I remember the dust and the grit of Afghanistan, which gets into literally everything, and the shrieking whine of the Harriers at Kandahar Airfield as they returned from their sorties. I remember the tired, gaunt faces of American infantry soldiers as we hung out and chatted, waiting for our laundry to finish. I remember the blood on the floor of the rear entrance to the hospital at KAF, after another dustoff flight had arrived with wounded. We would pause the work we were doing there so that the wounded and those tending to them wouldn't have us in their way. I remember riding along at night in an armored HLVW, heading to a FOB for a tasking there, wondering which of the many yellow Corolla wagon taxis passing by would turn out to be one of the half-dozen VBIED's assessed to be out looking for targets of opportunity. I remember standing on the apron at KAF with Task Force Afghanistan and "sand in my eyes", paying our respects as Glyn Berry left for the last time the country he had volunteered to help, ultimately costing him his life. I remember all of that and much, much more, like it was yesterday instead of a couple of decades ago. I am fortunate; I came home to my family, physically intact although mentally a bit scarred. Many others either didn't come home at all, or came home shattered, either physcially, mentally or both. I am not looking for thanks or recognition. I am simply sharing some of the memories I live with every single day. More than 40,000 Canadian military personnel, and hundreds if not thousands of Canadian civilians served in Afghanistan; 165 of them never made it home alive. I would like to see more recognition of that.
Thank you for reminding me that there was a Canada I took great pride in, before we became a country without distinct values, guilty of genocide and systemic racism. Perhaps we will once again be a nation of shared values, taking pride in fairness and knowing right from wrong. We owe that to those who made the ultimate sacrifice in confronting and defeating those who would destroy us.
I remember the dust and the grit of Afghanistan, which gets into literally everything, and the shrieking whine of the Harriers at Kandahar Airfield as they returned from their sorties. I remember the tired, gaunt faces of American infantry soldiers as we hung out and chatted, waiting for our laundry to finish. I remember the blood on the floor of the rear entrance to the hospital at KAF, after another dustoff flight had arrived with wounded. We would pause the work we were doing there so that the wounded and those tending to them wouldn't have us in their way. I remember riding along at night in an armored HLVW, heading to a FOB for a tasking there, wondering which of the many yellow Corolla wagon taxis passing by would turn out to be one of the half-dozen VBIED's assessed to be out looking for targets of opportunity. I remember standing on the apron at KAF with Task Force Afghanistan and "sand in my eyes", paying our respects as Glyn Berry left for the last time the country he had volunteered to help, ultimately costing him his life. I remember all of that and much, much more, like it was yesterday instead of a couple of decades ago. I am fortunate; I came home to my family, physically intact although mentally a bit scarred. Many others either didn't come home at all, or came home shattered, either physcially, mentally or both. I am not looking for thanks or recognition. I am simply sharing some of the memories I live with every single day. More than 40,000 Canadian military personnel, and hundreds if not thousands of Canadian civilians served in Afghanistan; 165 of them never made it home alive. I would like to see more recognition of that.
Thank you for your service. (I know you weren’t looking for thanks, but thank you nonetheless.)
"Take the Queen's shilling, do the Queen's work".
Yes, thank you. For your service and for sharing your memories
Oh my. That there are Private McNallys in the world is a blessing to all of us who aren't.
Thank you for reminding me that there was a Canada I took great pride in, before we became a country without distinct values, guilty of genocide and systemic racism. Perhaps we will once again be a nation of shared values, taking pride in fairness and knowing right from wrong. We owe that to those who made the ultimate sacrifice in confronting and defeating those who would destroy us.
Thank you for that.
'Oh, I know they were mercenaries
in a war that hardly concerned us.
I know all that.'
That's completely untrue on both counts.
Thank you
Thank you. Lest we forget.
Thank you to all who have served. ❤️🇨🇦
Bless you 🕊️
Dear Mr. Carney. If you could re-instill the spirit of Mr. Nowlan's poem back into our country, I would vote for your.