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Topic: Afghanistan, 3rd Bn, R22R, Part Duex... (Read 4670 times)
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Mike Blais
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A ROYAL CANADIAN "NEVER PASSES A FAULT"
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More Bizaro...
Taliban militants in Pakistan declare cease-fire
ISHTIAQ MAHSUD AND ROBERT H. REID
The Associated Press
February 6, 2008 at 4:13 PM EST
Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan — Taliban militants declared a cease-fire Wednesday in fighting with Pakistani forces, and the government said it was preparing for peace talks with al-Qaeda-linked extremists in the lawless tribal area near the border with Afghanistan.
Any deal that allows armed Islamic extremists to operate on Pakistani soil would run counter to U.S. demands for the government to crack down on militants. The Bush administration contends a failed truce last year allowed al-Qaeda to expand its reach into this turbulent, nuclear-armed country, and the U.S. has sounded warnings in recent days about a revival of militant strength.
A spokesman for Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, a militant umbrella group, said the new cease-fire would include not only the tribal belt along the Afghan border but also the restive Swat region to the east where the army has also battled pro-Taliban fighters.
Tehrik-e-Taliban is led by Baitullah Mehsud, an al-Qaeda-linked commander based in South Waziristan whom President Pervez Musharraf's government has blamed for a series of suicide attacks across Pakistan, including the Dec. 27 assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.
The government has repeatedly tried to strike peace deals with local pro-Taliban militants, urging them to expel foreign al-Qaeda militants the U.S. has warned may use their sanctuary inside Pakistan's tribal regions to plot terror attacks around the globe.
If a cease-fire sticks and militants halt attacks, it could boost Mr. Musharraf's popularity as his political allies prepare for crucial Feb. 18 parliamentary elections.
But the negotiation strategy, has mostly backfired in the past, with militants failing to honour agreements. A cease-fire in North Waziristan in September 2006, which collapsed in July, was widely seen as a setback in the war against terror, giving the Taliban and al-Qaeda a freer hand to stage cross-border attacks into Afghanistan and extend their control of areas within Pakistan.
In Washington, the State Department signalled it would oppose any agreement that resembled the last truce.
“I think everyone understands, including President Musharraf, that that agreement with tribal leaders did not in fact produce the results that everyone, including President Musharraf, had intended,” deputy spokesman Tom Casey told reporters.
“We would certainly want to see that any arrangement made was effective at pursuing President Musharraf's goal and pursuing our goal, which is being able to defend against these kinds of extremist groups,” he said. “We want to see an agreement that is effective; the last agreement was not effective by President Musharraf's own admission.”
Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a report submitted Wednesday to Congress that the next attack on the United States will most likely be launched by al-Qaeda operating in those “under-governed regions” of Pakistan.
Mike Vickers, assistant secretary of defence for special operations, told reporters Wednesday the volatile border area “remains a source of sanctuary for the al-Qaeda senior leadership.”
Vickers gave the Pakistani military high marks for keeping al-Qaeda in check in Pakistan's cities and other “settled” locations.
“They have been less effective in the tribal areas of western Pakistan, and that's the problem we face right now,” he said. “They have suffered large numbers of casualties in military operations.”
As the cease-fire was declared, the army announced that eight soldiers — including three generals — were killed Wednesday when their U.S.-supplied Bell 411 helicopter crashed in South Waziristan. Maj.-Gen. Athar Abbas, the military spokesman, said it appeared the crash was due to technical problems and not hostile fire.
On Tuesday, U.S. intelligence chief Mike McConnell told a Senate hearing the tribal areas have provided al-Qaeda with a safe haven similar to what it enjoyed in Afghanistan before the U.S.-led war on terror began in 2001.
Thousands of civilians have been displaced by the fighting in the border region, and many are sheltering in open areas in the towns of Dera Ismail Khan and Tank, just outside South Waziristan, during a bitter winter.
Ismail Khan, a journalist who reports on the border area for the newspaper Dawn, said both sides appeared to be respecting the truce. But he said the military's apparent decision to halt its operation against militants in South Waziristan raised questions about Pakistan's strategy in dealing with the Taliban.
“Why did the government launch the military operation and then abandon it half way through without achieving its objective?” Mr. Khan told Dawn News TV. “It boggles the mind.”
Maulvi Mohammed Umar, a spokesman for the Tehrik-e-Taliban militants, told The Associated Press the cease-fire was “for an indefinite period,” and was the “result of our talks with the government.”
Maj.-Gen. Abbas denied knowledge of any talks, but said militants in South Waziristan had stopped shooting at security forces for the past two days and had withdrawn somewhat from positions in the area.
However, Interior Minister Hamid Nawaz said the government would soon form a jirga, or tribal council of influential figures, “for a dialogue with the militants.” He claimed security forces had “broken the back” of Mr. Mehsud's fighters.
A truce, even if short-lived, may help authorities maintain order during the crucial Feb. 18 elections aimed at restoring civilian government after eight years of military rule. The balloting was postponed for six weeks after Ms. Bhutto was assassinated in a bombing and gun attack during a campaign rally in Rawalpindi.
In January, Mehsud fighters launched a series of assaults on military bases in South Waziristan, underscoring the government's weak grip on the region U.S. officials say is a safe haven for al-Qaeda.
Last week, a U.S. missile strike killed Abu Laith al-Libi, a top al-Qaeda commander, in neighbouring North Waziristan.
U.S. officials have said they believe Osama bin Laden is hiding in the border region, a finding the Pakistanis dispute.
Pakistan's government said Wednesday it remained committed to the fight against Islamic extremism. Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammed Sadiq told reporters that Pakistan had already made “more sacrifices than any other country” in the war against Islamic terrorism.
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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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Maybe that decrease in ambushes was due in fact that the vandoos modified roll dictated the troops merely conceded the area to the wackos and only showed up once a month on routine patrols? Regardless, now that the Anglo regiments have returned, the role has once again changed to the offensive. What a surprise, eh lads?
Canadians 'winning' in Kandahar, general says
Detailed assessment by top commander shows decrease in ambushes in key districts
GRAEME SMITH
From Monday's Globe and Mail
February 11, 2008 at 4:51 AM EST
KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN — Secret military statistics show that Taliban attacks have decreased in Kandahar's core districts in the past year, illustrating the success of Canada's new strategy of pulling back its troops into the heart of the province, a top military commander says.
Insurgent ambushes have fallen in four of Kandahar's 17 districts as the latest rotation of troops has focused on protecting the vital zone around the provincial capital, said Lieutenant-General Michel Gauthier, although he did not give specific numbers.
The assertion that Canadian forces have created a bright spot amid the darkening security picture in southern Afghanistan represents the military's first detailed response to several academic reports in recent months that have described NATO as losing the war.
Gen. Gauthier, commander of all Canadian forces overseas, invited reporters for an unusually open discussion in Kandahar during the weekend, taking questions for nearly an hour in an attempt to show that his troops are making progress.
"In relation to where we're focused, I think we are winning," he said.
Geographic focus was a key part of the general's assessment. While saying that security has improved in the districts of Panjwai, Zhari, Spin Boldak and Kandahar city, he repeatedly declined to comment about the provincial situation as a whole.
Canada assumed the lead responsibility for Kandahar's security at the beginning of 2006, patrolling to the furthest reaches of the province, but it proved a bigger task than military planners had expected.
Hundreds of Taliban fighters pushed against the western edge of Kandahar city that summer, forcing the Canadians to devote their entire combat strength to a bloody defence of the city.
The Canadians had regained sufficient control of the districts around the city by the spring of 2007 that commanders proudly announced they had resumed patrols across much of the province's 55,000 square kilometres.
But control of the central districts once again looked shaky by the summer of 2007, as Taliban overran police outposts, and Gen. Gauthier said with the latest rotation of soldiers, mostly from Quebec, the decision was made in August to focus on a few central areas.
That decision was partly aimed at "managing risk" of casualties among the Canadian troops, he said, but was also intended to protect the districts where 75 per cent of the province's population lives.
"Afghans will be better off, in those areas where we're focused," Gen. Gauthier said. "You can only do so much with the troops that you have. You've got to make those tough decisions. You've got to take Kandahar and bite it off, one bite at a time, and that's effectively what we've done here."
In places just beyond the Canadians' zone of control, the Taliban have established a parallel court system, enforced curfews, and mounted road checkpoints.
But Gen. Gauthier described his troops in a dilemma similar to that faced by a hospital triage nurse, deciding which patients require the most urgent attention: "You have to prioritize," he said.
Gen. Gauthier has served as the guiding hand behind the Afghan mission for the past two years, leading Canadian Expeditionary Force Command. Previously the head of military intelligence, and now making his 20th visit to Afghanistan, he described himself as one of the officers who can speak with the most authority on Canada's military progress.
But his optimism contradicts the prevailing view of Kandahar's security.
Canadian Major-General Marc Lessard, the new commander of North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces in the south, said last week that violent incidents in the six southern provinces have increased 50 per cent in the past year.
Among those southern provinces, Kandahar does not enjoy a reputation for better security. In fact, it stood out in a private consultant's report as Afghanistan's most violent province in 2007.
Vigilant Strategic Services Afghanistan (VSSA) counted 1,120 violent incidents in Kandahar during the past year, compared with 363 in neighbouring Helmand province and 105 in Uruzgan province during the same period.
Kandahar continues to be exceptionally troublesome this year, as the VSSA numbers for the first four weeks of 2008 showed a greater number of insurgent-related attacks in Kandahar - 43 incidents - than in any other province.
Along with looking at the level of violence, Gen. Gauthier also suggested that his troops have carved out a foothold for reconstruction and development in Kandahar. But a journalist pointed out that many aid agencies have withdrawn their non-essential staff from Kandahar in recent weeks, fearing a rise in Taliban activity.
"Right," the commander replied. "And I suppose we need to find a way to deal with the perception issue, because it's all about perception."
He did concede that the Canadians were mistaken in their reliance on hastily trained Afghan police. The Afghan National Auxiliary Police (ANAP) were given 10 days' training and assigned to outposts in Panjwai district after Canadian soldiers cleared insurgents from the area last winter.
"There was an expectation that ... that would contribute positively to the security environment, and it didn't," Gen. Gauthier said. "For the most part, it didn't."
The most recent rotation of Canadian troops has recaptured the outposts lost by ANAP last year. The new Afghan forces guarding those positions have a stronger system of Canadian mentors, he said, and it's unlikely that the Taliban will retake the outposts when the heaviest part of the fighting season starts in late May.
"Now, we have police in the same places," Gen. Gauthier said. "They're there, and they haven't come under serious attack, and the question will be, where are they in the May-to-September time frame?"
This year will likely see a decrease in violence in the districts where Canadian forces are concentrated, he added. He did not make predictions about the rest of Kandahar province.
"There is a finish line somewhere down the road," he said. "We are moving toward that finish line."
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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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Four arrests after blast behind Canadian convoy
Updated Mon. Feb. 11 2008 9:32 AM ET
The Canadian Press
SHA WALI KOT, Afghanistan -- Four Afghans have been detained after a roadside bomb was detonated shortly after a Canadian convoy passed by.
The blast happened minutes after a high-level contingent of Canadian, American and British officials arrived at a community meeting in the district of Sha Wali Kot, 25 kilometres north of Kandahar City.
They were there to discuss security issues with community elders and none were injured in the explosion.
Officials say local villagers flagged down Afghan police and pointed out the bomb shortly before it detonated.
Afghan police gave chase to men running away from the scene and arrested them after a brief skirmish inside a local house.
Police say at least one man's hands tested positive for explosives and all four will be sent to prison in Kandahar city for further investigation.
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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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Bomb misses Canadian convoy, becomes crux of aid talks with Afghan elders
2 hours ago
SHA WALI KOT, Afghanistan - Four Afghans were detained Monday after a roadside bomb exploded behind a Canadian convoy shortly before a high-level meeting to discuss security concerns in southern Afghanistan.
Canadian, American and British forces were on their way to a community meeting, or shura, with elders from the Sha Wali Kot district, 25 kilometres north of Kandahar City, when the bomb went off around 10 a.m.
The Canadian convoy had just passed the blast site when local villagers alerted coming American troops and Afghan security forces to the improvised explosive device.
The number of civilians injured in the ensuing blast was reported to be between two and four, and they were treated on scene by American troops.
No coalition troops were injured.
While the villagers who reported the bomb were praised at the meeting, the suspects were paraded past startled elders and into a room with Kandahar Gov. Asadullah Khalid, who had travelled from Kandahar city to attend the meeting.
"I wanted them brought before me so ... I could see if they were innocent people," said Khalid, who has been accused in the past of allegedly torturing suspected insurgents - allegations he denied in a recent interview.
A report from his office earlier Monday suggested the blast could have been an attempt on the governor's life, but he did not arrive at the scene until about an hour after the explosion.
After the bomb went off, Afghan police gave chase to the men running from the scene and found them hiding in a nearby house.
District police chief Haji Daroo Khan said the four were arrested after a brief fight, and at least one man's hands tested positive for explosives.
During the meeting, the men were detained in rooms in the same compound.
"They will be investigated, by us and with the coalition soldiers," Khan said through an interpreter.
The men were expected to be brought to a prison in Kandahar city.
An Afghan soldier alleged the men had been paid by the Taliban to plant the bomb, saying the four were all from the area and there hadn't been an improvised explosive device attack there for more than two months.
Canadian soldiers have been building a new forward operating base in the district and in recent weeks have been conducting regular patrols alongside the Gurkhas - a Nepalese contingent of the British army - and Afghan security troops.
All said they have encountered little resistance from insurgents since earlier in January.
Local elders expressed frustration at the bomb blast.
"(Coalition forces) come here to help you and you plant a bomb," Imam Khakrm Zawal, a leader of the Alikozai tribe in the area, told the gathering.
"You cannot get schools, you cannot get development if you allow these things to happen."
Though his remarks were forceful to the assembly, Zawal later complained that foreign forces have not been able to do anything to help his community.
"The men in uniforms, they lie," he said. "They say things will happen but they never do."
Canadian soldiers who spoke at the shura asked locals for their continued support.
"The coalition forces, the Afghan security forces, the army and the police do not have enough men to secure the whole area," said Col. Christian Juneau, deputy commander of Task Force Afghanistan.
"That's why it is so important that every one of you get involved in the security aspect and takes the security of Sha Wali Kot into your own hands."
Though shuras are often a chance for community members to voice their concerns, only the leadership spoke on Monday. They all focused their remarks on the need for continuing security in order to get more development for the region.
Development projects have been slow to come to the area, which is near the Arghandab river and saw heavy fighting at the end of last summer.
But on Monday, Khalid promised 14 new projects for the area, focusing on roads and culverts.
"If there is insecurity, we can do nothing for you," Khalid said.
"An IED attack is not against Canadians, or Americans, or British - they are helping us out. It only hurts you."
Also in the south on Monday, a militant cleric and two of his children were killed when a bomb he was preparing in his home exploded prematurely.
Mullah Abdul Wasay was tinkering with the explosives at his home Saturday night in Helmand province when they blew up, said provincial police chief Mohammad Hussein Andiwal.
Wasay's wife and daughter were seriously wounded, 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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Mike Blais
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Soldier blasts shoddy gear for troops TheStar.com - Canada - Soldier blasts shoddy gear for troops
Complains equipment ill-suited for combat
February 14, 2008
Sean Gordon
Quebec Bureau Chief
MONTREAL–A Quebec soldier has reignited a lingering controversy with claims the equipment issued to him and his colleagues from the Royal 22nd Regiment is shoddy and ill-suited to the combat mission in Afghanistan.
The Canadian military boasts its soldiers are among the best-equipped in the world, but those claims don't square with the frequent grumbles from the front lines.
Frustrated by what he termed the Canadian Forces' unwillingness to act, Cpl. Daniel Beaulieu took the unusual step of going public, contacting a reporter from the Quebec-based TVA network this week.
"The guys over there are the ones with their boots in the sand, they're the ones who know whether a vest or a holster or whatever is well-adapted or not ... and if you ask me, no one's bothered to listen to them," said Beaulieu, an 11-year veteran of the Forces who returned from his second military tour in Afghanistan two weeks ago.
Tactical vests issued to infantry soldiers are substandard and don't have enough pockets to carry spare ammunition, Beaulieu said, adding that holsters for side arms are so poorly designed weapons routinely slide out – a major problem given soldiers' pistols are often loaded.
Boots that bite into soldiers' feet on long marches are also a problem, he said.
"I don't know if we can say this has cost lives, but (the equipment) certainly hasn't helped," he said.
Beaulieu's comments provided ample fodder for opposition parties in Ottawa.
Liberal defence critic Denis Coderre (Bourassa) said the complaints are not new, and called on the government to protect Beaulieu from reprisals – he is said to be under internal investigation for speaking publicly.
Bloc Québécois MP Claude Bachand (Saint-Jean) told the Commons "soldiers' safety is being compromised" by subpar equipment.
Defence Minister Peter MacKay replied that soldiers' input is routinely sought and that "we are constantly in the process of upgrading equipment ... we continue to do our best to provide the best equipment in the world for our soldiers."
Beaulieu's complaints were enough to prompt military officials to hold an impromptu briefing at an Ottawa barracks yesterday.
"Can we provide equipment that will please everybody all the time? No.
``Is (the equipment) accepted by the vast majority? Yes. Does it do the business? I'd say what we provide is some of the finest equipment you'll find anywhere in the world," Col. Jean-Marc Lanthier, the forces' chief supply officer, told reporters.
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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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Afghan convoy shooting incident triggers probe
Updated Sat. Feb. 16 2008 9:47 AM ET
The Canadian Press
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- The military has launched an investigation into allegations an Afghan civilian was injured early today after a shot was fired by Canadian soldiers.
The incident happened after a car came too close to a convoy leaving the Kandahar Provincial Reconstruction Team base.
Soldiers had warned the car to stop and fired a warning shot.
No one was reported injured at the scene, but hours later Canadians were informed by Afghan forces that a bystander claimed to have been hurt.
Coalition troops run regular advertising campaigns aimed at keeping Afghans away from military vehicles.
Last week, a passenger in a car that failed to stop for a convoy was injured after Canadian troops opened fire.
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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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Dog Fights?
More than 55 killed in Kandahar blast
Brian Hutchinson , Canwest News Service
Published: Sunday, February 17, 2008
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- A suicide bombing in the Arghandab district north of Kandahar city Sunday morning killed at least 55 Afghan civilians and left another 80 wounded, many critically, according to official sources here.
It is by far the worst single day of bloodshed for civilians in Kandahar province since Canadian forces deployed here early in 2006, and appears to be the worst in all of Afghanistan since the Taliban were removed from power in 2001.
The blast occurred at 10 a.m. local time, at a traditional dog fighting festival in the village of Baghi Polmanda. Some 5,000 people had formed a large circle outdoors to watch the dog fights.
Abdul Hakim Jan, a senior Afghan National Auxiliary Police commander, was participating in the festival and had just released one of his fighting dogs into the ring when a suicide bomber approached and detonated his explosives, witnesses say.
Jan was long despised by the Taliban. He opposed their authoritarian rule in the late 1990s, even as he served as a provincial police chief.
There are unconfirmed that other police officers were killed by the suicide bomber. No Canadian casualties have been reported.
Dozens of corpses and the wounded were taken to Mirwais Hospital in Kandahar city, about 12 kilometres south of the carnage. An attending doctor said that several of the wounded are in comas.
More wounded civilians were rushed to hospitals at Kandahar Air Field. Doctors and nurses scrambled outside medical facilities, carrying stretchers bearing bloodied victims and lugging medical supplies.
Radio and television stations in Kandahar city are broadcasting emergency announcements, asking local people to donate blood at Mirwais Hospital and at medical clinics.
Witnesses interviewed at Baghi Polmanda said they believed the official death tally was low, that at least 100 people were killed; relatives took some of the corpses away immediately, they added.
An hour after the attack, shocked survivors still milled about the festival area. Many said they were looking for loved ones and friends.
Body parts were strewn about the area and blood covered the ground, sources told Canwest. Partial remains of the suicide bomber's head were kicked into the Arghandab River, beside the festival site.
Asadullah Khalid, the influential governor of Kandahar province, called an emergency press conference with local reporters and condemned today's violent attack.
In an emotional address, the governor said the bombing was the action of an "enemy of our country."
The Arghandab district saw several days of heavy fighting between Canadian troops and Taliban insurgents in October.
In an effort to make the area more secure, the Canadian military is building a forward operating base close to the village of Shahwali Kot, just north of Arghandab village, where the attack Sunday took place and where Afghan police have a command centre.
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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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February 17, 2008
Wounded warriors
Since the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq began, this expansive U.S. military hospital has become a crossroad between lifeand death for soldiers frommany nations
By KATHLEEN HARRIS, NATIONAL BUREAU
LANDSTUHL, Germany -- Every day, they arrive by the busload -- broken, bandaged and bloodied from war.
They are American, Canadian and from many other nations -- "wounded warriors" delivered from Iraq and Afghanistan with blown-off limbs, severe burns and battle fatigue.
Some arrive fresh from conflict with blood still on their boots. Some come with less visible injuries, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, chronic back pain or severe headaches. Others need medical treatment or tests they can't get in the field.
When Canadian soldiers are injured in combat, they are evacuated here to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, a sprawling, fast-paced American military hospital that is the biggest medical facility outside the U.S. For Canadian troops, it is the gateway between Kandahar and Canada, and a crossroads between the brink of death and life.
Shell-shocked troops confront the grim reality of a future as an amputee, or grapple with the guilt of survival as their comrades return to Canada in flag-draped caskets.
Since the war on terror spawned two major conflict zones, Landstuhl's story has become one of the brutality of war, of survival, and of resilience.
"Here, they get a fighting chance to live -- a fighting chance to get back home," says Capt. Colin Muise, a Canadian Forces nurse working as a liaison officer at the hospital. "To be able to get them back to live reasonably productive lives at home in Canada is pretty amazing."
At 1:39 p.m., a cluster of hospital staff begins to assemble. An alert has gone out of the "wheels down" of a medical evacuation plane at the nearby Ramstein air force base. In roughly 34 minutes, the seamless transfer of 21 patients will unfold: From the C-17 in theatre, to ambulatory bus, to hospital. A "muscle" team -- which always includes a chaplain -- dons blue plastic gloves and prepares to unload a parade of gurneys at Landstuhl.
"I welcome him by first name and offer words of comfort," says CF Capt. Patrick Lublink, a chaplain who is the first to greet a Canadian soldier arriving by stretcher from the combat zone. "I tell him: 'Your job is done for the moment. You are safe here. Be calm.' Even if they are sedated I still speak to them -- we never know what they'll hear. The tone of voice, the French language. That might touch them, I don't know."
When the patient is not in a deep coma or heavily medicated, they are often reeling in pain or shock. But Lublink believes the familiar signs of his Canadian green combat gear and a Maple Leaf flag on his arm provide at least some comfort in these darkest minutes and hours.
The average patient will stay at Landstuhl eight days. Sapper Mike McTeague teetered between life and death here for 10.
At age 20, he was rushed here in September 2006 with shattered bones on both legs and a bowel ripped open by shrapnel after a bomber detonated himself just metres away on his village foot patrol.
Spells of unconsciousness and heavy doses of morphine have blurred most recollection of McTeague's time in Germany. Yet he still sees Landstuhl as the portal where remarkable surgery and top-notch staff pulled him back from the edge of death.
"They reconstructed part of me. They definitely saved my life," he says. "I either wouldn't be alive or I wouldn't have recovered as well."
McTeague now works a desk job for the military in Toronto.
When Lublink speaks with survivors, he must sometimes pass on the grave news of comrades who didn't make it.
"They cry, and it's normal," he said. "I find it's amazing that they can be so injured, yet the first words out of their mouth are to ask not about themselves, but about their buddies."
Seared in his memory is one young Canadian, heavily bandaged and unable to speak, who scratched out a message after learning of a fallen comrade .
"It said, 'I'm single. The sergeant was married with two kids,'" Lublink recalls. "I understood exactly what he was saying. It was this sense of guilt that he had stayed behind when the man with family was gone."
Lublink is haunted by the agony of woman whose soldier husband battled but succumbed to burns that ravaged 90% of his body.
"You're helpless. You can be with her and hold her hand. I can pray with her, reassure her and spend all day with her. But she is facing a death and asking, 'What am I going to do? That is the most difficult," he says.
Whether they are Christian, Jewish or Muslim, Lublink encourages the wounded and their loved ones to cling to their faith. For those who don't pray to a God, he suggests they put their trust in the excellent doctors and nurses at Landstuhl.
Surrounded by the daily impact of war, weapons, killing and suffering, Lublink is forced to continually ponder the worst of mankind. But it also allows him to see its best -- the doctors, nurses and volunteers tirelessly working to help the sick and injured troops they view as "heroes."
Part of Lublink's job is also to administer donations to wounded soldiers, who usually arrive with nothing but the clothes on their back. Displaying boxes and racks of toiletries and clothing in the Chaplain's Closet, he becomes emotional sifting through a box marked "Single Shoes."
Each piece of unmatched footwear represents a soldier who has lost a leg. They keep the odd shoes for the next who will lose the opposite leg.
About 200 Canadians have passed through Landstuhl since the mission began, usually for stabilization before they are returned to Canada or to the base in Kandahar.
Unlike conflicts of the past, not many arrive with bullets to the chest or head; more come now with shrapnel wounds and raw, ragged limb amputations from hidden mines and "improvised explosive devices."
"As the Taliban or insurgents change their tactics we get different types of injury," says Dr. Marc Dauphin, a Quebec physician now working in Landstuhl.
After receiving medical training through the Canadian military, he remained as a reservist as he worked in the civilian hospital system. Now 55, he has returned to serve with his "brothers in arms."
He supervises the care of all Canadian patients, including requirements for specialists, the transition of care back home, and air evacuation. For wounded soldiers, safe travel home to Canada depends on intricate measures of physiology, vibrations and oxygen.
Better protective equipment, more comprehensive training and medi-technological advancements mean far more soldiers survive today than would have in past wars. The so-called "golden hour" -- the critical wedge between life and potential death -- has been substantially prolonged.
"Most soldiers today are treated by their buddies in the field in the first minutes -- and they save lives," Dauphin says.
That bond stretches from the battlefield to this hospital, where everyone helps to lend a hand. He has watched high-ranking colonels take a handle to lift a stretcher from a bus.
He holds his deepest honour for those injured in battle.
"Many of them are maimed for life, yet they have this extraordinary resilience," he says. "I'm a cynical old fellow, but I was surprised by the spirit of the soldiers. They're pos | | | |
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