The Afghan Combat Experience

Over the past ten months, I have interviewed fourteen Canadian soldiers about their experiences when serving in Afghanistan. I’ll call it a privilege because every one of these men impressed me with their readiness to answer all my questions, their strong sense of character, and their dedication to their profession. I am grateful for these interviews, because they gave me an insight into what it was like serving a tour in Afghanistan, an insight that I couldn’t get any other way. I knew that not all veterans are open to talking about their time in theatre. My initial requests to a number of units, asking if any of their members who had gone to Afghanistan would help me, were in fact met with silence. But the men who I finally found seemed to have no hesitation; and, in fact, seemed almost eager to talk to me about what happened to them (as I was just as eager to listen).

About three years ago, I published my book Courage Rewarded: The Valour of Canadian Soldiers Under Fire 1900-2007, which took the history of the Canadian army from the South African War to Korea. But I felt the book really was unfinished if it did not include a chapter on Afghanistan where the Canadian military renewed itself as a combat-effective organization. I therefore had decided to publish a revised edition, in which a full chapter would be devoted to Afghanistan 2003-2011. But I couldn’t really write about Afghanistan unless I spoke to veterans who could give me a personal understanding of the mission which can’t be found from newspapers and from DND press releases (not to mention that the war diaries are sealed from public viewing). These soldiers have helped with this understanding.

These are the fourteen men who have been so helpful and whose strong dedication to duty shines through:

• Sergeant Dan Matthews, who suppressed fear and crawled forward under exploding ammunition to come to the aid of his comrades, Corporal Robbie Beerenfenger and Sergeant Alan Short, after their Iltis jeep was blown up by an IED near Kabul on 2 October 2003; he received the Star of Courage for his actions.
• Master Corporal Sean Chard, a Coyote vehicle crew leader in the Royal Canadian Dragoons, who lived through two IED strikes, the second of which seriously injured him on 7 January 2009.
• Captain David Turgeon who, as a Reserve Forces officer, was surprised to find himself appointed second-in-command of an artillery troop equipped with newly acquired M-777 guns, but eager for the mission.
• Captain Jonathan Mineault who worked on construction projects around Bazaar-i-Panjwayi in an attempt to improve the life of Afghans.
• Corporal Hal Hemming, who went out on daily patrols near Strongpoint Folad as a field engineer locating and removing IEDs, coming under insurgent fire on several occasions, ready to return on another rotation if asked.
• Private Dan Charysz who readily accepted his role as point man, one of the loneliest jobs on the battlefield, on daily patrols around Chalghowr, a countryside littered with IEDs.
• Corporal Grant Lambe who readily ran towards any fire fight, until the day he stepped on an IED near Salavat and lost his right eye.
• Corporal Sean Volmer who managed to take the attitude, as a professional soldier, that the fire fights he experienced almost every day around Combat Outpost Panjshir were just “business as usual.”
• Corporal Adam Leclerc who, as a college student volunteered for a tour in Afghanistan to experience what it was really like there, got his wishes fulfilled when he fought through several ambushes as part of a Police Operational Mentoring Liaison Team.
• Master Warrant Office Shawn Mercer who provided inspired leadership to those under him as his squadron of the Royal Canadian Dragoons lost a number of members from IED strikes in the Arghandab in 2008.
• Master Corporal Lucus Fuller who, in the line of enemy fire, helped rescue a fellow soldier who had been shot down by the Taliban while clearing a village near Pashmul, for which he received a Mention in Despatches.
• Corporal Steven Bancarz who, when his patrol was ambushed near the Taliban village of Sangasar, got hit by the back blast from a RPG launch but recovered enough to cover the fighting withdrawal the patrol and be awarded the Medal of Military Valour.
• Captain Rob Peel who fought through the summer of 2008 while mentoring troops of the Afghan National Army, finding it one of the most significant experiences of his life, and was awarded the Medal of Military Valour for his actions during a Taliban ambush.
• Master Warrant Officer Richard Stacey who provided exceptional leadership for several hours while he assisted in fighting off insurgents that ambushed a convoy attempting to return to FOB Mas’um Ghar along the Arghandab River, for which he received the Star of Military Valour.

With these fourteen men, I found my objective was achieved in being able to interview a cross section of Canadian Forces experience in Afghanistan: ranks from private to captain; infantry, combat engineer and artillery; OMLT and POMLT; some who received awards for valour and others who did their duty well although they received no such reward.

My thanks to all.

Book Review - Fighting for Afghanistan by Sean Maloney

In his third book about his visits to Afghanistan, Sean Maloney records his experiences and observations on the operations in which he participated when he travelled to Kandahar province in the summer of 2006. The book is divided into three major parts related to the time he spent there: first, with Task Force Aegis, the brigade headquarters for Regional Command (South) at Kandahar Air Field; then with Task Force Orion, the Canadian battle group built around the 1^st Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, carrying out suppression and clearing operations; and finally as he traveled with Orion’s tactical headquarters during the intensive combat actions of late summer.

Because he knows many of the senior Canadian officers and other ranks on a first name basis, this “rogue historian” lives up to his nickname by gaining full access to discussions both at Aegis’ Joint Operations Centre and at meetings with senior Afghan government officials, as well as when he joined the battle group tactical headquarters whenever it headed off into remote parts of Kandahar and Helmand provinces. The vote of confidence accorded him by the fighting troops is very evident when, as the battle group prepares to head out on one key operation, Lieutenant Colonel Ian Hope calls out to him to get his kit. “You’re coming with us on this one.” This rare access, probably not provided to such an extent to any other historian or journalist, allows Maloney to describe the events in all these operations better than any other source has done, even quoting statements made by participants at critical moments. For example, to get the record right, he even makes notes during a night fire fight by the light of a red-filtered flashlight on a field message pad in a lightly-armoured G-Wagon.

Sean Maloney earns the military’s respect by easily sharing the dangers on operations and as a result has more than one close call with death or injury. He was especially lucky to survive the last one. On returning from a major operation in a northern district of the province, the G-Wagon in which he was travelling struck an Improvised Explosive Device on the edge of Kandahar City. Maloney’s luck held and he escaped this one only with temporary deafness, although two Canadian soldiers were seriously injured and nine civilians killed.

The reader is rewarded by this unconventional historian by his ability to bring together the most complete picture yet recorded of the how the Canadian military met the challenges it faced in developing its ability to wage a counter-insurgency war in southern Afghanistan. The year 2006 was probably the most dynamic period of Canada’s combat mission, as it sought to establish an effective multinational headquarters while deploying a keen but untried battle group into a region rife with tribal politics, undefined power struggles and a cunning insurgency. How well did we do? Sean Maloney answers these questions through his personal experiences and keen analytical eye.

Canadian War Writing About Afghanistan – 2011 Update

This blog updates my previous entry listing books written about the Canadian combat mission in Afghanistan, completing the list for books published in 2011. Four excellent releases!

• Ryan Flavelle, The Patrol: Seven Days in the Life of a Canadian Soldier in Afghanistan (2011). The extraordinary personal account of a Canadian soldier on a seven-day patrol into the heart of Taliban country, fully revealing the physical strain of his kit, constant need to avoid heat exhaustion, and knot of fear when coming under fire.

• Melanie Murray, For Your Tomorrow: The Way of an Unlikely Soldier (2011). A heartfelt, extremely well written personal account of the military career and death of Captain Jeff Francis and five other Canadian soldiers, when their RG-31 Nyala was blown up by an IED in Afghanistan on July 4, 2007, and the effects of his death on his family.

• Murray Brewster, The Savage War: The Untold Battles of Afghanistan (2011). A Canadian press journalist’s accounts of his experiences in Afghanistan covering the Canadian combat mission, giving you a view of the forward operating bases, the back streets of Kandahar City, and the halls of power in Ottawa that you will not find anywhere else

• Sean Maloney, Fighting for Afghanistan: A Rogue Historian at War (2011). Sean Maloney, in his third book on his visits to Afghanistan, now joins Regional Command South Brigade Headquarters (TF Aegis) and 1 PPCLI Battle Group (TF Orion) of the Canadian combat mission in the summer of 2006. Because of his previous army experience and personal relations with officers and men at all levels, Sean is able to participate in and report on all operations to a more knowledgeable extent than any other non-military visitor could do.

Preserving the Experiences of Veterans

The book Courage Rewarded is my attempt to record the experiences of Canadian soldiers who went off to fight in past wars, and to show the courage they demonstrated. With a similar intent, a number of groups are busy recording the memories of veterans still living, using video and the Internet. I think the best of these is "The Veterans." Jack Bennett's story of landing at Dieppe in 1942 is one of these and is well-told.

The Tale of how Captain Oliver Mowat's Body Returned from Russian to Canada

I recently got another unexpected email from a lady in B.C. who wrote to thank me for mentioning her great uncle, Captain Oliver Mowat, whose story of courage in North Russia is described in my book Courage Rewarded. As part of her research into the Mowat family history, Carrie Mowat came across the mention of him in my book. She has now included all the material from many sources that she gathered about Oliver as part of her very comprehensive family web site.

Oliver was awarded the Military Cross for courage in battle in North Russia in December 1918 while acting as Forward Observation Officer with the 68^th Battery of the 16^th Canadian Field Artillery Brigade. However, one month later he was killed when he was part of the rearguard party that was holding off Bolshevik forces trying to surround Allied forces in the town of Shenkursk. While I included the story of this action in my book, Carrie was helpful in providing me with additional information about how his body was brought back to Canada for final burial. It seems that the men of his unit refused to leave him behind in North Russia with others who had been killed in the fighting, some of whom were buried in unmarked graves. His body was dug up, placed in a coffin “made up from soldered biscuit tins,” and loaded onto the ship returning from Archangel as baggage of the unit. On arrival in London, the body was collected by his brother, Captain Godfrey Alden Mowat, who arranged for it to be properly preserved by an undertaker and shipped back to Canada. On arrival in Canada, the casket was collected by his father, and Oliver was finally laid to rest in Campbelton Rural Cemetery with full military honours.

Carrie also told me that he is still remembered and honoured by the 68^th Battery which still exists as part of the 15^th Field Artillery Regiment in Vancouver. Carrie has donated Oliver’s medals and documentation to the Regiment’s museum. The regiment has purchased a shell casing from a howitzer with all the names of surviving members of the 68^th Battery engraved on it and this will be displayed with a history to be posted on the wall of the armouries.

It was gratifying to me that Oliver Mowat was not left to be forgotten on the far-away shores of the Arctic Ocean, and that the courage of Canadian soldiers in this little-known campaign of the Canadian army is not forgotten.

A Remembance Day Compliment from Arthur Rigby's Family regarding his Military Medal

On Remembrance Day 2010, to my surprise, I received an email from a lady I had never met, thanking me for writing about her father who had been awarded the Military Medal in the Second World War. She wrote that she was “absolutely thrilled” to come across her father's award described in my book Valour in the Victory Campaign. Sergeant Arthur Rigby was a crew commander of a Sherman tank of The Sherbrooke Fusiliers in April 1945. During the attack on Deventer Holland, the infantry of The Canadian Scottish Regiment were pinned down by two German self-propelled guns and suffering casualties. Sergeant Rigby managed to bring his tank to a position only a few hundred yards away from the deadly German guns and destroyed them both before they could fire on his tank. For his skill, coolness and courage in carrying out this action, he was awarded the Military Medal.

The email of thanks to me was written by Arthur Rigby’s daughter, who recalled that her father had been very proud of his medal. He had passed away in 1986 and she regretted that, as a young child, she never appreciated the true meaning of the honour awarded him. But now, on reading the passage in my book, she felt that she and her sister could appreciate what her father had done so many years ago. Her note of thanks to me was quite touching and, coming so unexpectedly, gave me – as the author of the book – some great satisfaction.

While thinking about her note of thanks, however, I wondered how she had been able to find her father’s name on the Internet. I therefore went on line and searched for his name on Google. I quickly found the reference to the source: it was a bit of shock to see what it was. I found that she had found the entire page with the full citation text for Arthur Rigby’s medal from Valour in the Victory Campaign on Google Books! But not only could the page be found, but the entire book was there online.

I had read that Goggle Books was putting the entire library of literature on line, with some controversy about copyright, but I had never expected to see my book included. Is that some mark of distinction? Probably not; but in any case, if it brings such satisfaction to families who never otherwise learn of their father’s experiences in the war, such as Arthur Rigby’s family, then that is of some value.

Building Dedicated to Hong Kong Hero Ronald Routledge

In late 1997, I wrote an article for Canadian Military History Magazine about (Sergeant Ronald Routledge), who was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for courage while he was a prisoner of war of the Japanese in Hong Kong. I had long forgotten about it. I was therefore quite surprised by news that I received during a book signing at Indigo Kingston on November 13. Someone who bought a copy of my book, a retired member of the Canadian Forces, had just attended a ceremony at Canadian Forces Base Kingston for the dedication of a building to the memory of Ronald Routledge as part of the Forces Communications and Electronics School. Ronald Routledge had passed away by now, but his son had been invited to attend the ceremony.

This news took my thoughts back to 1998. That summer, I received a telephone call from a Signals Corps veteran who gave me some praise for the article, mentioning that he had known Ronald in the post-war military, but no one had known he had won the DCM. The caller told me that Ronald had been invited to be on the saluting stand for the march past during the Signal Corps annual reunion at Kingston and he invited me to join them. Unfortunately, I could not make it up and regretted missing seeing the honour paid to Ronald Routledge that day. However, with the dedication of Routledge Hall, perhaps I might have some satisfaction from the thought that my article in 1997 may have helped bringing this well-deserved honour to this unassuming but courageous soldier.

Article in The Canadian Army Journal

I was gratified to see my article "Courage under Fire: Defining and Recognizing the Act" published in The Canadian Army Journal, V 13.1. It pulls together all the thoughts about courage that I wrote in my book Courage Rewarded and so is a much better discussion of the subject. I hope the article is relevant to the readers of the Journal, many of whom have experienced fear and courage in Afghanistan and so may have their own opinions.