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Topic: Afghanistan - 3rd Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment - 08-09 (Read 5205 times)
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Mike Blais
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A ROYAL CANADIAN "NEVER PASSES A FAULT"
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GUARDIANS OF LIFE
Canada has 148 medics working in Afghanistan - 69 operating mostly outside the Kandahar base, and 22 on the base
Ethan Baron
Canwest News Service
Monday, November 10, 2008
KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan - Canada will remember Tuesday the country's 97 soldiers killed in the Afghanistan war. Without the medics who serve on the front lines and at the base hospital, that number would be far higher.
"They're really the tie that binds," said Maj. Don Schell, deputy commander of the Canadian Forces health services in southern Afghanistan. "They save people's lives who would not normally have survived their injuries."
Canada has 148 medics working in southern Afghanistan - 69 operating mostly outside the Kandahar base, and 22 on the base. Each platoon in the combat zone includes a medic.
In the field, medics - "med techs" in army jargon - patrol alongside the other soldiers, carrying 35 to 40 kilograms of gear when on foot.
"They have to be physically and mentally in shape to be able to carry all the kit that they'll carry in theatre, and mentally to be able to face what they're facing, all the injuries that they're seeing out there," said Chief Warrant Officer John Bucci. "The injuries that we're seeing here they'll never see in Canada."
For the combat troops, the medics are the guardians of the line between life and death.
"If my LAV (light armoured vehicle) gets blown up, chances are really good I'm going to be really hurt. At that point, I'd probably bleed out a lot," said Pte. Matt Stoffels of the Royal Canadian Regiment in Petawawa, Ont., who drives the vehicle a medic rides in.
"I know that if anything happens to me, he's right behind me. The bad thing is, if anything happens to me, something could happen to him."
Field medics' work puts them at the same risk of death and dismemberment as the soldiers whose lives are in their care. Six Canadian medics, Master Cpl. Christian Duchesne, corporals Michael Starker, Nicolas Beauchamp, Glen Arnold and Andrew Eykelenboom, and Pte. Colin Wilmot, have been killed during Canadian operations in Afghanistan.
"They say that nothing comes for free, and unfortunately we do lose people, but hopefully we'll be able to maintain peace and stability in the places that we've been to," said Master Cpl. Dave Dilworth, a medic and reservist from 35 Field Ambulance in Sydney, N.S.
Canada's medics begin their combat-care careers by expressing interest in the job when they enlist. After undergoing a soldier's basic training, they receive three months of paramedic training at the Justice Institute in B.C. or College Ahuntsic in Quebec, before taking another three-month primary-care course at the Canadian Forces Medical Services School in Borden, Ont. After that training, they go to work as medics, and after a couple years, they can pursue the highest-level medic position of physician assistant, requiring another five to six months at the army medical school.
Petty Officer First Class Derrick Nearing of 2 Field Ambulance has served in Canada, Somalia, Rwanda and Bosnia, and worked in Afghanistan with the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry during a period in which 11 soldiers were killed. He has treated dozens of trauma patients in Afghanistan.
"You blunt yourself," Nearing said. "You make yourself cold for it, but you still carry that with you.
"It hurts when they die. You have to be careful not to personalize it. You can't say, 'My guy, he died on me.' I try to instill that in the med techs that come over here, that if someone dies, it's not what you did or didn't do, it was meant to happen."
In Canada, most patients can be delivered to hospital in minutes. A combat trauma victim in Afghanistan may not get to a doctor for up to an hour and a half. The medic in the field is tasked with keeping the patient alive until evacuation.
"We are putting a lot of pressure on a young med tech," Bucci said.
Those new to combat work may find that pressure, and the danger, overwhelming, Nearing said.
"He'll cry, he doesn't want to go back out," Nearing said. "You talk to him, and tell him it's normal, it's good to be scared, but you've got to face it, you've got to get back out there."
At the base at Kandahar Airfield, hospital-posted medics take victims off the helicopter, and prepare them for entrance to the base hospital.
On Thursday, a coalition Afghan interpreter shot through the torso in an insurgent ambush came in by helicopter just after dusk. Wheeled to the hospital doors on a gurney, the man, who can't be identified because interpreters are targeted by the Taliban, was scanned with a metal-detector wand by Cpl. Jonah Hirshberg, a medic from 25 Field Ambulance in Toronto.
The wands, also used by airport security guards around the world, can detect embedded bullets and shrapnel, but are primarily intended to reveal if a patient has any weapons or explosives, forbidden within the hospital.
"You never know, when a soldier comes in, God knows what he's got in his pockets," said Schell, who has served 31 years with the Canadian Forces, including tours in Rwanda, the Golan Heights, Egypt and Israel. "He could have a grenade in there."
The base hospital, operated by Canada for the coalition, also treats wounded insurgents, as per the Geneva Convention.
"We are required to provide the same standard of care that we would give any coalition soldiers," Bucci said. "Even though the insurgents do not conform to the Geneva Convention, we do."
The Taliban's lack of adherence to that international agreement means that medics, whose work can put a wounded coalition soldier back in the field, may be a sought-after target.
"No one wears a red cross outside the wire," Bucci said, adding that the army believes some of the fallen Canadian medics were specifically targeted.
In battle, a medic's duty to preserve life can mean they must take it: all carry guns to protect their patients and themselves.
"The job is not to surrender a patient," Schell said.
Injured Afghan civilians frequently receive treatment from medics in the field, and at the hospital.
"It's a very caring job," Schell said. "You lay hands on people. All of a sudden, you are no longer the foreigner, you are the human that has comforted me."
On Remembrance Day, Nearing will be on leave, flying home to see his wife and two young children.
"If you focus on your home family when you're here, you're not going to focus on your job," Nearing said. "You've got to put your family in a bubble, and focus on your military family. They're my brothers and sisters and my job is to get them home alive.
"I'm going to be alone in my thoughts on the plane. I want to go home and think about all the guys and girls I've affected. At the same time, I want to get home and spend time with my family."
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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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KOREA, KANDAHAR, APATHY
Canada's second forgotten war
Losing interest in Afghanistan will hurt us in the eyes of Washington and Europe. Most of all, it will hurt our soldiers
DAVID BERCUSON
Director of the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary
November 12, 2008
Afghanistan is rapidly becoming Canada's second "forgotten" war.
Korea was the first. Although nearly 27,000 Canadians served in the Korean theatre from the fall of 1950 until the end of the war in the summer of 1953 (most of them ground forces) and 516 were killed in action or died on active service, Canadians lost interest in the Korean War less than a year after it began when truce talks started in the late fall of 1951. The fighting continued and, ironically, more Canadians were killed while those talks dragged on than had been killed before they started. But at home, all was apathy.
The war in Afghanistan is starting to go the same way. The very first foreign visit by Prime Minister Stephen Harper after his election victory in January of 2006 was to Canadian troops in Kandahar. Many visits followed both by Mr. Harper and by cabinet ministers. But not recently.
And media coverage of the war has generally subsided. There are fewer stories about the soldiers and their mission and more stories about wheat seed going to Kandahar farmers.
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Even the once ubiquitous yellow lapel pins worn around Ottawa by civil servants, especially ministers' political staffs in National Defence, Foreign Affairs and other departments, have disappeared.
The war in Afghanistan has been slipping from the immediate attention of Canadians.
The process is partly a result of deliberate government policy and partly a coming together of other non-related circumstances. Decisions were made in Ottawa last spring - even after the passage of the parliamentary motion extending the Kandahar mission to February of 2011 - to play down the military aspects of the mission and place the civil reconstruction tasks more at the centre of government policy.
That decision reflected the growing apathy of many Canadians toward Afghanistan and the continued strong opposition of the mission in Quebec. It was obvious from late winter that election speculation was growing in the capital and that attention to the war - to the fighting - was dialled back in direct proportion to the growing proximity of a national vote. War doesn't play well in Quebec.
If playing down the war was the deliberate intention of the government, that intention was given a major boost by the growing economic crisis that started to unfold in late summer. With U.S. auto sales tanking, the Ontario economy going into recession and commodity prices across Canada taking a nosedive, the media paid far less attention to Afghanistan.
The departure of the outspoken and pragmatic Rick Hillier from his post as chief of the defence staff no doubt hastened the process. His successor, General Walter Natynczyk, has been no less diligent in visiting the troops in Afghanistan, but the press coverage given those trips has been melting away.
It's also possible that the shock effect of Canadians being killed in action has worn off after almost three years in Kandahar province.
Then, of course, there were two elections, one in Canada and one in the United States, that filled the broadcast news reports and pages of the print media. In the Canadian election, Afghanistan was a forgotten topic even when the Prime Minister suddenly announced during the campaign that, instead of re-evaluating the Kandahar mission before 2011, as the parliamentary vote had called for, Canada would get out, period.
That was the ultimate wet blanket thrown over the Afghan war. Suddenly, there seemed nothing to report on; the war was going to end for Canada no matter what happened. It was time to move on to other things.
But the war isn't ending for Canada or anyone else involved in it.
Four more rotations of Canadian troops will go to Kandahar province between now and February of 2011, from 5,000 to 8,000 soldiers. And when the heavy fighting resumes, as it does every spring, there is a better than even chance that more Canadian casualties will result.
Although Canada has announced its departure, Pakistan is ramping up its war against the Taliban both in Pakistan and along the Afghan border. The U.S. has started a major buildup of its troops. President-elect Barack Obama has announced his determination to prevail there no matter what it takes, and will no doubt make a herculean effort to increase NATO strength.
Forgetting the war in Afghanistan is going to hurt Canada in many ways - in the eyes of Washington at the very time Ottawa needs to get close to the Obama administration, and in the eyes of European leaders if they are swayed by Mr. Obama to get more involved (after all, he isn't George Bush).
But most of all, it will hurt our troops.
It is true that Canada has a thoroughly professional military that goes where it is sent and gives the best account of itself no matter the political circumstances. But it is also true that soldiers who go into harm's way want to believe that what they are doing means something to the folks back home. When they are fighting a forgotten war, it's hard to feel that.
Just ask those veterans who served in Korea. They'll tell you.
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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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Hmmmm.. this is not good for sure. Ans as for Korea , i had 3 uncles, brothers who served in Korea, two with Artillery and one on board the then HMCS Cayuga.. the navy uncle , John has since passed away, of the two in the Artillery , one i s nearing 90 and does not say much about it , the other is very bitter about the way things ended up, and is very acutely aware of Canada " Forgotten War"... it is beyond a sour tatse in his mouth , and i , thru reading and studying what ever i can find , find myself agreeing with him and his comrades of that war.. i doubt if it can be made right , as it has never been addressed, by anyone who cared enough and had some authority to do so.. it is , to me a very black mark on our military history, very cleverly disguised by politicos of the day to just hush it all away.. well, it will never go away for those veterans of Korea, nor should it.. and they have made their best efforts to get around gov neglect , by going and doing for themselves. My congrats to all their efforts over the years, and at least now the word , if one wants to call it that , is out to the public, and yet .. it is still Canadas Forgitten War.. that is beyond sad, it is WRONG.. i do hope the same is not going to happen to our Afghanisstan War.. i think a lot of Peace keeping events have been FORGOTTEN as well.. such as Cyprus 1974.. they were dangerous times and should not be forgotten, as we do not forget our brothers thru all times, neither should our countrymen... what do you think?? 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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IED explosion sends Afghan soldiers into care of Canadian soldiers
Sun Nov 16, 1:34 PM
By Bill Graveland, The Canadian Press
LAKOKHEL, Afghanistan - Improvised explosive devices are the deadliest obstacle NATO soldiers face in the Afghan trenches - a fact driven home Sunday by the sight of a bloodied Afghan soldier being cared for by one of his young Canadian mentors.
The area around the village of Lakokhel, in the Zhari district west of Kandahar city, is a maze of mud compounds, grape drying huts and orchards - a spot favoured by the Taliban for storing weapons and staging attacks on Canadian and Afghan troops.
Late Saturday night, a group of Afghan National Army forces, under the watchful eye of Canadian members of the Operational Mentoring and Liason Team (OMLT), left the local Canadian base to sweep compounds in the village.
Some hours later, as the troops were on their way out of the compound, disaster struck in a familiar form: an IED, or improvised explosive device.
"As they got to the southern end of it, they tripped the IED," explained Brig. Gen. Denis Thompson, commander of Task Force Kandahar, who was taking part in the night-time exercise.
"This IED was probably constructed to blow up guys who were entering (the compound), and that would explain why the injuries were relatively minor."
A half-dozen Afghan soldiers were hurt in the blast, the most seriously injured suffering shrapnel to the face and eyes.
Master Bombardier Matt Beaupre was only about three metres from the blast.
"To me, it was quite a good size explosion - big enough to shake the guys around a little bit. That's as close as I've been or would want to be," said Beaupre, who earned a field promotion from Thompson after the incident.
"It gave me quite a scare."
Beaupre's colleague, Master Bombardier Mike Walsh, was on the radio with the team nearest the blast.
"I was 20 or 30 metres out when the IED went off. On the radio itself, there was silence and that was pretty scary. I thought my friends were dead," he said quietly.
Under the Afghan moon, the dust cloud from the blast was clearly visible, Walsh added. "I had to keep the ANA patrol under control because they turned to mad panic."
The Afghan soldiers were so worried about their comrades, they loaded up the injured into the back of their Ford Rangers and transported them to the base instead of waiting for armoured units to retrieve them.
Back at the base, the few Canadian soldiers still there had a problem keeping the worried Afghan troops at bay while aid was being administered. Beaupre was among those providing emergency first aid.
"You're OK, man. You'll be OK," he said, gently patting the chest of a wounded soldier who was lying quietly with a dressing over his left eye.
"I've done a little bit of medical work before on my past tours. I just figured I'd lend a hand and here was a lot of guys to treat so I just grabbed one and did my best until medical support was available," Beaupre said later.
"It's very hard to take care of the ANA, again because of the language barrier," he explained. "You always have to have the help of an interpreter and there were only two - it makes it a little bit harder."
Walsh said he understands how lucky everyone was on what is often an everyday occurrence in southern Afghanistan, especially on a rare night excursion.
"We knew it was a bad area to go into," he said.
"I didn't realize it would be like that at night. It gives you the creeps, the hair stands up on the back of your neck, but it's still a job and you've gotta push forward."
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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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Canadians escape Afghanistan explosion
Ethan Baron
Canwest News Service
Sunday, November 16, 2008
LAKOKHEL, Afghanistan -- Three Canadian soldiers narrowly escaped a booby-trap blast that seriously injured three Afghan army troops early Sunday morning.
Nearly half of the 97 Canadian soldiers killed in the Afghan war have died from such bombs, known as improvised-explosive devices (IEDs). Four Canadians were conducting a night patrol on foot with 27 Afghan soldiers near here, about 30 kilometres west of Kandahar city. They had set out to search several mud-walled compounds for weapons and signs of Taliban activity, after taking sniper fire at their fortified outpost Saturday evening.
"We knew it was a bad area to go into," said Master Bombardier Michael Walsh. "You get the willies, and the hairs are standing up on the back of your neck."
Outside the second compound, one of the patrol members triggered a bomb buried in the ground.
"The IED went off about 10 or 12 feet from three of us Canadians," said Master Bombardier Matt Beaupre of 2 Royal Canadian Horse Artillery of Petawawa, Ont. "It was as close as I've been, and as close as I'd like to be."
Twenty metres from the explosion, Walsh heard silence on the radio line that connected him to the three other Canadians at the blast site. "I thought my buddies were dead, I seriously thought they were dead, until I heard their voices on the radio," Walsh said later Sunday. The three men were alive, and uninjured, shouting to each other in the dust cloud from the explosion.
"You can't even see a foot in front of you," said Capt. Ray Corby, of 1 Royal Canadian Regiment in Petawawa, Ont., who had been standing beside Beaupre when the IED detonated. "You're just choking down dust. It gets in your eyes, your nose, your ears. "We were yelling until it cleared a bit. Everybody responded and gave the initial, 'Yeah, I'm OK.'"
The explosion had sprayed shrapnel into the six Afghan soldiers who had been closest, and all of them, including the three with the worst injuries, made their way over walls and through fields to a road, where they were loaded into the Ford Ranger pickup trucks widely used by the Afghan National Army.
With the wounded back at the outpost, Canadian medic Master Cpl. Rob Burhoe of 2 Field Ambulance in Petawawa and several other soldiers trained in battlefield first aid tended to the bleeding Afghan soldiers in a chaotic scene illuminated by warming fires the Afghans lit in cans, and the red lights Canadian soldiers use in the field. The Afghans' worried comrades crowded around, and the Canadians giving aid struggled with the language barrier to communicate with the wounded.
"No sleep! No sleep!" Beaupre urged a prostrate Afghan soldier whose face was swollen and oozing blood from shrapnel wounds.
Two interpreters were rounded up, and Canadian soldiers used them to communicate with the injured Afghans, and to move away those who were not hurt.
A quick assessment determined that the victims would need medical treatment beyond what was available at the remote outpost, and a radio operator put out a call for air evacuation.
A half-hour later, two U.S. Blackhawk helicopters swept in and touched down outside the post's fortified walls. Three Afghan soldiers on stretchers and three walking wounded were loaded onto the choppers and taken to the Canadian-run hospital on the international coalition's Kandahar Airfield base.
The booby-trap was probably set to detonate when someone stepped on an improvised pressure plate, Corby said.
The IED menace affects all Canadian field operations, Corby said.
"It influences everything that you do," Corby said. "A lot more planning goes in. Everything we do is very deliberate, based on the threat from IEDs."
© Canwest News Service 2008
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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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No fatalities, so your efforts are paying off... dang good work guys...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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Canadian-led mission flushes Taliban out of Zhari, uncovers explosives
LAKOKHEL, Afghanistan — A Canadian-led operation aimed at flushing out Taliban fighters and searching for caches of explosives and weapons is wrapping up in the volatile Zhari district of Afghanistan.
The five-day operation included troops and armour from the Royal Canadian Regiment, as well as U.S. soldiers and a battalion of British Royal marines.
Beginning with night-time sweeps through several mud compounds in the largely pro-Taliban area, the operation was looking for materials used for making improvised explosive devices and intelligence on the Taliban.
Task Force Kandahar commander, Brig.-Gen. Denis Thompson, said he would like to force the Taliban out of the region - especially for the traditionally quiet winter months.
But he acknowledges that the Taliban will likely go back and coalition forces will have to return to the region again.
A half dozen Afghan soldiers were hurt by an IED during the operation and Thompson said British troops had found an extremely large cache of explosives.
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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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With more combat boots on the ground these areas could be rehekld, and save retaking , at great peril...seems Nato is willing to have it this way. On e wouold wonder .. WHY? 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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Forces stage week-long disruption of Taliban on contested terrain
Coalition expects to shake things up, not seize control
Ethan Baron
Canwest News Service
Friday, November 21, 2008
LAKOKHEL, Afghanistan - Massive bomb blasts from a coalition jet shook the grape fields west of Kandahar as Canadian soldiers joined U.S. and British forces in a week-long squeeze play to disrupt Taliban activity and protect areas under NATO control.
A column of Canadian tanks and other armoured vehicles rumbled out of a base last Friday at the start of the operation, which targeted an agricultural area lining the Arghandab River, where Taliban fighters were believed to be manufacturing the roadside bombs that have proven so deadly to NATO forces. Other Canadian units and American forces positioned themselves in a three-sided box around the target zone.
Early Saturday morning, waves of helicopters ferried British Royal Marine commandos into sweep compounds identified as likely bomb-making sites.
Military authorities have released few details of the operation. The Canadian commander of NATO forces in Kandahar province, Brig.-Gen. Denis Thompson, said the British reported finding a huge cache of bomb supplies.
Canadian soldiers were involved in several hours-long firefights with insurgents.
NATO does not expect to hold the area, but planned to disrupt Taliban activities to promote the broader goal of promoting security and development, Brig.-Gen. Thompson said.
"This is the piece of Kandahar province that is justifiably described as contested, and we have to continue to contest it in order to protect the pieces that we hold," Brig.-Gen. Thompson said during the operation. "We just have to make sure we retain the initiative and don't make it too convenient for them to use this as a base of operations, because we're too damn close to Kandahar City to permit that. This is like a shield or a buffer against the areas that we hold where we're trying to make development happen."
Even in the areas NATO considers to be under control, and in which Canadian-funded road-building, irrigation and police-station projects are progressing, soldiers face frequent ambushes from insurgents, as well as rocket and sniper fire.
"We always have three steps backward and one step forward," said Dutch Maj.-Gen. Mart de Kruif, NATO commander for southern Afghanistan, who arrived by transport helicopter at a Canadian base during the operation, his descent preceded by an air sweep from Apache attack helicopters.
Without sufficient numbers of Afghan National Police to station in the area where the operation took place, any insurgents chased out will likely return, Brig.-Gen. Thompson said.
"It's considered a disruption operation -- you're disrupting the insurgent command and control, you're destroying caches, you're forcing them to move and you're taking away their scarce resources," Brig.-Gen. Thompson said. "They'll probably come back, and we'll continue to monitor it, and we'll have to pay them a visit sometime in the future. This area, at this point in time, because we don't have sufficient Afghan national security forces, we're not in the business of holding it.
"In the end game, we want to hold this ground and make sure it's garrisoned by police."
Kandahar province needs 4,000 professionally trained police, but has 2,300 on the payroll, only 800 of whom are professionally trained, Brig.-Gen. Thompson 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!
Pro Patria
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Mike Blais
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A ROYAL CANADIAN "NEVER PASSES A FAULT"
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MacKay expects to learn more about U.S. troop surge
Updated Fri. Nov. 21 2008 7:36 AM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
With the U.S. set to send more troops to Afghanistan, Defence Minister Peter MacKay says he expects to learn more details about the surge at a meeting he's hosting in Nova Scotia Friday.
NATO defence ministers representing countries involved in the Afghanistan mission are gathering at a converted naval training centre in the village of Cornwallis to discuss strategies.
U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates is expected to detail how the 3,500 additional Marines being sent to Afghanistan before year's end will be used.
The U.S. has also committed an Army brigade of about 5,000 soldiers for early 2009. As many as three additional Army brigades could follow in the months after that.
"I expect that Secretary of Defence Gates will want to enlighten his fellow ministers that are currently representing countries in regional command south as to the numbers, the location and whether these troops, for example, will be close to the border to Pakistan," MacKay told CTV's Canada AM on Friday.
He also said ministers will likely discuss "how we will deal with a large troop influx which will no doubt impact other countries there, including Canada."
The U.S. troop increases are in line with promises President-elect Barack Obama made during his recent campaign.
Also on the agenda, MacKay said ministers will be in discussion on ways to further build the capacity of the Afghan National Security Forces.
"I think this is high on everyone's mind, this is not a mission without end," MacKay said.
"Canada will be concluding its combat involvement in 2011 and we want to contribute as much as possible to the ability of the Afghans to defend themselves."
Also critical to the mission is to increase the reconstruction and development in the country, MacKay said.
"The quicker we can secure the ground then allow for things like the Dahla Dam project and building of roads and schools and hospitals to proceed -- this spells good news," he said.
"But we need the absolute buy-in and participation of the Afghan government."
With files from The Associated Press and The Canadian Press
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Dennis
I think we should stay untill the job is done. Our biggest loss is from roadside bombs. Mulronney had ordered helicopters and the liberals cancelled them when they got in, had we have them we could be transporting our people by air.
Steve @ Sarnia
I agree, to set an end date is simply ridiculous. Obviously we will not be in Afghanistan forever, and nor should we be, the Afghans have got to fight for their country, but at the same time to leave Kandahar before the Afghan army is ready would be grossly irresponsible and would hurt Canada's international reputation.
Withdrawal should be based on the conditions on the ground, not some abstract deadline.
ex-Canuck
Actually, the Mulroney choppers that were cancelled were maritime patrol and search and rescue helicopters, NOT battlefield transport helicopters. Mulrooney actually sold off the Chinook battlefield support helicopters himself to the Dutch. Mulroney was no friend of the military. Now were are buying those same battlefield transport helicopters again.
Chretien was worse though.
But, alas, I do agree we should stay there until the job is done.
Jay Dod
If the US sends 4 brigades of 5000 soldiers each. We should pull out our 2500 sodliers early. Save us from a deficit.
Jay
When people say we should stay there until the job is done, I wonder if they actually know what that entails. For the job to be done NATO would need to be in Afghanistan longer than the Russians were in the 80's and that was 10 years. Unfortunately in this type of theatre of operation there is not decisive battle that will win the war and their tribal instinct is deep rooted within their culture.
In my opinion if we were to do the job correctly in Afghanistan NATO forces would need to be embedded within the country for a minimum of 25 years. This would allow for the passing of the current generation and hopefully we would be able in that timeframe to positively influence the next generation.
For those interested in Afghanistan, I would recommend watching the last 10 minutes of Charlie Wilson's War. At the end Phillip Seymour Hoffman warns Tom Hanks that we can not ignore Afghanistan now that the Soviets have pulled out, cause now the radicals are pouring in there. If we leave Afghanistan before the job is done which will take decades we are opening ourselves up for history to repeat itself.
I myself believe that now that we are in there we need to stay in there. But that is just my opinion.
Jack
Every job needs a "due date" otherwise it will expand to fill the time available. Setting a withdrawal date helps to focus all parties involved on getting the job done. Otherwise we will have another Cyprus like commitment on our hands.
KC
McKay has better start to realize that he's been played a fool. The US bamboozled him into puting our original mission mandate into something completely different in the region. All McKay has done was allow the US/Bush to send more troops into Iraq while they neglect where the real war is raging. Afghanistan is falling.
For those of you who think Canada's military is making any difference in the region under the current mandate - wake up. We never have been a real threat since WW2. Not under Mulroney, not under Chretien and not under Harper. A nation of 32 millon does not have a military that is worriesome to any group. That is why we continue to lose ground in the region.
Stop blowing taxpayer money on spinning our wheels. Nothing has been accomplished there. The US should take care of this mess.
Gerry McCowan
That is great let's get the job done. those bulidings are still gone, we need to stay till all the terrorists are Dead. I think we need at least 500,000 troops on the ground to get the job done.
c
Stay until the job is done ? are you kidding? The US started all this stuff and they have it all mapped out for the next 25 YEARS !!!!! thanks to Bush and his pals. Just what we need the same financial problems they will have for life
Gary
Canada has the best professional trained military in the world. adding additional troops will be a welcome relief for our troops, they will be able to get rested up for the final push, lets kick some ass.
Max in Vancouver
No shortage of arm chair coaching from the commentators.
No one elected us "international police"
Our responsibility is to our own citizens. For the most part, we have it pretty good in Canada. Now lets clean up our own back yard. Lets find help for the homeless, the orphaned, the mentally callenged. Spending our money trying to 'repair' Afghanistan is akin to purchasing a boat. We are pouring the money into a bottomless hole. 2011 cannot come soon enough.
Lost Cause
The "job" that needs to be "done" with this "surge" (another magic buzzword) is to secure Karzai and ensure he has a trained military to keep Afghanistan stable.
Karzai is a leader that no one who supports the Afghanistan mission in the west takes seriously. Our leaders don't listen to him. The US leaders don't listen to him. The people who support the war don't listen to him. The people on the ground in the US and NATO forces are there risking life and limb under the pretense of getting this guy an army.
Here's the big question. Why would anyone at this point agree to fight, and potentially get injured or die, to secure a leader that our military and political figureheads and war supporters don't even have the faith to listen to when he's repeatedly tried to offer an alternate solution to lessening the hostilities. It is truly baffling.
The irony is thick as well. The Canadian people who are most intense in their view that the mission(to secure Karzai) must continue are the biggest haters of Jack Layton. They'll call for Canadian soldiers to potentially lay down their lives to support a leader who wants to attempt negotiate with the Taliban, while at home they'll call a political figure who says the same a Taliban sympathizer who doesn't support the troops.
Let the madness continue...
JPC
We should stop fighting aids in Africa, pull out of all UN policing duties and while were at it, keep our world food program donations at home right?
Any way you try to spin it our involvement in Afghanistan is about being a part of the world community, bringing stability to a VERY unstable part of the world. You can't be a respected member of the world community and stay home when there's a crisis to solve. Our efforts in Afghanistan are a tangible effort to bring peace and security to a troubled land (and security to our land as well). In my opnion we should be doing the same in Darfur and Congo.
Less talk, and more effort and muscle.
Ryder
WOW KC!!! Almost sounds like that you have 'been there ~ done that'. Why don't you keep your uneducated negativity to yourself. You make a poor armchair General. It is a proven fact that CANADA, specifically, Canadian troops, have made incredible positive differences in Afghanistan. Schools have been opened, medical facilities have been updated, roads, sewer systems, irrigation are just some of the GREAT things that our troops have contributed towards. Have a great weekend KC ~ Hopefully you do not encounter any icestorms or floods. If you do, don't call our troops! Grab your own shovel and sandbags.
Steve @ Sarnia
I'm amazed by some of these comments.
Canada is not in Afghanistan for a humanitarian mission, and nor should we be. We are not there to be "international police!"
... Canada is in Afghanistan to defend Canadian interests and to defeat a very serious threat to our national security.
Radical Islam is a threat to democracy, freedom, and civilization, and as a free and democratic people we have an obligation to defend these values.
Afghanistan is not only a noble mission, but it is also a moral mission. Success in Afghanistan will not only be good for Canada, but will also give the Afghan people a chance at a better life.
In my mind, that is a worthy cause to fight for!
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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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Geeezzz, this is a huge improvement and bound to make an incredible impact.
U.S. troops to surge in Afghanistan
Canada holds on to 2011 deadline for Kandahar withdrawal
Richard Foot
Canwest News Service
Friday, November 21, 2008
Canadian Cpl. Kellie Titcomb patrols with Afghan National Army soldiers in Lakokhel, Afghanistan on Thursday.
CREDIT: Ethan Baron/Canwest News Service
Canadian Cpl. Kellie Titcomb patrols with Afghan National Army soldiers in Lakokhel, Afghanistan on Thursday.
CORNWALLIS, N.S. - The United States will deploy five new army brigades - about 20,000 troops - to Afghanistan starting in January, in the hope making the country secure enough for presidential elections in the fall, U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates said here Friday.
"The most important objective for us in 2009 is a successful election," he said. "We'd like to get the combat brigade teams into Afghanistan before the election."
Gates was speaking following a day-long meeting in Nova Scotia on Friday with his defence counterparts from Canada, Britain, Holland and other countries with troops in Afghanistan.
Canadian Defence Minister Peter MacKay, who hosted the meeting, reiterated Ottawa's repeated calls that other European NATO members contribute more troops to direct combat operations in the volatile south.
As he told Canwest News earlier this week, MacKay said he expected Obama to be looking at other NATO members to do more. Canada is holding fast to its 2011 deadline for withdrawing troops from Kandahar.
MacKay said there "are other doors" that Obama should be knocking on first than the eight countries currently bearing the brunt of the combat burden in southern Afghanistan.
MacKay said other countries not currently engaged in the south need to "examine their ability to do more" whether it is "equipment, development or troops on the ground."
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Defence ministers confident Afghan elections can proceed despite violence
39 minutes ago
By The Canadian Press
CORNWALLIS, N.S. - Defence ministers with troops in Afghanistan's restive southern flank say they're confident coming elections in the country can proceed despite a rising tide of violence.
Representatives from the International Security Assistance Force also say any talks with insurgents have to be conditional on a renouncing of violence and on the terms of the Afghan government.
The leaders are meeting in Cornwallis, N.S., to discuss ways to contain the violence in the war-torn country.
Canadian Defence Minister Peter MacKay and his colleagues say any resolution of the strife has to involve both diplomatic and military means.
There are growing concerns the spreading violence could threaten elections expected this summer if they become a flashpoint for ethnic and tribal feuds.
U.S. secretary of defence Robert Gates says negotiations with militants could proceed only if they accept the government of Afghanistan and the efforts of the international mission.
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1RCR 1977-79 Depot (Italy PL), B Coy, Mortars, Pioneers, D Coy (CFB London)
3RCR 1979-82 M Coy, Pipes & Drums, Sigs, Mortars. (CFB Baden-Soellingen)
1RCR 1982-88 Mortars. Dukes, Cyprus-Welfare NCO 84-85, Injured, WO&Sgts Mess, (CFB London)
1988-92 Med-remuster to HELL/ 35 DU, CFB Baden
1992 Medical release. God Bless you all!
Pro Patria
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Mike Blais
SSM (NATO Bar), CPSM, UN-Cyp, CD
Ultimate 2000+ Member
Offline
Gender:
Posts: 3965
A ROYAL CANADIAN "NEVER PASSES A FAULT"
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Some NATO countries slacking in Afghanistan: MacKay
Updated Fri. Nov. 21 2008 3:22 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
Defence Minister Peter MacKay said Friday that a U.S. troop surge in Afghanistan's dangerous Kandahar province doesn't mean other NATO countries can reduce their military and reconstruction efforts.
MacKay, who is hosting a meeting of NATO defence ministers in Cornwallis, N.S., said that some NATO countries aren't pulling their weight in Afghanistan, and that some officials should "examine their ability to do more.
"Other countries should be under no illusion. We're still asking for them to pick up the slack and share the burden," said MacKay, who didn't specify which NATO nations he was referring to.
The comments came as MacKay and defence ministers representing countries involved in the Afghanistan mission discussed details about the U.S. surge during the meeting in the village of Cornwallis.
U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates also began to lay out how the 3,500 additional Marines being sent to Afghanistan before year's end will be used. Gates also added the surge will correspond with upcoming Afghan elections.
The U.S. has also committed an Army brigade of about 5,000 soldiers for early 2009. As many as three additional Army brigades could follow in the months after that.
Despite the call for more international involvement, MacKay welcomed the U.S. surge and said that it will lead to "a civilian surge to work on re-construction and development."
Mackay said that such efforts are paramount in Afghanistan, where the Taliban have mounted an increasingly deadly insurgency which has paralyzed efforts at rebuilding the war-torn nation.
"Upping the ante, as far as visible signs of progress, very much matters very much to Afghan civilians; it matters to their government," said MacKay.
"It doesn't mean we should let up, or as Secretary Gates has said previously, this is about reinforcement, not replacement."
The U.S. troop incre | | | |
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