Mohammad. But the villager remained skeptical. "You pay me now," he told Lt. Demetre. "I won't see you again."
Back at the base, Lt. Demetre said the mission was a success. The Vandoos have made their presence known, he insisted. And while he said he intended to bring a supply of pens and notebooks for children during the next patrol, Lt. Demetre discarded the intimidating effect of the LAVs as a necessary evil.
"It's a show of force," he said.
"They're afraid?" piped in Sergeant Danny Saleh, who mans the 25 mm gun on the LAV's turret at times. "If they're afraid, then the others [the Taliban] will be afraid as well."
But some soldiers said they wished they had used their weapons for more than deterrence, and voiced frustration at not having fought since having landed in Kandahar two weeks ago.
"That's what we're here for," said Master Corporal Samuel Gauthier, a hulk of a man, who does push-ups on the ramp of his LAV, even after walking for five kilometres across a jagged mountain range in 45 C heat. "And if it doesn't happen, we'll find it a little boring.
"We haven't come here just for the camping. We need some action."
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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
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A ROYAL CANADIAN "NEVER PASSES A FAULT"
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