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Topic: Afghanistan - 3rd Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment - 08-09 (Read 5206 times)
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Mike Blais
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A ROYAL CANADIAN "NEVER PASSES A FAULT"
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Three NATO-led soldiers killed in Afghanistan
Jonathon Burch , Reuters
Published: Tuesday, October 14, 2008
KABUL (Reuters) - Three soldiers from the NATO-led force were killed by a roadside bomb in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, the alliance said.
Despite a slight drop in militant activity during Ramadan last month, violence in Afghanistan is running at its highest rate since the U.S.-led invasion to wrest control from the militant Islamist Taliban movement in 2001.
The United Nations says more than 3,800 people, a third of them civilians, were killed in the first seven months of this year.
Western forces are suffering the highest casualties since their mission began, with the re-emboldened Taliban exacting a heavy toll and extending the territory it controls daily.
More than 240 foreign soldiers have died this year, and casualties are running at around the same rate as in Iraq, which has twice the number of forces fighting there.
The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) did not give the nationality of the dead soldiers, though most of the forces operating in that area are American.
In other incidents of violence, unidentified gunmen shot dead a government official in Kandahar in southern Afghanistan and a roadside bomb killed nine civilians in a mini-bus in neighboring Uruzgan province, local officials said.
Dost Mohammad Arghestani, head of the social affairs department in Kandahar province, was killed on his way to work on Tuesday morning by two gunmen on a motorbike.
Kandahar is one of the main strongholds for Taliban Islamist insurgents, but drug smugglers, criminals and some tribal rivalries have also contributed to violence.
U.S.-led soldiers killed five militants in an operation targeting a network for foreign fighters in Ghazni province, southwest of Kabul, on Monday, the U.S. military said.
A Nepali cook for ISAF was kidnapped along with six Afghan colleagues in western Herat.
Four were later released, but local Taliban commander Ghulam Yahya Siwoshani told Reuters the militant group were holding the rest and they were in good health. Siwoshani did not say why they were keeping the men and did not make any demands.
Kidnapping has become a lucrative business in Afghanistan, where dozens of locals and foreigners have been abducted by criminals or Taliban-linked militants.
Taliban insurgents have been behind a number of kidnappings Some victims have been killed but most were released unharmed.
(Reporting by Ismail Sameem in Kandahar and Sharafuddin Sharafyar in Herat; Editing by Sean Maguire and Jeremy Laurence)[b][/b]
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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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Insurgents assassinate another senior Afghan official
Tom Blackwell
Canwest News Service
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Kandahar, Afghanistan - Another senior government official was shot dead in Kandahar city Tuesday, fuelling a new climate of fear in the troubled area as Taliban assassins increasingly target Afghans linked to the government and foreign organizations.
The murder of Dost Mohammad Arghestani, head of a department that aids widows and other victims of war, came barely two weeks after the almost identical daylight slaying of Kandahar's top female police officer.
The city's war-weary residents figure the victims of bomb blasts are simply unlucky, winding up in the wrong place at the wrong time, said a security expert with an international agency. This is different, he said.
"Assassination cases are having more negative impact than any IED attack," said the official, who asked not to be named. "People are really worried . . . If targeted killings start, it puts everyone to thinking 'I might be next.' Morale is getting worse"
One local businessman said foreign nations such as Canada - the NATO country responsible for Kandahar province - need to do more to prepare police for combating such dangers.
Arghestani was leaving for work in his car when two men on a motorcycle opened fire, killing him and his driver and wounding his bodyguard, said Zalmai Ayobi, a spokesman for the provincial governor. Malalai Kakar, the country's most famous policewoman, was murdered in much the same manner on Sept. 28.
As occurred with the death of Kakar, the Taliban claimed responsibility for Arghestani's killing.
"We did this action and we will carry on with more assassination attempts against officials, against those who work with foreign institutions," said Yousuf Ahmadi, the insurgents' self-described spokesman. "They are the enemy."
Gen. Denis Thompson, who heads the Canadian military mission in Kandahar, and Elissa Golberg, Canada's civilian representative in the province, issued a rare joint statement condemning the attack.
"This reprehensible act clearly demonstrates the insurgents' contempt for the people of Afghanistan," they said. "The brave citizens of Kandahar province will not be shaken by these futile attempts to undermine the progress being made toward peace, security and development."
But some locals see the new campaign as anything but futile on the part of the Taliban, saying it is beginning to breed panic. Mohammad Naseem, a local businessman, called it a calculated attempt to rid Kandahar city of its educated class, leaving behind residents who can be more easily swayed or frightened.
"It not only creates fear within the community, it also brain drains the area, and that's what the enemy wants," he said in an interview. "They are scaring those people away and those are the kinds of people the community needs."
And while the killings of high-profile figures like Arghestani and Kakar make headlines, lower-level officials, teachers and interpreters are assassinated "every day," said Mohammad.
Canada does have a team of RCMP officers that helps train and mentor Afghan National Police. But the businessman said NATO should do much more to teach and equip police officers and boost their meagre salaries, so they are better able to repel the insurgent threat.
In the meantime, many Kandaharis are asking a tough question, said the security expert: "If the head of a department in a vehicle with a body guard cannot be protected, how can they protect an interpreter or other worker at a lower level?"
National Post
tblackwell@nationalpost.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!
Pro Patria
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Mike Blais
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A ROYAL CANADIAN "NEVER PASSES A FAULT"
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Injured Windsor soldier coming home Wednesday
Doug Schmidt, The Windsor Star
Published: Monday, October 13, 2008
A Windsor soldier seriously injured in a roadside bomb attack in Afghanistan Oct. 5 has sufficiently recovered that the Canadian military is airlifting him into Windsor on Wednesday so he can continue his recovery at home.
"He's a strong kid, but I think he's ready to see some family," Dana Gobbato said of her younger brother Cpl. Michael Farrah.
Farrah, 23, was on a routine mission west of Kandahar City and was the driver of a light-armoured vehicle that hit an improvised explosive device which detonated right under his spot in the LAV III. Gobbato said the family has since learned that Farrah was injured when "a large piece of metal flew up under his helmet ... and impacted his skull."
Farrah, a member of CFB Petawawa-based 1st Battalion Royal Canadian Regiment, remained unconscious for 20 minutes and was airlifted to the Canadian-run Role 3 multinational medical facility at Kandahar Airfield, where he underwent two hours of surgery for a fractured skull. Gobbato said her brother remains on a liquid diet due to additional facial injuries that occurred when the force of the explosion rammed his heavy armoured vest against his jaw.
After follow-up treatment at a military medical facility in Germany, Farrah, who had just begun his second Afghan tour, arrives at Windsor Airport at 7:25 p.m. on Wednesday. His next Windsor stop will be Hotel-Dieu Grace Hospital for an initial assessment, but Gobbato said the family hopes he will be quickly released to return to their parents' home in Lakeshore.
"We're feeling a lot better about where he's at," Gobbato said about her brother's improving condition.
While his "motor skills are there," Gobbato said Farrah is suffering constant headaches and usually only sleeps an hour at a time because of the pain. She said he's lost partial sensation on the left side of his face and on his left arm but that it's improving. His skull was fractured on the right side, and Gobbato said there's "a definite chance" he may need future surgery to have a plate installed.
© The Windsor Star 2008
COMMENTS ON THIS STORY
Harry Manback
Mon, Oct 13, 08 at 11:30 PM
The war will never be won over there; the top british commander admitted this. You people who support the troops don't understand that it was the USA/western world that created the taliban in the 1980s to fight the USSR. Now this is what they call "blow back." Wake up sheeple because your kids are dying over there and you are paying taxes to fight endless wars.
Karl
Tue, Oct 14, 08 at 07:33 AM
Sounds like a great kid, family and community are justifiably proud, and we are all grateful for his service. Get well soon kid, I have family headed over there as well and it feels good to know we have quality people there doing their job.
Rob
Tue, Oct 14, 08 at 08:10 AM
Thanks for your sacrifice, your heroism and your commitment. God Bless you and your comrades. Speedy recovery.
windsorite
Tue, Oct 14, 08 at 08:45 AM
we continue to pray for your very brave son and your family...God Bless You All !
green cedar
Tue, Oct 14, 08 at 09:11 AM
WELCOME HOME BRAVE MAN  and thank God 4 your recovery,it take time, but thank's to Jesus our Lord also to let your family see you a live!!! and your friend's and the love one,my heart so happy with your family, PRAISE GOD+THE HEAVEN .congrat to your family again:)
DMS
Tue, Oct 14, 08 at 10:32 AM
Welcome home Michael! RHS friends will be relieved and happy for your family. We hope your family's and friend's support will speed your recovery. There is a time and place for everything. Unfortunately Harry Manback has no filter between brain, the posting and the anonymity of the internet. Now is not the time to espouse your lack of understanding of international events and history. You have disappointed yourself yet again. The soldier, his parents and friends could have done without your despicable diatribe over something you obviously know nothing about. But then again, people like Michael, past, present and future have enshrined your democratic right to be despicable in public. Perhaps you should be asking yourself who really should wake up? Could you not have just simply said "welcome home" and continued on with your your own belief and just slunk away?..........think about it.
To Harry Manback
Tue, Oct 14, 08 at 01:02 PM
You sound like a real piece of work Harry, kind of traitorous. If your politics are that you don't believe in doing the right thing globally, then at least support Canadian soldiers put into harms way by their government. Of the 101 positive things written about the great things our young people are doing there you pick on a few small and out of context statements made by a few people. On the other hand you can't actually be Canadian. Otherwise why would you wish ill will toward our soldiers.
bless you.
Tue, Oct 14, 08 at 03:21 PM
It's a silly war and it shouldn't be ours to fight. But you are a hero for what you do, Michael. <3
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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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Taliban attack key Afghan town, 18 dead: Official
Updated Wed. Oct. 15 2008 6:17 AM ET
The Associated Press
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- Taliban militants attacked police checkpoints ringing a key provincial capital in southern Afghanistan for the second time in a week, sparking a battle in which 18 insurgents were killed, an official said Wednesday.
The late Tuesday attack came only two days after hundreds of militants gathered on the horizons of Lashkar Gah for an apparent large-scale assault on the capital of Helmand province. NATO called in fighter aircraft and 60 militants were reported killed.
The second attempt on the capital of the world's largest opium producing region would appear to signal the Taliban's interest in disrupting a major government centre.
Large-scale Taliban attacks on major Afghan towns have been rare since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion, and the latest push on Lashkar Gah could be a worrying development for NATO and U.S.-led troops. Fighting typically takes place in small villages and rural areas.
Tuesday's battle killed 18 militants and wounded three police, said provincial police chief Assadullah Sherzad.
Sherzad said authorities recovered only one militant body and that the others were carried away by fighters. Afghan officials say they rely on intelligence reports to form militant death tolls, but government officials have been known to exaggerate such tolls in past battles.
Insurgency-related violence has killed more than 4,800 people - mostly militants - this year, according to an Associated Press count of figures from Western and Afghan officials.
In a separate incident, six policemen died after a shootout among officers inside a police checkpoint about 20 kilometres north of Lashkar Gah, said Daud Ahmadi, the spokesman for the provincial governor.
"We are investigating how and why this incident happened," Ahmadi said. He provided no other details.
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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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Good read...
Tom Blackwell in Afghanistan: Watching Wedding Crashers in the Taliban's backyard
Posted: October 13, 2008, 2:00 PM by Tom Blackwell
Afghanistan
When you're living in the desert for a week - eating cold rations, sleeping in the dust and facing possible danger around every corner - you take your entertainment where you can find it. Which is why five Canadian soldiers gathered under a makeshift awning next to their light armoured vehicle (LAV) last week to view The Wedding Crashers - on an I-pod. The screen may not have been much bigger than a hockey card, but never has an audience been so appreciative of the Owen Wilson/Vince Vaughn comedy, guffawing insanely at the antics of those quirky - and near-microscopic - characters.
Yes, as I discovered during five days alongside the men of 2-1 platoon, war can be rather droll. When required, of course, the highly trained, brave and gung-ho troops of the Royal Canadian Regiment's third batallion, November company, could do the soldier thing expertly, carrying out a demanding operation around the Afghan village of Nakoney with nary a complaint. In between the action, though, they tried their best to have a good time, whether it was listening to MP3 players, playing video soccer or engaging in the Afghan version of a snowball fight, whipping chunks of dirt at the occupants of the neighbouring LAV. And, above all, there was the relentless repartee: creative insults, off-colour jokes, politically incorrect stories and constant, mutual needling of each other. "We're very witty this morning," observed Master Cpl. Shannon Thornhill after the usual 5 a.m. wake-up call one day. "We must have slept well."
It's not surprising that so many war movies revolve around the members of a platoon: that cohesive unit harbours a wealth of characters. In charge of 2-1 is Lieut. Jeff Lloyd, who at 24 was among the youngest of the group who rode in my LAV, and looked even more youthful. Lieut. Lloyd seems determined to be one of the guys, treating his men more as if they were college roommates than subordinates. When someone wrote "I like men" on a piece of his kit (homoerotic references are a hot source of humour in this crowd) and had the Afghan interpreter do the same in Pashto, he could only laugh. Yet Jeff manages to command respect and obedience. As he ascends the ranks, I'm pretty sure he'll breed much loyalty.
The platoon's unofficial extra member during this six-month tour is Sayed Arif Sharifi, 23, their much-respected interpreter. Hoping one day to emigrate to Canada and study computer science, the doctor's son cannot actually return to his home in Ghazni province because his presence might rain down Taliban reprisals on his family. Sharifi is a big fan of gansta rap.
Then there is Master Cpl. Richard Dixon - known, like every army medic, simply as Doc - who has an irrepressibly funny personality and a laugh like a hyena that is sort of the platoon's unofficial anthem. Yet his experience with treating the casualties of war seems to have made him more preoccupied than the others with the dark side of this business. Cpl. Witold (Vic) Lason is a C-6 machine gunner who spent much of his spare time either watching Family Guy episodes on his I-pod or playing PSP soccer. Master Cpl. Sean Luffman initiated the ongoing prank of writing embarassing (and homoerotic) comments on soldiers' equipment when they were either asleep or not looking. Cpl. Kevin Tong, 25, a towering Vancouver native, nursed a quiet grudge against the platoon's "signaler"; the usual radio operator had broken his leg just before their Afghanistan tour was to start, forcing Tong to shoulder the particularly heavy equipment. Private Mark Andrews, 29, though, had to pick up the burden after Tong badly injured his leg while climbing over a mud wall. Priv. Matt Stoffels, the LAV's driver, somehow managed to stay alert through a hellish 13-hour journey home, helped by Lieut. Lloyd's lively conversaton making. Manning the LAV's 25-mm cannon was the private referred to exclusively as Jack - short for his surname, Giacomelli. I still don't know his first name, but remember his bang-on impersonations of the various officers and NCOs whose sometimes self-important voices would come over the radio.
The army has psychologists, mental health nurses and social workers at the ready in Kandahar. But for now, the soldiers of 2-1 probably don't need professional help to cope with the strain of a war that's already claimed 97 of their colleagues. They have their own therapy.
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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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3 Canadian soldiers wounded in Afghanistan
JESSICA LEEDER
Globe and Mail Update
October 15, 2008 at 2:00 PM EDT
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Three Canadian soldiers were wounded, one critically, while on a routine morning patrol with Afghan troops in the rural Zhari district Wednesday.
The soldiers, whose names are not being released, were members of of the Operational Mentoring and Liason Team, a unit tasked with training soldiers in the Afghan National Army.
No Afghan soldiers were injured in the blast.
Also, an Afghan teenage bystander was accidentally shot in the foot this morning at a military checkpoint in Panjwai district 15 kilometres west of Kandahr City after a warning shot — meant to deter a driver of a car from ignoring orders to stop at the checkpoint — ricocheted and struck him. He was taken to a forward operating base and eventually airlifted for treatment at Kandahar Air Field.
[b][/b]
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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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Three Canadian soldiers wounded in blast during foot patrol in Afghanistan
By THE CANADIAN PRESS
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Three Canadian soldiers have been wounded in an improvised explosive device blast during a foot patrol in a volatile district of Afghanistan west of Kandahar City.
Military spokesman Maj. Jay Janzen says the soldiers have been airlifted to the hospital on the Kandahar Airfield base, where one remains in critical condition and the other two are in fair condition.
Janzen says the explosion occurred today during a so-called ``framework'' patrol _ ``routine, day-to-day patrolling that Afghan National Security Forces, in co-operation with Canadian soldiers, do to maintain security in the area.''
The spokesman says the names of the wounded soldiers will not be released.
They are members of the 3rd Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment, based in Petawawa, Ont.
They were in the area as part of an Operational Mentor and Liaison Team, one of several small groups of Canadian soldiers attached to Afghan National Army units to help guide their development.
No Afghan soldiers were injured in the attack.
The blast occurred around 11:30 a.m. Wednesday in Zhari district, long a hotbed of insurgent activity about 30 kilometres west of Kandahar City.
Last summer, Canadian troops tried to flush the Taliban out when the entire battle group of the Royal 22nd Regiment moved into the region. Three Van Doos died in Zhari during the operation, all from improvised explosive devices.
Canadian forward operating bases in the area have been reporting frequent contact with insurgents this fall, mostly brief skirmishes of the type soldiers refer to as ``shoot and scoot.''
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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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Dangerous mission in a difficult land
Canadian troops are putting their lives on the line, and making a difference for the people of Afghanistan
Sol Rolingher
Freelance
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
KANDAHAR AIR FIELD - It isn't pretty here. There's no vegetation, no colour, nothing to break the monochromatic grey. The heat and the dust are relentless. Yet after a few days the rhythm of this place sets in on you and you begin to function in a way that actually gets things done, even if it is 49 C, and the beds are uncomfortable.
It's because of the people and of their very obvious dedication towards what they are doing, seeking to make this a better place for others -- a noble thought but one that needs to be done, for if we don't deal with this here in Afghanistan, it won't be long until we deal with it again in North America.
Highway 1, west of Kandahar City is a road of death and destruction. Yet I'm in a light-armoured vehicle driving at 100 km/h to avoid ambush, surprise or -- worst of all -- a roadside bomb, or IED (improvised explosive device.)
Just three days ago, I was at a ramp ceremony for three of our soldiers going home to Canada. They died under just these circumstances -- an IED killed them without warning and without reservation that they, like all Canadians serving here, came to help, to restore justice, to bring peace to the country and most importantly to bring hope for the choice of a future that would allow girls to be educated, families to grow without fear and citizens to have the option to make choices to help them build a better future.
But others who would want to have control at any cost and to enforce a totalitarian regime, continue to wage war, inflict loss on us and on the population and seek to destroy all the schools, roads, infrastructure we have built. They want us gone.
How did I come to be in this place, wearing 50 pounds of helmet and body armour?
I was appointed honorary lieutenant-colonel of the Military Police for Land Force Western Area -- the army west of Ontario -- last November. Little did I expect the opportunity to be at the head of an initiative to send honorary colonels into theatre, but when I was asked, there was no hesitation and now I reflect back on one of the most transformative events in my life.
Just to get here in mid-August, to arguably the hottest place on the planet in one of the most dangerous locations, was an experience by itself.
Our small party flew commercial, travelling 13 hours from Toronto to Dubai and landing at night because of the extreme daytime heat. We had not slept for 24 hours and did not expect to sleep for the next 24, as we had to kit up with desert fatigues, have a briefing, attend the ramp ceremony and then board an Army Hercules for the three-hour trip from Dubai to Kandahar Air Field over a hostile wasteland, expecting enemy fire at any time.
We all wore body armour as we flew over uncontrolled southern Afghanistan on our way to Kandahar in a sweltering cargo plane hauling rounds of ammunition.
We landed and immediately were briefed on IED identification and battlefield wound dressings -- not your normal St. John Ambulance first-aid training, but what to do in dire circumstances to save a soldier's life if need be.
Fatigue hadn't set in and it couldn't as we viewed photos of actual battle rescue scenes. Some of the soldiers I saw did not survive, but I saw enough to make me realize just how tough and dangerous a mission this is, and how determined our soldiers and our commanders are to do the best we can in this difficult place.
What a place! It was hard scrabble land -- not a thing growing except scorpions -- except where one finds an oasis or an irrigated plot of land. The stark beauty of razor-sharp hogbacks or the steep mountains that jut out of a flat plain stand in contrast to the plots of a farmer's vineyard growing behind the ever present mud walls that keep the water in, us out and provides refuge for the Taliban.
All of this is in shades of tans and greys. Our dress, our equipment, our police substation (PSS) and our forward operating bases (FOB) are all coloured to match the terrain.
It was in this terrain that I met our soldiers -- Lord Strathconas and Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry -- who man their outposts along with the Afghan national army and Afghan national police.
Reconstruction workers have built schools, dams and roads that, without our presence, would have been overrun and destroyed, as was a school that Canadians built two years ago. The school opened with 57 teachers and was attended by both boys and girls. The Afghan army and police were assigned to protect it.
It was overrun and destroyed and all teachers were marched to the highway, where they were beheaded -- a grim reminder of the type of people who would want to regain control of Afghanistan.
Since then, Canada's policy has been to build a PSS or FOB when we regain control of an area. Each PSS or FOB is manned by six to 10 Canadian soldiers, with perhaps 20 to 25 Afghan soldiers or police in a fort-like structure reminiscent of the Wild West, complete with sentry towers at each corner which are always manned, as we take continuous fire from the Taliban.
There is no running water, no electricity, no creature comforts; just the hard scrabble land, dust, blazing sun and constant heat. And our soldiers do this on a six-month rotation.
Yet our soldiers endure. I have never met a more committed and dedicated group of individuals, working to train the Afghan soldiers and police to provide protection and to rebuild the schools and infrastructure like the one I visited at Osama bin Laden's former headquarters outside Kandahar City.
The Taliban gave bin Laden five six-storey apartment buildings to train his people and entertain his guests. It was here that he made his plans for 9/11.
But it is now a bombed-out site where 1,000 people live with no water or power. Here, we have built a school which opened just as I was leaving. It will accommodate between 500 and 700 students -- boys and girls.
So eager were the parents to have a school that, without the aid of a cement mixer, they made concrete by digging a hole in the ground in which the cement, straw, dirt and water were mixed, not by hand but by leg, as the mixer was a man tramping around the hole with his bare legs to mix this caustic soup to make the concrete for the walls and roof of the building.
If we have one thing in common with the Afghan people, it is the love of family and the love of our children. This was brought home to me when I saw this school being built in the middle of this hard, unforgiving wasteland.
If you want to lose weight, forget Weight Watchers, LA Weight Loss or Jenny Craig, just try Kandahar for 11 days in mid-August. You'll lose your appetite, too, and drink a lot of water, but you won't complain.
You will have had the experience of a lifetime and will return to Canada appreciating that our military is not one of, but arguably the best in the world, one that has been entrusted to run the medical facility here for the 15,000 NATO personnel from 38 countries, a M*A*S*H-like facility, complete with wooden floors and canvas walls. More than a dozen Canadian doctors put themselves in harm's way to serve our soldiers, Afghans, and even the Taliban.
It is our hockey rink and our Tim Hortons that brings all the different soldiers together and we can hold our heads high. We do punch over our weight limit, as they say here, and we should all be proud of that.
Sol Rolingher is an Edmonton lawyer and honorary lieutenant-colonel of the Military Police for Land Force Western Area
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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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A good read , thanks for getting it up.. and may i wish a speedy and full recovery for our brothers just wounded .. getting the job done.. thank you , and may God Bless You 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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Let us pray that his recovery is swift.
Welcome home, Cpl. Farrah
WIndsorites show support for injured hometown soldier
Trevor Wilhelm
The Windsor Star
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Randy Harron waits in the rain along County Road 42 near the airport for the return of Cpl. Michael Farrah on Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2008. Farrah, who was injured in Afghanistan, was being transported to Hotel-Dieu Grace Hospital in Windsor.
Crowds of people stood in the rain waving flags Wednesday night to offer a solemn and heartfelt homecoming for a Windsor soldier who narrowly escaped death in Afghanistan.
Cpl. Michael Farrah, still suffering from head wounds, was taken by ambulance from the airport straight to Hotel-Dieu Grace Hospital.
"When I told Michael that, his face just lit right up," said his sister Dana Gobbato. "It's overwhelming. I think soldiers understand honour a little more than the rest of us. And I think for his hometown to rally behind him like that -- regardless of whether they agree with the war or not -- to stand behind the men and women that are over there, to honour them this way, it's the greatest gift you can give a soldier. Them going out in the rain to welcome him home just means the world to him."
Farrah, 23, a member of the 1st Battalion Royal Canadian Regiment out of CFB Petawawa, was the driver of a light-armoured vehicle that hit an improvised explosive device on Oct. 5. Farrah suffered a fractured skull.
For Farrah's family, only one thing could match the feeling they got from knowing so many Windsorites had lined the rainy roads to honour their wounded soldier.
"The best thing tonight was just seeing him, because he walked off the plane himself," said Gobbato. "We didn't know if he'd be on a stretcher, in a wheel chair."
She said Farrah is "wide awake," his condition has improved drastically and he's in far less pain than he once was.
Unfortunately, he didn't see many of the well wishers. Because his plane arrived early, he made the trip to the hospital before people started lining the route. Many people parked their cars along Division Road next to the airport to form a long corridor for the ambulance to pass through. Others stood in pockets at intersections on Ouellette Avenue and along the ambulance route.
"We've got to support our boys in Afghanistan," said Willie Day, whose son Jerry is on his third tour in Afghanistan. "My son believes in what he's doing. He believes he's helping all of us, that we can have the life we have because he's over there. We have to support these boys."
Day, like many others, waved a huge Canadian flag to make sure her support wouldn't go unnoticed in the darkness.
"We're showing support and letting him know we believe in you and we're here for you if there's anything you need," said Day.
The evening was also a chance to honour other soldiers, including Cpl. Andrew Grenon, who became the first Windsor soldier killed in Afghanistan on Sept. 3.
"It's the least we can do," said Janice Grass, whose son Pt. Brandon Grass just finished basic training. "They made a sacrifice joining up. Unfortunately, a previous soldier came home under different circumstances. They have to know they have the support back home of not only family, but their fellow citizens."
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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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Local soldier hurt in Afghanistan
Name of wounded man withheld until he stabilizes
Posted By LARA BRADLEY, THE SUDBURY STAR
Posted -8 sec ago
A Sudbury reservist was critically injured Wednesday along with two other soldiers when an improvised explosive device detonated during a routine morning foot patrol west of Kandahar city.
To respect the wishes of the family, The Sudbury Star will not release the soldier's name or the extent of his injuries until his condition stabilizes. Family members said Thursday the wounded soldier remains in intensive care in Kandahar City, fighting for his life. When his condition stabilizes, the military plans to move the father of two children to Germany, where his family will be with him.
The Sudbury soldier was a month into his second tour of duty when he was injured.
"Our thoughts and prayers go to the member's family," said Lt. Col. John Valtonen, the Commanding Officer of the Irish regiment.
"We're a family and we just want to take care of our own and take care of the family. It is our job to notify the family of the incident and then we rally around them to make sure they're taken care of."
This is the first time during the Afghanistan conflict that a member of the city's local army reserve unit has been injured. Seven other Sudburians from the unit remain in Afghanistan continuing their tour.
The bomb went off at about 11:30 a. m. Wednesday, while soldiers were conducting a security patrol alongside members of the Afghan National Army in a rural area that borders the Arghandab River in the Zhari district, said Major Jay Janzen, a military spokesman.
The unit was part of the Operational Mentoring and Liaison Team program, which pairs NATO soldiers with members of the Afghan National Army to provide training and support. The other two injured soldiers are members of the 3rd Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment, based in Petawawa, Ont.
Janzen said no Afghan soldiers were hurt in the blast and no insurgents were encountered during the incident, which took place 30 kilometres west of Kandahar.
The injured Canadians were taken by helicopter to Kandahar Air Field, where they were receiving medical attention.
"One soldier is in critical condition and two others are in fair condition," Janzen said.
In the past decade, more than 25 reservists from Sudbury have served overseas.
"We've been doing this since the beginning of (the Afghanistan) campaign," said Valtonen. "We've been involved in operations since the '80s. The reserves were slow to get involved in it."
About 20 per cent of Canada's military units deployed across the world are reservists. It used to be rare for reservists to go. However, that began to change in the 1990s.
"The Canadian Forces has increased the role of the reserves to the point now that we're more the norm. There's an active reserve component that goes over with every tour," said Valtonen.
The Sudbury soldiers are part of the battle group serving as riflemen, drivers and observers with the liaison team.
"The majority of my soldiers want to go. But not everyone can go," he said. "About 10 per cent go, a lot more volunteer."
Valtonen met with the regiment last night and briefed everyone on the state of the injured soldier.
"We're just dealing with it. We all want to do something. But the best thing we can do is just rally around the family," he said. "We've got to stay focused. There are still seven other soldiers there."
What can the community do?
"Respecting the family's space so that they can deal with this. And just keep them in our minds and our thoughts until we know more."
Denise Lecuyer, the facilitator of the Military Family Support Group for Sudbury and area, spent much of Thursday on the phone calling family members to let them know what had happened. The group planned to meet Thursday night.
"His wife is part of our group," she said. "We're trying our best to accommodate her and her needs, but also just to give her our shoulders and be there and listen to her concerns and try to encourage her."
The injury of one has made the safety of the others seem that much more precarious.
"It's hitting home," Lecuyer said. "When someone gets injured, you always think it could have been my husband or my son. So we can actually feel what she's feeling in some ways ... Everyone's on pins and needles."
She added that those oversees always remind their families that if they didn't get a phone call or the dreaded knock on the door, everything is fine.
Last week. Lecuyer wrote a letter to Mayor John Rodriguez.
"I would like the mayor and the city of Sudbury to wear red on Fridays, because of the Red Friday campaigns all over the country," she said. "What red means is that we're in support of our troops ... These are people who live here. It's time we got on the same wagon ..."
She'd also like to see the "Supporting Our Troops" flag flying at city hall.
"We, as a group of mothers and wives, are going to go to the banks and big business to see if they want to get on board with Red Fridays," Lecuyer said.
"It's not a question of whether they should be there. This group is not about whether we should be there, but the fact we are. Those are our children and our husbands that are there."
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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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Petraeus ready to shake up battle with Taliban
U.S. general will look to bring fresh approach to Afghanistan
David Morgan
Reuters
Friday, October 17, 2008
WASHINGTON - Even before he takes command of U.S. military strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Gen. David Petraeus is reaching beyond the military sphere to encourage international support for stabilizing the region.
Gen. Petraeus, whose innovative thinking is credited with helping save Iraq from civil war, met International Monetary Fund and World Bank representatives last week in preparation for new efforts in Afghanistan and Pakistan, officials said.
The move, unusual for a military commander, underscores the Pentagon's emphasis on unifying military, economic, political and diplomatic aid to help the two countries cope with violence and economic dislocation, officials said.
On Oct. 31, the army general will become head of Central Command, or Centcom, which is responsible for U.S. military interests in 20 countries across the Middle East and Central and South Asia.
"The purpose (of the World Bank and IMF meetings) was to touch base and note the Central Command's interest in supporting comprehensive approaches in Pakistan, Afghanis-tan, and others," a military official close to Gen. Petraeus said.
His arrival at Centcom is widely expected to reinvigorate U.S. strategy in Afghanis-tan, where U.S. and NATO efforts face grave challenges from an increasingly confident Taliban.
The U.S. has 32,000 troops in Afghanistan, including 19,000 under Centcom command and 13,000 under NATO.
Gen. Petraeus will launch a 100-day assessment of U.S. strategy for Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq and other countries in the Centcom region once he takes over, officials said.
He has already spoken publicly of the strategic value of reconciling members of the Taliban with the Afghan government as a possible way to reduce violence in areas of Afghanistan where security has deteriorated this year.
Military officials say they are studying the country's tribal landscape to identify leaders who might be willing to join the West against hardcore insurgents.
Gen. Petraeus has also spoken out about the need for military strategy to be sustained by major financial and development support for the region from the international community.
"That is one of the steps that has to be taken by our government together with other countries in the coalition and elsewhere including some of those in the Gulf states," Gen.
Petraeus told the Heritage Foundation in Washington last week.
Officials said his recent meetings included a session with World Bank president Robert Zoellick to discuss what the bank might do for Afghan-istan and Pakistan.
There was no word of any outcome. The World Bank and IMF are already involved in talks about helping the countries.
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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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