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.

Remembering Richard Rowland Thompson, awarded the Queen's Scarf of Honour in the South African War

In the small village of Chelsea Quebec, a special effort has been made over many years to honour the phrase from the poem “For the Fallen” by Laurence Binyon:

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
we will remember them.

In the small Pioneer Cemetery in this village lies the grave of Private Richard Rowland Thompson, a soldier who served with the 2^nd (Special Service) Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment of Infantry in the South African War. When he died in 1908 from a sudden illness, he was buried with full military honour but, unfortunately, his grave was forgotten for half a century. The memory of his grave was finally revived through the efforts of the Gatineau Valley Historical Society which restored the cemetery and has organized a memorial service on the 11^th of November each year since 1986.

The annual memorial service includes an invitation, not only to all local residents, but also to representatives from senior officers of the Canadian Forces and a contingent from Thompson’s regiment, now The Royal Canadian Regiment with two battalions based at Petawawa in the upper Ottawa River valley. On November 11, 2011, Commodore Hans Jung, commander of the Canadian Forces Health Services Group and the Military Surgeon General, and contingents from Mike Company, 3^rd Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment and from CF Health Services Centre gathered here to participate in that years’ service. A photo gallery from this ceremony can be viewed at Chelsea Remembrance 2011

Private Thompson’s gravesite is significant because he was the only Canadian to be awarded one of the eight scarves personally knitted by Queen Victoria for presentation to private soldiers for special gallantry in South Africa. Private Thompson had first exhibited exceptional courage at the Battle of Paardeberg on February 18, 1900, when Canadians suffered heavy casualties during a failed attack on Boer positions. As darkness fell, one wounded Canadian soldier had been remained lying between the lines where he could not be rescued. Richard Thompson chose to remain with him until help could arrive and he saved the wounded man’s life by holding bandages to his wound to keep him alive. While they lay huddled between the lines, the Boers continued to fire on them in the moonlight, at one point shooting Thompson’s helmet off.

A few days later on February 27, The Canadians were ordered to attack the Boer lines again, this time by advancing under cover of darkness. The Boers spotted Canadians about sixty metres from their trenches and opened up a murderous fire on the attackers. Again, one Canadian soldier was wounded near the Boer positions, unable to get back to safety. Thompson, now back in the Canadian trench, jumped up and, against orders of his company commander, raced out several hundred metres through Boer fire to rescue the man. Unfortunately, just as Thompson reach his comrade and grasped his hand, the wounded man died. Thompson somehow managed to get back to the Canadian trench without being hit and reported the fate of the man to his commanding officer.

Thompson exhibited one of the key characteristics of courage under fire. The most common motivator of courage has been the importance of the bonds established between men whose life is threatened in battle. Men often take extreme action to help each other survive while accomplishing their mission, sacrificing their life if necessary to help others. It is significant that, on receiving praise for his act from his company commander, Thompson remarked that he preferred to call his race between the lines as “pure foolhardiness.”

The South African War was a hard-fought struggle between British and Commonwealth forces and their Boer opponents. As the number of casualties continued to be reported back in England, Queen Victoria decided that she should create some special mark of personal gratitude for the men fighting for the Empire. To do so, she knitted several scarves from deep gold wool and included the royal cipher “V.R.I” in the design, attaching a small metal cross in a wreath to it. Private Richard Rowland Thompson was selected by the Canadian contingent to receive this honour and it is held today in the collection of the Canadian War Museum.

Ottawa Paramedics Receive the Medal of Bravery. Just Doing Their Duty?

On October 28, 2011, Governor General David Johnston awarded the Medal of Bravery to two Ottawa paramedic despatchers, Tara Josey and Nadine Leduc, for their courage during a shooting incident on January 7, 2008. The two despatchers were off-duty and were just finished enjoying a coffee at a Tim Horton’s outlet in Ottawa when a series of gunshots rang out in the parking lot. A car sped away leaving a young man lying on the ground. While onlookers raced away in fear, the despatchers ran in the opposite direction – toward the victim and covering him with their bodies in case the attacker should return while they applied pressure to his wound. These two despatchers were among 58 Canadians awarded Medals of Bravery by the Governor General that day.

These two despatchers were the latest in a series of bravery awards earned by Ottawa paramedics. These included Christopher Bugelli who received the N.H. McNally award for rescuing a man from a flooded creek in below-zero weather in March 2011, and four paramedics –Craig McInnes, Virginia Warner, Patricia St. Denis and Amanda Walkowiak – who attempted to save the life of Ottawa Police Constable Eric Czapnik while fighting off a mentally disturbed attacker in December 2009.

In all these incidents, the paramedics showed their professionalism by coming to the aid of someone in trouble through immediate instinctive action that is a result of their training. It is not surprising that Bugelli disclaimed any display of courage by his action: “I didn’t think it was that big of a deal but everyone else did…. Preservation of life is what we do, right? … Any one of the other crews would have done something similar.”

Simply doing their duty – what they are trained to do while on-duty but which becomes part of their ethos even off-duty. It is a refrain that comes up from all emergency services personnel – medical services, police, firefighters – and from members of the Canadian Forces, all who place their lives in danger when their mission requires it. The risks they take was highlighted by most recently by the death of Sergeant Janick Gilbert, an experienced Canadian Search-and-Rescue technician in the Royal Canadian Air Force who lost his life on October 27, 2011 while carrying out a rescue mission in the Canadian Arctic.

Courage is most often defined by the observer and, if that observer is a civilian, he can rightly give credit to all those policemen, firemen, paramedics and Canadian Forces personnel who indeed may simply be doing their duty. The people in these special occupations accepted the fact that, when they chose their professions, the bar of courage would be raised higher for them than for most other people. As a result, simply doing their duty will be considered admirable by others in times of special crisis.

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.

George Rusu of Ottawa is awarded the Carnegie Medal for heroism

The media make use of the words “hero” or “courage” much more easily than I do in my book Courage Rewarded. One organization that I admire which uses a very strict definition of courage is the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission. Each year, since 1896, they have selected a small number of people for awarding the Carnegie Medal for acts of unusual heroism. According to their criteria, only civilians in Canada or the United States who knowingly risk their own lives to an extraordinary degree while saving or attempting to save the life of another person are eligible. Persons not eligible for awards include those whose normal duties require them to perform such acts (such as policemen or soldiers) and members of the immediate family. Thus, selection for the Carnegie Medal is a rare and highly respected honour.

One of those selected in 2010 for the Carnegie Medal for heroism is George Rusu, who came to the aid of a woman being attacked outside the drug store where he worked in Ottawa. Hearing the woman’s screams, and with no hesitation, Rusu rushed out and struggled with the attacker, being stabbed several times as he fought to save the woman. Both Rusu and the woman survived and required hospital treatment. The woman credited Rusu with saving her, stating: “he came to my rescue above and beyond the call of duty and I shall forever be grateful to him for that.” Congratulations George Rusu!

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.

Remembering Veterans of the War of 1812

In the September 2010 issue of Esprit de Corps magazine, I was quite taken by Robert Smol's editorial in which he lamented the lack of a national memorial to the British and Canadian soldiers who died defending the Canadas in the War of 1812. It so surprised me when I realized that, like everyone else, I had not been aware of the need for a memorial to those men and women from that distant past who were no less heroic and patriotic than those of 2010. What a pity!

I certainly support everything Smol has written. In my book, Courage Rewarded, the first chapter had originally been about courage and reward in the War of 1812. But when historian Jack Granatstein reviewed the original manuscript, he recommended I remove that chapter because the contribution by the British army was so large that it did not seem to fit. He recommended I publish it elsewhere, and this was done when it appeared in the fall 2008 issue of The Canadian Army Journal. I was pleased that it was finally published because, in my research for that chapter, I was very impressed by the stories of exceptional courage exhibited in the fierce fighting that swept over so many parts of what are now the peaceful farmlands of Ontario and Quebec. Those courageous souls who readily flocked to the colours (not all the residents were so patriotic) have been forgotten, except for the rare books that are published but are read by only those most dedicated to that period of our military history.

The one oasis of memory which came to my attention recently is that of The Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders Regiment. Annually each February, the Regiment holds a banquet in honour of Lieutenant-Colonel "Red George" Macdonell who led the attack in 1813 across the ice of the St. Lawrence River against the American fortifications at Ogdensburg, New York. He certainly deserves to be remembered as one of the heroes of that era.

But we should not forget so many deserving others. One of these who immediately comes to my mind is Captain John Jenkins, from New Brunswick, who led the right column in that attack on Ogdensburg. He was wounded by terrible grape shot fired by the defenders and, despite this, he carried on until he collapsed from loss of blood. He survived his wounds, but lost one arm and was left with his other arm permanently disabled. Regrettably, he received no reward for his dedication to duty, and was even refused a pension despite a plea from Macdonell. It is men like Jenkins that deserve to be remembered even though almost 200 years have passed.

War and Courage in the Korengal

I believe Sebastian Junger has written what should be a classic account of men in battle in his recently published book, War. It should rank with the other classics which include Anatomy of Couragee by Lord Moran, Firing Line by Richard Holmes, Morale: A Study of Men and Courage by John Baynes,and Men Against Fire by S.L.A. Marshall, among others. Like the best of these accounts, Junger immersed himself in the experience of combat, in this case by voluntarily joining an outpost of American troops under constant threat of attack by insurgents in a remote Afghan valley. During this time, he thoughtfully observed the behaviour of the soldiers around him, throughout the many periods of boredom interspersed with deadly actions. He became as close as possible to being one of them, feeling fear while under fire, sadness when some were killed, thus enabling him to speak with authority about the psychology of battle of the common soldier in the 21st century. This makes his account essential reading for understanding to-day's wars, as the reaction of twenty-year old men in 2010 is not the same as the young soldier of 1942 or 1914.

Junger was mostly impressed by the dynamic of the group that created courage in battle, as he saw it before his eyes in the Korengal: "Combat fog obscures your fate - obscures when and where you might die - and from that unknown is born a desperate bond between the men. That bond is the core experience of combat and the only thing you can absolutely count on.... Loyalty to the group drove man back into combat - and occasionally to their deaths - but the group also provided the only psychological refuge from the horror of what was going on."(p. 239-40) This is a strong reiteration of the reality of the importance of group solidarity which had been recognized for some time; it is only the way it is reflected in young combat soldiers that differs in 2010, but this difference is worth understanding.