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Topic: Afghanistan - 3rd Battalion, The Royal 22nd Regiment. 07-08 (Read 5642 times)
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Mike Blais
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A ROYAL CANADIAN "NEVER PASSES A FAULT"
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Long way to go still but Canadian training of Afghan army making progress
5 hours ago
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Canadian soldiers look on as members of the Afghan National Army crouch behind barriers at Camp Hero and lob grenades overhead.
There is no big bang. These are fake grenades, and Camp Hero is a practice range just outside the international military base at Kandahar Airfield.
And that's a good thing because not all of the grenades land on target.
When they first took to the firing range a few weeks ago, the mostly young and inexperienced soldiers of the 201st Brigade fired wildly toward their targets - if they could get their weapons to fire at all.
"They were shooting from the hip and leaving Allah to guide the bullets," says Capt. Sylvain Caron, who is in charge of the Canadian team mentoring 3,000 members of the Afghan National Army.
"We had to explain that's not exactly how it works."
But the Canadians who have taken on the task, the 140 members of the Operational Mentoring Liaison Team, are patient and determined.
For Sgt. Dave Querry, it's a matter of honour.
"I have friends who died here. Their families are in mourning," says Querry, who is training Afghan infantrymen.
"I don't want to leave this country thinking my friends died for nothing."
Querry says Canada has a job to do.
"We can't leave with the job half done," he says. "It wouldn't be right."
Regardless of the insurgent death tolls and the ground won or lost, the Taliban will likely remain in Afghanistan for a long time. Aside from the unlikely prospect of insurgents putting down their weapons to join the Afghan government, the only hope for long-term peace in this war-battered country is an effective national security force.
The Afghan army is not up to the job but they've come a long way.
A year ago, when Canadians took on the mentoring program, it seemed an impossible task.
Although made up of many seasoned fighters, the Afghan army was short-handed, undisciplined and out-manoeuvred by Taliban insurgents. Their death toll was staggering.
Col. Mohammad Anbia, commander of the 5th Company, 1st Kandak of the 205th Brigade, has been a soldier for over two decades.
A regal man with a salt-and-pepper beard, 43-year-old Anbia fought the mujahedeen when he was with Afghan government forces that were allied with the Russians in the 1980s. Later on, he fought the Taliban.
He is a proud fighter and reluctant to admit the Afghans needed help. But he says he sees day to day changes as his men work closely with the Canadians.
"We're getting their soldiers' experience," he says through an interpreter.
His company is on active duty, supplying their own forces in place at forward operating bases throughout Kandahar province.
The Afghan army is holding its own in some areas already and they are poised to undertake an operation of their own.
Yet Anbia, who is the commander of the logistical company - a new idea to the Afghan army - says the Canadians and international forces must stay a long while yet.
"If they leave Afghanistan, maybe it will be a civil war again," he says.
"The Afghan people are very good at killing each other," he says with a wry laugh.
While he welcomes the Canadians who he says have sacrificed to help his country, but he would welcome better equipment even more.
"They have Humvees and armour," Anbia says of coalition forces. "We have Rangers ... The enemy has RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades) and we have Kalashnikovs."
A short time later, as Anbia strolls across the base, one of the Afghan army's new International trucks drives by with the crumpled skeleton of a Ford Ranger in the back.
"Bomb," says one soldier. He doesn't speak English, but this word he knows.
Anbia's wish list is long, and understandably so because the equipment of the Afghan army pales in comparison with their international counterparts.
"We have to tell them: 'We're not here to give you stuff. We're here to mentor you'," says Maj. Regis Bellemare, a 16-year veteran of the Canadian military who has taken on training the logistical support team.
But equipment is not their only, or even their biggest, problem.
There are 42 U.S.-bought Humvees and dozens of International trucks and Ford Rangers sitting in a yard on the base, waiting for drivers.
Most Afghan soldier just want to get in the field and fight.
"They're warriors. They have a warrior mentality," says Chief Warrant Officer Guy Suttenwood-Johnston. "They want to fight."
It is a long process to instil in the Afghans the idea of a military-support system with logistics and planning.
Even the idea of dedicated mechanics to maintain vehicles was foreign.
Usually, there are 100 soldiers in this company of the 201st Brigade.
But on one particular day, there were 35. The day before was pay day and most of the company left for home overnight.
"They're like us. They miss their families," says Couturier.
There are 45,000 soldiers in the Afghan National Army. The Canadian team is mentoring 3,000 of them. The United States and the Netherlands are also involved in training.
And the benefit is not all one-sided.
The Afghan army's greatest strength is just being Afghan. They've tipped Canadians to the locations of roadside bombs and other insurgent activity.
"They know the ground. They know the people and they know the Taliban," says Bellemare.
"They have good intelligence."
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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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ranrad
Ron [Andy] Andrews
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I ,too am not for leaving the job unfinished, and in that sense ,our good people having lost their lives for no win.. but it still comes down to numbers and Nato still sits mostly silent on that subject... and that to me is a must to stay after 09, but i guess the present sharp point allies could muster another 20,000 troops among them..fair or not , it IS one way to GET IT DONE FULLY... if it can be... 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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Well, Ron, I will bet you right now Canadians will be rotated BACK into Astan at some point in the future and NATO's job, not ours, will still have a long way to go then as it does now.
I also believe the chickensheeets in Euroland do a back flip for joy every time one of Harpers mouth pieces comes out with why we should STAY and do THEIR job for them. It is clear to me they won't commit as long as they can make Harper and the Canadians do their share.
In other news.... Vive le France.
French jets based in Kandahar close to action
Matthew Fisher
CanWest News Service
Monday, October 08, 2007
France's Lt.-Col. Fabien Mandon, left, commander of the Kandahar Air Expeditionary Group, and Lt.-Col. Gilles Juventin stand next to one of France's Mirage 2000 jets Monday.
CREDIT: Matthew Fisher/CanWest News Service
France's Lt.-Col. Fabien Mandon, left, commander of the Kandahar Air Expeditionary Group, and Lt.-Col. Gilles Juventin stand next to one of France's Mirage 2000 jets Monday.
KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan - As recently as four days ago, French fighter jets scrambled in response to a call for close air support from troops from the Quebec-based Royal 22nd Regiment fighting insurgents.
While details of that mission remain secret, it was not the first time France has come to the aid of Canadian ground troops fighting in Kandahar.
"I've helped the Canadians many times," said Lt.- Col. Fabien Mandon, commander of the Kandahar Air Expeditionary Group as he stood in front of one of the first three French Mirage 2000 jets to be based here. "But the nationality is not important. We will do this for everybody here."
The French air presence at Kandahar is less than two weeks old. Before that, the Mirages flew missions over Afghanistan from a base in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. But getting to the main battlefields in southern and eastern Afghanistan took more than one hour and required three refuelings from tanker aircraft. Being based in the heart of the war zone means pilots can get their jets over troops in distress in 15 minutes or less.
"I prefer to be here. This really puts us in the fight," Mandon said. "Even if pilots were well aware of what was going on in the operational area, we were too far away. Now we are in the middle of the rockets that fall on this base and we can understand better what is happening."
One of the best things about being in Kandahar was being able to speak with soldiers of the Royal 22nd Regiment, even if the accents of the Quebec-based troops were sometimes difficult to understand, Mandon said.
"We met a Canadian here last week who spoke French who had been on the ground during one of our combat missions," he said. "Such meetings are a real advantage of being here because we can improve our tactics. We can understand why they must do things we don't like and they can understand why we do things they don't like.
"We learned what the Canadians face on the ground. It is not just about us. They use artillery, too. It helps us better understand the fight."
The six French Mirage 2000s to be based at Kandahar are in addition to fighters from Britain and the Netherlands.
Although they can carry bigger weapons, they are mostly carrying 250 kilogram, laser-guided bombs.
Although such bombs were relatively small, they were being used because they were "powerful enough to kill Taliban and small enough to mitigate collateral damage to civilians and avoid blue on blue (friendly fire) accidents," said Lt.-Col. Gilles Juventin, a Tahitian who commands the French detachment in Kandahar.
"What we bring is firepower and this firepower can be decisive in some engagements. It means that friendly forces can have the advantage even if they are outnumbered, especially if they have been hit by an ambush. We are very reactive."
The French move from Dushanbe has been widely construed here and in NATO as a sign France and its new president, Nicolas Sarkozy, is taking a greater interest in the war in Afghanistan, and in improving relations with the United States and its closest allies. This apparent shift comes at a time when NATO has been desperately trying to shore up political support for the combat mission in countries such as Canada and the Netherlands.
Dispatching Mirages to Kandahar has already won France the warm thanks of Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier.
The Harper government would be even happier if rumours about France sending a battalion or brigade of infantry south, where combat forces are badly stretched, turned out to be true.
In military terms, the French deployment was unusually swift. The decision to move south was only made six weeks ago and the French have already built a new apron designed to handle twice as many jets as are now scheduled to be based here.
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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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Mike Blais
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A ROYAL CANADIAN "NEVER PASSES A FAULT"
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Perhaps it is easier just to pay for their support with cash instead attempting to earn their support with blood.
Canadians pay to bolster Afghan security
space
GRAEME SMITH
From Tuesday's Globe and Mail
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Canada has decided to sidestep the corrupt Afghan government and ensure the safety of Canadian soldiers by paying Afghan police directly, in cash.
It's an attempt to buy stability in the dangerous districts west of Kandahar city, where Canadian soldiers stake their lives on the reliability of their Afghan allies.
“This is brand new,” said Brigadier-General Guy Laroche, Canada's top commander in Afghanistan, during an interview Monday. “We're going to make sure our people eat.”
The lack of salaries made it especially difficult to keep Afghan officers serving in Zhari and Panjwai, where the insurgency has inflicted heavy losses on local police and provided an ongoing challenge to Canadian Forces.
“The money did not get to these guys,” Gen. Laroche said. “Somebody is taking 10 per cent here, 10 per cent there, and at the end the poor guy is left with nothing. Would you stay in a place like that without being paid? I mean, c'mon.”
Starting last week, police officers in Zhari and Panjwai districts no longer received their monthly salaries through their regular chain of command in the Ministry of Interior, Gen. Laroche said.
Instead, payments were distributed by Canadian and U.S. soldiers who serve as mentors for Afghan law-enforcement, in the first such experiment in southern Afghanistan. The mentorship programs are themselves a new initiative, as NATO struggles to rein in Afghan forces widely accused of thievery and corruption.
Police were forced to steal for a living when their pay didn't arrive from Kabul, which hurt morale and fostered resentment among local Afghans, the commander said.
“They had to take bribes from the people, because they have to live,” Gen. Laroche said.
Kandahar Governor Asadullah Khalid announced last month that a basic patrolman's wages would be increased to $150 a month, up from $77, but many officers say they rarely see a fraction of that.
“The government failed to pay salaries, made promises and didn't pay them, so the condition of the police was very bad,” said Bismullah Khan, Panjwai police chief, in a telephone interview.
“We are happy about the Canadians' new plan, because I want my men trained and paid,” the police chief continued. “They will be controlled by the Canadians, trained by them and paid by them directly. It's a very good idea.”
The problems of underpaid police, and the mayhem that results when armed citizens resist thieving cops, were so widely understood in Kandahar that many residents applauded the Canadians' pay reforms, saying it could help bring peace to their war-torn districts.
“This is a good plan, this is the way to success,” said Ajmal, 26, a wealthy landowner whose farms surround a small Canadian base in the village of Sperwan.
Noor Rahman, 40, moved his family off their farm in Zhari district as the Canadians got embroiled in fighting there last year, and now owns a shop in Kandahar city. He said there's hope of peace returning to his village if the police can be brought under control.
“If the Canadians pay the police, the police won't steal things from us,” Mr. Rahman said. “If they have a good salary, maybe they will behave. The Canadians will give them good training and weapons and monthly salaries, and this is the way they can clean the Taliban from our area.”
The Canadian military is not funding the salaries, which continue to be drawn from an Afghan government trust fund. All of the money in the fund comes from donor countries, however, and Canada is a major contributor.
Last year, military officials said they planned to fix the pay system by giving Afghan police their own bank accounts and depositing money directly from Kabul. Banks are non-existent in rural areas, however, and the difficulty of travelling to the nearest branch made this idea difficult to implement.
Gen. Laroche said his soldiers are also supporting their Afghan allies with supplies, and ensuring that military backup is available if they get attacked.
The results are already showing, the commander said. When a corrupt police chief was fired recently in Zhari district, local officials worried that the departing chief would inspire many of his patrolmen to abandon their posts.
“When he left, we thought at one point he would be leaving with all the police in the district,” Gen. Laroche said. “It did not happen. All the policemen at the different checkpoints, they stayed there. They stayed with our people. It's a good sign.”
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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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Canada to Kabul: spare NATO-captured prisoners
Updated Tue. Oct. 9 2007 6:55 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
There was a muted response from Canada Tuesday over Afghanistan's execution of 15 prisoners.
A short two-line statement by the Foreign Affairs Department re-stated Canada's position that prisoners captured by NATO and handed over to Afghan authorities may not be subject to the death penalty.
But the statement did not criticize the Afghan government over its execution of more than a dozen prisoners on Sunday.
The statement only noted that Canada expects Afghanistan to respect international obligations on human rights.
Earlier in the day, Liberal defence critic Denis Coderre said he was "concerned" by the Afghan government's action after the recent end to a three-year moratorium on the death penalty.
Coderre, who is in Afghanistan as part of a two day fact-finding mission, echoed the United Nations position saying he was troubled by the state-sanctioned executions.
"It is obviously an internal matter, but I'm like the United Nations, I am concerned with that way of proceeding," Coderre told CTV's Canada AM on Tuesday from Kandahar.
Afghan presidential spokesperson Humayun Hamidzada said Tuesday that the country will continue the death-row executions as a deterrent, "for those who are committing such crimes, as murder, kidnapping, adultery and rapes."
After the first, and last, government executions in 2004, Karzai pledged a moratorium on the death penalty to the international community. Human rights groups here in Canada say they are extremely disappointed by the reversal.
"To see (the moratorium) come to an end with such a vengeance is very troubling," says Alex Neve, the Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada.
Neve told CTV.ca that Canada is in Afghanistan in part to protect and strengthen human rights.
"We see this as a development that goes counter to that," he says.
Afghanistan's hard-line Taliban carried out a number of public executions, many of them at the war-ravaged Kabul stadium, but the practice was quashed after the regime fell to U.S.-led coalition forces in 2001. Officials confirmed no Taliban or al-Qaeda militants were among those killed on Sunday.
The government's official announcement of the executions came on state television Monday evening. it said Karzai ordered the executions following a decision by a special commission he set up to review rulings by the Supreme Court.
"After all the discussions and after looking back over the cases ... in order to prevent future crimes, such as murders, armed robberies, kidnappings, and to maintain the stability of the country, (Karzai) approved the prisoners' death sentences," the statement read.
Transfer of detainees
The recent executions threaten to complicate the NATO combat mission for nations opposed to capital punishment. Many foreign troops surrender prisoners to the Afghan government, raising the question of whether these nations will be comfortable doing so knowing prisoners may face death.
"I'm against capital punishment so I'm very, very concerned,'' Coderre said on Tuesday. "The Taliban were doing that. It's the same thing.''
Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier, who recently wrapped up a 36-hour visit to Afghanistan, has yet to comment on the executions.
Afghan officials said they will continue to execute prisoners, but NATO-detained militants will be spared a death row sentence.
Human rights groups have maintained Afghanistan's troubled human rights record poses a serious threat to Afghan detainees. Amnesty International and the B.C. Civil Liberties Association are fighting to halt the transfer of prisoners from Canadian troops to Afghan authorities.
Neve told CTV.ca that Canada should work with Afghan officials to create a joint facility that would hold prisoners captured by NATO forces.
Neve said the slate of executions "is just one more reason that Canada should stop transferring prisoners (to Afghan authorities) until we see durable human rights reforms in that country enshrined in law, and that includes the abolition of the death penalty."
NATO support
The state-sanctioned executions may also hinder NATO's efforts to motivate member nations to send more troops to Afghanistan.
NATO has some 40,000 soldiers, including 2,500 Canadian soldiers, in the war-ravaged country but commanders complain they need more resources and troops to train the Afghan army if stability is to ever take hold.
"The fact that we have not fully been able to live up to the promises that nations have made is a point of concern for me," NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said Monday in Denmark.
Coderre urged other NATO members to take up the front-line responsibilities and stressed that the Canadian government is not abandoning the Afghan people or Canadian troops.
"I made a promise last spring saying that I would be here on behalf of my party and on behalf of my leader Stephane Dion to send them (soldiers) a clear message of solidarity and our support," Coderre said Tuesday.
"So no matter what will happen after February 2009, it's pretty clear that we have to send a message that we are supporting them no matter from which part of the parliament you are."
During his visit, Coderre reinforced his party's position that Canada's Afghan combat mission must come to an end when the current mandate expires in February 2009. The Liberals have pledged to vote against the Conservative government's plan to extend the mission.
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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Soldier threatened with execution by Afghans: Documents
Oct 10, 2007 05:51 PM
THE CANADIAN PRESS
OTTAWA – A Canadian soldier was threatened with summary execution by enraged Afghan National Army troops last winter after being involved in a friendly-fire shooting, military police records show.
The sun had just peeked above an unusually hazy horizon the morning of Feb. 12, 2007, when the gunner on an RG-31 Nyala truck mistakenly opened fire on an Afghan Army pickup truck on a desert road east of Kandahar.
An Afghan platoon commander, 23-year-old Lt. Abdul Hadi, the driver of the vehicle, was badly wounded in the arm and hand. He had missed repeated warning signs that he stop as his truck came on a broken down Canadian logistics convoy.
Within minutes of the shooting a tense standoff developed, as the Afghans demanded the hapless gunner be handed over to them.
From his seat in the heavily armoured truck the soldier who had pulled the trigger "observed one ANA soldier slide his finger across his throat, insinuating he was going to kill him," says a summary report prepared by the Canadian Forces National Investigative Service.
The report was obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act.
After their light truck had been sprayed with 7.62-millimetre machine-gun fire – hitting the truck at least 21 times – Afghan troops "immediately exited their vehicle, took up firing positions."
Within minutes they were reinforced by a second group of soldiers who aimed their weapons directly at Canadian troops.
"ANA soldiers were very mad and threatened to kill them all if they didn't hand over the gunner who had fired on them," said a witness statement taken by police in the days after the incident.
"The interpreter translated that the shooting was a mistake to the ANA soldiers. The ANA replied that if Canadians didn't recognize the ANA, then the ANA wouldn't recognize the Canadians."
One of the Canadians who was part of the security cordon around the convoy's broken truck initially tried to calm the Afghans.
"One ANA soldier pointed an AK-47 directly in his face and was told by the interpreter that the ANA was going to kill him."
Another Canadian soldier walked back to the open rear hatch of the Nyala and informed those inside that "the ANA wanted the gunner dead."
The Afghans had the Canadians encircled and promised to let the rest of the convoy go as long as the shooter was handed over.
One of the Canadians standing toe-to-toe with the Afghans told military police it felt like the standoff "went on forever."
Nerves were rattled further when the assault rifle belonging to an Afghan soldier, who jumped out of a truck, accidentally discharged, almost blowing off the foot of another soldier.
The Canadians were convinced the Afghans were "about to engage them" and saw the arrival of second group of soldiers as preparation to repel an anticipated Canadian "counterattack," one witness statement said.
"The ANA continually threatened to kill them and kept requesting the gunner and the gunner's name."
The convoy's second-in-command refused the repeated demands while the gunner, who was on his second mission outside the wire, sat quietly in his seat.
The standoff lasted for almost an hour, police records show, and was resolved when one of the Canadians persuaded the angry Afghans that the matter should be handled by superior officers.
The wounded officer was evacuated to a nearby Afghan army camp, then a civilian hospital and finally to the coalition medical facility at Kandahar Airfield. He made a full recovery.
In an interview with The Canadian Press days after the incident, a senior Afghan Army commander in Kandahar demanded that the gunner face some form of military justice. Lt.-Gen. Rahmatullah Raoufi said he understood the mistakes that led up to the incident, but said the soldier must be held accountable.
"The incident was a mistake," Raoufi, the commander of all Afghan forces in the south, said through a translator.
"(But) the Canadian who shot our man must be punished according to Canadian army law."
Capt. Cindy Tessier, a military spokeswoman, said investigators have decided not to charge the unidentified soldier.
The decision was made even though the soldier conceded in his interview with investigators that he acted on his own.
"He stated he was never ordered by anyone to engage the vehicle and took it upon himself to escalate" the rules of engagement," says a Feb. 26, 2007, summary of the investigation.
In talking to investigators, one of the soldier's buddies stuck up for him, saying the Afghan truck came up too fast and there was no time to inform anyone. The fact the sun was just cresting over the hill behind the pickup truck was another factor, according to witness statements.
There have been a number of accidental shootings involving Canadian troops that have resulted in at least seven fatalities.
Six days after the February standoff with the Afghan Army, Canadian troops who had just exited an ambush mistakenly shot and killed an Afghan National Police officer guarding the governor's palace as well as a homeless man.
The incidents, including a recent one on Oct. 2 that saw one man killed and a child injured, have become a growing source of anger for the Afghans.
Last month residents in the Zhari district, outside of Kandahar, held demonstration against international troops, including Canada.
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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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Nathan's name gets permanent home
By PABLO FERNANDEZ, SUN MEDIA
The name of a Calgary soldier killed in Afghanistan has been engraved into history.
Dignitaries, friends and family held a quiet ceremony yesterday as the name of Cpl. Nathan Hornburg, the latest Canadian soldier to die in Afghanistan, was added to the Wall of Honour.
Nathan's name is the 186th addition to the wall in Peacekeepers' Park.
The soldier's father, Mike Hornburg, recalled how during his birthday last year, Nathan showed him a construction project he'd worked on and was particularly proud of -- just down the road from Peacekeepers' Park.
Mike said it's appropriate his son's name has a permanent place so close to something Nathan was proud of.
"Nathan's character and pride was in being a strong, young man," he said.
"He'd been so proud and strong and happy to be working so close by."
Hornburg, a reservist with the King's Own Calgary Regiment, was killed Sept. 24 during fierce fighting.
Hornburg, the driver of a Leopard armoured recovery vehicle, was killed by an anti-tank round during a 12-hour battle, while he charged forward to help a Leopard tank that had become disabled.
Nathan's mom, Linda Loree, said it's up to those left behind to make sure his sacrifice was not in vain.
"If you're 18 years old and not voting, give your head a shake, because there's people who are dying to give people that right," she said.
Loree recalled how as a child Nathan hated litter and learned to count by picking up pieces of garbage.
"The theory was to leave every place better than he found it, and that's what he was doing when he died."
The engraving was also a way to launch a new campaign to raise funds for the building of a new memorial wall for the park, said Don Ethell, spokesman for the Canadian Association of Veterans in United Nations Peacekeeping.
Ethell said the current wall, which was dedicated in 2004, is quickly running out of room.
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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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Check this out. Pamela Wallin? Mulroney's chief of staff? How bout general Mackenzie, or Dallaire???
PM to announce panel on Afghanistan: CTV
Updated Thu. Oct. 11 2007 10:07 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
Prime Minister Stephen Harper will announce on Friday a five-person panel of prominent Canadians who will be tasked with coming up with a consensus on Canada's future role in Afghanistan, CTV has learned.
Insiders told CTV that Harper wants to take the partisanship out of the Afghanistan mission that has divided the country, especially as the death toll has risen over the past two years.
The panel will come up with options on the role Canada should play in the war-torn nation after the combat mission ends in February 2009.
The panel of high-profile Canadians is expected to include:
* Former Liberal deputy prime minister John Manley
* Derek Burney, Canada's former ambassador to Washington and former chief of staff to Brian Mulroney
* Respected broadcaster Pamela Wallin, who was Canadian consul general in New York
* Former Progressive Conservative cabinet minister Jake Epp
* Paul Tellier, former Clerk of the Privy Council and former president and CEO of Canadian National Railway and Bombardier
The panel may consider whether to withdraw or significantly reduce combat troops and replace them with CF-18 fighter jets at Kandahar airfield as the French are doing.
Other options would be for Canadian troops to solely train the Afghan army or play a role in aid and reconstruction.
Liberal defence critic Denis Coderre, who has accused the Conservative government of ignoring his requests to join an official tour of Afghanistan, recently visited Kandahar on an unauthorized visit.
The Conservatives have accused Coderre of staging a stunt, while the Liberal MP accuses the government of overplaying successes in Afghanistan.
During his visit, Coderre reinforced his party's position that Canada's Afghan combat mission must come to an end when the current mandate expires in February 2009. The Liberals have pledged to vote against the Conservative government's plan to extend the mission.
Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier, who also visited the war-ravaged country recently with International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda, said Canada is committed to its mission in Afghanistan and will continue developing the nation.
Afghanistan Prime Minister Hamid Karzai has personally called on Canadians to continue the fight, saying his country will fall back into anarchy if they don't.
With a report from CTV's Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife
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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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Mike Blais
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Yes, very interesting, Gerry. Meanwhile, we get tokenism from the PM and BS about consensus. Appointing people who are clueless about military operations and pretending a war can be sustained without the support of the population is a policy doomed to fail. And you just know who is going to pay the price, eh?
Meanwhile, back in the land of dust...
Taliban chief urges Afghanistan's neighbours to help drive out foreign troops
4 hours ago
KABUL, Afghanistan - Fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Omar called on Afghanistan's neighbours to help his militants oust the government of President Hamid Karzai and force foreign troops out of the country.
Omar's message - the authenticity of which couldn't be immediately confirmed - said "neighbours should help Afghans drive western forces from Afghanistan as they helped them during the Soviet Union invasion."
"They should abandon any kind of support and understand that they (western forces) are a danger to the whole region," said Omar's statement, posted on a website that previously carried militant messages.
It was unclear when it was posted, though it included greetings for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which is expected to start Saturday.
Afghanistan is going through its most violent period since the Taliban's ouster in the U.S.-led invasion in 2001. More than 5,100 people - mostly militants - have died in insurgency-related violence so far this year.
The Taliban often compare their struggle to the war against the Soviet Union's occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s, when neighbouring Pakistan and Iran - helped by the United States and Saudi Arabia - armed the anti-communist mujahedeen.
Some observers accuse rogue elements in Pakistan's security forces of supporting today's Afghan rebels, and U.S. officials recently raised the alarm about Iranian weapons reaching the Taliban.
Islamabad and Tehran deny any involvement.
Karzai has offered peace talks with the militants and even positions in the government. But the Taliban and warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, leader of the militant group Hezb-i-Islami, have rejected the overtures, saying international troops must first leave the country.
In his Internet statement, Omar said Karzai's offers were the result of the Taliban's resilience on the battlefield. He said western forces should end "satanic" policies, including air strikes that kill civilians, and withdraw.
But he also called on his fighters to be mindful of civilians during combat, suggesting the bloodshed is sapping support also for the militants among ordinary Afghans.
Insurgents often launch attacks from civilian homes and a constant stream of suicide attacks are killing far more civilians than Afghan or foreign troops.
About 2,500 Canadian troops are serving in Afghanistan. The bulk are based in Kandahar province, which shares a border with Pakistan. Seventy-one Canadian soldiers have died since 2002.
Omar went into hiding after a U.S.-led invasion toppled his Taliban regime in Afghanistan six-years ago. Afghan officials have said he is hiding in the Pakistani city of Quetta. Pakistan says he is in 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!
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Mike Blais
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Extension yes, removal of caveats.... NO
Germany approves extension of Afghan mission
Associated Press
October 12, 2007 at 7:56 AM EDT
BERLIN — Germany's lower house of parliament Friday overwhelmingly approved extending the deployment of 3,000 troops and six reconnaissance jets in Afghanistan for another year, despite mounting public skepticism about the mission.
The vote in the 613-seat Bundestag — 454-79 with 48 abstentions — was the final step needed to extend the mission.
Public opinion polls recently indicated most Germans want the troops to come home following attacks on German forces and kidnappings of German citizens there.
But Chancellor Angela Merkel's government had pressed for a renewal, saying to pull out now would open the door to a possible return of the Taliban regime ousted in 2001 and endanger years of progress in rebuilding the country.
Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, a left-wing Social Democrat, said during the Bundestag debate that troops were needed to support rebuilding schools so that Afghan children, especially girls who were banned from schools by the Taliban, had a chance to get an education.
“This is real development that we are moving forward with,” Ms. Wieczorek-Zeul said. “Seventy per cent of the population is under 25 and we want, through building up of the educational system and above all through elementary education, to give children and youth — and precisely girls — the chance to go to school.”
The all-weather jets from the Luftwaffe's Tactical Reconnaissance Wing 51 “Immelmann,” supported by 280 personnel, are based near Mazar-e-Sharif in northern Afghanistan and can provide faster, farther-ranging photographic information to assist security forces on the ground than can unpiloted drones, according to the German air force.
Most of the 2,800 German ground troops are in the north of the country as part of the International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF. Germany has resisted any suggestion they should take part in the heavier fighting in the south of the country.
The head of the Social Democrats' parliamentary faction, former Defence Minister Peter Struck, said the mission had already been a success and the situation in the north had become “much more stable.” At the same time he warned the mission could remain in place for another decade.
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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
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