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A friend forwarded this article on to me, and I didn't see it posted anywhere so I thought I would share. They speak of one of our fellow members, a good friend of mine, and his crew over in the sandbox. I thought it was a pretty good article. And I can't help but chuckle about the mythical creatures reference, as I have heard some good stories about that.
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War's Toll
During her six weeks in Afghanistan, the Herald's Renata D'Aliesio witnessed the impact of war on Canadian soldiers
Published: Sunday, November 12, 2006
Daylight is fading when the padre drops by a farm field bulldozed to sand. He wants to know how the boys from 'A' Company are doing. He has letters from home, the kind written by schoolchildren that begin with: "Dear Canadian soldiers."
Lt. Zbigniew Jonczyk offers words of encouragement, hope and faith -- and pictures of angels.
"Would you like one of St. Michael?" he asks Sgt. Dan Holley's crew.
St. Michael the Archangel, patron saint of war, was a force for good in an epic battle against evil. Centuries of soldiers have prayed to him.
St. Michael finds a home in Holley's armoured vehicle, the angel's picture placed near a homemade noose. Life dangling by a thread next to death.
Knotted from army-green rope, only a Barbie doll's head could fit through the loop. There are days, though, when it feels as if it's wrapped around their necks, squeezing, trying to break the souls of Canadian soldiers fighting in Kandahar.
The nearly 130 soldiers from A Company knew they were in for a fight when they arrived in early August, but never thought the battles with the Taliban would be so intense, so constant, or so deadly.
Within days they lost their first man, a father of three killed when a rifle accidentally went off. Thirteen days later, a suicide bomber took out another, a corporal who dreamed about a career in the military since he was a kid.
These deaths were only the beginning. In my six weeks in Kandahar, 10 more soldiers would die and an untold number injured. A Company, in particular, would suffer greatly.
Kandahar is unlike any mission the Canadian military has embarked on for half a century. The soldiers here now have done more killing, and more dying, than any Canadians since the Korean War. Officially, the wounded are barely spoken of, but their mounting numbers -- nearly 200 this year -- and the severity of their injuries are startling.
Lot's More on link
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War's Toll
During her six weeks in Afghanistan, the Herald's Renata D'Aliesio witnessed the impact of war on Canadian soldiers
Published: Sunday, November 12, 2006
Daylight is fading when the padre drops by a farm field bulldozed to sand. He wants to know how the boys from 'A' Company are doing. He has letters from home, the kind written by schoolchildren that begin with: "Dear Canadian soldiers."
Lt. Zbigniew Jonczyk offers words of encouragement, hope and faith -- and pictures of angels.
"Would you like one of St. Michael?" he asks Sgt. Dan Holley's crew.
St. Michael the Archangel, patron saint of war, was a force for good in an epic battle against evil. Centuries of soldiers have prayed to him.
St. Michael finds a home in Holley's armoured vehicle, the angel's picture placed near a homemade noose. Life dangling by a thread next to death.
Knotted from army-green rope, only a Barbie doll's head could fit through the loop. There are days, though, when it feels as if it's wrapped around their necks, squeezing, trying to break the souls of Canadian soldiers fighting in Kandahar.
The nearly 130 soldiers from A Company knew they were in for a fight when they arrived in early August, but never thought the battles with the Taliban would be so intense, so constant, or so deadly.
Within days they lost their first man, a father of three killed when a rifle accidentally went off. Thirteen days later, a suicide bomber took out another, a corporal who dreamed about a career in the military since he was a kid.
These deaths were only the beginning. In my six weeks in Kandahar, 10 more soldiers would die and an untold number injured. A Company, in particular, would suffer greatly.
Kandahar is unlike any mission the Canadian military has embarked on for half a century. The soldiers here now have done more killing, and more dying, than any Canadians since the Korean War. Officially, the wounded are barely spoken of, but their mounting numbers -- nearly 200 this year -- and the severity of their injuries are startling.
Lot's More on link
