Although it seems a world away, the war in Afghanistan has claimed 112 Canadian lives to date. From road side bombs to strategically planned assault missions Canadians have been under fire while overseas in Afghanistan.
The most recent death of a soldier from Ontario who was killed by a road side IDE reminds me of my friend Malcolm who was sent home after he was injured when an assault vehicle he was in exploded upon impact with an IDE. His leg had a 10 inch piece of shrapnel lodged in against the bone for which he received treatment and was released on a medical leave of 6 months. Even given the circumstances, once he was home in our community of Hamilton, Ontario, he appeared fairly happy. It wasn't until I had a chance to speak to a mutual friend about his experience that I discovered how messed up he really was. He was more than ready to return to service because of what he had seen over there and could care less about his injuries. Another huge concern was that not many of his friends had any clue what he was doing or even that he was in Afghanistan.
Our community in Ontario consists of about 650,000 people of which mostly are blue collar workers who were brought to the town by a blossoming steel industry in the early 1920's. Malcolm's dad was a part of this community and as such well known to locals. So when Malcolm went to the 91st highlanders regiment and enlisted no one was really that surprised. He was a tough guy at school when I think about it, always getting into some sort of trouble but as a rule if you were on his side he was a great guy with a comedic attitude. Once enlisted back in 1999, I didn't even think about the possibility of him seeing any action and was surprised when the next news I received was in 2007 about his Humvee exploding. I guess it hits home pretty quickly that people are somewhere across the globe holding true to the Canadian ideals whether it be as a peace keeping mission or on the aggressive side. Our communities have their own problems (economy, environment, government) but when the issue isn't on your front door step it is easy to get caught taking people like Malcolm for granted.
The main reason I chose to write this blog today is because today's headline reminded me of the community that we don't always remember or recognize but one that requires just as much if not more attention. Surely it is not easy to change issues regarding the military in our communities when the problems persist so far away, however we can change the perception that people have regarding our troops. I believe that we must all take notice of Canada's armed forces choices globally rather than just the families affected by causalities. I am not sure anyone in our class has ever initiated a conversation with me surrounding our involvement in Afghanistan, which is interesting considering that the Americans in Iraq issue seems to have come up several times. Why is this? Most likely the recent election that saw the fall of a war supporting President in favour of one who would choose to start the removal of troops in Iraq. I guess I just don't understand why we aren't more interested in our own people in Afghanistan. It took a friend getting injured for me to realize the conflict in Afghanistan and what was really going on but I hope that we can make our communities more aware of what Canada's role is within global conflicts. At a time when the U.S.'s patriotism is declining because the rest of the world has a negative view of their ideals, Canada should be promoting ours. We need to support our troops, celebrate our sovereignty, and show we care both at home and across the sea. A topic that requires a major discussion I think.
"Roadside Afghan bomb kills one Canadian, injures four"
By Archie McLean , Edmonton Journal March 8, 2009 8:01 PM
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